The Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky singletrack or mon-
ster powder days. We are wholly independently
Ear to the ground:
“I think a Roomba would be worth it if I could get my cat to ride it.”
– We’re not cat people, but is this a thing?
Not so fast
Remember last year, when the Trump administration asked national park goers to “report any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.”
Well, it seems park-goers have pushed back, bigly.
New analysis of the more than 35,700 comments submitted from June 2025- January 2026 found overwhelming sentiment from the public to keep American history intact, warts and all.
According to the Center for Western Priorities, which organized the comments into seven categories, the largest category was "General opposition to the order," which accounted for nearly 10,000 responses. This was followed by "Defend historical accuracy" (more than 5,000 responses) and "General pro-parks support" (more than 4,000).
Other notable categories of public feedback included comments on the "Park visit experience," "Trump / Burgum criticism" and a number of "Off-topic / jokes / spam" submissions, including our favorite from Washington’s Cascade National Park, “Didn’t see any Bigfeets.”
In contrast, only 47 comments, or 0.1% of the total submitted, "Flagged signage or supported removal."
On the cover
The Sleeping Ute takes an earlysummer snooze as seen from the western flanks of the La Platas./ Photo by Alex Krebs
P.O.
In March 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14253, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” In response, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered national park staff to put up signs asking park visitors to report any signage that put America in an unflattering light.
This May, the Department of the Interior released the 35,700 comments, which were submitted through a QR code, in response to a FOIA request by the Sierra Club and others.
“Tell Trump to stop erasing history. Those absurd new signs to report negative history must come down,” said one comment from Amache National Historic Site, a WWII Japanese internment camp in Colorado. “If our country erases the darker chapters of our history, we will never learn from our mistakes.”
At Sand Creek, where American troops massacred hundreds of peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho, a visitor commented, “We need to remember the past so we don’t repeat our mistakes in the future. Ignoring or trying to rewrite history accomplishes nothing.”
The full dataset of comments can be seen on the NPS website’s “Frequently Requested Documents” page.
LaVidaLocal
What’s up, doc?
I can’t rely on Dr. Oz. He has medical credentials and experience in medical practice but not in policy. It’s his judgement I question, and he likely questions mine. As a celebrity ex-heart surgeon more interested in politics than health, he was appointed by the Trump administration in 2025 to lead Medicare & Medicaid services. What scares me even more is that RFK Jr. is his boss. In spite of such contentious leadership, we all should still try to stay healthy.
AI, social media, internet sites and online news feeds are saturated with advice about making healthy choices. In these days of slash-and-burn partisan politics, people are being led to consider online chatter a practical medical option, especially as our government shreds Medicaid, and Medicare is being maliciously hobbled by reductions and threats about mandatory privatization.
I even dubbed some online portals as “internet care.” Digital self-examination yields much advice, but merchandising is a revolving door. First, I’m convinced a daily vitamin is enough, but then I’m fed an article about the heart-health benefits of fish oil or the powerful antioxidant that’s packed in turmeric or the necessity of supporting the urinary tract with cranberry soft-gels. Naturally, digestive health can’t be achieved by eating normally, so a probiotic might maintain a proper bacterial flora, but it’s literally a strain deciding if 25 billion CFU is enough; 40 billion costs more but who puts a price on health?
According to one study of physicians throughout 15 major U.S. cities, “Patients are waiting an average of 31 days for an appointment.” While the internet leaves the hands-on examination to me, it is quick to diagnose what might be wrong. When feeling ill, the ground floor to healing is the least expensive: surfing the internet for answers or using telehealth services. Medicaid and Medicare expanded its coverage during COVID, supporting greater access to healthcare options, albeit a temporary measure set to last through Dec. 31, 2027, unless legislation extends it. My prognosis? The benefit is on life support.
When I’m not reviewing recent medical breakthroughs or researching possible reasons for a sudden malady, I catch myself humming that classic Paul Simon song “Maybe I Think Too Much.” Or maybe I drink too much ... water?
Hydration recommendations scare me. Women should be drinking 11 cups per day; men should be chugging 15.5 cups. I’m not reluctant to try, but I keep losing count. At least the advice that initially appears excessive actually is, since 20% of our daily liquid arrives in the food we eat, reducing daily quotas to more prudent levels: 9 or 13 cups, respectively.
I didn’t realize drinking too much water can also be hazardous. According to my AI assistant, too much water can lead to “water intoxication,” which causes an imbalance of electrolytes, particularly sodium. It can result in symptoms like confusion, nausea and in severe cases, seizures or even death.
Maybe I should just talk to a doctor?
Score one for the truth. Trump’s attempt to sanitize American history at U.S. national parks failed miserably, with the majority of more than 37,000 comments objecting to attempts at erasing the past.
Bayfield High School English-Language Arts teacher Brian Sleevi has been named one of 21 semifinalists for the Colorado Department of Education’s Teacher of the Year award. Sleevi was chosen out of 297 applicants.
Apparently the crowd at the Knicks game on Tuesday night booed President Trump when his face appeared on the Jumbotron. Even funnier? Trump smiled, appearing oblivious (or deaf) to the heckling.
Seeing an actual primary physician is on the second floor and a bit steeper in cost. These doctors reserved for non-life-threatening medical conditions offer long-term health management, preventative care and routine check-ups. A living, breathing human might actually listen to you, take your pulse, ask questions, draw conclusions, write a prescription or direct a referral. If you find one, hang on. The internet reports “the foundation is crumbling: visits to primary care clinicians are declining, and the workforce pipeline is shrinking, with clinicians opting to specialize in more lucrative healthcare fields.” My prognosis: If you live too long, your primary will move or retire before you do.
Urgent care is a type of MASH unit without the comedy. Reserved for non-life-threatening treatment that can’t wait for appointment scheduling, it’s like you aren’t dying to get there, but you go.
Up in the clouds is the emergency room. Not exactly a penthouse, but it’s reserved for serious life-threatening conditions and potentially dangerous consequences – even death – if not treated immediately. CDC data records 155 million emergency room visits in 2025. Forty percent of these patients were seen in fewer than 15 minutes, but only 17.8 million resulted in hospital admission. If asked “Who is your primary doctor?” an honest response might be “the ER.” Regarding actual hospitalization, opinions vary. Jackie Chan claimed, “Pain is my daily routine. As long as I don’t go to the hospital, it’s nothing for me.” George Orwell sounded a bit darker: “The hospital is the antechamber to the tomb.” If it’s true that “Your health is your wealth,” it’s also increasingly true that “You can’t be healthy without being wealthy.” Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, expressed what might be humanity’s universal dream, that “Good health is a basic human right.”
– David Feela
Well, there goes our Social Security checks. According to latest reports, the Social Security trust fund, which supports roughly 68 million Americans, is expected to run out in six years – even earlier than previously estimated – which would cut benefits by an average by 22%. Maybe we all should’ve gotten jobs at SpaceX.
Efforts to rein in ICE have fallen on deaf ears, with the GOP this week using a questionable legislative maneuver to force passage of a $70 billion immigration bill that will fund Trump’s Gestapo for another three years.
Wait! There really is going to be a UFC fight on the White House lawn, and it’s not a joke?
Cop Dusting
An unknown man in London is wanted by the police for spray-painting “I fart3d in yoga” in at least 20 different places, but the locals think of him as a hero, so nobody’s snitching. All the pieces are obviously the work of one individual because the farting cartoon character is always the same, as is the “3” in “fart3d,” which has become more of a name than a tagline. Some people are even calling the artist “I fart3d in yoga man,” which totally sounds like a superhero. So, although the cops have new video evidence of a man in shorts spray-painting his calling card, his identity remains safe. And frankly, that’s the way it should be, because nobody in my Tuesday class ever needs to know who it is.
WritersontheRange
Poison on the range
Trump reinstates controversial cyanide bombs without public input
by Ted Williams
M-44s are spring-loaded devices stuck in the ground and scented with decomposed animal tissue. They blast cyanide into the mouth of any creature that bites and pulls them. They were introduced in 1967, to replace gunpowder-driven Coyote Getters.
M-44s are designed to kill coyotes, foxes and feral dogs that sometimes prey on sheep and newborn cattle. They also kill at least 150 nontarget species.
This April 15, the Trump administration lifted former President Biden’s M44 ban on the Bureau of Land Management’s 245 million acres, and once again, M-44s will be deployed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services.
“I’ve worked since 1994 with countless people who have lost their dogs to M-44s or been poisoned themselves,” Brooks Fahy, director of Predator Defense, a nonprofit based in Eugene, Ore., said. “M-44s can never be used safely. They are indiscriminate killers, and no young child, dog or wild animal can read a warning sign. I firmly believe it is only a matter of time until an M-44 kills a child.”
During Trump’s first term, M-44s were in widespread use but hugely unpopular. The public wanted them banned. In 2019, when Trump’s EPA issued a proposal to keep them registered for use, there was such public outcry that the agency pulled the proposal.
Four months later, EPA reissued its proposal. During the public comment period, it received 22,390 written responses. All, save 10, opposed continued M-44 registration. The Administrative Procedure Act requires federal agencies to consider all “relevant matter presented” in public comments. Yet Trump’s EPA ignored the law, and M-44s remained registered until Biden’s ban.
When the ban was lifted April 15, the Trump administration bypassed any public comment period, reauthorizing M-44 use on BLM land via a memorandum of understanding between BLM and USDA. Wildlife advocates were furious. Predator Defense called the Trump administration’s resurrection of M-44s “insane.” Project Coyote called it “devastating.”
And this from Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action: “Reinstituting use of poison bombs sounds like war tactics from 1970s rebel guerrillas in Angola and not the actions of public lands agencies. Their statutory and moral responsibility is to steward native wildlife, not poison the animals.”
So, who’s pushing M-44s back on public land? Whoever it is, it’s not sheep producers, explained Carter
Niemeyer, employed by Wildlife Services for 26 years and supervising field agents for much of that time. M-44s were created mostly for them, but they now use guard dogs. Littering public land with poison bombs scented to attract canids is the last thing sheep producers want, he said.
Still, Trump spokesmen claim that the M-44 ban was lifted to benefit the wool industry. There’s widespread speculation that Trump ended the ban simply because Biden imposed it.
“M-44s are unforgiving,” said Niemeyer. “Any animal that triggers one is dead. With traps and snares, you can usually release nontargets. Random coyote poisoning – ‘preventive control’ – is killing coyotes anywhere and everywhere because one might someday eat a sheep. When we had, say, two coyotes
regularly killing sheep, we’d remove them. That’s ‘corrective control.’” Robert Crabtree, America’s leading coyote researcher, found that random killing creates more coyotes. In natural populations, average litter size at birth is five or six. But competition in summer decreases pup survival to one or two. Random killing reduces competition, resulting in higher survival.
Niemeyer found that random killing also creates chaos by replacing older coyotes that have learned the dangers of depredating livestock with younger, inexperienced coyotes that do depredate.
But random killing is precisely what will now be happening on BLM land.
There has been legislation to permanently ban M-44s on federal lands, but it has been in limbo for years. Thanks to public outrage, there’s new life in a bill called “Canyon’s Law,” named for teenager Canyon Mansfield from Pocatello, Idaho. In March 2017, when he was 14, Canyon encountered an M-44 on BLM land behind his house. He thought it was a lost sprinkler head. When he picked it up, his 3-year-old yellow Lab, Kasey, got hit in the muzzle and died. Some of the cyanide also sprayed Canyon’s face, damaging his eyes. Until his late teens, Canyon suffered from chronic cyanide poisoning. It’s unclear if he suffered permanent damage.
Americans who love public lands, their dogs and wildlife need to ask their legislators to support Canyon’s Law, H.R. 4180 and S. 2179, banning M-44s. Primary sponsors are Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, DOre. At this writing, there are seven cosponsors.
Longtime wildlife writer and author Ted Williams is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. ■
A dead coyote lies next to a cyanide bomb. After the hugely unpopular devices, known as M-44s, were outlawed by the Biden administration, the Trump administration reversed the ban, bypassing public comment./ Center for Biological Diversity photo
SoapBox
Weiser champions public lands
I have been hugely thankful to Sen. Michael Bennet for his excellent work protecting our most revered places, like Hermosa Creek. He’s also fought for decades to protect the Dolores River watershed. Most of us know Bennet from that work and deeply appreciate it.
But his more recent actions in Congress, in the spirit of “getting along” with as many in the Trump administration as he can, have undermined much of that good work. He supported Rollins as the Secretary for Agriculture, who has since pursued abolishing the Roadless Rule in the U.S. Forest Service and certainly has decimated its personnel. And Bennet supported Doug Burgum as Secretary of Interior, who has also gutted his department, opened national parks to off road vehicles and is trying to privatize and sell off many of our public lands.
That’s not the kind of state leadership I want. I want Phil Weiser, a man who has shown consistently good judgement and who offers sound plans to make our lives – and public lands – better and safer.
– Louise van Vonno, Durango
A Constitutional civics class
An oversight hearing in North Carolina produced one of those moments that was equally viral and revealing. When Rep. Chesser asked Mecklenburg County Sheriff McFadden a basic civics question,
“Which branch of government does his office operate under?” McFadden struggled to answer and later identified the judicial branch.” The correct answer, the executive branch. For a sheriff, it was not exactly a trick question
But beyond the viral moment, it revealed a deeper concern: If there's uncertainty about which branch of government enforces the law, how well do we understand the constitutional framework on which our institutions rest?
As America approaches its 250th anniversary, we should remember that the Declaration of Independence proclaimed liberty, but the Constitution was designed to preserve it. The Founders' challenge was creating a government powerful enough to govern yet limited enough to protect the freedom it existed to secure.
That view was grounded in a realistic understanding of human nature. As Madison wrote, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Because neither citizens nor officials are angels, the Founders divided power among the legislative, executive and judicial branches, each designed to check the others.
The result was a government that was never intended to be fast or efficient. Delays, hearings, appeals and judicial review are not flaws; they are features. The Constitution deliberately creates friction because concentrated power is dangerous. Freedom endures when government must justify its actions and remain within constitutional limits.
This matters because police officers operate within a system designed to protect liberty as well as enforce the law. The Fourth and Sixth amendments embody a
central principle: it is better to risk letting some guilty people go free than to grant the government unchecked power over the innocent. The goal is justice, not simply punishment, because the same power used against the guilty today can be used against the innocent tomorrow.
That principle remains relevant today. In different ways, debates over policing after George Floyd's death, emergency powers during COVID-19, and immigration enforcement have all tested the same question: Should constitutional limits give way when the stakes feel especially high? The Founders' answer was no. The Constitution was designed to hold even when passions run strongest.
As America approaches its 250th birthday, we should remember that the Constitution is not preserved by trusting those in power. It is preserved by limiting their control.
The answer is to respect the process, even when it is slow, frustrating and imperfect for everyone. The Founders built a system based on distrust of concentrated power. Two hundred-and-fifty years later, that remains one of America's most important ideas.
That reality is not merely theoretical. In recent years, states and local governments have considered measures placing officers in legally conflicting positions. Whether involved in immigration enforcement or other politically charged issues, officers have sometimes been asked to carry out duties that exceed their lawful authority. Police officers are not statutory-free agents. Constitutional limits do not expand or contract with the issue of the day. Whether the controversy involves masks, immigration or the next public emergency, officers remain
bound by law, not political winds.
When government officials attempt to assign powers that officers do not lawfully possess or require actions that cannot be constitutionally enforced, they undermine the very system they are sworn to uphold. Constitutional government works only when each level respects the limits of its authority. The Constitution does not trust any single person or institution with unchecked power. That is why it has endured for 250 years.
– Durango Police Chief Brice Current
Netanyahu betting on more war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of reelection hinge on carrying on the war with Hezbollah and keeping the fires burning with Iran. At the same time, he must assuage Donald Trump, who has called Netanyahu “crazy” for undermining peace talks by continuing military action in Lebanon and exchanging fire with Iran. In that exchange, Israel bombed a petrochemical plant in Iran as well as Hezbollah positions near Beirut. Iran and Israel then deescalated.
The U.S.-brokered cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon is a fiction anyway. No sooner was it announced than it was violated by Israel and Hezbollah. A Shiite leader close to Hamas said Hezbollah said they would stop fighting when Israel agreed to withdraw completely from Lebanon – which Israel is not going to do.
Thus, Israeli air strikes continue, notwithstanding Netanyahu’s supposed acquiescence to Trump to order
them to halt. As the New York Times puts it: “For all the diplomatic fanfare surrounding the newest ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, the reality on the ground … was grimly familiar: Israeli airstrikes, Hezbollah rockets and little sign that the war had stopped.” Netanyahu’s situation would seem shaky. His determination to “dismantle” Hezbollah, like his aim to destroy Hamas, is probably unrealizable – and it risks renewed Iranian missile strikes on Israel and other Gulf states. Yet the Israeli far right cabinet and much of the public supports continuing to go after Hezbollah. And Netanyahu’s leadership thrives on warfare. At some point, defiance might also be costly, since Iran has been firm that stopping attacks on Hezbollah is one key to reaching an agreement with the U.S.
Trump keeps telling Netanyahu to stop fighting and keeps saying a peace agreement is just a few days away. But here’s where Netanyahu has hope for his strategy: The fighting in Lebanon is only one of several outstanding issues that are obstructing an agreement. Another is Iran’s nuclear enrichment. And a third is Iran’s frozen assets, as reported by CNN on June 5 in an interview with a top military adviser to Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. The adviser said a deal with the U.S. requires that it unfreeze $24B in Iranian assets. Trump will see that demand as similar to what Obama agreed to in the 2015 nuclear deal – and he will surely reject it.
The likely future is more fighting and fewer opportunities for the U.S. and Iran to overcome their differences. Netanyahu is banking on that.
– Mel Gurtov, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University, syndicated by PeaceVoice
Book Burro hits the road
Maria’s vintage Airstream-turned-bookmobile aims to deliver free books across region
by Missy Votel
On a quiet stretch of road somewhere in the Four Corners, it won’t be long before a colorful vintage trailer rolls into view, its curved aluminum sides catching the sun and a vibrant mural announcing its arrival. But this isn’t just any Airstream – it’s a traveling library, pop-up bookstore and community hub on wheels. It’s the Book Burro.
The Book Burro is the newest initiative from Maria’s Literary Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Maria’s Bookshop, designed to expand access to books across Southwest Colorado and beyond. Housed in a 25-foot Airstream trailer from 1980, the mobile unit has been transformed into a fully functioning bookmobile that will bring free books and literary programming to rural and underserved communities.
“We’ll use it to host pop-up events near and around Durango, but also all over the Southwest and Four Corners region,” Nina Lundstrom, executive director of the foundation, said. “The goal is to distribute books for free and host literary events, especially in communities that are book deserts or don’t have the same access to resources that we do in Durango.”
The idea of a bookmobile had been circulating between Lundstrom and Maria’s Bookshop owner, Evan Shertz, for a while. When the foundation launched in the fall of 2024, expanding access to literature became central to its mission. For Lundstrom, that meant more than just delivering books – it meant offering choice.
“We want to not just give them books, but offer freedom of choice by bringing enough of a selection of books to a school or to a community event that folks can actually choose the books that they want to read,” said Lundstrom.
The right vehicle for the mission, however, proved elusive. Lundstrom and Shertz scoured Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and even visited an existing bookmobile in Ignacio, trying to determine what would work best. Then, in what Lundstrom describes as a moment of pure serendipity, the solution found them.
“A community member reached out and said, ‘I have this trailer that I’m hoping to get rid of. Would it be useful to you?’” Lundstrom recalled. “And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ We lucked out.”
The donated Airstream became the foundation for the Book Burro, but transforming it into a functional and inviting space required a community-wide effort. For starters, students from Animas High School’s shop class spent the spring semester building custom bookshelves.
“They did an incredible job,” Lundstrom said. “It’s been such a cool collaborative project.”
In addition, local artist Jenn Rawlins has been tasked with gussying up the trailer with her artwork – a Southwestern-y desert scene featuring a girl with her donkey. And in keeping with the burro theme, the Book
Burro will debut at Mancos’ Burro Fest, next Sat., June 20. (Interesting fact: the model for the donkey on the mural was a fine, uh, jack named DonKee, who belongs to one of the Burro Fest’s founders, Veryl Goodnight.)
The trailer itself has become something of a gathering point. Parked, perhaps fittingly, in a barn at Lundstrom’s home during the build-out, it has seen a steady stream of volunteers stopping by to lend a hand – from upholstering to installing shelving.
In a fitting twist, the trailer itself becomes a kind of portrait – a tribute not only to the animal but to the region’s quirky Western spirit.
“We wanted it to be something recognizable,” Lundstrom said. “Something where people see it coming and know free books are on the way.”
Both Rawling’s work as well as the trailer’s build out were supported through a grant from the City of Durango’s lodger’s tax. “It’s really been a community effort from the beginning,” Lundstrom said.
Once completed, the Book Burro will operate throughout the year as a mobile literacy hub. In December, however, it will take on a different role –transforming into a gift-wrapping station outside Maria’s as part of a fundraiser for the foundation.
Like many nonprofits, Maria’s Literary Foundation relies on a combination of grants and community donations to sustain its programs. Its annual Read-aThon fundraiser, held each spring, invites participants to read for pledges in the front window of Maria’s Bookshop. Looking ahead, Lundstrom is planning a new fall event designed to tap into a sense of nostalgia.
“I’m hoping to do something like a book fair for adults,” she said. “Like, don’t you miss your Scholastic Book Fair? Something fun and community-oriented, with all proceeds supporting the foundation.”
Courtesy photos
For now, though, the focus is on getting the Book Burro on the road. Lundstrom and Shertz will handle driving duties, towing the 25-foot trailer with the Maria’s Bookshop’s truck, though Lundstrom admits it’s a learning curve.
“This is definitely the biggest trailer I’ve ever hauled,” she said with a laugh. “I’m learning as I go.”
After its debut at Burro Fest, the Book Burro will begin making appearances across the region, with plans to refine and adapt the program along the way.
“I’m sure there will be things we discover we need to add or change,” Lundstrom said. “That’s part of the process.”
What remains constant is the mission: to connect people with books, wherever they are. ■
Left: Artist Jenn Rawlins puts the finishing touches on the Book Burro, which will make its debut June 20 at the Mancos Burro Fest. Below: The donkey on the mural was modeled after DonKee, who belongs to Mancos artist Veryl Goodnight./
Picking up speed
Propelled by $1.1M in grants, Phase 2 of Silverton’s Baker’s Park to begin this summer
by Missy Votel
Silverton’s new homegrown trail system is about to get a big boost. The Silverton Singletrack Society (SSS), a trail advocacy group, announced this week it has received $1.1 million in new grant funding for Phase 2 of the Baker’s Park Trail System, the first purpose-built, nonmotorized trail network in San Juan County.
Located about half a mile from downtown Silverton, the first phase of Baker’s Park opened in fall 2024 with a 7mile beginner-to-intermediate loop. According to SSS, trail counters recorded nearly 3,900 individuals using the system in its first season, confirming strong demand for close-to-home recreation in a community that previously had no purpose-built trails.
“Seeing people of all ages out enjoying the trail – locals walking their dogs, kids learning to ride, visitors discovering Silverton in a new way – has been incredibly rewarding,” Klemens Branner, Board Chair for SSS, said. “It confirms what our community believed from the beginning: that Baker’s Park could become a place where people connect with the outdoors and with each other.”
With design and planning for Phase 2 completed last summer, construction is set to begin in July and continue through 2027, adding approximately 10 new miles. The new trails, which will more than double the existing trail mileage, will be roughly 29% beginner, 53% intermediate and 18% advanced, and designed for hikers, runners and mountain bikers,
including Class 1 e-bikes.
The system will use a stacked-loop design, with hubs and clusters that let users “choose their own adventure” and mix and match routes to fit their ability and time, according to designers. Phase 2 will also include a trailhead restroom and wayfinding signage.
Trail construction will be led by IMBA Trail Solutions, with help from Southwest Conservation Corps, local contractors and community volunteers.
The main funding for Phase 2 came from a $750,000 Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant.
“Baker’s Park is exactly the kind of project the program was created to support,” Mike Wight, GOCO’s Southwest Program Officer, said. “This is a community that identified a real need, did the hard work to build consensus and prove the concept, and is now delivering lasting recreational infrastructure for residents who have had very little access to the outdoors close to home. We’re proud to be a partner in this effort.”
Additional funging for the project came from a $250,000 grant from Colorado Parks & Wildlife’s Nonmotorized Trail Program, $100,000 from the Foundation for America’s Public Lands and $7,500 from San Miguel Power Association. The Bureau of Land Management will also contribute in-kind support for biological and cultural clearances, signage and restrooms.
CPW’s award marks the agency’s second $250,000 investment in Baker’s Park, following a grant for Phase 1.
“Colorado Parks & Wildlife is proud to
continue supporting Baker’s Park,” Fletcher Jacobs, Assistant Director for Outdoor Recreation and Lands at CPW, said. “Our initial investment helped launch the first phase of trails, and it has been exciting to see how quickly the community embraced them. Projects like Baker’s Park expand access to highquality outdoor recreation while supporting local communities and protecting the landscapes that make Colorado special.”
When complete, Baker’s Park will encompass 30 miles of purpose-built trail on
BLM lands adjacent to Silverton (for comparison purposes, Durango’s Horse Gulch system is a little more than 57 miles.) The project represents the most significant investment in public outdoor recreation infrastructure in San Juan County’s history.
While the grants represent a major milestone, the work isn’t finished, according to SSS. “Significant additional funding is still needed to bring the full 30-mile vision to completion, and SSS is actively seeking partners, donors and supporters to help carry Baker’s Park across the finish line,” said Branner. ■
Kids enjoy a ride through Silverton’s new Baker’s Park trails. Phase 2, set to begin this summer, will add 10 miles to the system’s existing 7 miles./ Photo courtesy Silverton Singletrack Society
GossipoftheCyclers
Down but not out
‘Failed’ pop-up bike lane gets bulldozed – and makes the case for itself
by Jennaye Derge
The most recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 1,166 cyclists were killed by motor vehicles in 2023. According to that same report, an estimated 49,989 cyclists were injured due to a motor vehicle conflict.
According to the CDC and the NHTSA (and every other study), the way to solve this is through roadway engineering and, more specifically, protected bike lanes.
I think about this a lot on my daily commute through Durango’s unprotected bike lanes. I mean, I’m not specifically thinking about numbers and data. But I do think about how close that car just got to me while I was riding on the shoulder of the road, and how I had to slam on my brakes for that other car to turn in front of me. I do often think about the high rates of bicycleto-motor-vehicle conflict – much of which goes unreported – and I think about how we could drastically lower conflict, injuries, deaths and close calls if we just paid a little attention to bicycle infrastructure.
In other words, if we could just get some damn bike lanes.
Bike Durango co-director Andrew Allport and I have said this so many times that we eventually got tired of saying it and decided to do something about it. In the fall of 2024, Bike Durango assembled a temporary delineated bike lane using a grant from People for Bikes.
There was a wave of support, but the bike lane was also a visual disrupter on the road, so of course, there were some big feelings.
“Another waste of taxpayers money on bicycle sh*t!” wrote “Jim.” He and a handful of others were mostly concerned about the parking spots being taken away and why do us taxpayers have to pay for it. (The bike lane, which spanned one block for one week, was paid for 100% by our grant).
A gal from Bayfield threatened to run the bike lane over with her truck. Folks demanded cyclists pay registration fees. I logged off the internet for a while.
Call it delusional or optimistic, but one year after we built that first pop-up bike lane in downtown Durango, we decided to build another one. This time, using a grant from AARP, we built a delineated bike lane on Junction Street, between W. 2nd Ave. and Miller Middle School. Our plan was to build the lane on the north side of Junction and up that dreaded hill with the blind curve and terrible sidewalk, because it is one of the more dangerous stretches of road for cyclists and pedestrians, and also – we should all truly be ashamed of this – leads to a middle school. This particularly dicey artery, where speed is also a huge problem, also leads to a retirement home and numerous recreation sites, including the Colorado Trail.
Of course, we hit some potholes (literally and figuratively) trying to get
telegraph
permission to place 40 plastic delineators on Junction Street. Andrew had to fight a lot of “no’s,” or “maybes.” But, when he hears “no” he asks “why not?” and then pivots. Eventually, on the blustery day of May 6, we along with a group of volunteers popped up the delineators, drilled them into the pavement and screwed in the “bike lane” signs. During all this we also had a few tense conversations with passersby about what the heck we were doing or how the snow plows will plow.
Six hours later, we finished the lane. We gave each other a high five, and 30 minutes later, a car ran over and broke one of the delineators. It took about three days for enough of the delineators to be run over by cars to fuel concern.
“This project is a failure.” I read from the comment section of our social media.
We had planned to keep the bike lane up for two months, but by May 26, three weeks after we installed it, all but four of the 40 delineators had been hit.
“Should we wear black and have a funeral?” I texted Andrew.
It was unfortunate that our (pricey) delineators were run over, but it actually proved our point: that drivers are not paying attention and are driving into the bike lane. If they can’t avoid hitting a large, stationary object, what’s to stop them from hitting a kid biking to school?
I hate that my point was being proven in real time. But maybe with this evidence, we can present our case more effectively; we can show city officials we need protected lanes, and that crumbling shoulders or sharrows aren’t the answer. We will be better equipped to have conversations with skeptics and, hopefully, find answers to how the snowplows will plow the bike lanes. And, most importantly, maybe we can find ways to build better infrastructure that will keep all road users safe. So, while the delineators were run over, it was not a failed project. And if I know Bike Durango, I know we’ll probably shake it off and keep trying until something sticks. ■
Andrew Allport, co-director of Bike Durango, installs temporary bike lane delineators on Junction Street in early May./ Photo by Jennaye Derge
InMemoriam
Wild at heart
Remembering Katrina Blair’s crusade to reclaim the power of wild plants and lands
Editor’s note: Longtime local wild foods and lands advocate Katrina Blair passed away Fri., June 5, after a battle with cancer. She was 56.
Well known for her foraging of edible wild plants, in 1998 Blair founded the nonprofit Turtle Lake Refuge, which – among other things – featured bi-weekly lunches made from foraged, wild plants. A champion of pesticide and herbicide-free lands, she also founded Durango’s annual Dandelion Festival, held every May. She also wrote two books on the topic of wild foods.
“It’s incredibly heartbreaking to lose Katrina,” Sue Rudolph, who helped organize the Dandelion Festival, said in an email Wednesday. “She was such an incredibly beautiful and inspiring person who had a wonderful ability to help others feel valued and loved.”
Rudolph said before her death, Blair took steps to ensure her nonprofit and legacy live on.
Below is an edited Telegraph story from 2015 upon the release of Blair’s second book, “The Wild Wisdom of Weeds.” The story offers a quintessential look back at Blair’s life, work and philosophy.
by Luke Mehall
Katrina Blair, the purveyor of Turtle Lake Refuge, has spent much of her adult life advocating the benefits of weeds, as well as fighting against the use of pesticides and herbicides, locally and afar. Her 2015 book, “The Wild Wisdom of Weeds,” sold out of its first run and is on its second printing. Thanks to a heightened interest in the subject, and a favorable review in the New York Times, Blair exceeded even her publisher’s expectations by selling out 4,000 books in just a couple months.
The book, her second, highlights 13 weeds that can be used for food and medicine, including such well-recognized ones as dandelion, lambsquarter, mallow, plantain and thistle. All the plants listed in her book grow on each of the seven continents. Blair remarks that she “fell in love with these plants all over again during the writing of the book,” and she even had a 10-day period during the research where she ate nothing but those 13 plants.
Blair notes that she considers herself more of an opportunist than a vegan or vegetarian but feels best when she eats a local-food diet. “The more we refine food, the more the vitality goes down,” said Blair. “I thrive on fresh, wild, local food, which gives me a high level of clarity and energy.”
Blair was raised to be resilient. Her father, Rob Blair, a retired geology professor from Fort Lewis College who passed away in 2014, taught her to ski, hike and climb. Her mother, Pat Blair, who started Durango Natural Foods, imparted an appreciation for plants and nutrition. “My dad opened the wild, and my mom opened the doors to health,” says Blair.
She was camping in the Tetons before she learned to walk and started climbing at the age of 10 at X-Rock. She spent her high school years in New Zealand, while her
father worked on a sabbatical, and learned to appreciate the value of travel and understanding other cultures.
Perhaps her most formative and legendary experiences happened in the form of what she calls a walkabout. Blair simply hikes for days, feeding herself on the food she forages. August is typically the best month, and she boasts that in one day, while hiking to Silverton, she foraged 19 different kinds of berries. She says she’s always had a mystical connection to the land, with plants in particular. “As a kid floating on Haviland Lake, I felt drawn to the plants on the edge of the lake, and they seemed to say to me, ‘You’re going to live with us now.’”
And she has. Her most well-known walkabouts are the annual week-long pilgrimages she makes to Telluride late every summer for the Mushroom Festival, where she conducts educational workshops. She lives entirely on the plants and berries she forages and is so confident in her skills she doesn’t even bother to bring a backup stove. Blair notes that for the first three days she is typically lethargic. Then something happens, once the detoxing period is over, her energy reaches an all-time high. “By the time I arrive to Telluride, I’m riding a high, it’s as good as I feel at any point in the year. It’s like a cleanse.”
During the walkabouts, Blair also touches base with her roots as an explorer of the mountains. “I have this deep, profound trust in nature,” she shares. “While I’m in these precarious situations, I don’t have the luxury to have fear. I trust in myself and my intuition.”
As a kid, her only household rule was: be true to your-
Katrina Blair during her annual “walkabout” in the San Juans, en route to the Telluride Mushroom Festival. During the weeklong trip, she subsisted entirely on plants and berries she foraged and was so confident in her skills, she doesn’t even bother to bring a backup stove./Courtesy photo.
self. In all her experiences with edible plants, she’s only eaten something poisonous once, a twin berry, that is only considered mildly harmful. Fortunately, the effects were minimal, and she recovered quickly.
As one could expect, the book is full of detailed wisdom and creativity. Blair calls it “heavy,” containing more than 350 pages of information and a complete array of photographs of herself, the plants and many members of the Durango community and Turtle Lake family. Recipes range from Hollyhock strawberry baskets to Clover Flower Apple Pie and Plantain Breakfast Porridge.
In “The Wild Wisdom of Weeds,” Blair also features her battle against the use of herbicides in Durango’s city parks. She believes that as a community, Durango can lead the way for other communities to discontinue the use of herbicides, which she feels are harmful to those who visit the parks. She says that “changing anything is challenging, but as we remove those herbicides, it does increase our quality of life.” She adds that she is grateful that there has been some success in Durango, and that the City was a supporter in trying to make it happen.
Blair recommends moving toward eating these 13 plants gradually. “The integration should be small and slow. Wild food is so potent, starting with your morning green smoothie is a good idea for entry.”
She attributes her success with the book to the growing environmental awareness throughout the country. “The ground is prime. There’s so much awareness right now. It’s a small, yet perfect solution to start using these resources.” ■
Stuff to Do
Thursday11
Staying Safe Together: Preventing Falls & Preparing for Fire Season, 8:30 a.m.-12 noon, Durango La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.
Care and Share Mobile Market, 10-11 a.m., ELHI Community Center, 115 Ute St., Ignacio
High Altitude plays, Ska-B-Q, 5-7 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
The La Plata Quilters Guild Meeting, 5:30 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
“Outdoor Etiquette,” presented by Durango Open Space Ranger Tosh Black, 5:30-6:45 p.m., Durango Rec Center, 2700 Main Ave.
Dart Tournament, 5:30-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Jeff Solon Jazz plays, 6 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
“The Quilt as Voice” presented by Judith Reynolds, 6-8 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Andrew Schuhmann plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Randy Crumbaugh plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Bluegrass Jam, 6-9 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
Leah Orlikowski plays, 6-9 p.m., 11th St. Station,1101 Main Ave.
Not Our First Rodeo Stand Up Comedy, 6:30-8 p.m., Barons Creek Vineyards, 901 Main Ave.
Trivia Night, 6:30-8:30 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino Del Rio
Fresh Bits Comedy Open Mic, 6:30-9 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave.
Kirtan band GaiaShakti, free kirtan, 7-8:30 p.m., Unitarian Church, 419 San Juan Dr.
Open Mic Night, 7-10 p.m., American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.
Friday12
BID Coffee & Conversation, 8:30-9:30 a.m., TBK Bank Community Room, 259 W. 9th St.
San Juan Nature Hike, 10 a.m.-12 noon, Andrews Lake upper parking lot
Friday Afternoon Club Market, 3-6 p.m., Breen Community Building, 15300 HWY 140, Hesperus
Shrimp Dinner fundraiser for veterans, 4-7 p.m., VFW Post 4013, 1550 Main Ave.
Live Music, 5-9:30 p.m., Rooftop Lounge at River’s Edge, 1521 Main Ave.
Four Corners Poetry Festival with Durango Poet Laureate Esther Belin, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
La Plata County 150 Years Ago part II, 1-2 p.m., Animas Museum, 3065 W. 2nd Ave.
Fill Your Plate Fundraiser, presented by Dancing Spirit Center for the Arts, 5-7 p.m., Fox Fire Farms, 5513 CR 321, Ignacio
Disco Roller Skating, 6-8 p.m., Chapman Hill Rink
Black Velvet Duo plays, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Matt Lewis plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle
Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Matt Rupnow plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Karaoke with Kimmy, 6-9 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
Cricket plays, 6-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Ben Gibson plays, 6-9 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Colorado 150 Film Festival screens “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
iAMComedy Tight 5’s Stand-Up Comedy, 7:30 p.m., The iNDIGO Room, 1315 Main Ave., #207
Adult Disco Roller Skating DJ Party, 8-10 p.m., Chapman Hill Rink
Evening of Night Sky Wonder, 8:30-10 p.m., SJMA Durango Nature Center, 63 CR 310
Sunday14
Durango Flea Market, 7 a.m.-3 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
Sunday Record Brunch Club, 12 noon-3 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Irish Jam, 12 noon-3 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
La Plata Food Equity Coalition Community Meal & Feel, 12:30-3 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds Extension Building
NoKings #4 Day: Rise Up! Sing Out! 3:30-5 p.m. sign-waving on N. Main Ave., 19th-32nd Streets; watch party for the Committee for the First Amendment’s Live Concert, 5:30-7 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
High Altitude Blues plays, 4-7 p.m., Hillcrest Golf Club, 2300 Rim Dr.
Beyond the Plate: An Evening with Manna, 5 p.m., Destination Ranch, 2550 Destination Ranch Rd.
Funk Jam Sessions, 5-7 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Ben Gibson plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Blue Moon Ramblers play, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
AskRachel
Mail priorities, crate expectations and White House wormholes
Interesting fact: With something like 20 million milk crates going missing every year, we can conclude only that milk crate enforcement is an underfunded division at the DOJ.
Dear Rachel, I mail a lot of things for my business. Nearly every time I take them to the post office, a staffer suggests I sign up for some service where I can print my own labels at a discount. What if I don’t want to burn through labels and take up space for postage scales, and sign up for yet another app? What if I want to stand in line and interact with a real person? I can’t figure out why they’re trying to talk me into spending less money and putting them out of a job.
– Boxed Out
Dear Social Butterfly, Your Priority Mail priorities might just be different than the rest of ours. You mean I could save money AND not have to stand there and talk to someone? Sold. I’m pretty sure your postal employees are only trying to save themselves some mindless labor. Or maybe they don’t like talking to you as much as you think they must. Or maybe they get a kickback if you use Pirate Ship – oh wait, never mind, kickbacks are only for executives.
– Postage due, Rachel
Monday15
Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Meditation and Dharma Talk, 5:30 p.m., Durango Dharma Center, 1800 E. 3rd Ave., Ste. 109 or durangodharmacenter.org
Women’s Mountain Bike Basics Clinic, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Purgatory Sports Downtown, 2615 Main Ave.
Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Darryl Kuntz plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Colorado River Interstate Compact presented by SW Water Conservation District, 6:30 p.m., Animas Valley Grange, 7271 CR 203
Tuesday16
La Plata Food Equity Coalition Working Lunch Brainstorm, 12 noon-1:30 p.m., Main Mall Center for Innovation, 835 Main Ave., Ste. 225
Cowboy Tuesdays, 12 noon-3 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Dear Rachel, Everyone I know has some milk crates in their shed or the garage. They’re great for storage. They’re also technically property of whatever cow-milking company left them out back of the grocery store. Have we just decided as a society to look the other way? Or could all my friends and I end up being prosecuted someday?
– Gone Bad
Dear Grand Theft Dairy,
First they’re coming for the journalists, and the protesters, and the immigrants, and the leftists, and the poets. Even though taking milk crates is, in fact, illegal, I have to imagine that milk-crate purloiners are pretty far down the list, and the odds are pretty high that you’ll end up in some other targeted group before they get to silencing the pilferers of sturdy plastic boxes. But they’ll come for us all, in the end. So we better band together now, because once they come for their milk crates, there will be no one left to stand for us.
– Stackable and sturdy, Rachel
Dear Rachel, I can’t get the image out of my head of cage fights on the lawn of the White House. I can’t stop thinking that it looks like a portal device from a sci-fi show, one that could end
Book Club: Queer Writing, 5-7:30 p.m., Bread Downtown, 135 E. 8th St.
Six Dollar String Band plays Locals Night, 5-9 p.m., LePlatt’s Pond, 311A CR 501, Bayfield
Twin Buttes Tuesday, weekly group mountain bike ride, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Twin Buttes Trailhead parking lot
Core Survival Skills workshop, 6-7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Tuesday Trivia, 6-8:30 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Darryl Kuntz plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Sean O’Brien plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Adult Disco Roller Skating, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Chapman Hill Roller Rink
Wednesday17
Clean Commute Day, 7 a.m., Main Ave. in front of
Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
up sending anyone inside to another dimension. Like a wormhole. This, I realize, is now my great hope. Do you think it’s possible?
– Open the Gates
Dear Sci-Fi Fantasy, I could think of some worms to volunteer for the wormhole. I was thinking of different sci-fi movies, and wouldn’t it be great if the “Independence Day” aliens retargeted from the White House to the UFC stage. But your idea is pretty great, too. If it costs to send certain people through the portal, I’ll chip in for shipping. Heck, I’ll even volunteer my new label printer for the job.
– Fire it up, Rachel
Sustainable Goods , 680 Main Ave., and various spots
Durango Daybreak Rotary with Ann Marie Beresford, of Adaptive Sports Association, 7-8 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
Wild New Way Women’s Collective, 8:30-10 a.m., Durango Collective, 1315 Main Ave.
Ukulele Night, 5-7 p.m., Four Leaves Winery, 528 Main Ave.
Ska Bingo Night, 5-7 p.m., DoubleTree Animas River Lounge, 501 Camino Del Rio
Mojo Birds play Community Concert Series, 5:30-8 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino del Rio
Author Event: Miriam Horn “Homesick for a World Unknown,” 6 p.m., Rochester Garden, 726 E. 2nd Ave.
Word Honey free poetry workshop, 6-7:30 p.m., The Hive, 1175 Camino Del Rio
Improv-a-Rama Comedy Night, 6-8 p.m., American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.
Darryl Kuntz plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You are often the best possible remedy for stale, unoriginal thinking that’s festering in your vicinity. And you are especially so these days. Others might have the gall to disrupt the deadening status quo, but you have the charm to do it without scorching every bridge and laying waste to the land. So I invite you to step into the role of cheerful troublemaker. Unleash your iconoclastic sparks with the intention of making life friskier and more imaginative, not more tangled and irritating.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In many farming cultures, including parts of India, growers speak or sing to their crops as they walk through the fields. It’s a gesture of personal care that mirrors growing scientific interest in how plants respond to sound and vibration. Some studies suggest that plants exposed to sustained speech and song may grow more vigorously. Your assignment in the coming weeks, Taurus, is to speak to the growing things in your life with similar devotion. Talk to your projects. Sing to your relationships. Tell jokes to your dreams. The universe is extra responsive to your sweet voice.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Neurologist Oliver Sacks said, “I am haunted by the density of experience.” He meant that every moment contains far more richness than we can fully register or remember. This observation will be especially relevant for you in the coming weeks. Your mind (and heart!) will be flooded with an abundance of stimuli, ideas, feelings and impressions. It might initially feel overwhelming but will ultimately be a boon – especially if you prepare yourself for the intensity and abundance. Imagine yourself standing next to a fountain and feeling cheerful about getting soaked.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): You have superpowers that hardened hearts and tough guys can’t fathom. Receptivity is a key part of your genius, for example. Emotional fluency is at the root of your intelligence. Your ability to feel so much and so deeply makes you dangerous to status quos managed by people who overthink everything. Wait! There’s more. You can nurture without smothering and protect without imprisoning. You wield the powers of memory without being enslaved by nostalgia. You make home a verb, not a noun, as you build shelter for yourself and your tribe. I hope you will express these gorgeous talents to the max in the coming weeks and months.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): An astrologer rooted in older traditions might claim that now is an ideal time to promote your personal agenda through sly, gossipy maneuvering. But since I am devoted to building a new culture grounded in compassion, my message is different. Coming weeks will be a potent phase to engage in elevating gossip that serves the greater good, to celebrate unsung heroes and to call attention to everything that is thriving. For practical dreamers, carelessly speaking ill of others undermines our own aspirations. One of the most effective ways to expand our possibilities is to use the power of language to boost other people’s chances for joy and success.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The ancient Library of Alexandria contained over half a million scrolls. If you devoted eight hours a day to reading, you could finish about 5,000 books in your life. The librarians knew they would never read all the texts they managed. Their job wasn’t to consume all knowledge but to be stewards. They’re good role models for you. You don’t have to master every single thing that attracts your attention. Your task is to curate with care, to know what to preserve and what to release. One of your noblest projects is to commune pleasurably with the mysteries that life brings you, not obsess on them.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libra psychologist Carol Dweck distinguishes between fixed mindsets (“I’m not smart enough”) and growth mindsets (“I can become smarter”). When you have a fixed mindset, obstacles weigh you down. With a growth mindset, they motivate you. What determines your trajectory isn’t your current skill level but how you relate to your edge. I invite you to monitor your selftalk as you encounter challenges. Are you prone to thinking that limitations are permanent, or do you see them as opportunities? You now have a good chance to instill the latter as a root habit.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): What’s something you wish you could change about yourself? Is it a trait, pattern, fear or story about your body? And what exactly tells you that this can never change? Is it loyalty to old expectations or a rotting prophecy someone laid on you? Consider the possibility that maybe the “can’t” is really a “won’t,” or a “don’t know how yet,” or “I’m afraid of who I’d be without this.” Then imagine that you don’t have to transform this thing instantly, but, for starters, need only shift it by 10% in the direction of mercy and freedom. What small, specific action would generate that?
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
What’s your most vital relationship? I dare you to surprise each other in the coming weeks. Refresh your bond with playful experimentation. Here are adventures you two could explore: 1. Take a walk together with no destination in mind, letting curiosity guide you. Talk about the paths you have not yet taken in life but might like to. 2. Describe the most beautiful future you can imagine for each other. Share practical steps you could take to make these scenarios happen. 3. Choose a food treat you both love, speak a blessing over it, then eat it slowly together as you name what you are most grateful for in your connection.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Chess masters and accomplished musicians practice differently from amateurs. They focus most intensely on their weak points, less so on rehearsing what they already do well. It’s uncomfortable to confront inadequacy, but they’re better for it. In my astrological opinion, Capricorn, you should specialize in a similar courage during the coming weeks. I invite you to direct your generous attention toward your shakiest skills and most uncertain territories. Glorious growth will happen at the edge of your competence.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Be more like a lightning storm over a green meadow and less like a porch light attracting moths. Be more like a spiritual riddle in a poem and less like a slogan printed on a T-shirt. Be more like a Miles Davis improvisation and less like a formulaic pop song. Can you stretch yourself into more fertile wildness? Will you expand your future with adventures that thrill your imagination? For a bonus, be more like a dream of wandering in a rowdy paradise and less like the old version of yourself. Trust the frontiers that make your pulse quicken and speak less about the obvious truths that make everyone nod in agreement.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Are you ready to assess the state of your emotional pain? Every few years, I invite you to take stock. I ask you to reflect on how well you’ve been cultivating meaningful stress while avoiding useless pain and misery. So, how’s your progress since our last check-in? Have you improved at sidestepping dull torments you’ve relived a thousand times? Are you less vulnerable to being wounded by ignorant or thoughtless people? Can you more swiftly shake off the sting of minor troubles? Most importantly, are you increasingly magnetized to the intriguing dilemmas that challenge you to grow wiser and more resourceful?
Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.
Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $10 minimum.
Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check. (Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)
Ads can be submitted by emailing: classifieds@ durangotelegraph.com
Announcements
Adult Roller Skating
Check out the Chapman Hill Rink schedule. We have added adult skating on Tuesday nights 6:30-8:30pm and DJ parties one Saturday each month 8:15-10 pm. Durango Roller skaters will be there to help you get rolling! Todd 970-799-013
HelpWanted
Preschool Enrollment
Happening now at Durango Montessori School! Complete an interest form on our website: durangomontessori.org
Classes/Workshops
Summer Art and Theater Classes for youth ages 5-18 are open for registration at the Durango Arts Center. Adult classes also available in stained glass, water color, fabric art, pastels and acrylics. www.durangoarts.org to learn more.
Parenting Classes-Storybook Gardens 970-403-3347
ForRent
Sunny Furnished 3B/3BA Riverview home for rent. July 1- Aug 1, $4.5K. Near river trail. No pets/ smokers. Email owner at cadc8900@ gmail.com
Fabulous Quiet Room for rent in nice office! Internet, beautiful views, deck, W/D. 3750 Main Ave. $700/mo. Avail July 1. Text 970.799.8670
Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
Wanted
Books Wanted at White Rabbit Donate/Trade/Sell 970 259-2213
BodyWork
Massage by Meg Bush
30, 60 & 90 min Meg Bush, LMT 970759-0199
Lymphatic Drainage Massage Intentional full body fluid movement. Meg Bush, LMT 970-759-0199
ForSale
Reruns Home Furnishings
Time to refresh your indoor and outdoor space. Rolling wooden bar, nightstands, mirrors, lamps, cool artwork and lots more! Also looking to consign smaller furniture pieces. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.
CommunityService
Gem and Mineral Show Volunteers needed for the 72nd annual Four Corners Gem and Mineral Show, July 1012 at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. Volunteering for at least one shift will grant you free access to the show all three days! Visit durangorocks.org.
‘Ladies First’ Imagine a world where a quick concussion can cure misogyny – Lainie Maxson
Young Artists - Huge Impact Market is seeking applications from youth artists 12-18 for DAC’s Durango Autumn Arts Festival, Sept.19-20. Applications at www.durangoarts.org under events. Deadline is July 17.
Hello? Durango Telegraph?
Want customers to come and knock on your door? Advertise in the Telegraph!
(Ads start at just $80 a week - cheaper than a night at the Regal Beagle)
For more info., get on the horn: missy@durangotelegraph.com or 970-259-0133
