Boulder Weekly 12.10.20

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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news:

Organizers plan a ballot initiative to ban hydraulic fracturing in Colorado

by Matt Cortina

boulderganic:

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adventure:

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buzz:

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art:

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feast:

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National biodiversity strategy on the horizon

by Katie Rhodes

Boulder dry-tooling gym is first of its kind for ice climbers to train

by Angela K. Evans

In a new album and art book, Andy Eppler waxes on depression, capitalism and erotic films

by Caitlin Rockett

Native American artist Anna Tsouhlarakis awarded major grant to explore Native humor in ‘Indigenous Absurdities’

by Caitlin Rockett

Colorado seeks disaster declaration after freeze leads to major crop loss

by Matt Cortina

departments 5 6 7 11 20 24 25 27 29 31 35 37

‘Unhoused’ podcast: Episode 6 — Managing scarcity Guest Column: Local Democrats: Let’s work together and think big Letters Signed, sealed, delivered... your views Lab Notes: Naming the stars Events: ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ klezmer music, movies to stream and more Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Words: ‘Doughnuts and Kings’ by Leor Seal Film: You’ve got ‘Soul,’ and everybody knows, it’s all right Food/Drink: What to try this week along the Front Range Drink: Colorado riesling is the truth Savage Love: Forgive my English Weed Between The Lines: Ganja asana

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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It goes without saying that we would not be here without the support of our Boulder community.

To express our gratitude, we’re on a mission to give away $100,000 in gift cards to our local frontline heroes and others impacted by the pandemic by the end of February. Want to help?

For every $100 in gift cards you buy, we’ll give away $50 in gift cards.

To learn more or to order gift cards, visit BoulderJapango.com/Grateful Thank you!

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Publisher, Fran Zankowski Editor, Matt Cortina Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Senior Editor, Angela K. Evans Arts and Culture Editor, Caitlin Rockett Contributing Writers, Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Sarah Haas, Jim Hightower, Dave Kirby, John Lehndorff, Rico Moore, Amanda Moutinho, Katie Rhodes, Leland Rucker, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Ryan Syrek, Christi Turner, Betsy Welch, Tom Winter, Gary Zeidner SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Sami Wainscott Advertising Coordinator, Corey Basciano Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman CIRCULATION TEAM Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer Cover, Andy Eppler December 10, 2020 Volume XXVIII, Number 17 As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@ boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper.

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Boulder Weekly welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@ boulderweekly.com) or the comments section of our website at www.boulderweekly.com. Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address and telephone number for verification. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

‘Unhoused’ podcast: Episode 6 — Managing scarcity

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raditionally, during winter months, additional shelter beds are made available to account for the added dangers that snow and freezing temperatures bring to people experiencing homelessness. Recent changes to the severe weather sheltering program, however, test Boulder County’s homelessness solutions strategy, as there are fewer shelter beds in the system this winter than there have been for years and new policies have the potential to further limit shelter access. Budgets are stressed, volunteer fleets depleted and unforeseen expenses continue to accrue in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, I

leaving very few options for those experiencing homelessness this winter.

In the final episode of Unhoused, host Emma Athena looks at how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to impact possible solutions to homelessness as the temperature drops and winter sets in. Episode 6, “Managing scarcity,” is available Dec. 10. Find it at boulderweekly. com or subscribe to the entire series wherever you get your podcasts.

A huge thank you to KGNU, specifically Maeve Conran, for making this podcast collaboration possible.

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Local Democrats: Let’s work together and think big

by Brad D. Segal

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here’s no question Democrats to a time without COVID-19 and could have done much better without a concurrent national elecin our recent national election requiring our full attention. But tion. Given the mismanagethat didn’t happen. The initiative ment and corruption in was placed on the ballot by Council Washington, many of us were hop— followed by a lot of local money ing for a landslide — but it didn’t and time being invested in the race. happen. What went wrong?

You all know the rest. The franPolitical parties are complex, but chise was ultimately endorsed by one thing is clear about Democrats Boulder voters — not by a huge — we tend to “split-up” on issues margin but clearly a win. Seriously, more so than Republicans in recent no “sour grapes” here — the promoting the franchise they favored — times. Boulder Democrats are no franchise group ran a clever cama win-win opportunity. exception, and some of us really got paign, picked favorable circumstancFor Boulder Democrats, on the it confused this year, creating an es under which to conduct it and other hand, it was at best a win-lose unnecessary local ballot-issue diswon. Our franchise election is over — no matter the franchise outcome, traction, when what we really needand the voters have spoken. a predominance of Democrats would ed was “all-hands-on-deck” for the We can all move on now and be diverted from useful work on the national election. national election.

What I am talking This is a big deal. about, of course, is the How big? As an Xcel-franchise initiaillustration, I persontive that City Council ally spent more than for my fellow Democrats decided to place on $1,500 and several Boulder’s ballot this hundred hours on who promoted the Xcel franchise ballot initiative: year. In spite of what this local campaign Would you still have promoted this if winning it had some Council mem— money and time bers and other local that would have othmeant losing the U.S. presidency? leaders contended, erwise been fully there was no real dedicated to the urgency to have this national election. on the 2020 ballot.

Multiply that by Boulder had been doing just fine work towards achieving shared envi- scores of other very dedicated “out-of-franchise” for 10 years, ronmental goals, including 100% Boulder Democrats who were “tiedprodding Xcel to much higher levels renewable-energy by 2030. As for up” by this local issue and you get an of clean energy for the entire state collateral impacts from this idea of the “firepower” Boulder simply by maintaining the threat to (Democrats diverted from nationaldiverted from a key national election leave. election efforts by this local issue) — this year — one where our help was Furthermore, Xcel had shown a that’s another matter. very much needed. noted propensity, since Boulder left Note that collateral damage in Here’s a question for my fellow in 2010, to offer numerous “lastthis case predominantly involves Democrats who promoted this as a best-deals” only to follow them up Democrats (which, of course, make ballot initiative: Would you still have with even better deals in subsequent up most of Boulder). Any promoted this if winning it had offerings. To many of us, the takeRepublicans who promoted the fran- meant losing the U.S. presidency? home-point seemed to be: Why quit chise ballot issue should be crowned Based on how close this national now? The deals only get better if you as geniuses. After all, they successelection has actually come, that’s not wait. fully diverted Boulder’s predomia particularly wild question.

Clearly, this issue could have nantly Democratic population from Boulder’s ill-timed ballot meawaited for a future local election — important national races, while prosure is only one of many illustrations

HERE’S A QUESTION

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of how Democrats must become more strategic (I could provide Jill Stein or Ralph Nader as other examples, but that’s too obvious). I hope local Democrats get my point, because we have got to get much better at working together and thinking big.

There is some good news in all this for Democrats. For one thing, we got lucky and didn’t actually lose another close race for the presidency (at least not yet). Furthermore, by amazing good fortune we somehow currently have shots at two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia.

I am really hoping that all my local Democratic friends (on both sides of the franchise issue) will now work together and help win these seats. Phone-banking will be really important. This wins votes.

Everyone needs to do some if we are to secure these key seats. I recommend weekend afternoons.

(Web: “Mobilize.us Georgia”) Please send money as well. We can’t let the $100-million-plus our opponents are spending go unanswered.

Brad D. Segal is a retired chemist who has lived in Boulder for 40 years.

His experience includes 17 years as a project manager and analyst with Boulder’s Municipal Water Utility.

This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Don’t frack our future “What do these things have in common?” one of my peers in the Niwot Environmental Club asked, in reference to a broken environment and a prosperous future. His response: “They can both be the future.”

The largest fracking site in the state of Colorado is proposed to be established only three miles from Niwot High School — my school. As the Boulder County Commissioners and staff finalize the updated oil and gas regulations, my peers and I are concerned that they do not go far enough to thwart the development of the 140-well fracking site that threatens our community.

Throughout the past month, we, along with many other Boulder County citizens, have testified before the County, urging the Commissioners to reflect science in their regulations, by increasing setback distance to 2,500 feet, including open space, as well as buildings occupied by humans in the specifications.

Now, in the last week before regulations are finalized, the Commissioners seem to be acknowledging the viability of increasing the stringency of the regulations. Though it is encouraging to see our testimony reflected in the Commissioners’ staff requests for the finalized version of oil and gas regulations, it is frustrating that this conversation did not gain traction earlier.

Now, I can only hope that the County will choose the path toward a prosperous future by increasing setback distance to 2,500 feet, thus reflecting science and the public’s will in their finalized oil and gas regulations.

Maya Beauvineau/Senior at Niwot High School

reforestation to capture and slow the effects of global warming.”

Reforestation is important. We also need to stop deforestation. We should start now. We could start in Boulder County.

It is estimated that over 200,000 trees will be cut down if Denver Water is allowed to proceed with their current plan to expand Gross Reservoir.

Deforestation is only one of the many

impacts that this construction would have. More information can be found at savebouldercounty.org.

We have to rethink how we live in this semi-arid region. Currently, we rely on reservoirs. Bigger and bigger reservoirs. The expansion of Gross Dam, for example, would make it the tallest dam in the state of Colorado. It would be ironic if 200,000 trees were cut down by

Denver Water and then Denver participated in the “Trillion Tree Initiative.”

Yes, there are benefits to reforestation. There are also stronger benefits in not destroying a woodland in the first place. A woodland is a community, a family. One can not create a family by putting stick figures around a kitchen table.

Kristen Marshall/Boulder

Reforestation is good. Stopping deforestation is better.

Trees can be magical and healing.

Their limbs reach out and can create an overstory for a neighborhood.

Patrick Sisson’s Nov. 26 article, “Can planting trees make a city more equitable?” (Re: Boulderganic), echoed this premise. Sisson explored the plan to plant trees in U.S. cities through the “Trillion Tree Initiative.” He described the Initiative as “a global push to encourage BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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THE END OF FRACKING? Organizers plan a ballot initiative to ban hydraulic fracturing in Colorado

by Matt Cortina

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ometimes, when I close my eyes, I can still seem them.

The ranchers, the men in khaki pants, the school teachers walking along a riverbank.

Walker Stapleton. I hear their cries: “...lose my job,” “...bridge fuel to a clean energy future...,”“Fracking pays for my students’ crayons.”

And then the big red letters: No on Prop 112.

Prop 112, if the ads from two years ago aren’t also burned in your brain, was the ballot initiative that would’ve instituted a 2,500-foot setback for oil and gas operations from schools, homes and other buildings.

The oil and gas industry spent tens of millions of dollars to defeat it (and fund those ads along the way).

Now, another ballot initiative, should organizers collect enough signatures to get it before voters, is on 8

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the horizon: This time, it’d ban fracking entirely in Colorado.

Thomas Quay Williams, of Eldorado Springs, has begun the filing process to put a complete fracking ban on the ballot for 2022.

Williams says the arguments of 2018 — that it’ll cost the state millions in lost revenue as well as thousands of jobs — don’t stand up anymore.

“Our economy is based so much on tourism, high tech and quality of life that the oil and gas industry is threatening the rest of the economy,” he says. “They have no leg to stand on; not economics, not environmentally and not science.”

There have been efforts to limit fracking (setback-related initiatives in 2014, 2016 and 2018) and aspirations to get a fracking ban before voters (2016, and earlier in 2020) — and of course, Longmont had its voter-

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approved fracking ban overturned by the state Supreme Court. But Williams believes the Colorado community at-large is ready to put it to a vote.

“There’s an urgency to this issue. I feel like with the fires this year, the public has had enough. We can’t go on like this. We gotta do what we can,” he says.

Williams is a mountain guide who has been involved with the progressive group Our Revolution, as well as East Boulder County United.

He drafted the language for the ballot initiative with an attorney, James Newell, of Boulder.

Williams and Newell initially received approval to proceed from several state agencies but ultimately failed to appear at a title board hearing after Newell stepped away from the process to handle other obligations. Williams says he is looking for BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

another lawyer to help re-file the paperwork which property taxes help fund school districts?”

Both Williams and Newell expect legal chaland push the initiative through the process.

And it asked them for alternative funding mecha- lenges should this pass.

In its current form, the ballot initiative would nisms for those districts.

“I’m confident with the drafting of this, I’m ban hydraulic fracturing due to its “detrimental Williams says transitioning to a green energy not necessarily confident the courts would not impacts on public health, safety and welfare, the economy could replace some tax revenue, and that strike it down. I do think this is good for what it’s environment and wildlife.” It would pertain to an property values would likely increase in areas trying to do,” Newell says. oil and gas operation regardless of when they where fracking sites are no longer operating, or are One aspect of the initiative Newell couldn’t received a permit to drill — that is, they couldn’t stopped from operating in the first place. The work in, but that a subsequent lawyer might be be grandfathered in after it passed. And it would challenge of replacing those funds, he says, “cannot able to, is a clause that requires oil and gas to pay give citizens the right to file a lawsuit to enforce be allowed to strangle the need for oil and gas to for cleanup of wells. Currently, with oil and gas the ban — “because our government officials like- pack up its malignant industry and hit the road.” companies consolidating and several filing for ly won’t,” Williams writes on the group’s website, The Council also asked if Williams and bankruptcy, critics of the industry claim they frackingbancolorado.org. haven’t reserved any“The idea here is that we where close to the billions know that the COGCC has of dollars it’ll take to cap historically been more or less and maintained abana subsidiary of the oil and gas doned wells. (For more, industry,” Newell says. “We see News, “Footing the were looking at this from the bill,” June 18, 2020, standpoint of, how do we boulderweekly.com.) make sure the fox isn’t guardThere is likely to be ing the henhouse here?” mixed support from enviShould Williams re-comronmental groups and plete the filing process and policy makers, based on a get authorization to start couple background concollecting signatures, there versations. Some are cauare already obstacles in its tiously optimistic, but way, as he learned in the first skeptical Williams can go-round. In a review by the push this boulder up the Colorado Legislative Council, hill, others think it stands which is required to review no chance in court. ballot initiatives that amend But there might also be the state constitution, Council renewed support locally, antagonizes oil and gas, I think it’s worth directors outlined a number of which is of course no surit. Just to put them on notice. It’s about building community, issues Williams and his future prise in Boulder County. As legal representation would the prospect of a drilling getting the issue out there. need to sort out. site in Niwot nears, citizens —Thomas Quay Williams on a fracking ban ballot initiative First, the financial impact. have asked for stricter reguThe Legislative Council is lations from the Board of required to produce a fiscal County Commissioners. impact statement for any balFailing adequate action lot initiative that makes it before voters, but also Newell believed the initiative would “effectuate a from the Board, advocates of stricter oil and gas considers input from proponents of such meagovernment taking of private property.” If so, regulations may latch on to their next best sures. In a Sept. 21 letter to Williams and Newell, they’d have to prove how they would compensate hope: a 2022 fracking ban. the Council tipped its hand at how it might proproperty owners, i.e. oil and gas companies.

Regardless, Williams says just creating converduce its fiscal impact statement.

To this last point, Newell says, “I think it’s sations throughout Colorado about a fracking ban In the letter, the Council asked if Williams ridiculous. A regulatory taking has to make some- could have benefits in its own right, regardless of and Newell had considered that should the initia- thing completely valueless. ... I think banning one if it ultimately passes. tive pass, it “would eliminate the severance taxes type of extraction method, that makes it really “Even if it only antagonizes oil and gas, I collected on the production or extraction of oil hard to get to your oil. OK, fine. Maybe it’s hard think it’s worth it,” he says. “Just to put them on gas derived from hydraulic fracturing.” In 2019, to get to your oil, but we didn’t say you can’t get notice. It’s about building community, getting the oil and gas severance tax brought in $235.7 milto your oil in some other way.” issue out there.” lion, but as recently as 2016, the revenue was as More broadly, Newell says what makes it Williams anticipates a support-gathering low as $4 million, requiring distribution of gener- tricky is that even if a government enacts a welleffort, envisioned for some time next year after al funds to cover oil and gas regulatory work. intentioned rule to protect public health and the pandemic yields, to include concerts, rallies, Colorado currently has the lowest effective seversafety, businesses can claim it has a deleterious lectures and events. ance tax rate of any Western state. financial impact.

And as Williams pointed out, New York state It also asked Williams and Newell if they con“That really curtails what you can do as the banned fracking, why not us? Conversely, he says sidered how passage of the initiative “would sigpeople to protect yourself. All of a sudden you owe it could start a nationwide movement if successnificantly reduce property taxes that local govern- money because you did something for the health ful: “If we pass it in Colorado, why not in other ments collect on oil and gas leaseholds and lands, of your state and environment,” Newell says. states?”

EVEN IF IT ONLY

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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he holiday season is a peak time for companies that sell the novelty gift of “naming a star,” with a framed certificate and a star chart sent to your loved ones for a price.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) disavows such companies, however, noting that astronomers do not recognize or use the assigned names, but nobody seems to care much that the names are not official. It’s a unique gift that might inspire people to go outside and look up at the night sky, which astronomers can certainly appreciate.

The first commercial star naming service was started in 1979 by Ivor Downie of Toronto, Canada. Phyllis Mosele, a homemaker in suburban Chicago, liked the idea so much that she bought an American franchise and eventually took over the entire business when Downie died in 1981. The company claims to have named more than 3 million stars over the past four decades, initially fueled by nationwide radio advertising campaigns but more recently marketing on the internet with affiliates operating in 15 different countries. Dozens of other companies now offer similar services, but none have been nearly as successful.

But only a few hundred stars have official names that are recognized by the IAU, drawn from historical catalogs, star atlases and other cultural astronomy references. All of them are among the brightest of the roughly 4,500 stars that are visible to the unaided eye from a dark location, and they have familiar names such as Sirius, Vega and Polaris. Most of the recognized names are associated with mythology, navigation or timekeeping, and they are derived from cultures worldwide.

There are thousands of stars that are easily visible but do not have proper names, so astronomers typically refer to them with Greek letters or numbers followed by the constellation name, like alpha Centauri.

Stars that are too faint to be seen without a telescope generally have catalog numbers rather than names. This is a practical matter, as some of the most widely used catalogs contain hundreds of thousands of stars, and a recent survey by the European Space Agency produced a catalog with more than a billion stars. About a century ago, BOULDER WEEKLY

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Naming the stars

by Travis Metcalfe

amateur astronomer Henry Draper compiled a nearly complete catalog of stars down to a brightness limit 15 times fainter than what can be seen with the unaided eye. These stars are now customarily identified by their “HD” numbers, but stars that are bright enough to have names also have numbers in the HD catalog, and other catalogs provide different numbers for the same stars.

For example, Polaris is also known as HD8890 and HIP11767.

Since 2008, a nonprofit organization based in Boulder, White Dwarf Research Corporation (where, full disclosure, I serve as director) has been offering an “adopt a star” service with a direct connection between the stars in the program and the research that it supports. The stars come from the target lists of NASA space telescopes that are searching for Earth-like planets, and the proceeds support an international team of astronomers working to characterize the newly discovered planetary systems.

“This is a creative way of involving the community,” says Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard, an astronomer at Aarhus University in Denmark who organizes the international team conducting the research. “The present list of adopters is already DECEMBER 10, 2020

fairly impressive, and of course the funding that it brings in is useful.”

Christensen-Dalsgaard came to Boulder in 1980 as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and he has spent many summers working here as an affiliate scientist at the High Altitude Observatory. In 2006, he established a consortium of researchers from around the world to begin preparing for NASA’s Kepler mission, and the team has continued their work together using more recent observations from Kepler’s successor, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

Funding from the star adoption program has helped cosponsor the team’s annual scientific conferences, supporting the participation of students and earlycareer researchers. It has also helped team members in developing countries publish their research results in top-tier astronomy journals by covering the publication charges.

As the holidays approach, consider supporting a local nonprofit alternative to commercial star naming services. If adopting a star as part of NASA’s search for alien planets isn’t cool enough, there are also options to adopt a double star (great for couples), suspected and confirmed planetary systems discovered by Kepler, and even bright stars observed by TESS that are visible without a telescope. The names are no more official than with any other service, and the IAU still won’t recognize them, but at least your novelty gift will support a worthy cause.

Travis Metcalfe, Ph.D., is director of White Dwarf Research Corporation, the nonprofit organization that administers the adopt a star program on behalf of an international team of astronomers.

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expires 12.31.2020

OF COUNTY 2020 WINNER

OF COUNTY 2020 WRITE-IN

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

A reason to act

cies, which are forced to either adapt or migrate to new, more hospitable lands.

The movement or death of these species in turn affects all other life forms in their specific ecosystems, creating a domino effect of impacted plants, animals and land. This is why the approach to battling the decline in biodiversity and climate change must be an interconnected one.

A slew of state and national agencies have already stepped up in support of Neguse’s resolution, adding their voices to the multitudes of civilians demanding the federal government take

National biodiversity strategy on the horizon

by Katie Rhodes

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uman activity has a long-established negative ripple effect across the globe, impacting plant, animal and marine health on devastating levels and stripping the planet of its rich, natural biodiversity.

Scientific studies have proven again and again the toxic effects of pollution caused by humans on Earth’s delicate array of ecosystems and everdegrading atmospheric layers. The natural cycles of this planet have been irrevocably disrupted, and we have seemingly reached a tipping point: There are millions of species on the verge of extinction, and many that have already perished. The rapid decline in biodiversity across the globe will karmically come back to affect us at some point whether we want to believe it or not; a grim future of food shortages and water scarcity seems to be looming before us.

On Dec. 2, Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse made a stand against this ongoing crisis by introducing a national biodiversity strategy resolution to the House of Representatives and calling for the United States to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. This resolution promotes the development of a national interagency strategy to pursue all areas of action reform within existing environmental laws, policies and programs, while looking for opportunities to implement new strategies to prevent further loss of biodiversity. The passing of this resolution would, more than ever before, create an atmosphere of nationwide accountability within the framework of environmental protection.

“Over the last four years, the Trump administration has undermined the Endangered Species Act at every turn,” Neguse says. “The new administration will be responsible for taking action, but Congress has not yet stepped up to the plate in terms of drafting a national biodiversity strategy, which is an integral component of the fight against climate change.”

The fluctuating temperatures that come with climate change, as this resolution outlines, negatively impact the habitats of many different speBOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

action.

“As human population increases, we’re seeing more conflict between humans and wildlife,” says Lindsay Larris, wildlife program director at Wild Earth Guardians. “I think we have to work on a national scale. Right now we have individual states dictating their own policies, and it’s just not effective; some are far more attuned to protecting wildlife than others. Colorado, for example, has worked hard to protect and bring back the grey wolf population, while 500 of those wolves were killed in Idaho last year.”

The resolution also highlights how the decline in biodiversity has disproportionately impacted indigenous communities, whose traditional practices of establishing environmental resilience and sustainability are being recognized as a vital component of resource and land management.

“The bevy of federal agencies responsible for land protection in the United States has historically expressed a culture of ignoring tribal and indigeI

DECEMBER 10, 2020

nous voices across the country,” Neguse says. “It’s important for Congress to clearly state its expectations for these agencies, like the Bureau of Land Management and Department of the Interior, to engage indigenous people in their decision making.”

Indigenous cultures have traditionally excelled in resource conservation, as they demonstrate an intimate knowledge of the ecosystems in their respective localities and understand the need for biodiversity to live sustainably on the land.

“They have more knowledge of specific ecosystems and particular species than we have science of,” says Jacob Malcom, director of the Center for Conservation Innovation, an arm of the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife. “It’s going to be a great source of knowledge for us, and will prompt us to ask ourselves, ‘What more do we need to learn? And what do we need to unlearn?’”

Hoping to lay down a foundation for best-practice strategies for environmental conservation, the resolution also addresses key areas such as climate adaptation and mitigation, and calls for the urgent implementation of renewable energies as well as a fund for monitoring, reporting, research and development in the field of conversation. Practices like these are not as challenging as many people think; this strategy focuses on coordinating existing authorities, and is about working together and setting a national vision.

“Conservation is fundamentally non-partisan,” Malcom says. “Many people actively participate in conservation. Maybe they don’t identify on the same end of the political spectrum, but they recognize the need to take care of the land around them.”

Neguse’s resolution has gained the support of more than 60 Colorado-based and national groups, as well as scientists and climate change activists all over the country and world, in addition to many members of Congress. While it may seem that national policy reform is a daunting task, supporters of the strategy urge a perspective of optimism and hope.

“We don’t need a lot of new tools. We know the answers, and what needs to be done, we just need to do it,” Malcom encourages. “It’s certainly a challenge, and it’s easy to see threats everywhere, but that’s not reason to despair — it’s reason to act.”

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COURTESY SALLY GILMAN

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hen Tyler Kempney and Wes Fowler set out for Longs Peak in October 2018, they weren’t sure what they might find. But the pair of ice climbers were prepared for anything.

The year before, Kempney had attempted a first ascent of a particularly elusive ice smear on the lower east face of the tallest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, an area known as The Longs Cirque, with the infamous Diamond lurking overhead. But that day, the sun was strong and Kempney was skeptical of the integrity of the ice. On that first attempt, Kempney and his partner bailed on the climb after noticing water running behind the thin sheet of ice, making it unstable. Within two minutes of getting back to the ground and moving out of the way, Kempney says, the entire smear shattered to the ground.

“Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of ice just fell where we were standing,” he says. “So we would have been crushed.”

The following year, Kempney and Fowler trudged through eight hours of snow, a hike that usually takes 2.5 hours, to find the ice smear in near perfect condition. Although the ice was only centimeters thick in some place, Kempney led the route, Fowler following behind.

The pair called it Conditional Love, and it was the first new route added to the wall since 2000.

Given the arid conditions, Conditional Love didn’t appear in 2019. Same with this year. The ice on Longs is best in October and gone by November, when there’s just enough moisture to form before it gets so cold that there’s nothing left to freeze, making training for such an objective difficult. “It’s this weird thing, where the hardest ice you might climb this year is in first,” Kempney says. “So there’s no real warm up.”

A GAME OF PATIENCE

Boulder dry-tooling gym is first of its kind for ice climbers to train

by Angela K. Evans

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

That is until the 2,000 square-foot Ice Coop in Boulder opened in August 2019. Envisioned

by Rock and Resole co-owner Sally Gilman, the bouldering cave housed in an East Boulder warehouse was created specifically for dry tooling — the art of using ice axes and crampons on rocks, or in this case climbing holds. Gilman began formulating the idea in Ouray a few years prior, laid up in bed with a stomach bug while her husband and friends were out climbing ice.

“My big impetus for this came when I was looking for a place to warm up for ice season and get ready and there just really weren’t very many,” she says. An ice climber for more than a decade, and a rock climber for much longer than that, Gilman knew there was a latent community I

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of ice climbers who could benefit from a training facility — climbers like Kempney.

As a kid, Kempney says he loved climbing trees until one day he went into a sports shop with his dad.

“And I saw a video of people ice climbing, and I saw all the gear. And I was like, that would make climbing trees a lot easier,” he says.

While at college in upstate New York, he began rock climbing in the school’s gym, learning all the facets of the sport as he got his degree in outdoor recreation. With plans to get married later that year and with a now-or-never attitude, Kempney took graduation as the impetus to start saving money (by eating peanut butter and jelly every day or relying on the generosity of friends who purchased him meals) to buy his own ice climbing equipment.

“You could dabble in rock climbing, get a pair of shoes from a friend, find a pair of shoes for like 50 bucks, borrow a friend’s harness and helmet,” he says. “But with ice climbing, if you don’t own SALLY GILMAN, your own boots, then you can’t owner of the Ice really do anything.” The entryCoop, and co-owner of Rock and Resole, level price point is above the ice climbing in Ouray. several-hundred-dollar mark, plus you need a bevy of tools and crampons as well.

A month before his wedding, he climbed ice for the first time and hasn’t looked back since.

Since moving to Boulder, he’s been enmeshed in the local ice climbing scene, meeting Gilman through industry connections and becoming the Ice Coop’s manager. Drawing on his experience managing a climbing gym in New York, mixed with his ice experience, Gilman tasked him with see ICE COOP Page 16

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ICE COOP from Page 15

building out the Ice Coop space with freestanding 15-foot wooden climbing structure with its own support beams.

Connected to ice climbers across the country from the Pacific Northwest to New England and everywhere in between, Kempney designed the Boulder space by talking to friends about what they’d want in a gym, as well as checking out others home gyms.

“I could say that I designed this whole thing myself, but it’s really a collaboration of all the communities that really helped put this thing together,” he says.

Gilman and Kempney attest the Ice Coop is the first of its kind in North America. There may be something similar in South Korea or Russia or maybe even Australia, but not in the U.S. or Canada. Other climbing gyms may allow dry-tooling practice, utilizing specialized tools made of a wooden handle and leather loop that climbers use to loop over traditional climbing holds. But at the Ice Coop, climbers use their axes to hook onto specialized holds, with the occasional swing into the plywood itself. They can also kick their front points into the walls, simulating the force needed to kick into ice to secure a foothold.

The holds at the Ice Coop are manufactured in the Midwest as well as World Cup variations from South Korea and Russia. There are even some from Switzerland, made of granite covered in resin. The holds have dimples for tools, not so comfortable to grasp with your hands, some even unclimbable without tools, like a metal ball drilled onto the wall, perfect for hooking with an axe, but impossible to use in traditional climbing. For the one-year anniversary, Kempney made the “birthday box,” a swinging wooden structure in the middle of the gym covered in these holds.

Gilman says she heard skepticism from some climbers, those that came into Rock and Resole for example, unsure that there was enough demand for the Coop. But that only fueled Gilman’s idea more, adding to it the goal of building a robust ice climbing community along with the training facility.

“I wanted to kind of dispel that little idea that ice climbing wasn’t really a legitimate sport for some reason,” she says.

About a dozen or so World Cup ice climbers train at the Boulder facility, Kempney says, including himself. Ice climbing is a growing sport in the U.S. as the country introduced its first sanctioned team in 2018, put together to compete internationally. Americans competed for several years before then, but without the backing of a federation, a role the American Alpine Club now serves.

It really all came together around the February 2019 World Cup event held in Denver. With a 16

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variety of events, organizers erected a tall ice wall as well as a plywood route with overhanging boxes in the middle of Civic Center Park, drawing 25,000 spectators over two days.

But the Ice Coop isn’t just for competitive athletes, Gilman says. She created it “to give people a warm, safe environment where they can go in and hold a tool and try to pull on it, see what that feels like and to maybe put on a boot on with a crampon and kick into the plywood and get a little feel for what it’s like to kick into ice.”

Mentorship is also a focus for the folks at the

standing how the main water source freezes, looking for hints of blue to determine water content, whether aeration is happening (causing quick evaporation and weak ice) and how the ice freezes on top of itself in layers, Kempney says.

“With ice climbing, it’s a game of patience,” he says.

And determination. With its arid environment, Colorado doesn’t generate much ice compared to other places like Wyoming and Montana in the West, or wetter and colder environments like the Northeast or Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. And the areas that do get good ice require hours of hiking, maybe even a winter overnight. The PHOTOS BY BEN NELSON ones that are more accessible can be fairly crowded when conditions are right. Perhaps the most popular spot in the state is Ouray’s Ice Park, where the ice is farmed via cannons at the top of walls purposefully dripping to form climbs. Other routes form naturally nearby, as well.

As for his own career, Kempney is preparing for the decades-old Ouray Ice Festival (going virtual this year) with the goal of podiuming and even winning a World Cup someday.

When he’s not focused on competition, though, he’s putting everything he has into building the community at the Coop, where he not only manages but also coaches and trains beginners and competitors alike.

Unlike other area gyms, there isn’t a pecking order, Kempney says, Ice Coop. Dry tooling in the gym is one but rather a spirit of encouragement TYLER KEMPNEY in thing, but getting out on the ice, reading the and camaraderie. Calling the sport, competition (left) conditions and making wise choices is “goofy, low-key and niche,” Kempney and on the almost impossible without the training of a says the gym has helped “build and “birthday box” (right) at the Ice good mentor, Gliman and Kempney attest. shine light into a corner of a commuCoop in Boulder.

“It’s very hard to get into ice climbing. nity that doesn’t really get much You have to know somebody,” Gilman says. attention.”

“Fortunately, I started with a fellow that was And with 30 members, interest in really knowledgeable and could really teach me a the community is continuing to grow. Before the lot, but not everybody, you know, knows a friend first of the coronavirus shutdowns hit Colorado, or has a buddy that ice climbs.”

Gilman and the Coop hosted a ladies’ climb night Reading ice is akin to reading snow conditions in February with about 25 women milling about, while backcountry skiing — it takes training, prechatting, watching and encouraging each other cision and going with those more practiced than attempting routes. The plan was (and hopefully yourself, Kempney says. will be again) to host such nights every month.

“It takes a really good mentor to teach and for Despite an exciting start, Gilman says panyou to understand where the ice is better than demic restrictions and safety precautions have other places,” Kempney says. “Reading a route threatened the gym’s viability. It currently isn’t from the ground is very difficult for people that open on weekends and only a few climbers are didn’t have a solid mentor.” allowed in the space at a time to adhere to social It starts with identifying the surrounding geol- distancing guidelines. But she’s committed to ogy and geography that’s creating an ice smear. hanging on over the winter, hoping the spring The cliff could be rooting trees and other plants in brings with it a vaccine that will allow places to a solid layer of soil which retains water content open up again. And with that, she expects more that slowly drip down the rock. Or the ice could and more places like the Ice Coop will start popbe the result of a large snow bowl above the climb, ping up soon. that could present avalanche danger, or it could “This is the first indoor dry-tooling gym have formed from spray off a nearby waterfall. But around in North America,” she says, “but it’s not climbers also have to read the ice itself, underthe last.”

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

ART BY ANDY EPPLER

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couple of years ago, in the disorienting wake of a divorce, Andy Eppler found himself in his garden, pondering the transience of life.

His friend Dave — “my garden mystic,” Eppler says — convinced him to grow a big bed of “Crystal Palace” lobelia, these little clumps of dark blue flowers that merge to form striking, delicate carpets of color.

He captures that moment in the garden early on in his new album, Broke-Down Deluxe.

“My life burned down this year / And I did my best to quench you,” he croons in “Losing The Lobelia.” “And just as trauma passes from me now / So my lovelies / Went you.”

“The flowers will always remind me of that year and all the hardships and trauma that eventually passed away from me,” Eppler writes in the 116-page art book he created to accompany Broke-Down Deluxe. “The flowers, no matter how much I cared, eventually ON THE BILL: passed away. The lovely ‘Broke-Down things and the terrible Deluxe’ — the album — is things, they all pass away. available on That makes them sacred.” streaming servicWritten over the last es. Get the album and book and at three years, Broke-Down andyeppler.com Deluxe — with the accompanying book — is a chronicle of Eppler’s journey through the depths of his own despair and out the other side. It reads as his most vulnerable work to-date, with a focus on personal experiences rather than the narratives he’s often spun in past work. Across 34 tracks (16 full tracks followed by instrumental reprisals and a couple extra goodies), Eppler leaves no stone unturned, exploring isolation, desperation, sexuality, love, capitalism and even humanity’s precariously evolving relationship with technology.

His voice versatile (Tom Waits here, Tom Jones there), his musical proclivities eclectic, Eppler transverses rugged musical territory with ease, offering slinky, lounge-tinged love-lost songs (“Winter On The Moon”) alongside crunchy, anthemic rock cuts (“Much Less Under”) and spacier psychedelic missions (“Hits The Floor”).

The book pairs watercolors, acrylics, liquid light, photography and digital design with song lyrics and explications to create a kind of journal from a past self to a future self: This pain is temporary, and it will open your mind.

“It was a traumatic thing for me,” Eppler says of the divorce during a phone conversation recently from his home in Longmont. “And so it’s,

Can the sad clown still tell a joke?

In a new album and art book, Andy Eppler waxes on depression, capitalism and erotic films

by Caitlin Rockett

see EPPLER Page 18

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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EPPLER from Page 17

for me, way more vulnerable to write a love song now than ever. I consider being vulnerable part of the job description. If you want to have an idea that someone lets into their mind and heart, I think you have to earn that.”

Eppler earns it by baring his soul over and over.

“I’m not an easy guy / I guess you’re noticing,” he sings on “Winter On The Moon,” only one of two tracks on the album that features any production or songwriting by someone other than Eppler (in this case, Greg Benton; Tim Ostdiek co-wrote the honky-tonk-influenced, kiss-off track “I Wanna Get High Forever”). “You read me like a sign / With neon vacancies / I hope I find my place / I hope you’ll stay for weed / I hope you’ll stay for weeks / I hope you’ll stay for me.”

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Eppler’s willingness to bare his soul seems rooted, oddly enough, in his history with religion.

Raised in Lubbock, Texas — his parents both church employees — the first thing Eppler wanted to be in life was a worship leader.

“I saw [our church’s worship leader] doing all this great work that really seemed to reach people,” Eppler says.

“And after that experience was done, those people seemed happy and fulfilled, like they had just eaten a good meal. I wanted to do that for people. I wanted to show up and cook them a meal of art and love and have it give them a little sustenance in some way.”

But Eppler grew uncomfortable making money through religion and found himself more drawn to connecting with people through his art.

“I discovered people like Bob Dylan BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

and Stevie Wonder, and the idea of Bob Dylan being this poet who happened to also be a musician really reached me,” he says.

Musically, it took years for Eppler to tap into his own vulnerabilities.

“In my 20s, especially because I was very depressed and in a bad relationship, I didn’t want to talk about myself — I didn’t necessarily like myself,” he says.

“I wanted to tell stories that meant something, parables, you know, things that would help people think and maybe access new, beautiful ideas for themselves. It’s totally a great, noble idea, but also sort of obviously avoids the thing that most songwriters write about, which is themselves.”

The end of his marriage provided a chance for Eppler to take a hard look inside and figure out who he was, and what he wanted to do. In the book, Eppler writes about baring more than his soul after the divorce by appearing in an erotic short film. The track “Can I Give It All Up To You?” — a dewy-eyed song that leans into romance for its eroticism — was written to soundtrack the film.

“That’s not even the most offensive thing I’ve said or made,” Eppler says of the film. “It’s only offensive if you think sexuality’s offensive, and that’s exactly why I said yes to that project. I’ve been experimenting in that world since I became single again at, like, 30, and that has been a really engaging and growthoriented part of my life.”

Eppler believes in the power of saying yes; not in a hedonistic way (no matter your thoughts on erotic film), but in a soul-searching way. Less manic episode, more productive brainstorming. It’s another divine message he discovered in the garden: the “yes voice.”

Of course there was a little help from some psilocybin.

“It was a mystical vision I had where I was chatting with my flower garden in my backyard,” Eppler says. “Roses, pansies, petunias.”

Over the course of the “conversation,” Eppler found himself wondering — or rather, the flowers asked him — what’s the greatest truth in the universe?

“I decided that if you follow the timeline of the universe all the way back, you get to a place that is like, ‘Will there or won’t there be a universe?’ And here we are in the ‘yes’ version of that.”

In the six years since, Eppler has held on to that revelation: An idea is a universe just waiting to be born. Just get out of its way and let it happen.

“When I do my work and I follow my own creative impulses, I’m actually evolutionarily tuning in,” he says. “There’s BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

not a functioning idea — it’s happenstance, but the fizz being created in the universe is called creation and it’s a naturally occurring thing. And when I [create], it is exactly the same.”

Natural is a fitting term for BrokeDown Deluxe. This is Eppler in his natural state: creating, learning, re-framing, wash, rinse, repeat. While sadness may have been the catalyst for the album, it’s not the binder that holds it all together — that’s love.

“This album is dedicated to my lovers, my friends and my cat who all save me all the time,” Eppler writes. “I hope

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you will say ‘yes’ to the art, hope and love that is inside you. The world needs your unique medicine.”

Broke-Down Deluxe is Eppler’s medicine, for himself and for others.

“In the past it has felt to me like the universe picked on me and chose me for special suffering,” he says. “And nowadays I think of it more like the job of the universe to do exactly that function, to cause me to grow. And I hate that TonyRobbins-kind-of bullshit, but that’s how I think of it now. Now it’s more like, ‘Can the clown get through this sad story and still make a joke?’”

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events

events

If your organization is planning an event of any kind, please email Caitlin at crockett@boulderweekly.com.

VIRTUAL AUTHOR READING: JEN SINCERO — ‘BADASS HABITS.’

5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, boulderbookstore.net.

Tickets are $26-$36 on Eventbrite and include a copy of the book.

Habit busting and building goes way beyond becoming a dedicated flosser or never showing up late again — our habits reveal our unmet desires, the gaps in our boundaries, our level of self-awareness, and our unconscious beliefs and fears.

Badass Habits features Jen Sincero’s trademark hilarious voice and offers a much-needed fresh take on the conventional wisdom and science that shape the optimism (or pessimism?) around the age-old topic of habits. The book includes enlightening interviews with people who’ve successfully strengthened their discipline backbones, new perspective on how to train our brains to become our best selves, and offers a simple, 21-day, stepby-step guide for ditching habits that don’t serve us and developing the habits we deem most important.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE BOULDER PHIL.

3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, boulderphil.org. Pay what you can.

Ring in the holidays with the spirited sounds of the brass and percussion sections of the Boulder Philharmonic. From “Deck the Halls” to music for Hanukkah, Gabrieli and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” this colorful and wide-ranging program is sure to leave you in the holiday spirit. This is a digital event offered to the community — please give what you can to support the Boulder Phil’s mission and musicians.

OPENING RECEPTION: ANNUAL FRONT RANGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE JURIED ART SHOW.

6-9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, firehouseart.org.

On Dec. 11, the Firehouse Art Center hosts the fourth annual juried student show from Front Range Community College’s Boulder County Campus in Longmont. Students experience the challenges and joys of presenting their work professionally, from documenting their pieces to professional framing. This year, as students have been unable to meet for classes on campus, the show provides what for many is the first opportunity to see their classmates’ recent work in person.

The show is a competitive entry open to all art students from Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Summer 2020 and the current semester.

Prizes are arranged in categories: 3D Design, Drawing, Photo and Painting. There will also be a Best of Show prize and a VP Purchase award, in which the college purchases work for its permanent collection.

‘HANSEL AND GRETEL.’

7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, cupresents.org. This event is free/pay what you can.

The Eklund Opera Program brings the Brothers Grimm to Macky Auditorium with Engelbert Humperdinck’s decadent opera Hansel and Gretel. Indulge your imagination as you join two children venturing into the woods in search of something sweet to eat. With deliciously rich orchestration, simmering wit and a sumptuous witch hiding out in a candycoated cottage, this famous fairy tale is delightful at any age.

see EVENTS Page 22

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ART

ART

Expanding the definition

Native American artist Anna Tsouhlarakis awarded major grant to explore Native humor in ‘Indigenous Absurdities’

by CAITLIN ROCKETT

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n his 1969 book, Custer Died For Your Sins, Lakota activist and scholar Vine Delorian Jr. wrote, “One of the best ways to understand a people is to know what makes them laugh.”

Navajo/Creek (and Greek) artist Anna Tsouhlarakis plans to follow Delorian’s line of logic in her upcoming multimedia project, Indigenous Absurdities.

“Throughout the decades there’ve been a lot of Native scholars who have written about the use of humor within Native communities and how that creates specific relationships and connections,” Tsouhlarakis says. “And when you come away from the communities, those are the connections that I feel kind of float to the surface when you meet other Natives — that specific use of humor.”

Tsouhlarakis is a recent addition to the art history faculty at CU-Boulder, bringing with her degrees in Native American studies and studio art from Dartmouth College, an MFA in sculpture from Yale, and numerous showings in national and international exhibitions in her 20-someyear career. Tsouhlarakis was recently awarded a major Creative Capital grant (up to $50,000) to work on Indigenous Absurdities, an installation project she plans to build around a mix of media: photographs, videos, imagery provided by others, sculpture.

“I don’t necessarily have a vision of exactly how things are going to look, but I want to travel and to talk to people about how humor has played a role in their lives and their connections with other Natives,” she says.

Humor played an integral role in traditional tribal cultures: the sacred clowns (like jesters) of the Pueblo people; the Potlatch ceremonies (where much business was handled, but not without stories, games and merrymaking) of Northwest Coast peoples; or

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Cherokee Booger dancing (a kind of winter festival with a lot of symbolic — and satirical — ritual).

Scholars like Cynthia Lindquist (Dakota), president of Cankdeska Cikana Community College and chair of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s board of directors, see how these traditions influence current Native humor.

“Laughter has always been a part of being Indian, and Native humor is culturally distinct and complex,” Lindquist wrote for Tribal College Journal.

“Indigenous languages and storytelling are integral to the cultural uniqueness of Indian humor. There are male jokes and female jokes, and most all Indigenous languages accommodate a feminine or masculine version. Indian humor is unique and as such, is the heart of our resilience and survivability.

Moral lessons and social order are embedded in storytelling, especially in trickster stories. Teasing someone is a way to point out that they might not be in step with tribal opinion or cultural norms.”

Not least of all, Lindquist points out, humor provides a pathway to healing from personal and hisANNA torical trauma, and fosters TSOUHLARAKIS is cultural understanding and primarily a perforfresh perspectives. mance artist, using works like the pictured Tsouhlarakis underbillboards — disstands the power of Native played in Colorado humor firsthand, traveling Springs — to draw from her birth home of attention to the standards often placed on Lawrence, Kansas (where Native peoples. her parents met at Haskell Indian Nations University), to Indigenous art markets and powwows where her father would sell traditional Navajo jewelry. When Tsouhlarakis was in high school, the family moved to Taos, New Mexico, where her mother — a member of the Creek Nation — was appointed director of the Indian health center there.

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The realities of Native life in the United States — the poverty, the unemployment, inadequate health care and housing, the lack of easy access to necessary supplies or, as a group of Navajo pointed out from horseback this year, voting stations — are always front and center in Tsouhlarakis’ mind.

“There are a lot of other Native artists out there, even other BIPOC artists, who say, ‘I’m an artist first and then I’m Native, and then I’m Latino... ’” Tsouhlarakis says. “For me, I can’t do that. I’m Native first — I’m a Native American artist. I can’t differentiate those two, and I think it’s imperative for me to make that statement because we’re so marginalized that I don’t want to be mistaken for something else, because that always happens.”

Once, at an exhibition of her work in Phoenix, Tsouhlarakis says her sister overheard some gallery patrons questioning whether Tsouhlarakis’ work was really Native.

“It was a performance video,” Tsouhlarakis remembers, “and they said, ‘She makes this work because she doesn’t know where she’s from and she doesn’t know her culture.’

“Specifically within that exhibition, there was a lot of feedback that the work that I was making wasn’t Native because it was performance video.”

It’s only seemed to encourage Tsouhlarakis to dig in more firmly with her art.

“I always want people to know that the voice they hear from me is an Indigenous voice, that it has ancestry, that it has a background, but it’s speaking not necessarily for people, but from a community,” she says. “Through my work I speak to my Native heritage in different ways, and I try to do that in unique ways, to expand on what the definition of ‘nativeness’ is and what it can be.”

Tsouhlarakis doesn’t yet know where she’ll find a home for Indigenous Absurdities, but she envisions the project as a traveling installation. For more on her work, visit naveeks.com.

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events

EVENTS from Page 20

events

If your organization is planning an event of any kind, please email Caitlin at crockett@boulderweekly.com.

10% off purchase Code: Festive (exclusions may apply)

bestofboulderdeals.kostizi.com

KLEZMER MUSIC AS JEWISH DIALOGUE AND JEWISH DISCOURSE.

7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, calendar.colorado.edu.

This lecture will introduce klezmer music as a kind of Jewish dialogue, or Jewish discourse. Klezmer is Jewish instrumental music from Eastern Europe, and it comes from the same culture as the Yiddish literature of Sholem Aleichem, S. J. Abramovitsh and others. It makes sense that the music and literature of this culture would share certain features. But can we specify what those are? Or are music and literature too distinct? Professor Yonatan Malin will address these questions from cognitive, cultural and music-analytical perspectives. Musical examples will include recordings from the early 20th century to today. Register prior to the lecture.

FAMILY NATURE OUTING ON COAL CREEK.

Don’t lose your benefits Many vision insurance plans renew on January 1st. And some of us have FSA funds that have to be used by the end of the year. Don’t lose your 2020 benefits.

Dr. Terri Oneby 303-443-4545

Call to schedule an eye exam or to see if we can help you use your benefits in a physically distanced manner.

‘SEE/HEAR’ — ILLUMINATED STORIES IN SONG.

Dr. Lowell Steinberg 303-447-8470

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1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13. To RSVP or for further information, please email Martin Ogle at: Martin@EntrepreneurialEarth.com Slow down to enjoy the winter scenery, sounds and seasonal changes with naturalist Martin Ogle. This walk is for adults and children age 8 and older. Meet at the entrance to Coal Creek just south of Ryan Elementary School where Centaur Village Drive ends at Centaur Circle. RSVP required.

DECEMBER 10, 2020

4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, operaontap.org/colorado.

Price: $10 For this virtual event, Opera On Tap Colorado pairs video artists with song cycles — groups of songs that share a narrative theme — to create something collaborative and also safe for singers and audience members.

Five Opera on Tap Colorado singers — Nnamdi Nwankwo, Asha Romeo, Jerome Síbulo, Luisa Marie Rodriguez and Julie Silver Campbell — have recorded four song cycles of works by Richard Strauss, Ernesto Cordero, Robert Owens and Nkeiru Okoye. Four video submissions from around the country were chosen, including Cai (NYC), David Fodel (Colorado), Annanya George (Colorado) and Corwin Evans (Los Angeles).

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

HOME VIEWING CHAUTAUQUA SILENT FILM SERIES (CHAUTAUQUA.COM): ‘The Kid.’ Through Dec. 13.

The great Charlie Chaplin wrote and directed his first feature-length film, The Kid, in 1921. He incorporates his usual slapstick comedy with an endearing story of the Little Tramp’s adoption of an orphaned kid of the streets, played by Jackie Coogan. As it says in an introductory title card, it is a story that brings a smile and perhaps a tear.

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‘Mighty Like A Moose.’

Through Dec. 13.

Charlie Chase, one of the lesser known “silent clowns,” brings his whimsical touch to this short comedy. Mr. and Mrs. Moose each have physical attributes that need cosmetic attention. Once they visit the dentist and doctor, respectively, they are so wonderfully changed in appearance, they do not recognize each other and begin a madcap flirtation.

THE DAIRY ARTS CENTER VIRTUAL CINEMA (THEDAIRY.ORG):

‘Three Summers.’

Through Dec. 30.

Showcasing the rare talents of Brazilian acting legend Regina Casé — star of The Second Mother — the latest feature from director Sandra Kogut is a brilliant comedy about gross class disparity and the infinite resourcefulness of those who can never take anything for granted.

‘Markie in Milwaukee.’

Through Jan. 1.

A 7-foot-tall fundamentalist Baptist minister, Markie Wenzel finally began living as female at age 46. It was a decision that ended her 20-year marriage, estranged her children and exiled her from the church that defined her.

Filmed over a decade, Matt Kliegman’s acclaimed documentary asks: When your loved ones won’t accept you for who you are, how can you accept yourself?

‘WELCOME STRANGERS,’ SCREENING AND Q&A.

Film streaming from Dec. 9-13 with virtual discussion and Q&A on Sunday, Dec. 13 beginning at 5 p.m. MST Tickets are $5 per household, with added donations welcome. All proceeds will be shared between El Refugio, Casa Alterna, Paz Amigos and the film’s national outreach campaign, welcomestrangersfilm.com.

When asylum-seeking immigrants are released from the Aurora ICE detention facility onto unfamiliar streets in Colorado, where can they go for help?

Since 2012, Sarah Jackson and her team of volunteers at Casa de Paz have welcomed them into her home and helped to reunite them with their families.

This special film screening event will benefit three Gerogia-based immigrant hospitality groups — El Refugio, Casa Alterna and Paz Amigos — culminating in a panel discussion and Q&A including:

shoes

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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LIBRA

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: When author Ernest

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: According to Taoist scholar

FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART, WE WANT TO THANK OUR COMMUNITY FOR SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES!

Chad Hansen, “Western philosophers have endlessly analyzed and dissected a cluster of terms thought to be central to our thinking,” such as truth, beauty, reason, knowledge, belief, mind and goodness. But he reports that they’ve never turned their attention to a central concept of Chinese philosophy: the Tao, which might be defined as the natural, unpredictable flow of life’s ever-changing rhythms. I think that you Aries people, more than any other sign of the zodiac, have the greatest potential to cultivate an intuitive sense of how to align yourselves vigorously with the Tao. And you’re in prime time to do just that.

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: What’s the cause of the rumbling

at the core of your soul? How do we explain the smoke and steam that are rising from the lower depths? From what I can discern, the fire down below and the water down below are interacting to produce an almost supernatural state of volatile yet numinous grace. This is a good thing! You may soon begin having visions of eerie loveliness and earth-shaking peace. The clarity that will eventually emerge may at first seem dark, but if you maintain your poise it will bloom like a thousand moons.

GEMINI

trees, weakening them. On the other hand, it has been a sacred plant in European tradition. People once thought it conferred magical protection. It was called “all-heal” and regarded as a medicine that could cure numerous illnesses. Even today, it’s used in Europe as a remedy for colon cancer. And of course mistletoe is also an icon meant to encourage kissing. After studying your astrological potentials, I’m proposing that mistletoe serve as one of your symbolic power objects in the coming months. Why? Because I suspect that you will regularly deal with potencies and energies that could potentially be either problematic or regenerative. You’ll have to be alert to ensure that they express primarily as healing agents.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: I’m envisioning a scene in which you’re

CANCER

CAPRICORN

just a bit more courage so as to change what needs to be changed? How could you summon the extra excitement and willpower necessary to finally make progress on a dilemma that has stumped you? I’m happy to inform you that cosmic rhythms will soon be shifting in such a way as to make these breakthroughs more possible. For best results, shed any tendencies you might have to feel sorry for yourself or to believe you’re powerless.

Patricia Highsmith (1921–1995) once made the following New Year’s Eve toast: “To all the devils, lusts, passions, greeds, envies, loves, hates, strange desires, enemies ghostly and real, the army of memories, with which I do battle — may they never give me peace.” Right now I suspect you may be tempted to make a similar toast. As crazy-making as your current challenges are, they are entertaining and growth-inducing. You may even have become a bit addicted to them. But in the interests of your long-term sanity, I will ask you to cut back on your “enjoyment” of all this uproar. Please consider a retreat into an intense self-nurturing phase.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: Novelist Tom Robbins says you

have the power to change how you perceive the world. You can change reality — and how reality responds to you — by the way you look at it and interpret it. This counsel is especially useful for you right now, Leo. You have an unparalleled opportunity to reconfigure the way you apprehend things, and thereby transform the world you live in.

So I suggest you set your intention. Vow that for the next two weeks, every experience will bring you a fresh invitation to find out something you didn’t know before.

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: India’s Prime Minister Narendra

Modi was re-elected in 2019. During his campaign, the Virgo-born politician arranged to be photographed while wearing the saffron robes of a Hindu priest and meditating in an austere Himalayan cave.

Why did he do it? To appeal to religious voters. But later it was revealed that the “cave” was in a cozy retreat center that provides regular meals, electricity, phone service and attentive attendants. It will be crucial for you to shun this type of fakery in 2021, Virgo. Your success will depend on you being as authentic, genuine, and honest as you can possibly be. Now is an excellent time to set your intention and start getting yourself in that pure frame of mind.

DECEMBER 10, 2020

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: Mistletoe is a parasite that grows on

de Alderete writes wittily about her paradoxical desires and contradictory qualities. In accordance with current astrological omens, I encourage you to ruminate about your own. For inspiration, read her testimony: “I want to be untouchably beautiful but I also don’t want to care about how I look. I want to be at the top of my class but I also just want to do as best as I can without driving myself to the edge.

I want to be a mystery that’s open to everybody. A romantic that never falls in love. Both the bird and the cat.”

JUNE 21-JULY 22: What would it take for you to muster

I

SCORPIO

sitting on a chair at a kitchen table. At the center of the table is a white vase holding 18 long-stemmed red roses. The rest of the table’s surface is filled with piles of money, which you have just unloaded from five mysterious suitcases you found at your front door.

All of that cash is yours, having been given to you no-strings-attached by an anonymous donor. You’re in joyful shock as you contemplate the implications of this miraculous gift. Your imagination floods with fantasies about how different your life can become. Now, Sagittarius, I invite you to dream up at least three further wonderfully positive fantasies involving good financial luck. That’s the medicine you need right now.

MAY 21-JUNE 20: Author and student Raquel Isabelle

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Hemingway was working on the manuscript for his novel A Farewell to Arms, he asked his colleague F. Scott Fitzgerald to offer critique. Fitzgerald obliged with a 10-page analysis that advised a different ending, among other suggestions. Hemingway wasn’t pleased. “Kiss my ass,” he wrote back to Fitzgerald. I suggest a different approach for you, Libra. In my view, now is a good time to solicit feedback and mirroring from trusted allies. What do they think and how do they feel about the current state of your life and work? If they do respond, take at least some of it to heart.

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DEC. 22-JAN. 19: Boisterous Capricorn novelist

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: In the French city of Strasbourg,

there’s a wine cellar built in the year 1395. Among its treasures is a barrel filled with 450 liters of wine that was originally produced in 1472. According to legend, this ancient beverage has been tasted on just three occasions. The last time was to celebrate the French army’s liberation of Strasbourg from German occupation in 1944. If I had the power, I would propose serving it to you Aquarians in honor of your tribe’s heroic efforts to survive — and even thrive — during the ordeals of 2020. I’m predicting that life in 2021 will have more grace and progress because of how you have dealt with this year’s challenges.

PISCES

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: There are too many authorities,

experts, know-it-alls and arrogant ideologues trying to tell us all what to do and how to do it.

Fortunately, the cosmic rhythms are now aligned in such a way as to help you free yourself from those despots and bullies. Here’s more good news: Cosmic rhythms are also aligned to free you from the nagging voice in your own head that harass you with fearful fantasies and threaten you with punishment if you aren’t perfect.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Doughnuts and Kings

by Leor Seal

The light always caught me off guard when we’d stumble in at 3am with silk screen eyes and half empty stomachs filled with Gatorade and bottom shelf vodka bought from Plaid down the block where we would spend money on Doritos, and Rainier and Rips with eyes that twinkled in glory Mr. Ly, at least that’s what I think his name was because that was the name of the store on the corner next to a Subway and a smoke shop, that I don’t think had a name and was just called Smoke Shop, where he sold doughnuts that glistened in a dim white light like beacons calling us home we’d go in and we’d be greeted by a soft face and warm eyes which would lead to small talk about our families or about his son — who was eight or about school and would end with an order of half-a-dozen or a dozen or maybe two where one of us would be too drunk to stand upright but a booth would always be welcome and free doughnuts would always be given I drove by the other day and the store’s closed now I never asked Mr. Ly if that was his name we assumed it was because that was the name of the store but he might have been someone of a different name whom we never met, who owned a store in the city where we were king where at 3am we would smoke blunts and share juuls and shotgun beers until the world was upside down and we were on top as he made doughnuts and his son played his gameboy in the back Leor Seal is a Seattle native who recently moved to Boulder and enjoys looking into the beauty and bleakness of life, focusing on the thin — and often unrecognizable — boundary between the two.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

E

verybody clap your hands. Soul, the latest feature film from Disney/Pixar, rolls credits with a new version of the Curtis Mayfield classic, “It’s All Right,” one of the most joyous songs ever laid down on wax. Ending a movie on an up note like that can sometimes be a cheap trick to imbue feelings into a work of art — feelings, not emotions. But in Soul, it feels right at home.

Soul might be Pixar’s most musical movie, harkening back to Disney’s Fantasia, which set images to some of the greatest works of composition this side of the 18th century. At first blush, Fantasia was Walt

DISNEY/PIXAR

Disney’s noble folly: an attempt to elevate animation, and cinema itself, from the junk drawer to the mantel of fine art. But Fantasia couldn’t crack it; released in 1940, a war was on, and the country was coming out of a long depression. Hoity-toity tone poems set to abstract drawings weren’t putting asses in the seats. The audience wanted a story they could latch on to, characters they could identify with and emotional empathy yielding that all-important catharsis.

And yet, Fantasia persisted. Like all Disney movies, Fantasia was rolled out in theaters every seven years or so and has become a staple attraction for orchestras who perform live alongside the projection film. For many audience members, these performances are their first trip to the symphony, and Fantasia is their first exposure to classical music. The same might be said for youngsters watching Soul. This could be their first exposure to jazz, the intent behind the music and the joy elicited. If not, then there’s still a chance that Soul could be their first experience with visualizing the afterlife.

A matter of life and death You’ve got ‘Soul,’ and everybody knows, it’s all right

by Michael J. Casey ON THE BILL: Stream ‘Soul’ on Disney+ starting Dec. 25.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Just as the title Soul does double duty, the story here takes place in a double realm. On Earth, New York City to be precise, jazz pianist/middle school music teacher Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx) accidentally dies while en route to the break he’s waited for his whole life. One minute he’s walking, talking and not looking where he’s going; the next minute, Joe’s an amorphous blue blob on a stairway to heaven. But Joe’s not ready for the Great Beyond just yet, so he finds a way off the celestial people-mover and plops into the Great Before — where souls are prepped by abstract beings called “Jerrys” before they head down to Earth to unite with their bodies (“meat sacks” as the Jerrys call them).

These moments resemble Fantasia, as well as the superlative A Matter of Life and Death (if you haven’t seen this 1946 masterpiece, do it now), the sci-fi standard 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Japanese anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, the MGM short The Dot and the Line, and on and on. Writers Pete Docter and Kemp Powers (they also direct) and Mike Jones, along with Pixar’s exceptional team of animators and technicians, swing for the fences in these scenes and knock it out of the park — though some viewers might feel that the results don’t look as effortless as the bits back on Earth, which unfold with familiar ease and arrive at a satisfying conclusion.

How Joe gets back to Earth is the matter of the movie, as is the sidekick he’s hitched with: 22 (voiced by Tina Fey), a soul that refuses to be born.

Joe and 22 have good chemistry, and both Foxx and Fey give solid vocal performances.

There’s a good deal of humor — particularly a therapy cat who unwittingly ends up on the adventure — and animation so lush and beautiful it’ll have you longing for the autumnal streets of NYC. Those scenes shine because the story knows when to stop and observe. Granted, a race against the clock and cosmic forces in play give the movie a frenetic pace, but the heart of Soul lives in the pauses. No doubt a nod to Claude Debussy’s aphorism: “Music is the spaces between the notes.”

That’s where Soul is most effective. Both in the jazz compositions and arrangements from Jon Batiste and the score — the kind that feels familiar before you know the names behind it — courtesy Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Make sure to watch through the credits to hear their take on Disney’s “When You Wish Upon a Star” cascade over Cinderella’s castle. Batiste also takes a crack at the castle jingle, this one at the front, and with good humor. Their styles harmonize beautifully in Soul. So do the worlds above and the worlds below. It’s got everything, really — even life itself.

DECEMBER 10, 2020

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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BOULDER WEEKLY

PHOTOS BY STAFF

TRY THIS WEEK: Smoking Gun @ Woodgrain Bagels HOT COFFEE AND a Montreal-style bagel... not a bad way to start a winter morning. We stopped by Woodgrain Bagels one recent blustery dawn for said java and a Smoking Gun — pastrami, two scrambled eggs and Cheddar cheese on your choice of bagel (we went with the everything). The bagel, of course, is excellent — dense and chewy on the inside, well-flavored and crispy on the outside. The pastrami is thinly sliced and crisped on the skillet. Served alongside thickskinned breakfast potatoes, it’s a substantial breakfast.

WOODGRAIN BAGELS. 2525 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 303-284-0396, woodgrainbagels. com

2

1 OAK’s Holiday Bake Sale Though you may be in the midst of a holiday baking journey in your own kitchen, maybe save room on the table for some goods from OAK at fourteenth. The Boulder eatery is offering a selection of breads, pastries, cookies, cakes and more this holiday season.

Choose from a wide menu that includes sourdough bread, pannetone, a gingerbread pear loaf, peppermint doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, molasses cookies, biscochitos, cheesecake and much more. Preorder on OAK’s website, oakatfourteenth.com, starting Dec. 9 for pickup on Dec. 20 (you can also make purchases in person on Dec. 20).

BOULDER WEEKLY

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Jungle’s now a burger shack, for the time being “Burgers and blue drinks. If we were a band, this would be the name of our most recent album.” So wrote the folks at Boulder’s Jungle, the tiki bar and Caribbean food purveyor of the restaurant’s recent pivot to burgers. Open TuesdaySunday from 11 a.m to 8 p.m., you can order unique burgers and tiki cocktails to-go. How about a double-serving pina colada and a Jungle burger (pineapple, onion and chili mayo)? Or maybe a Cuban sandwich with a rum-packed Zombie? See the full menu and order online at toasttab.com/the-jungle-ltbtt/v3.

DECEMBER 10, 2020

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High end quality meats Catering also available

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Colorado riesling is the truth

by MATT CORTINA

T

hough 2020 continues to pose challenges for Colorado’s winemakers — from wildfires to frosts to tourism declines (see more in Feast, page 33) — there is plenty of quality from past vintages to sample this winter.

Take riesling, for instance, which’ll pair well with holiday turkey, goose or other white meats. Riesling battles two issues MATT CORTINA among the casual wine-consumer crowd: 1) The misperception that it’s overly sweet; and 2) the cost of securing a decent bottle from overseas.

Enter Colorado.

For the price of a good bottle of riesling from Germany, Austria or France — and oftentimes less — you can get an excellent expression of the variety, from dry to sweet.

Riesling thrives in cool climates, as it’s resistant to frost and it’s coldhardy, which is particularly important in light of two frosts that decimated crops in Colorado this year. Its buds can also withstand cold temperatures in early growing months.

It’s also sensitive to soil and climate from a taste perspective — meaning the microclimates in Palisade

that provide unique profiles to other varietals have a substantial impact on the rieslings Colorado growers produce.

You can taste the breadth of the grape by just picking up a few bottles from Colorado producers.

For something toward the dry side, check out The Storm Cellar’s 2018 riesling ($20). It pops with stone fruit like peach and nectarine and has a silky texture and clean finish. It’s one of three styles the winemakers concocted out of a robust 2018 harvest, but which had the qualities to be the core expression of the grape Storm Cellar brought to market.

But don’t take it from me; the 2018 riesling won double gold at the 2019 Colorado Governor’s Cup, a gold medal at the 2020 American Fine Wine Competition, and was featured in Wine Spectator magazine.

For a semi-sweet offering, Boulder’s own Bookcliff Vineyards has a 2019 that’s perfect by itself. Reminiscent of velvety ice wine from the Finger Lakes in both texture and taste, the 2019 riesling ($14.99) pops with fresh apricot, has a lush feel on the palate and runs right up to the point where it’d be too sweet for a second glass and stops. If you do want to pair this with some food, try some hard cheese.

As with all Colorado varietals, Settembre Cellars in Boulder is the place to go to taste what riesling grown in the state can be. Its 2015 riesling ($28) was hand-sorted to remove imperfections in the harvest, which came after a relatively mild growing season that produced a lot of fruit. In this, you’ll get a dry riesling with exceptional minerality and pops of apricot (that seems to be a trend here), along with a crisp mouthfeel.

Check out each vineyards’ website to purchase.

Beer meets Willy Wonka

W

e like Berthoud’s City Star Brewing for — well, its beer — but also for coming up with fun, community-building events to drink that beer.

This time, a team of oompa loompas, so we’re told, have taken over the packaging department at City Star and have placed golden tickets under the caps of select City Star fourpacks.

You can purchase these fourpacks (in the taproom or online at citystarpickup.com) and if you get a golden ticket, you get a free four-pack.

In these times of coronavirus, we’d be skeptical to take a tour alongside discolored, humanlike beings. So we’re glad a golden ticket doesn’t lead to a magical in-person event, but simply free beer.

If you find a golden ticket, just bring it to the taproom (321 Mountain Ave., Berthoud) to redeem.

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DECEMBER 10, 2020

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BOULDER WEEKLY

COLORADO WINE BOARD

Frost in the vineyards Colorado seeks disaster declaration after freeze leads to major crop loss

by Matt Cortina

P

alisade is fertile ground for growing fruit.

From peaches and other tree fruits to wine and table grapes, the unique microclimates in the Grand Valley are, typically, ideal for a variety of crops that couldn’t grow elsewhere in Colorado.

But maybe more than in other fruit-growing regions, producers in and around Palisade have to deal with extreme weather, disease and associated crop loss.

In an already tough year — particularly for Colorado winemakers who couldn’t take in revenue from tourism because of the pandemic — weather has added yet another obstacle. On Dec. 7, Gov. Jared Polis and state agriculture commissioner Kate Greenberg asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue a disaster declaration due to extensive damage to grapevines in the Grand Valley caused by October frost.

It’s the second time this year Colorado has asked for a disaster declaration because of frost — in June, the USDA designated parts of the Western Slope a disaster after a multi-day freeze in April decimated crops in the region.

By granting the previous declaration, and this recent one (should the USDA do so), growers can apply for emergency financial assistance in the form of loans.

The recent freeze (Oct. 25-27) resulted in at least a 70% loss of vitis vinifera, a wine BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

grape, in the Grand Valley, according to a survey of the damage done by Colorado State University. The Colorado Wine Board, the state organization that published the information, states that losses of 100% may be possible for some producers.

Vitis vinifera encompasses nearly every red and white wine grape you’ve heard of, and makes up about 87% of Colorado’s grape production. The other 13% — used as table grapes or for other non-culinary purposes — is comprised of more cold-tolerant varieties, though damage was reported in that crop, as well, particularly in Delta and Montrose counties, where temperatures dropped even lower than in the Grand Valley.

With declines in tourism revenue, effects from the wildfires and the earlier freeze, this latest setback could have a big financial impact on the region, though Doug Caskey, executive director of the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, said in a statement that the industry’s overall growth over the last few years could mitigate the short-term impacts.

“Although this could mean the 2021 harvest will be reduced, our grape growers are coming off several years of record-setting crops, which will hopefully carry them through this lean period,” Caskey said.

Though the Western Slope produces everything from apples to cherries to peaches, grapes anchor the agricultural landscape there. Wine tourism brings in about $300 million annually and provides about 1,600 jobs on vineyards that span around 1,000 acres.

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‘SACRED COW’

Flatirons Food Film Festival tickets on sale

T

he eighth annual Flatirons Food Film Festival will return (in virtual form) Jan. 28-Feb. 5, 2021. This year’s virtual lineup includes 10 feature films, three shorts and a whole host of discussions and Q&As with local and prominent chefs, food professionals and filmmakers. There’s also plenty of food partnerships to support local restaurants, as well as a kids program, trivia and much more.

Some events you might want to check out: Keepers of Black American Food Culture, a collection of short films from the Southern Foodways Alliance that pay tribute to black food culture in the U.S. with a Q&A to follow with film subject Adrian Miller and filmmaker Joe York; A Taste of Sky, which follows the journey of students from Restaurant Gustu, a renowned cooking school in Bolivia; and Food Fighter, which profiles Australian food waste advocate Ronni Kahn (Kahn will be on hand for a discussion, with others, after).

Big Red F, Cured, Pastificio Boulder, Frasca, Boulder County Farmers Markets and more will be participating with food boxes and special items. Find the full schedule and all the info you need at flatironsfoodfilmfest.org. Tickets are on sale now at flatironsfoodfilm.eventive.org.

DECEMBER 10, 2020

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BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: Forgive my English. I write from Italy. I’m a quarter of a century old and I have been with my girlfriend for seven years. I can’t tell you how long the “sex high” lasted — the time when she wanted to have sex as often as possible — but it was maybe three years. Now if she’s stressed, if we are not in a bed, if she hasn’t just shaved her legs, if she’s just woke up, if she’s nervous for any reason at all, she doesn’t want to have sex.

I’m not one of those men who thinks exclusively about his own pleasure. I have asked her if she has any fantasies.

She does not. I have asked her if I should be doing anything different. She says not.

She doesn’t masturbate, she doesn’t watch porn. I purchased a sex toy for us.

She will not touch it. And when I try to talk to her, she says that her sexuality is none of my business. I am miserable. I don’t know what to do. She says I am “fixated on sex” and that there is more to life than that. I jerk off a lot, of course, which she only just started to accept. At first she considered it equivalent to cheating. Is it wrong to end a relationship of seven years because of a matter of different views on sex? I love her so much and leaving would be hard. Please help me.

—Who Has Yearnings Dear WHY: Forgive my bluntness: Either your girlfriend never liked sex all that much or, after seven years, she’s no longer excited by sex with you. If she were willing to talk about it, WHY, you might be able to do something about it; you might be able to revive your sex life by trying new things together, experimenting with toys, having adventures. But she’s made it clear she’s not interested in discussing things, much less doing things. And while she doesn’t think her sexuality is any of your business, she clearly sees your sexuality as her busiBOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

ness, e.g., until recently she thought you were cheating on her when you jerked off... which is kind of nuts, considering how infrequently she wants to fuck you.

There’s nothing wrong with ending a sexually exclusive relationship when the sex doesn’t work and your partner couldn’t care less that you’re unhappy and only grudgingly allows you to masturbate. As much as you love her, it’s not working and it’s only going to get worse.

You’re at once every two weeks now and will soon be down to once a month, then once every three months, then once a year. Eventually you’ll cheat on her out of sheer desperation and the breakup won’t just be painful, WHY, it will be messy and painful and you’ll be cast as the bad guy.

Don’t wait for your dick to slam itself down on the self-destruct button. End it now.

P.S. Your English is so much better than my Italian!

A personal note: Allena Gabosch was a towering figure in Seattle’s sex-positive community. She cofounded Seattle’s Beyond the Edge Café, which quickly became a warm and welcoming home for Seattle’s queer, kink and poly communities. She went on to lead Seattle’s Sex Positive Community Center, aka “The Wet Spot,” and helped launch the Seattle Erotic Arts Festival. She was a gifted public speaker, a tireless advocate and a hilarious storyteller with a giving and generous spirit. She also made the best chocolate chip cookies in town. Allena will be missed and she will be remembered.

My condolences to her many friends and many families.

Send questions to mail@savagelove.net, follow Dan on Twitter @fakedansavage and visit savagelovecast.com.

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Ganja asana

Cannabis-enhanced yoga is becoming popular in states where marijuana is legal, but the relationship between the plant and the practice goes back millennia

by Will Brendza

C

annabis-enhanced yoga might not be everyone’s cup of chai, but the relationship between the plant and the practice goes back to yoga’s very roots. The two have been intertwined through spiritual texts and usage for thousands of years.

Interrupted only temporarily by prohibition (in the U.S. and in India), yoga and cannabis are once again finding harmony in legal markets in the U.S., in yoga studios in Oregon, California and, of course, here in Colorado.

Cannabis can help deepen your yoga practice, enriching the meditative aspects, while making the exercise itself more enjoyable. And between research done on the mat and in the lab, we’re starting to gain an understanding of why.

Before all that, though, a brief history: The first mention of cannabis in Indian Hinduism is in the oldest Vedic text, the Rigveda, written between 1700-1100 BCE — the very same text that describes one of the original and most primitive forms of yoga. Cannabis is also described in the Arthhavaveda as one of the five sacred plants, and as the Lord Shiva’s favorite “food.”

Thus, it has most often been associated with spiritual sages and meditation in Hinduism.

Most commonly, cannabis has been consumed orally in Indian traditions, in a drink mixture called

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

bhang — but it is also smoked in earthenware chillums in the forms of ganja (leaves and female flowers) and charas (separated resin). That was, until the U.S. set a precedent with prohibition and spread the drug war to India in the late 20th century. In the ’80s, the Indian government banned the use of charas and ganja, following America’s lead — though it’s still allowed to use leaves and seeds to make bhang for religious purposes.

All of which is to say, cannabis is a sacramental substance in India and has been for thousands of years. It’s used in prayer, ritual and meditation — which is the very core of yoga. Asana (yoga flow) is a practice of moving meditation, of quieting the mind and centering oneself in the present moment.

Which is why, to many, cannabis feels like a yogic performance enhancer.

And, at least in my experience, cannabis also makes the exercise aspect of yoga more enjoyable. I can focus on feeling my muscles more deeply, as I breathe through different poses; it’s easier to relax into each position; stretches feel as though they have greater depth; and it takes less time to fall into the rhythm of the flow.

That’s all anecdotal, of course. But science backs it up: One study from the Proceedings of the National

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Academy of Sciences suggests that the euphoria of “runner’s high” actually comes from natural stimulation of the endocannabinoid system — the same system that cannabis affects. Many people believe that our endocannabinoid receptors are activated by yoga as well, at least partially explaining why cannabis might make yoga feel even better.

Additionally, in a survey done by Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU-Boulder, 70% of cannabis users in the U.S. claimed to use cannabis with exercise and said that doing so made the workout more enjoyable.

There are medicinal benefits too. Modern cannabis products like salves offer some functionally useful benefits for any yogi that experiences joint pain, inflammation or arthritis. I’ve noticed that if I lather some Stratos Soothe ER or Mary’s Medicinal muscle freeze on my joints before class, it drastically reduces any soreness or discomfort, and prevents those skeletal crackles and pops that otherwise punctuate my practice. CBD tinctures and consumable products are also powerful yogic supplements for the same reasons.

Yogis can experiment in their own practice to see for themselves if cannabis-enhanced yoga is for them.

Or, (once this pandemic is over) try dropping into any one of Colorado’s multiple “infused yoga” schools like Marijuasana or Twisted Sisters, both in Denver. They offer specialized yoga classes promoting stigma-free cannabis-enhanced yoga.

Of course, a yogi shouldn’t need cannabis to enjoy yoga. All of the physical and mental benefits of asana are achievable stone-cold sober — and that’s important to experience.

As more states legalize cannabis, and as the stigma of use dissolves, the plant and the practice are finding each other again — and people are realizing just how beneficial the combination can be.

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