the durango
elegraph
Words of the wise Renaissance man ‘Wordy Old Men’ bring seven decades of life to stage
filmmaker on making art at 9,300 ft.
Notes from the road
Tales from Bend to Durango –and all points between
Silverton musician,
5 Be like Jane
When
by Missy Votel
On the road again
True tales from Bend to Durango –and everything in between by Jonathan P. Thompson / Land Desk
missy@durangotelegraph.com
jennaye@durangotelegraph.com
telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
TOn the cover The last of the summer’s bumper squash crop destined for the decorative gourd heap./ Photo by Missy Votel
Ear to the ground:
“Don’t just half-ass it. Go full ass.” – Really, the best advice we’ve ever heard
A biblical flood
As residents displaced by last week’s flooding in Vallecito and Pagosa return home, they are being offered help, not just from neighbors, GoFundMes and the government, but none other than America’s original televangelical family.
According to a press release sent to the Telegraph this week, The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) has deployed to southwestern Colorado, where “unprecedented rainfall has resulted in widespread flooding across the region.” A team of crisis-trained chaplains will be ministering to the communities of Vallecito and Pagosa Springs, where a back-to-back storms brought several days of torrential rain that forced the evacuation of more than 400 homes.
“Our hearts go out to the people of southwestern Colorado who are reeling from the devastating floods that swept through their communities,” Josh Holland, international director of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team, said. “As residents return home and begin the recovery process, our crisis-trained chaplains will be there to offer a listening ear, a prayer and the hope of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that God is our refuge and strength through every flood or storm that we face in life – that’s the message our chaplains hope to bring to those who are hurting.”
The BG-RRT is deploying in coordination with Samaritan’s Purse, the Christian disaster relief organization headed by Billy Graham’s son, Franklin.
For those who are too young (or too old) to remember, Billy Graham was an American evangelist, Southern Baptist minister and civil rights advocate who rose to fame with his broadcasts, world tours and lively sermons. He was also criticized for his close ties with presidents as well as his views on women, homosexuality and minorities. He died in 2018 at the age of 99.
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team was formed following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. It has since grown into an international network of chaplains who are specifically trained to deal with crisis situations. They have deployed to more than 900 disasters across the globe, including shootings, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes … and, now, rogue hot tubs.
LaVidaLocal opinion
Sometimes it comes back
What is your favorite time of year? Is it spring, when buds begin to bloom and the days begin to lengthen? Perhaps it’s summer, when the temps are high and outdoor activity is at its peak. For me, it’s when the temperatures start to drop, and I can finally start sleeping comfortably under heavier blankets. It’s when fallen leaves give a satisfying crunch underfoot, releasing an aroma of earth and autumn. It’s when creatures feared and ostracized during other times of the year – ghouls, witches and monsters –can come out and be celebrated.
My introduction to these figures started with unsupervised access to a few cable TV networks, including TNT, USA and HBO. One of my earliest memories of watching a scary movie includes a black-and-white zombie film. I was anxious that, at any moment, a grayscaled-zombie would fling open the back door and attack me in front of the television. But by the next morning, I was alive! What a thrill, and to my young mind, a surprise!
I subsequently watched a lot of bad horror films in childhood, mostly sequels to popular films like “Child's Play,” “Halloween,” “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Even when I wasn’t watching them, I used to walk to my local video store and visit the horror section. I would pick up the movies with spooky-looking covers, read their summaries and then imagine the stories and gore that each one held. I still haven’t watched “The Company of Wolves,” “Puppet Master 5” or “Dolly Dearest,” but I can still recall the morbid (and campy) images printed on their VHS boxes.
that I, too, was different, and that this difference was enough to make me considered, by some, a monster?
I don’t think I need to reiterate why I sensed this. Even today, we simply need to pull up a website of a conservative news outlet or swipe a few times through the president’s social media to see the distaste for difference and queerness. While these movies highlighted gore and often used offensive language and images, their outlandishness mirrored the same sort of wild jump that one needs to view my same-sex attraction as an abhorrence. But even with this absurdity, I found myself believing them – that I could somehow be as monstrous as a doll possessed with the soul of an undead serial killer. I wonder if that feeling – that we are monstrous – is more common than I imagine?
I sometimes saw other kids my age browsing the horror section, but it really ramped up as we entered fall and neared Halloween. I think it’s natural to have a fascination with topics considered taboo, but I don’t think that’s entirely what drew me to these tapes. Was it the brave Thackery Binx from “Hocus Pocus”? Was it the persnickety but athletic Patrick Bateman from “American Psycho”? Was it the two suspiciously close and handsome male friends who ended up as the killers in the first “Scream”? Maybe. Perhaps it was the sense
Thumbin’It
The millions who showed up across the country for last weekend’s “No Kings” rallies in a show of peaceful and fun-loving resistance to the Trump Administration – despite Fox News’ dire, apocalyptic predictions of the opposite
Score another one for the hometown team, with Steamworks Brewing taking home gold for its Backside Stout at the recent Great American Beer Festival
The City of Durango considering a 10 mph speed limit for e-bikes, cyclists, scooters and others using mechanized transportation on the Animas River Trail, which has become a bit of a free-for-all speedway as of late
Now in adulthood, it is annoyingly difficult to move past this thought. It has become so internalized that it persists despite the attempts to end it. But how does one end Michael Meyers or Jason Voorhees? I don’t think cryogenically freezing the thought, setting it on fire or shooting it into outer space is going to work. Even when we feel like we’ve “killed” it off, are we doomed to countless sequels where it comes back, more gruesome and worse than before? Perhaps the “final girl” trope holds the key. Should we embody Jamie Lee Curtis in “Halloween,” whose abstinence saved her in the first film? Or should we copy her isolation in the most recent?
I don’t think that works either. Perhaps the key is in family – “The Addams Family.” One of my favorite spooky households, they welcome outcasts whose monstrosities are the very things that make them alluring and celebrated. From their inception, the Addamses have injected camp and comedy into how they move through their world. Can humor save us? Is it what can finally end the spree of a monstrous thought? We’ll have to wait and see … until next time!
P.S.: Come see me celebrate horror and humor this weekend in “The Rocky Horror Show,” which opens Oct 24 at the DAC.
–– Doug Gonzalez
SignoftheDownfall:
My cat, Ronnie, is missing. He is a smallish, non-descript, sweet and personable gray tabby with hazel eyes last seen in the vicinity of 6th Avenue and 8th Street on Sun., Oct. 19. Email the Telegraph with information leading to his whereabouts and karmic reward.
So now, crazy people are taping syringes loaded with mysterious substances to public toilet seats. One more reason to hold it till you get home.
Apparently Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the White House’s East wing to build his new ballroom. We will refrain from any comments about the big balls he will hold there.
Bummer Camp
The Boy Scouts of America changed its name to “Scouting America” in 2024 to rebrand after all those pesky bankruptcy and child abuse issues, but they didn’t learn their lesson. It was announced recently that the organization will start awarding merit badges for AI and Cybersecurity, and to earn them, scouts will have to work with Scoutly, who is a new “child friendly” chatbot. Sure, the organization has gotten flak in the past for other non-outdoorsy badges like Stamp Collecting, Consumer Buying and Atomic Energy, but none of them subjected children to our future AI overlord in his most dastardly incarnation yet: a legless gender-fluid robot with obvious hypnosis powers. It’s a bold move, but at least we’ve forgotten about the heavy metals in Girl Scout cookies, amiright?
WritersontheRange
Fight like h*ll
Channeling Jane Goodall to stop OHVs in national parks
by Stephen Trimble
In her “Last Words” interview that was broadcast after her death, Jane Goodall talked about her calm in the face of “the dark times we are living in now.” She devoted her life to battling for conservation but attributed this serenity to the time she spent in the forest with the chimps. All those weeks and months and years of quiet observation.
Such quiet is a rare gift. I haven’t been in Goodall’s Tanzanian rain forest but recently shared Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park with a 25-year-old cousin visiting from urban America. Once in the canyons he kept pausing to say, “it’s so peaceful, so still.” He was astonished and renewed by that quiet.
Unfortunately, this canyon country stillness is under attack. The assaults come in waves powered by motorized vehicles, engines revving.
First, the Trump Administration proposed abandoning the 2023 Bureau of Land Management travel plan for Labyrinth Canyon. This 300,000-acre Utah wildland along the Green River just north of Canyonlands National Park is a gem – a fretwork of slickrock canyons along the river. Labyrinth preserves quiet for rafters, hikers and bighorn sheep. No death-defying rapids here on this lazy, looping stretch easily paddled by families in canoes.
In a model compromise, the current Labyrinth plan maintains access to more than 800 miles of off-highway-vehicle (OHV) routes, closing only 317 miles to vehicles. In the surrounding Moab region, more than 4,000 miles of routes remain open. OHVs have plenty of room to roam.
But moderation is never enough for Utah politicians determined to motorize every inch of our public lands. They are pushing to reopen 141 miles of closed OHV routes at Labyrinth and hoping for even more. (You can comment here before Oct. 24: tinyurl.com/3ky2t2k8)
In another backtrack on conservation in Utah, the administration has solicited bids for coal leasing on 48,000 acres of BLM land, much of it on and near the boundaries of national parks. The big views from Capitol Reef, Zion and Bryce Canyon don’t stop at the park boundaries. Visitors, many from other countries, would be horrified by such industrialization of these world-class destinations. Rural Utah depends on these tourists to survive economically.
These are lands that even the conservative second Bush Administration deemed unsuitable for mines. As
Cory MacNulty, with the National Parks Conservation Association, said of the proposed leasing, “It’s absurd.”
Now the OHV battalions are threatening to overwhelm Capitol Reef National Park.
Utah Republican Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis introduced a bill Oct. 5 to open virtually every road in Capitol Reef to off-roaders. They claim that disabled Americans need this fundamental change to park policy, though even the park’s back roads are currently accessible by moderately high-clearance cars and trucks. There’s absolutely no need to permit noisy and destructive OHVs.
The senators’ second bill would potentially open other national parks to OHV use. Lee tried to pass nearly identical bills in 2021 and encountered a buzzsaw of resistance from national park advocates.
As retired Capitol Reef superintendent Sue Fritzke said, “OHVs would denigrate the very resources those sites have been set aside to protect, with increased dust and noise and impacts on wildlife, endangered species and visitors.”
At each mile farther into remote corners of the park, off-highway vehicles become more problematic. Even though a majority of riders would obey the rules, some
will go off-road. They just will. Their vehicles are designed for this exact purpose. In Capitol Reef’s considerable backcountry – as in all underfunded national parks and monuments – staffing does not allow for constant patrolling to apprehend and ticket wrongdoers.
Capitol Reef is a place to slow down, not speed up. To revel in quiet, not reach for earplugs. To share the healing land with tenderness and restraint.
Lee disrespects national park values with these twin bills, and Curtis, who likes to tout his nature sensitivity on hikes with constituents, should know better. Their misguided proposals should be left to wither in committee and die. Those of us who love the restorative peace of national parks will just keep fighting such regressive bills.
In her last interview, Jane Goodall asked us to never give up: “Without hope, we fall into apathy and do nothing. If people don’t have hope, we’re doomed. Let’s fight to the very end.”
We will.
Stephen Trimble is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a writer and photographer based in Utah.■
The Lee-Curtis proposal would bring OHV traffic into the wildness and quiet of places like Cathedral Valley in Capitol Reef National Park. / Photo courtesy Stephen Trimble
SoapBox
Helping to grow local farmers
In 2018, Woody Tasch, founder of the Slow Money movement (www.slowmoney.org), visited Durango to share insights from his new book, “SOIL,” during a reading at our beloved Maria’s Bookshop.
Inspired by his talk, a number of community members expressed interest in starting a local Slow Money group. Emails were gathered, and the first meeting – held at the Durango Public Library – attracted nearly 50 people.
The energy was exciting and full of promise.
However, early conversations revealed differing opinions: whether to charge interest on loans to local organic farmers – who often don’t qualify for traditional financing due to perceived risk – or to offer loans at 0%. The idea of “slowing money down,” a cornerstone of the Slow Money philosophy, is rooted in the belief that investing in the health of our soil and food systems brings long-term returns not just to lenders but to entire communities.
Encouraged by this vision, a core group of volunteers committed to exploring the 0% loan model and formally launched what would become Four Corners Slow Money.
In 2019, the group awarded its first loan to Adobe House Farm.
Since then, Four Corners Slow Money has provided a total of $141,855 in 0% interest loans to 17 projects across the Four Corners region. These include local
farms and food businesses that use regional ingredients. All but one of these loans have been repaid –proof of both the viability and integrity of our local producers.
The ripple effect of this work is visible at farmers markets, local grocers and even in specialty products. Think of Farm to Summit’s dehydrated meals, James Ranch Market’s Adobe House tomatoes, Breen Mesa Creamery cheese or the local produce stocked at Durango Natural Foods Co-op (DNF) – much of it made possible by these small loans.
The community’s power to shape its own food economy became even more evident through a recent collaboration with DNF. For the past two years, the coop’s patrons have had the opportunity to “round up” their purchases to support Four Corners Slow Money. Last year alone, this simple action raised more than $12,000, with this year’s donations already surpassing that.
This is what collective action looks like: small gestures – donations, rounding up at the register, volunteering time – coming together to create meaningful change.
To everyone who has contributed, whether through direct donations or by saying “yes” to rounding up: thank you. And deep gratitude to the DNF board, staff and management for continuing to ask that small but powerful question: “Would you like to round up to help local farmers today?” Your efforts are helping grow a more resilient, tasty and healthy
D-Tooned/by Rob Pudim
future for our region.
In times when the state of the world can feel overwhelming, look no further than this local effort for a reminder: we are making a difference. Together, we’re building a circular economy; one that supports farmers, nurtures the land, strengthens our food systems, and ensures future generations will be able to feed themselves well.
– Linda Illsley, Four Corners Slow Money, Durango
Quick’n’Dirty
City to take on speed limit, animal control
Travelers on the Animas River Trail may soon be required to slow their roll or face the consequences. At its regular meeting Tues., Oct. 21, Durango City Council considered a change to city ordinance that would impose a 10 mph speed limit on the Animas River Trail enforceable by a $100 fine.
The new law would set a maximum speed of 10 mph when others are present on not just the ART, but all hard surface, multi-use trails within city limits. The ordinance would apply to bicycles, scooters, skateboards and similar devices, regardless if they are motorized. Enforcement would be carried out by the city’s open space rangers, who would have the authority to issue citations of up to $100 for exceeding the speed limit.
The proposal come as in response to increased usage and safety concerns on Durango’s trail network and growing conflicts between pedestrians and faster-moving users on e-bikes and bicycles.
The new law would not restrict the speed of individuals traveling together in the same direction when others are not present. However, faster trail users are expected to anticipate others at all times and advised to slow down at blind corners and other areas with limited sight distance.
The new law and applicable fine would apply to all ages, including children under 18 years old.
According to the City, signs will be installed posting the new speed limit after the ordinance is passed. City Council is expected to vote on the new speed limit at its meeting next week, Oct. 28.
And speaking of rule enforcement, the City will also be taking the lead on animal control enforcement from the La Plata County Humane Society starting Jan. 1
Again, the change is the result of re-
cent community concerns, particularly along the Animas River Trail.
Historically, animal control and leash laws have been enforced by the Humane Society, which is paid $289,883 annually by the City for two officers. The city has a contract with the Humane Society through the end of 2028, but it allows for termination with the appropriate notice, which was given Oct. 10. The city has a separate contract for services provided at the Humane Society Animal Shelter.
The money will be reallocated to pay for expanded patrols by the city’s open space rangers and potentially two new ranger positions.
“This transition will allow for better coordination, visibility and responsiveness in addressing animal control issues, while also enhancing our ability to mitigate conflicts in these heavily used public spaces,” Assistant City Manager Bob Brammer said.
cember 2024 for $1.25 million using funds from the American Rescue Plan. In June 2025, the City launched a search to find a development partner.
Southwest Community Partners, made up of five separate entities, will be tasked with not only building the project but developing a conceptual plan and timeline as well as estimating costs and funding proposals, among other things.
Multiple proposals were received, but Southwest Community Partners was chosen as the most qualified, City Prosperity Officer Mike French said.
“We are pleased to make progress on a workforce housing-centric development that will create under-market for-sale units," French said in a new release. "We are looking forward to working with Southwest Community Partners, who had a solid design that blends into the existing planned development at Rivergate.”
“By expanding the role of our rangers to include a focus on animal control and protection, we also see an opportunity to more proactively address seasonal wildlife interactions, such as bear activity, through education and enforcement.”
Police Chief Brice Current will be working with the Humane Society to implement the transition plan.
Rivergate workforce housing moves ahead
The City of Durango is moving ahead on 31 new workforce housing units. This week, it announced it had partnered with Southwest Community Partners, LLC, to develop the new units on a City-owned lot at Rivergate.
The City bought the 1.7-acre lot, adjacent to Animas Surgical Hospital, in De-
In exchange for developing the lot, the City intends to donate the land to the developer, provided agreed-upon milestones are met. The city also has first right of refusal to buy an adjacent lot, which could accommodate about 40 more units.
Southwest Community Partners is a collaboration between: Colorado Outdoors, a Montrose-based real estate developer; Boulder’s Pel-Ona Architects & Urbanists; Durango landscape architecture firm DHM Design; Durango’s Shaw Construction, which will serve as general contractor; and Colorado-based financial consultants Castlewood Partners.
Next steps include a pre-application meeting with the City’s Community Development Department, followed by the application and review process. The development will require final approval by City Council, and there will be opportunities for public input throughout the process.
Community members can follow the project at: engage.durangoco.gov.
– Missy Votel
10 mph speed restrictions for bikes, e-bikes, scooters and other fast movers on the river trail could be coming if City Council passes a new ordinance next week./Photo courtesy City of Durango
LocalNews
Men of words
‘Wordy Old Men’ share septuagenarian life experiences
by Missy Votel
It’s been said that aging is just another word for living. And this weekend, there will be a combined 350 years of living experience under one roof as “Wordy Old Men” take the stage at the Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
The free performance, which includes 7 p.m. shows Friday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday, will run the gamut from prose and poetry to storytelling.
“The show will cover everything from aging to how we grow up to the outdoors and nature,” show organizer and participant Anthony Myers, 70, said. “People can expect to hear a really soulful and beautiful rendition of life through the eyes of a septuagenarian.”
In addition to Myers, the group includes the Telegraph’s own unofficial poet laureate, Burt Baldwin, as well as Larry “From Durango” Bourland, Larry Goral and Pete Martori. “We are all in our 70s,” said Myers. “And we’ve all lived pretty darn fascinating lives, and that type of thing can only be achieved by living long enough.”
The show is the first one sponsored by
Myers’ newly formed group, “Artists of Aging,” or AOA. A longtime Durango resident and English teacher for 40 years, Myers came up with the idea for the group after making a trip to the Netherlands several years back. While there, he visited a niece, who is a well-known spoken word artist, and was “blown away” by her performance, which was attended by about 300 people.
“It kind of inspired me to be on the lookout for people who could do that kind of thing here,” he said.
Particularly, Myers – a spoken word artist and stand-up comedian himself –was looking to help showcase the work of older creatives who can face difficulties in finding places to perform their art.
Then, about a year ago, lightning struck when Myers attended a local open mic poetry night in which all four of the aforementioned men performed.
“I walked out stunned. These guys nailed it,” he said. “I thought, ‘This might be my opening.’”
He reached out to all four, and they were immediately on board with the idea for a group performance. “It just fell into place. It fit the concept I had about an
older creative who has been serious about their art but has maybe gotten away from it. We’ve had regular careers and came back to our art after we retired,” said Myers. “We’ve all been doing this work decades. We’re honed artists who just need a place to let their art out so people can appreciate it.”
In addition to sharing life experiences, Myers said the event is about bringing back public speaking, which seems to have fallen by the wayside in this TikTok era. “Public speaking is absolutely an art from, and we’ve gotten away from it,” he said.
While this first performance is all men, Myers said he hopes the organization will grow to include older women artists as well. He said he would like for the next show to feature all women.
“Basically, the whole point is so give older creatives an opportunity to get out there and create,” he said.
“Wordy Old Men” is produced in conjunction with Merely Players’ Studio Series. The event is free, and no reservations are necessary. “Just show up. Pay what you wish,” said Myers.
For more info. about Artists of Aging, reach out to Myers at: devader714@gmail.com. ■
“Wordy Old Men,” from left: Burt Baldwin, Anthony Myers, Larry Bourland (back), Larry Goral and Pete Martori./ Courtesy photo
BetweentheBeats
Small-town renaissance
Silverton’s Julian Hood on making music, art and film at 9,300 feet
by Stephen Sellers
Sleepy little Silverton is quietly becoming a haven for artists carving out new creative lives in the shadows of the mines. One of them is musician, filmmaker and screen printer Julian Hood. His screen-printing shop, band, Half Bandit, and upcoming film, “Tommyknockers” are evidence of the small-town artistic renaissance. Ahead of his band’s Nov. 1 show in Durango with ORA, Hood sat down to talk community, creativity and the strange magic of making art at 9,300 feet.
SS: Julian, how would you describe what you do?
JH: I am a musician, a filmmaker, and I’ve been making my money primarily from screen-printing T-shirts in Silverton.
SS: How did you end up in Silverton?
JH: I took a job dogsled tour guiding in 2017 in Snowmass. I was in Texas playing music full time but wasn’t supporting myself well. I needed a reset. I surrounded myself with 200 dogs and 10 other guys for six months with no connection to the outside world. My roommate was from Durango and told me I’d love it there. I visited, loved it, packed up and was on my way when I stopped in Silverton. Within two weeks, I had a job, a house and people to play music with.
SS: What has it been like to drop into a community like Silverton and start making music?
JH: When I got here six years ago, there was zero pressure in any performance sense. I had come from bars and venues where all eyes are on you. Here, people just didn’t care, which was a relief. After a while, it got weird. I got apathetic toward performing. I played a bit in 2019, started playing in Durango in early 2020, then everything shut down. I holed up and started writing. That’s where a lot of my newer songs came from.
The community didn’t really start here musically until the past two years. Because of the Powerhouse, there’s now a place for musicians to land. I’ve played in several bands, and it’s been a strange musical renaissance I didn’t see coming.
SS: You’re alluding to the Silverton Powerhouse?
JH: Yeah, the Powerhouse is an art space run out of an old industrial building, also known as Scotty Bob’s Skiworks. A group of artists got together to start running it. I was one of the founding members three years ago. I needed a place to put my screen print equipment. I moved into the Powerhouse with four other members, and now there are about nine of us renting space there.
SS: Tell us about your musical project, Half Bandit, which has a show coming up Nov. 1 in Durango with ORA at the Fort Lewis Chapel.
JH: Half Bandit is my music, but it doesn’t exist without John Bailey, whose drums helped launch the sound into the space it needed – beachy, tropical, kind of circusy. Then some friends joined, including Mario Letayf. Bailey kept saying, after every idea, “when we full band it,” so we called the band Half Bandit. We’ve played at the Ouray Film Fest opening night for the past two years. That’s our residency, and this show will be our first time branching out.
SS: Do you have any recordings coming out?
JH: Yes. We recorded about a year ago. We set up microphones, did a practice, then forgot about it for six months. I
and I put
and will release a small EP by the Nov. 1 show.
SS: What’s on the horizon for you?
JH: I’ve been filming a hybrid documentary-narrative portrayal of Silverton for the past year. We’ve been calling it “Tommyknockers,” based on Cornish mining lore about creatures in the mines that protect and trick miners. It’s based on the idea that the town has more people dead than alive, and that the environmental work people like my girlfriend, Nora Dwyer, do is a form of atonement – connecting with the land scientifically and humanly.
We made one film last November following filmmaker Noam Kroll’s rules: no script, no shot list, shoot in one day, all sound from set. We made it, I entered it into Raindance (Film Festival) in New York City, and two months later, we got the email that we won. I thought it was a hoax, but it was real. (It) was a huge validation.
We’ve developed “Tommyknockers” from that idea and hope to finish filming next month and release it this winter.
SS: That sounds incredible! Do you have a website where people can find your work?
JH: I’m polishing it, but right now, I’m posting on thees.us, which is a shortened version of my T-shirt company site, theestees.com. I’d like to connect more with the creative community in Durango and the Southwest. If anybody wants to reach out through my email or Instagram, I’d love to see the creative community become more cohesive so we can all support each other and remind each other that we can do this, even if we’re not in a big metropolis. ■
sent the recordings to James Mirabal in Nashville. He mixed them,
together. We released it on Instagram
Julian Hood
TheLandDesk Notes from the road
Christening the new Silver Bullet, from Bend to Durango – and everything in between
by jonathan Thompson
If you ever have the opportunity to take the flight from Denver to North Bend, Ore., get a window seat. You will see where the Red Desert got its name, you will gawk at the cliff-ringed Crater Lake, you will witness the rolling hills of western Oregon and the quilted landscape formed by decades of clear-cutting.
When the pilot fails to stop, or even slow, at the coast and jets out over the Pacific, you will imagine he has maybe fallen asleep. You will look for expressions of concern from fellow passengers: a mix of uppermiddle-aged, upper-middle-class, fleece-vested male golfers – most of who sit up in the front of the cabin –and those whom can only be described as fitting a rural western Oregon stereotype mix of hippy, hick and State of Jeffersonian.
Then the plane suddenly banks, its wing perpendicular to the sea, and drops low enough to identify the cars on the ground. You will see the big lumber mills and the mountains of sawdust and will wonder whether the wing will catch on the steel trusses of the rail bridge crossing the entrance to Coos Bay.
I am here to visit my mother-in-law and pick up a car. After her husband died this spring, she gifted me his 1997 Ford Ranger pickup. I will drive it to Durango as a sort of test: Is it worthy to succeed the Silver Bullet? Not replacing it: Nothing will ever replace the trusty 1989 Nissan Sentra.
Rain on the windshield and the wipers are coated in what looks like moss and merely smear the water and blur the view. The frogbelly sky and steep forested hills seem to close in on me as I make my way up the Coquille River. It’s mid-morning, but the light is dim, and the claustrophobia of a desert boy takes hold and I yearn for open space and sky.
But another part of me wants to veer off the asphalt onto one of those loamy roads up an even narrow and darker valley and stop off at a little log cabin, climb out of the truck, walk up to the door, open it and slide into the pages of “Sometimes a Great Notion.” I read the novel, by Ken Kesey, when I was a junior in high school, and even though I had never been to the Northwest it made a great impression on me. I wrote an essay about it for my favorite English teacher, and her reaction made me think I might become a writer someday. Like my windshield wipers, the houses I pass appear to be moss-infested and moldering. Some have Trump signs. They probably believe he will make logging – and therefore western Oregon – great again. The hills will again hum with the buzz of chainsaws, the forests will be sheared, the vast mills will roar back to life, men with boots on will once again make an honest living for them and their families. And some writerly type will show up at and fall in love with his brother’s wife and
there will be a “Sometimes a Great Notion” remake. False hope is a cruel thing.
***
In Medford I stop for gas, coffee, groceries and new windshield wipers. All my camping gear is in Durango, but I don’t want to stay in hotels every night, so I figure I’ll pick up a cheap sleeping bag and maybe a tent since the forecast calls for rain and snow. But at the Walmart, nearly all of the gear, really everything that costs more than about 20 bucks, is locked up in these cages or plexiglass cases. It feels wrong. I walk out without buying anything, a decision I will later rue.
***
Klamath country, where the river is newly free and salmon can swim without hindrance and the land and sky open up and forest gives way to straw-colored basalt-strewn hills. A hand-painted sign tells motorists on I-5 that without water there are no farms and without farms there is no food and no trucks and no anything. I suppose this has to do with the dams coming down, but maybe it’s just someone railing against aridity.
***
In Yreka – pronounced Whyreeka – I take a run through downtown, which seems to be in transition between the old and the new, whatever that might be. It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon, and I can’t tell if the businesses are closed for the day, the season or forever. A sign says there is an organic farmers market and one
of the historic homes has a rainbow flag.
I continue up into the hills, where I come across the old City Cemetery, Est. 1854. It’s a lovely place, but seems as if no one has been buried here in decades. Maybe Yrekans have discovered immortality.
***
Some good friends from Durango are managing a rustic lodge in the eastern Sierras and it happens to be along my route, so I invite myself to stay for a couple of days. I leave I-5 and once again find myself rolling through forested country – much of which has burned in recent years – that I’ve written about but have rarely seen. One of the things I’ve written about is the county sheriffs – many of whom are “constitutional sheriffs” and openly disdain environmentalists and federal land management. I’m happy to be driving an American truck with Oregon plates and wonder if I can pick up a “Citizen of the State of Jefferson” bumper sticker.
The highway is nearly empty save for logging trucks. It appears that they are servicing a large forest thinning operation, “managing” the forest in an effort to lessen the severity of wildfires, rather than clear cutting it. Yet judging by the loaded down trucks, some with rather girthy logs, it is also a logging operation. Within an hour of reaching the lodge, which sits on the far shore of a lake surrounded by granite ridges, I become a laborer in our own little logging operation:
The unincorporated town of Pioche, Nev., about 180 miles northeast of Las Vegas, is worth a stop./ Photo by Jonathan Thompson
Splitting rounds from a fallen tree into firewood. Turns out I have arrived just as work begins to shut down the lodge and its cabins for the season.
The next morning, we awake to 4 inches of new, dense, “Sierra Cement,” and I decide to join in the daily ritual of dunking in the lake. The snow so numbs my bare feet on the sprint from lodge to lake shore that jumping into the water is a relief.
***
On Reno’s fringe, I pass sprawling complexes of huge warehouse-looking buildings. I assume they are data centers, then I notice most are lined with docking bays for trucks. They may be distribution hubs, I suppose, receiving and sending out all the stuff in Walmart and from Amazon and all the rest.
Then I think: Maybe they really are data centers, manufacturing all that information and then packing it into trucks and sending it out to our computers and phones. Isn’t that how someone described the internet once?
***
Somewhere between Fallon and Austin, I pull off Highway 50 and wander into the sagebrush, inhaling the pungent aroma. I come across the remains of an old structure, thick walls made of dark, volcanic stone. Maybe it was one of those Pony Express stations, but seems older than that, much older.
NV Energy is hoping to put a major high-voltage transmission line through here, roughly following Hwy 50. It will move electrons from existing wind, solar, geothermal and gas power plants to Reno, Las Vegas and perhaps California, improving reliability and providing
St. George, Utah, swarms with motor vehicles, tourists or residents, or more likely a combination of both. It’s only as I begin searching for a hotel room that I realize it is the busy season in these parts. Reasonably priced places in the area are sold out, but there’s one hotel that’s under $150 and it gets good reviews, so I hold my nose and book it, only noticing after I’ve sent my payment that it is located in Hildale, which sparks a moment of panic.
“geographical smoothing” for intermittent renewables. But it will also open up all the public land along its route to new solar and wind development to meet new data centers’ growing demand.
There is so much space out here. What’s the harm in devoting a relatively minuscule patch to generating power directly from the sun? And yet, which patch is not too special to industrialize? Who decides which land is sacrificed for our incessant energy hunger and which land is “preserved” for the sage grouse or the pronghorn or future generations of humans seeking refuge from the clattering din of humanity and technology?
***
There aren’t many hardrock mining towns left in America – most have been transformed into resort or tourist towns, with mining relegated to museums and tchotchke stores. Ely, Nev., has expanded its economy as well, but remains a working mining town, thanks to the Robinson open pit silver, gold, copper and molybdenum mine, which is owned by a Polish firm, KGHM. It feels like a mining town, too, with its sprawling red sex complex at the entrance and big white trucks roaring around.
The price of gold and silver have soared since Trump took office, most likely because folks are worried about the state of the economy. And so, in an indirect way, Trump has brought a bit of new prosperity to Ely, I suppose.
East of Ely, juxtaposed against the rocky slopes of the Snake mountains, towering stark white wind turbines flap their long arms in the crisp autumn light. I can’t help but find it beautiful.
***
Hildale – along with its sister Colorado City, Ariz. – is known as a stronghold of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, an extreme branch of Mormonism whose members practice polygamy. But I’ve already paid for it, so, on the 45-minute drive, I spin myself a yarn of reassurance. Hildale is in a spectacular place near Gooseberry Mesa, which has become a mountain biking Mecca. Maybe some outdoor-adventure hipsters were passing through Hildale and saw an old motel for sale cheap and bought it to cater to the mountain bikers and Zion National Park tourists. What I’d find would be a super cool, self-consciously retro lodge that offers free cortados, craft beers and energy bars, and while checking in I could make a flirtatious quip about polygamy to the cute woman behind the desk.
It was a nice tale but utterly false.
After driving several blocks from the highway into the town’s neighborhoods, I come across a 15-foothigh brick wall topped with metal spikes. On an opening in the wall is the name of the motel. As I drive into the small parking lot, where all of the other vehicles are large, black SUVs, I notice the steel gate, also 15-feet tall and spiked, that could be slid shut, locking me into this fortress with no possible way to escape.
named after LaVoy, or it could just be a relative of his. (If you recall, Finicum was a rancher from Arizona who died in a confrontaiton with law enforcement during the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.) On the wall are photographs printed on canvas, one of which is of cows grazing on public lands, another is of an entrance to a ranch that has a giant metal cut-out of an assault rifle and a pistol and says “PEACEMAKER.” There is no coffee maker in the room. At 6:45 the next morning, I flee, vowing never again to take a road trip without any camping gear. ***
I’m hoping to happen through one of the many communities on the route while a No Kings protest is taking place, but I have no such luck. Instead, I protest in my own way, pulling off next to the highway, putting on my running clothes and heading up a sandy arroyo until I reach towering sandstone cliffs sculpted, smoothed and varnished by wind and water. I press my body against the cool stone, close my eyes and listen to the silence.
P.S. It is with bittersweetness that I announce the new vehicle passed the test,
The woman behind the front desk is friendly enough, but she also seems a little taken aback at her newest guest, with his scruffy beard and long hair tied in a man bun. I make no quips about polygamy or anything else.
The bedspreads and pillow cases in the room are dark purple and burgundy with gold paisley patterns. The refrigerator and microwave are in a closet that is otherwise empty. The list of possible wifi networks includes one called “Finicum,” which I presume to be
meaning the Ranger (I’m looking for a name for it, any suggestions considered) will become Land Desk’s official vehicle. And I’m no two-car kinda guy, so that means the Silver Bullet – which may or may not have a blown head gasket – is destined to transition into a new life. Maybe I’ll donate it to a public radio station or Habitat for Humanity, or maybe I’ll pass it on to a friend who needs a project. Someone suggested auctioning it off, while someone else thought I should just weld it to the bed of the truck. Again, I’m open to suggestions.
The Land Desk is a newsletter from Jonathan P. Thompson. To subscribe, go to: www.landdesk.org ■
Fresh “Sierra Cement” in the Eastern Sierras./ Photo by Jonathan Thompson
RIP Silver Bullet./ Photo by Jonathan Thompson
Thursday23
Food drive benefiting Pine River Shares and Good Sam Pantry, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Albertsons and S. City Market
Craft and Connect, 3-5 p.m., Fort Lewis Mesa Library, 11274 HWY 140
Danielle SeeWalker’s “Chó Snazz!” opening reception, 4:30-6 p.m., FLC Art Gallery
Tyler Simmons plays, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Ross Douglas plays, 5-7 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Weekly Dart Tournament, 5:30 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
2026 Snowdown Poster Reveal and Volunteer Recognition, 5:30-7 p.m., American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.
“Community PowerX,” TEDx style talk presented by LPEA, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Gaslight Twin Cinema, 102 E. 5th St.
Durango Poetry End of Season Open Mic, 5:30-8 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave.
Gary Watkins plays, 5:30-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Open Mic Night, 6 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
Vanbuskirks play, 6-9 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Andrew Schuhmann plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Trivia Night hosted by Aria PettyOne, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Friday24
Fall Fest, 4:30-7:30 p.m., Summit Church, 2917 Aspen Dr.
Irish Music with Tom Ward’s Downfall, 6-8 p.m., Durango Winery, 900 Main Ave.
The Black Velvet duo with Nina Sasaki & Larry Carver plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Dustin Burley plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
“Falliday” Durango Formal, 6:30 p.m., Black Heron Lounge, 726 Main Ave.
“Wordy Old Men,” 6:30-8:30 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Rocky Horror Show, presented by Durango Arts Repertory Theatre, 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. Second Ave.
The Badly Bent & Animas Roots play, Fri., Oct. 24, 7 p.m., Light Box at Stillwater Music, 1316 Main Ave., Ste. C
“Voices & Strings: A Night of Harmony” presented by FLC choirs and string orchestra, 7-8:30 p.m., FLC Community Concert Hall
Adam Lopez plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Jazz Church open jam session, 7:30-9:30 p.m., The Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Afrobeatniks & BluPhunk perform, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
Saturday25
Durango Farmers Market with music by Damn the Moon, 9 a.m.-12 noon, TBK parking lot
Trick or Treat at the Market, 9 a.m.-12 noon, TBK Parking Lot, 259 W. 9th St.
Bayfield Farmers Market, 9 a.m.-12 noon, Saturdays thru Oct., 1328 CR 501, Bayfield
Social Anxiety Workshop, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
River Clean-Up hosted by Five Rivers Trout Unlimited, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., meet at Santa Rita Park between the basketball and volleyball courts
Toddler Mini Monster Carnival, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Cafe au Play, 495 Florida Rd.
Girls on the Run Fall 5K, 11 a.m., Smith Sports Complex, FLC
Three Springs Fall Festival, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Three Springs Plaza
D & D Club, 12 noon-3 p.m., Sunnyside Library, 75 CR 218
Yarn Meetup, 1-3 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Japanese Tea Ceremony, 2-4 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Trunks or Treat, 2-5 p.m., Durango HarleyDavidson, 750 S. Camino del Rio
Nina Sasaki and Jim Belcher play, 5-7pm, Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Adam Swanson plays ragtime, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
“Fear TITSelf” Spooky Burlesque Show, 5:30
& 8 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave.
Matt Rupnow plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Salamander Collective play, 6-9 p.m., 11th Street Station, 1101 Main Ave.
“Wordy Old Men,” 6:30-8:30 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Rocky Horror Show, presented by Durango Arts Repertory Theatre, 7 & 10 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
MTV After Dark Party with Pussyfoot, 9 p.m., Black Heron Lounge, 736 Main Ave.
Sunday26
Eli Cartwright plays, 10 a.m.-12 noon, Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Murder in Sin City Mystery Lunch, 12 noon-2 p.m., Ignacio Library, 470 Goddard Ave.
“Wordy Old Men,” 1:30 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
“Walking With Ghosts” artist talk featuring Jon Bailey & Shawn Lotze, 2 p.m., Studio & Gallery, 1027 Main Ave.
“Creating Legacy Through Harmony,” San Juan Symphony Chamber Singers fall concert, 3 p.m., St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 E. 3rd Ave.
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.
Devin Scott plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Rocky Horror Show, presented by Durango Arts Repertory Theatre, 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Monday27
Death Café, 4-5:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Book Club, 5:30-7 p.m., Sunnyside Library, 75 CR 218
“Living with Wildlife,” Colorado Fish, Wildlife and Parks Series, 6-7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Joel Racheff plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
AskRachel
Bravo-ver it, neighborly aggression and mail fail
Interesting fact: The encore originated in 18th-century Europe when fans wanted to hear a song or performance for a second time. Imagine having to hear “Wonderwall” twice in a row at a concert these days.
Dear Rachel,
Why do bands do encores? We all know there’s going to be an encore. NOT getting an encore cheer has to be the worst thing for everyone involved. Yet they still leave the stage and leave us clapping and cheering, and the lights stay off because if the lights came back on, we’d all head for the parking lot. This just seems like a dumb ritual. I hope you can make me hate it a little less.
– Don’t Play It Again, Sam Dear Grump,
You can always be one of those people who leave early to beat the traffic. No one is making you stay for that last song. But if you leave, you will al-
Tuesday28
Breast Cancer Networking Group, 4-5 p.m., Cancer Support Community SW Colorado, 1701 Main Ave., Ste. C
Spanish Conversation Hour, 5:306:30 p.m., Sunnyside Library, 75 CR 218
Current Conversations with Chris, 5:30-6:30 p.m., James Ranch Grill, 33846 US 550
Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Randy Crumbaugh plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Rotary Club of Durango presents Mick Souder on the uses and ramifications of artificial intelligence, 6-7 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.
Barbershop tryouts, 6:30 p.m., Christ the King Church, 495 Florida Rd.
Open Mic, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Wednesday29
Twin Buttes Farm Stand, weekly, 3-
most certainly miss whatever song you came to hear. We humans need some positive rituals in this life. If clapping for a band to come back and play one more song for us is a silly ritual, at least it’s one (almost) all of us are better for.
Cheer on!
– Otra, otra, Rachel
Dear Rachel, I generally stand with Mr. Rogers. But I sometimes think his neighborhood didn’t have the low-impulse-control people that mine does. One neighbor just came over to complain that my dogs are peeing … in my own front yard. Another tosses his Sonic bag into my yard at least four nights a week. Low-level aggressions, but they’re building until I’m going to pop. How can I make the peace … or burn it all down?
– Anti-Rogers
Dear Auntie Fred,
6:30 p.m., Twin Buttes, 165 Tipple Ave.
Sustainability Summit, 4:30-6:30 p.m., FLC Student Union Ballroom
Donny Johnson plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Chuck Hank plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Open Mic, 7 p.m., EsoTerra, 558 Main
Grace Pettis and Natalie Price play the Backstage Pass Series, 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC
Ongoing
“Nature’s Tapestry in Plein Air,” juried exhibit thru Oct. 25, 5-7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Matt Clark “From a Different Lens” exhibit, thru October, The Recess Gallery at Studio &, 1027 Main Ave.
“From the Fringes: Dine Textiles that Disrupt” exhibit, thru Nov. 13, Center of Southwest Studies, FLC
60-year celebration “A Legacy of
Humans gonna human. Don’t you remember that there was always some conflict or other in the Magical Land of Make-Believe? Of course, they always figured out a nice tidy resolution in less than half an hour. We don’t usually have that option. (See above, re: humans gonna human.) I might recommend channeling Mr. Rogers and inviting them over to dip their toes in your pool, so to speak. And if that doesn’t shape them up, you can always turn the trick-or-treaters loose on their houses with some toilet paper.
– A beautiful day, Rachel
Dear Rachel, My in-laws recently moved in with us and had their mail forwarded from their old place to ours. Some pieces of mail take four or five weeks to arrive while others arrive in only a couple days! But the long waits have me wondering. Who can we blame for this bureaucratic delay?
Gifts,” thru Nov. 13, Center of Southwest Studies, FLC
“Stay Tuned,” mixed media by Benjamin Dukeminier, Oct. 31-Nov. 14, Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Danielle SeeWalker’s “Chó Snazz!” art exhibit, thru Nov. 19, Fort Lewis College’s Art Gallery
Dementia/Alzheimer’s Caregivers Support Group, 1st, 3rd & 5th Wednesday of each month, 10:30 a.m.-12 noon, La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main
Upcoming
Durango Green Drinks, Thurs., Oct. 30, 5-7 p.m., 11th St. Station
Cult Movie Night “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Thurs., Oct 30, 6 p.m., Mancos Opera House, 136 W. Grand Ave., Mancos
“Reclaiming Reclamation: Public Power, Climate Change and Glen Canyon’s Resurrection,” with author and journalist Zak Podmore, Thurs., Oct. 30, 6:30-8 p.m., Center of Southwest Studies, FLC
Email Rachel at telegraph@durango telegraph.com
– Going Postal
Dear Mail Bagging, Don’t blame the postal workers! They deal with all the government bullhonky, without even what little governmental assurances other government workers used to get. It’s still pretty miraculous that a handscrawled envelope can be rerouted to another house, another city, another state! Try not to be anxious. Just think of the latecomers as encore envelopes.
– Flag up, Rachel
Rocky Horror Show, presented by Durango Arts Repertory Theatre, Thurs., Oct. 30, 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Downtown Trick or Treat, Fri., Oct. 31, 4-6 p.m., downtown Durango
Children’s Halloween Carnival, Fri., Oct. 31, 4-6 p.m., TBK Bank, 259 W. 9th
“Stay Tuned” mixed media by Benjamin Dukeminier, opening reception, Fri., Oct. 31, 5-7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E 2nd Ave.
San Juan Circus “A Book of Spells,” Fri., Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m. (all ages) and 9 p.m. (aerial after dark), Community Concert Hall, FLC
Squeaky Feet and Desiderata, Fri., Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
Halloween Party with Yes, No, Maybe & the Shallow Eddys, Fri., Oct. 31, 7-11 p.m., American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.
Monster’s Ball with YOPE, Fri., Oct. 31, 8 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave. Oct. 23, 2025 n 13 telegraph
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Near a village in Ghana, a healer gathers plants only when the moon says yes. She speaks the names of each leaf, as if to ask permission, and never picks more than needed. She trusts that each herb has its own wisdom that she can learn from. I invite you to emulate her approach. Now is a good time to search for resources you need to heal and thrive. Be receptive to what life brings you and approach with reverence and gratitude. Halloween costume suggestion: herbalist, traditional healer, sacred botanist.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): A ship’s sail is not a flat sheet. It has a gentle curve that the sailmaker crafts stitch by stitch so the wind will catch and convert invisible pressure into forward motion. Too taut, and the cloth flaps, wasting energy; too loose and power dissipates. The miracle lies in geometry tuned to an unseen current. I invite you to be inspired by this approach. Build curvature into your plans so optimism isn’t an afterthought but a structural feature. Calibrate your approaches to natural processes so movement arises from alignment rather than brute effort. Make sure your progress is fueled by what you love and trust. Halloween costume suggestion: Wear a sail.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): All of us can benefit from regular phases of purification: periods when we dedicate ourselves to cleansing, shedding and simplifying. During these intense times of self-healing, we might check our integrity levels to see if they remain high. We can atone for mistakes, scrub away messy karma and dismantle wasteful habits. Here’s another essential practice: disconnecting ourselves from influences that lower our energy and demean our soul. The coming weeks will be a perfect time to engage in these therapeutic pleasures. Halloween costume suggestion: purifier, rejuvenator, cleanser, refiner.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Deep in the Pacific Ocean, male humpback whales sing the longest, slowest, most intricate love songs ever. Their bass tones are loud and strong, sometimes traveling for miles before reaching their intended recipients. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to compose and unleash your own ultimate love songs. Your emotional intelligence is peaking, and your passionate intensity is extra refined and attractive. Meditate on the specific nature of the gifts you want to offer and receive in return. Halloween costume suggestion: singer of love songs.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Between 16801725, Italy’s Antonio Stradivari and his family made legendary violins that are highly valued today. They selected alpine spruce trees and Balkan maple, seasoned the wood for years, and laid varnish in painstaking layers that produced sublime resonance. Their genius craftsmanship can be summed up as the cumulative magic of meticulousness over time. I recommend their approach to you, Leo. Be in service to the long game. Commune with people, tools and commitments that age well. Act on the theory that beautiful tone is perfected in layers. Halloween costume suggestion: a fine craftsperson.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Trained women dancers in Rajasthan, India, perform the ancient art of bhavai. As folk music plays, they balance on the dull edge of a sword and hold up to 20 clay pots on their head. They sway with elegance and artistry, demonstrating an ultimate embodiment of “grace under pressure.” I don’t foresee challenges as demanding as that for you, Virgo. But I suspect you will have the poise and focus to accomplish the metaphorical equivalents of such a feat. Halloween costume suggestion: regal acrobat or nimble dancer.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In 1968, researchers at Stanford conducted the “marshmallow test.” Children were offered a sweet treat, but if they didn’t quickly gobble down the marshmallow, thus postponing their gratification, they were awarded with two candies later. The kids who held out for the double reward didn’t do so by willpower alone. Rather, they found clever ways to distract themselves to make the wait more bearable. I advise you to learn from their approach. Cultivate forbearance and poise without dimming your passion. Harness small triumphs of willpower into big, long-term gains. Diligent, focused effort now will almost certainly lead to satisfying outcomes. So please prioritize incremental, systematic grunt work over stunts and adrenaline. Halloween costume trick: carry two marshmallows.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the late 18th century, Balloonomania came to Paris. Large crowds gathered to watch inventors and impresarios send hot air balloons into the sky. Spectators were astonished, fearful and filled with wonder. Some wept, and some fainted. I suspect you’re due for your own exhilarating lift-off, Scorpio – a surge of inspiration that may bewilder a few witnesses but will delight those with open minds. Halloween costume prop: wings.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Don’t be too shocked by my unusual list of raw materials that might soon turn out to be valuable: grime, muck, scuzz, scum, slop, bilge, slime and glop. Amazingly, this stuff may conceal treasures or could be converted into unexpected building materials. So I dare you to dive in and explore the disguised bounty. Proceed on the assumption that you will find things you can use when you distrust first impressions and probe beneath surfaces. Halloween costume suggestions: sacred janitor, recycling wizard, garbage genius.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the tidepools of America’s Pacific Northwest lives the ochre starfish, a keystone species that keeps mussel populations in check. Remove the starfish, and the ecosystem collapses into imbalance. Let’s make this creature your power symbol, Capricorn. The visible effect of your presence may not be flashy or vivid, but you will hold a stabilizing role in a group, project or relationship. Your quiet influence can keep things harmonious. Your gift is not to dominate the scene but to keep the whole system alive and diverse. Halloween costume suggestion: ochre starfish (More info: tinyurl.com/OchreStarfish).
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): For hundreds of years, the Blackfoot people of North America built buffalo jumps. These were steep cliffs where herds of bison could be guided and driven over the edge during a hunt. It required elaborate cooperation. Scouts tracked the herd, decoys lured them toward the drop, and prep teams waited below to process the meat. I hope you will engage in smaller versions of this project. Now is an excellent time to initiate, inspire and foster shared efforts. Make it a high priority to work with allies you trust. Halloween costume suggestions: shepherd, sheep dog, cowboy, vaquero.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the ancient Greek world, oracles spoke in riddles. This was not because they were coy, but because they understood that truth must often arrive obliquely. Directness is overrated when the soul is in motion. In this spirit, Pisces, I invite you to make riddles and ambiguities be your allies. A dream, an overheard conversation or a misheard lyric may contain an enigmatic but pithy code. You should be alert for messages that arrive sideways and upside down. Tilt your head. Read between the flames. You will understand when your heart recognizes what your mind can’t name. Halloween costume suggestion: oracle or fortune-teller.
The weaeather is changing
We’ve got you covered with jackets, footwear, sweaters and fleece from brands like Stio, Patagonia, Kühl, Athleta, Merrell and Ugg
Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.
Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum
Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check. (Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)
Ads can be submitted via: n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133
Announcements
Roller Skating Club for adults forming. Interested? Come join us at Zia North upstairs 11/4 at 7pm. All are welcome! Questions? Call / text Todd @ 970-799-0139
ForRent
Private Office Space for Rent in environmental consulting firm’s office, $400/mo (144 sf) 835 E. 2nd Ave. 3mo lease includes all utilities, Wi-Fi, shared kitchen and use of conference room. For more info please contact jhes ford@eroresources.com
Lost/Found
Help Cid Come Home
Last seen in Durango, July 21, 2024, by St. Columba Church. He is chipped, missing left canine tooth, white, big black spots, green eyes. Reward $2000. 970-403-6192.
Classes/Workshops
Men's Yoga
Every Tuesday, 7:30-8:30 AM at Yogadurango. All levels welcome.
All Levels Yoga
Thursdays 10am, Smiley Room 32. Props provided. Accessible class for con-
tinuing beginners who want to focus on functional movement and fundamental actions within standing, seated, twisting, forward and backward bending postures. www.k-lea.com (303) 819-9076
A Martial Art for Kind Humans
Slow learner? Two left feet? Kindhearted? Aikido may be your jam. Weekly Crash Course and Starter Series available now (adults 18+). Details and registration at durangoaikido.com.
Wanted
Books Wanted at White Rabbit Donate/Trade/Sell 970 259-2213
Services
Holistic Nurse - Health Coaching & private yoga lessons. Pro bono nurse coaching offered by Allison Scobie BSN, RN, YTT-200. Call/text 970-946-7537.
Chapman Electric
Specializing in remodels, repairs, and additions both big and small. Local and reliable. Colorado Licensed Master Electrician. Mike 970-403-6670
Boiler Service - Water Heater
Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
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.
CommunityService
Tools for Cancer Caregivers
A supportive workshop. No cost to attend. Nov. 6, 4:30-6 p.m. 1701 Main Ave., above the Community Banks building. Pre-registration advised, www.cancersup portswco.org or 970-403-3711
Gift Gallery Accepting Submissions
The Durango Arts Center invites artists and fine craft creators to submit work for the 2025 Holiday Gift Gallery, running Nov. 14 - Dec. 29. Artists in all mediums, jewelers, leather workers, ceramicists, photographers and more are invited. Submissions are subject to gallery approval. Register online at www.durangoarts.org or by emailing deena@durangoarts.org
Dementia/Alzheimer’s Caregivers
Support group and information/resources to those caring for a loved one with dementia/Alzheimer’s on the 1st, 3rd & 5h Wednesdays of each month, 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon, La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave. For info., email cajunmc@gmail.com or go to www.alz/ org/co
‘The Substance’
say the least this was by far the worst film that I have ever seen –
Dog Fosters Needed
Parker’s Animas Rescue urgently needs foster families to provide temporary homes for rescued dogs. We supply all necessary items, including crates, food, leashes, toys and behavioral support, and cover veterinary visits. You provide the love and guidance. Our support includes volunteer dog walkers to assist with care. Join our mission to help these pups flourish and prepare for their forever homes. Apply to become a foster today by visiting: parkersanimalresuce.com.
Find Relief & Support Free community yoga classes at Smiley Building Room 20A: “Yoga of Recovery” (Tues. 10-11:15): Address addictive habits in a supportive environment. “Pain Care Yoga” (Tues. 4:30-5:45): Pain management and improved movement. innerpeaceyoga therapy.com/locations/durango/
“I
Read by thousands of discerning eyeballs every week. (*And a few that just look at the pictures.)
Lainie Maxson
