Planet JH 11.16.16

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

2 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Elizabeth Kingwill,

MA/LPC

Licensed Professional Counselor • Medical Hypnotherapist

Counseling: • Individual • Premarital • Marriage/Family • Anxiety, Stress

• Anger Management • Pain Relief • Depression • Stop Smoking

733-5680

Practicing in Jackson since 1980 • www.elizabethkingwill.com Flexible Hours - Evening & Weekends • Now Accepting Blue Cross Blue Shield

JACKSON HOLE'S ALTERNATIVE VOICE

VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 45 | NOVEMBER 16-22, 2016

10 COVER STORY

Cover illustration by Todd Cooper, Eugene Weekly

TRUMP’S FOURTH ESTATE Why fact-based journalism is now under fire, and what the public needs to know about its endangered future.

4 LETTERS

22 MUSIC BOX

6 EDITOR’S NOTE

24 WELL, THAT...

9 REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

25 FREE SPEECH 26 IMBIBE

14-20 THE BUZZ

THE PLANET TEAM PUBLISHER

Copperfield Publishing, John Saltas EDITOR

Robyn Vincent / editor@planetjh.com

ART DIRECTOR

STAFF REPORTERS

Cait Lee / art@planetjh.com

Meg Daly, Jake Nichols

SALES DIRECTOR

COPY EDITOR

Jen Tillotson / jen@planetjh.com SALES EXTRAORDINAIRE

Caroline LaRosa / caroline@planetjh.com

Jessica Sell Chambers, Natosha Hoduski, Andrew Munz, Sarah Ross, Ted Scheffler, Chuck Shepherd, Brian Staker, Tom Tomorrow, Jim Woodmencey

Jake Nichols CONTRIBUTORS

Craig Benjamin, Rob Brezsny, Patrick Chadwick,

MEMBER: National Newspaper Association, Alternative Weekly Network, Association of Alternative Newsmedia

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November 16-22, 2016

By Meteorologist Jim Woodmencey

Jim has been forecasting the weather here for more than 20 years. You can find more Jackson Hole Weather information at www.mountainweather.com SPONSORED BY GRAND TETON FLOOR & WINDOW COVERINGS

Last week, overnight low temperatures were dipping down into the upper teens in Jackson, not too far off from the average. This week, the average low temperatures in town are in the mid teens. Record low temperatures are quite a bit cooler than that, with the coldest temperature recorded during this week being minus 27-degrees. That happened on November 16, 1955, which also happens to be the coldest all-time November day on record.

Average high temperatures begin dipping down into the upper 30’s for this week. I expect colder than average temps at the end of this week, then near or warmer than average this weekend. The record high temperature this week is 60-degrees, which has been met twice, once on November 16th 1955 and again on November 19th, 2008. Two years ago, on November 18th, 2014, we broke another record, when the high temperature that day was only nine degrees!

NORMAL HIGH NORMAL LOW RECORD HIGH IN 2008 RECORD LOW IN 1955

38 15 60 -27

THIS MONTH AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 1.3 inches RECORD PRECIPITATION: 4.2 inches (1988) AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 9 inches RECORD SNOWFALL: 40 inches

Carpet - Tile - Hardwood - Laminate Blinds - Shades - Drapery Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm Open Tuesdays until 8pm 1705 High School Rd Suite 120 Jackson, WY 307-200-4195 www.tetonfloors.com | www.tetonblinds.com

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 3

Usually by mid-November if we don’t have much snow yet, then people start getting a little nervous about opening the ski areas on time. What they have to realize is, it is not every year that we actually have sufficient snow-cover, to the valley floor, prior to Thanksgiving. During this third week of November, the long-term average snow depth in town is just 2.5 inches. The deepest snow depth we have ever had this time of year is 15 inches. That happened back in 1988.

WHAT’S COOL WHAT’S HOT

THIS WEEK

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

JH ALMANAC

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

4 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

FROM OUR READERS Public Lands Under Serious Threat

Folks in the West love our public lands, and for many reasons; the ample places to hunt, fish, camp, hike, ride and otherwise enjoy the great outdoors are a significant reason they choose to live, work and raise our families where we do.

That’s just one segment of our cherished way of life that was on the line during the recent election. To folks on the coasts, it may seem insignificant, but to most people in the Rocky Mountain West these are integral parts of our heritage. And it was on our minds in the ballot box.

President-elect Trump signaled openness to keeping the lands great on the campaign trail when asked if he supported plans to transfer nationally owned lands to individual states. Let’s hope he continues that commitment because there’s a lot at stake.

However, not everyone agrees. The leader of the land transfer movement is the American Lands Council (ALC), a group founded in 2012 to try to force the federal government to turn over publically owned lands to local jurisdictions.

The dreams of Jennifer Fielder and the ALC is for local counties and states to take over what is currently public land, owned by all U.S. taxpayers, and managed by the federal government. In their piein-the-sky scenario, more revenue can be culled from our public lands through more aggressive logging, mining, grazing and development of these lands for direct revenue generation. This, they say, will leave counties and states flush with cash.

Transferring public lands to local jurisdictions means transferring the management responsibilities – and the significant management costs – as well.

The cost of forest fire suppression by federal agencies alone has ballooned in recent years, surpassing $2 billion dollars in 2015 when agencies battled almost 70,000 individual fires. The U.S. Forest Service projects that by 2025, over 67% of it’s budget will be spent on fire suppression, up from just over 50% in 2015 and a mere 16% in 1995. States and counties simply do not have the funding, expertise or equipment to manage the increasing occurrence of fires and protect these lands.

Elections are a valued part of our democracy, but they sometimes have unintended consequences. Let’s hope President-elect Trump holds to his word, and keeps our valued public lands in public hands for us all to enjoy. And we stand ready to work with him to accomplish this.

- Chris Saeger Director, Western Values Project

Taking the Country Back

I am heartbroken and I am angry. I woke up on Wednesday in a country I do not recognize. Once again the Electoral College is going to make a man the President who did not win a majority of the votes. I refuse to accept the wait-andsee attitude about Donald Trump—we know who he is. He is a man who has only ever cared about himself. He has never done a hard days work in his life, he has scammed and bilked people who have done work for him, and he has done everything in his power to avoid paying for his fair share. He is a sexual abuser. He is a racist. He is a liar who lied more during this campaign than any other candidate.

He is crude and violent, and he lashes out at the slightest insult or provocation.

And he knows nothing about the world, our government, or American democracy.

Worst of all, he is a paranoid conspiracy nut who believes things like climate change are a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese, and he is going to be handed the keys of the most powerful military and intelligence agencies on the planet.

I will not sit idly by and let this disaster unfold. I will do whatever I can to resist, disrupt, and dismantle his machinations.

I care much more about preserving what is good about this country for future generations than I do about accepting the outcome of this travesty.

If you voted for Trump: good riddance.

We don’t seem to live in the same reality.

You have created a monster and it is now your duty to try and prevent him from destroying our democracy. It will be your fault if he succeeds.

If you did not vote then you enabled this to happen. Six million people who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 did not show up this time around. If you sat idly by, then you let the angriest 25 percent of Americans unleash this horror on the world. You must now watch things unravel around you for the next four years and think about the consequences of your inaction. You must not look away.

For those who are marginalized, who are scared, who are targets, whose lives have been made much more terrifying today: I stand with you. I will stand up for you. Your lives matter. And no matter how long it takes, the long arm of history bends toward justice. We will take this country back.

- Olaus Linn Wilson, WY

Dem Disillusionment

I am just so angry at the Democratic Party. It completely failed us. You cheated your own party members. You corrupted your own nomination process. And you brought us Trump. You screwed the country by screwing the process. It just had to be Hillary… Well, no it didn’t. You tried to cheat for her and force her into office and the people said NO. Now we’re ALL stuck dealing with the consequences of your dishonesty and your disrespect of the democratic process.

Wyoming’s state Democratic Party, with its obvious predetermined preference for Clinton, has plenty of guilt to share in this too. As does every single “super” delegate who refused to represent the will of the caucus voters in this state.

And anyone who willfully turned a blind eye to the cheating revealed by Wikileaks.

You’re complicit. You’ve all done a great disservice to your party and to this nation.

This is your fault, Democrats. It’s not the third parties, it’s not the FBI, it’s not the media, it’s the Democratic Party’s fault, period. You need to own up to the mess you have created and quit scapegoating and looking for someone else to blame. And then you need to listen and you need to change so that something like this can never. happen. again. Otherwise, I hope you never recover from this and that a new, decent and honest party that actually strives to represent the people emerges from your ashes.

- Jay Wright Jackson, WY

Stop Hoping, Start Doing

I saw a lot of red eyes on November 9, a lot of stunned people who looked like they hadn’t had much sleep, or had aged a couple years overnight. In terms of people’s moods, it was perhaps one of the weirdest days I have ever experienced. Slightly different than the morning after a mass tragedy, but similar enough.

I thought about what the day would have looked like had Hilary won. Or what did happen after Obama won in 2008 and 2012. At least among my co-workers, neighbors, and peers, this presented sighs of relief and a bit of a fanfare before, largely, it was back to business as usual. The part where we allow the torch to be passed to our next leader, then step back into our lives, hoping our newly elected leader will follow through with their promises.

In a way, Trump is the president we need. Not for what he can do or has promised to do, but for what we, as citizens of this country, will do, and have to do, in order to fight the racist, xenophobic,

misogynistic, egomaniacal, and environmentally destructive promises and rhetoric of his campaign. He is the president that is already lighting the fire for people to stand up in what they believe in and get to work on the issues they care about.

Unlike many other great leaders, it’s not a call to action to stand with, but rather a call to action to stand up, and stand up for. We’ve become complacent, and too comfortable in the privileged bubbles we occupy.

I’ve seen the word “hope” thrown around a lot this last week. Obama had a great lead-off with his “Hope” campaign in 2008, but never had the follow through, same goes for our elected representatives.

There’s a thing about hope; it really doesn’t accomplish much. Derrick Jensen penned a piece, Beyond Hope, that I recommend you read. He ends with the following: “W hen you give up on hope, you turn away from fear.

And when you quit relying on hope, and instead begin to protect the people, things, and places you love, you become very dangerous indeed to those in power.

In case you’re wondering, that’s a very good thing.”

Now we must stop hoping and start doing. Regardless of who you voted for, there better be a fire under your ass.

Frustrated and don’t know quite what to do? Go bang some nails with Habitat for Humanity, or go bang on the doors of our new (and our returning) elected officials; hold them accountable for their promises, and let your voice be heard. Don’t unplug because the election is over. Fan those flames, for tomorrow is a new day.

- Ben Johnson Jackson, WY

Trade Playtime for Politics

Dear Jackson, I miss you, the peaks, the rivers, and, most of all, the friends, my Jackson family.

But that is not what this is about.

While some may be tempted to give Mr. Trump the benefit of the doubt, early indicators on the makeup of his administration are not promising. Famous global climate change skeptic Myron Ebell is poised to head the EPA, while Forrest Lucas, from Lucas Oil, is the candidate most widely reported to lead the Interior Department (National Parks, etc.).

So what comes next? I, like many of you, am heartbroken and distraught at the election outcome. I tossed and turned last night, getting very little sleep, as I contemplated that question. Leaving the country is an option some have toyed with, as is

ROBYN VINCENT

Protesters gathered on Town Square Saturday to stand in solidarity with people across the country who became the targets of hate crimes this past week.

not an option.

All hope is not lost, Jackson Hole. You have great local leaders that have been elected and re-elected. And the resources available in the valley are numerous.

Therefore, I would challenge you, you shining, beautiful residents of the most glorious place I have ever been fortunate to call home, to bring this message of hope and solidarity to others outside your sphere of influence. Be a champion for those that might have fewer means or less access by which to fight for themselves.

It may sound simple but build your tribe and don’t get sucked into the negativity coming from the media machine.

Get out there and adventure, bag the peaks, run the rivers, and celebrate life.

But heed Ed Abbey’s words that the other half of your life is dedicated to a fight for your land and clean water and all of the things that make life worth living.

Stand tall and fight on.

- Ryan Krueger Troutdale, OR

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 5

Families, jobs, traveling the world, fishing, bike rides and ski tours are no longer valid excuses not to participate. You are creative, you are smart, find a way to blow up those reasons and make waves in your own way in regards to the issues that are important to you. Form a collective of friends that can coordinate local committee or council meeting attendance and report back what you find, or host a multi-family evening day care event so folks don’t need to find a sitter to participate in such a collective. All options are on the table, figure out what works for you and your community.

Being creatively engaged, especially now, after this election, is paramount to maintaining what amounts to our birthright in this country. Clean air, clean water, public lands, free speech, human rights, due process, health care, science, and diversity are rights I for one am willing to fight for. And there are many other reasons, your personal reasons, local reasons, to stand tall, to stay vigilant in what are assuredly to be frustrating times for those of us who had a different future in mind.

What comes next will not be easy I can imagine, but retreat from this challenge is

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

the idea of burying our heads in the sand and hiding for the next four years. But those paths abandon our brethren at a crucial time in our countries’ history. The only option is to stand for what is important—love, kindness, the environment, our communities, family, friends, all of it.

There have been encouraging early signs that, as a result of this election others are ready to employ fierce organized action to protect these values from the threat posed by a Trump presidency. And this is a call to arms for you to join them.

The fight for the future is paved with participation. Perhaps the easiest way to become engaged in what is going on in your community is to go to a meeting.

Fucking seriously go to a town council or county commission meeting. As someone who is on the front lines of municipal action every day, (full disclosure, I am currently employed as a city planner in a small city outside Portland, OR) I can tell you there is likely nothing more important than participation. Those who show up make the rules, or at least know about them.

I truly, truly love you all but I am tired of being a fighter, an advocate, while the rest of you make excuses why you can’t.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

6 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE The Resistance This is not the time to say, ‘Everything is going to be OK.’

BY ROBYN VINCENT @TheNomadicHeart

ROBYN VINCENT

L

ike many of you, I have spent the last week in mourning. But my despair is not tied to Democrats versus Republicans or Hillary Clinton’s loss. I assure you, I would not sob over a Mitt Romney or Marco Rubio presidency.

This is about what the election of Donald J. Trump is rapidly normalizing in America: racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, a rejection of science and intellectualism, and a disdain for the democratic pillars that this country was built on, such as free speech and a free press.

The tears that stain my cheeks are also for the people in this country and the world who no longer feel safe: African Americans, members of the LGBTQ community, immigrants, Muslims and women. I am deeply concerned about the impending erosion of our civil liberties, that Trump already appointed a notorious climate change denier to head the EPA’s transition team, and that more than 200 incidents of hateful harassments and intimidation were reported in just the three days following the election, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Locally, people on Facebook commented, “Shoot them,” in response to folks peacefully protesting hate and violence in the Town Square on Saturday. Then on Sunday another local received a message in which he was referred to as “a slant eyed gook motherfucker.”

I’ll give you a moment to digest all of that.

So how do we proceed? The answer is together.

First, don’t be a bystander. Send a message to those spewing bigotry that their behavior will not be tolerated—whether that means documenting an incident with your phone and reporting it to police or physically positioning yourself next to a person enduring some form of harassment.

We must also have face-to-face conversations with the non-violent folks who voted for this demagogue. You owe it to every minority who is now vulnerable. Stop immuring yourself with only the people and media that promulgate your views (an offense I am decidedly guilty of). Start crafting potent and pragmatic talking points, items that you can quickly refer to when having these conversations.

Here’s one: Trump is not an outsider—though he successfully depicted himself as one and it’s a key reason people voted for him. He is not different from the system that has emboldened his ascent. Already he has appointed longtime career politicians—not outsiders—to head his transition team and cabinet, including Russell Pearce, the lawmaker responsible for this country’s most racist legislation to date, Arizona’s S.B. 1070. It allows police to demand immigration papers from anyone in that state based solely on how they look. Among the “outsiders” Trump has appointed to his cabinet is white supremacist and former head of the propagandist website Breitbart News, Stephen Bannon. Under his leadership the site has published incendiary stories about women, Jews, African Americans and Muslims.

Second, it is important to remember that your profound grief and anxiety are not an overreaction. Trump’s America is a country we do not recognize and we cannot

sit back and espouse that everything is going to be just fine; I will not arrive to the acceptance stage in my grieving process. While I will accept his presidency, I refuse to accept what his presidency stands for. We have seen throughout history what happens when people become complacent, when they trade common sense for fear, abandon their moral compasses and feel powerless in the face of their government. We cannot sit idly by and let that happen.

One thing that molded America into the tolerant, progressive nation that it is today, and that we know it can still be, is the collective power of the people. Social movements ended a war. They birthed civil rights, women’s rights, and environmental protections that have forever propelled this country forward. Do not think for a second that peacefully protesting what this presidency symbolizes is un-American or that it is a protest against the democratic process. It is not. It is a protest against a dangerous, isolationist, autocratic America and it is now your duty.

As Wyomingites, our small population can assert a disproportionately strong voice with our state electeds. Call, don’t write, your representatives every day. From former Congressional staffer Emily Ellsworth: “The most effective thing is to actually call them on the phone at their district (state) office. They have to talk to you there.”

Ellsworth, a Salt Lake City-based writer and editor, worked for Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, for whom she acted as a liaison for people and the federal agencies, CNN reported.

As you talk to your neighbors and engage in the political process, let this notion be a Band-Aid for your wounds: the resistance will indeed begin in America’s towns and cities. Locally we chose two revolutionary, altruistic candidates who were inspired to run for office because of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the antithesis of Trump. I expect Mayorelect Pete Muldoon and County Commissioner-elect Greg Epstein to govern in sharp contrast to Trump’s America and to indefatigably protect this area’s citizens with brazen legislation. If they do not, The Planet will hold them, and all other lawmakers here, accountable. (Read more in The Buzz, page 14.)

It is also time to support the watchdogs who are rolling up their sleeves readying for battle: independent media outlets, the American Civil Liberties Union

(which received almost 200,000 new Facebook likes this past week), the Southern Poverty Law Center, and other organizations that work to protect the environment and human rights. These are the people who will challenge Trump’s abuses of power and unconstitutional promises.

Lastly, and most importantly, we have to cease behaviors that deepen the divide—violent protesting or directing inflammatory language at those who don’t agree with us must stop. We cannot be recalcitrant in trying to understand other people’s struggles.

For the disillusioned working class of Middle America, Trump painted a grim picture of this country (one that is now materializing) and promised to be the messiah. His success hinged on people voting against their self-interests. For me, part of this notion crystallized when The Planet posted a story on its Facebook page about a Dakota Access Pipeline protest. The event fell two days after the election so organizers billed it as a Trump protest too.

One of the Facebook commenters, seemingly unaware of the president-elect’s positions on minorities, the environment, and oil and gas development, responded: “So what of the people who support Trump but protest the pipeline?” Imagine how many well-meaning people like this are out there. We cannot afford to alienate these folks.

It is time to take comfort in the following and to champion these words day and night: dissent is the highest form of patriotism, and no one should align with their government’s rhetoric without digging into its actions.

Then we must find ways to insert this ethos into every conversation: We are in this together.

After all, the more divided we become, the more power we relinquish.

This week’s issue of The Planet is populated with energizing messages of activism and free speech, and political analysis and commentary. Expect more of this content from us for the foreseeable future.

As Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small, thoughtful group of citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

The Planet is ready. Are you? PJH

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GUEST OPINION PostElection To-Dos Let’s come together as a community and fight for our values.

BY CRAIG BENJAMIN

• Wednesday mornings • Must have own vehicle • Clean driving record • Hourly wage + mileage Call PJH Office at 732-0299 or email publisher@planetjh.com

E

motions ran raw last Tuesday on election night. Depending on your preferred candidate, you were shocked, despondent, and baffled, or elated, euphoric, and validated.

Either way, if you are like most Americans, you are probably still wondering, what the heck happens now that we elected Donald J. Trump as our next president? Whether you like it or not, whether you have accepted it or not, this is happening, so let’s figure out what it means for us here in Jackson Hole.

Before I begin, I have to admit that I struggled writing this piece. Right now, millions of Americans are scared of what will happen to them and their families because of their religion, sex, national origin, or sexual orientation. This is not acceptable and flies in the face of everything for which America stands. Let’s hope that President-elect Trump holds true to his words, serves as a president for all Americans, and these fears prove unjustified.

I’ve also struggled writing this piece because I kept wanting to explain why I think this happened, but that’s a rabbit hole for another time.

So, here we are. Staring face-to-face with the reality of a Trump presidency.

What does this mean for us here in Jackson Hole?

Look, I am not going to pretend like I know what this means for the many issues that will impact our lives like immigration, health care, and trade policy. But based on Trump’s campaign rhetoric, I can make an educated guess about what it likely means for those of us who care about our community’s vision of a future.

A future, where, according to the Jackson/ Teton County Comp Plan, “we preserve and protect the area’s ecosystem in order to ensure a healthy environment, community and economy for current and future generations.”

Quite simply, our next president has a radical anti-conservation agenda that could have fundamentally damaging impacts on our community.

Let’s look at the facts. Trump has mocked and denied climate change, vowed to pull our country out of the Paris climate agreement, stated he wants to open up more of our American public lands to oil and gas drilling and coal mining, said he wants to scrap bedrock environmental protections and all federal spending on clean energy, proposed appointing people to his cabinet who are close friends with the fossil fuel industry, committed to moving forward with controversial oil pipelines, and even hinted that he wants to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency entirely.

Imagine the privatization of our public lands and oil and gas wells popping up in the BridgerTeton National Forest.

Consider the impact this would have on wildlife trying to migrate across the landscape and many of our favorite recreation locations. Think about the fate of grizzlies, wolves, wolverines, and other endangered species that call the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem home. And then there’s the brazen disregard for dealing with the threat of climate change.

Let’s be clear, Trump’s anti-conservation agenda is a grave threat to the wildlife, wild places, and community character of Jackson Hole.

While we should all be encouraged by Trump’s words that he wants to be a president for all Americans, and we can hope this means he’ll adjust his agenda accordingly, respecting the value Americans place on conservation and our public lands, we can’t rely on words and hope. We must act.

What can we do against such reckless disregard for our values? We can ride out and meet it.

Now, more than ever, it’s imperative that our community stand up and fight back harder than we ever have before to protect the abundant wildlife and astonishingly beautiful wild places that make Jackson Hole so magical.

First, let’s acknowledge that much of this fight will take place at the national level, so let’s recognize and appreciate the national-level organizations that will take on this challenge. Let’s support their efforts to fight back against attacks on our public lands, environmental protections, and climate agreements.

Then, let’s realize that we can and must do more than fight back defensively at the national level, we must take the initiative

to create a better future right here in our backyard.

Fortunately, Trump and his radical anti-conservation agenda can’t stop us from proactively creating a better future for our community. We can make a difference right here in Jackson Hole, no matter who occupies the White House.

We can talk about climate change while proactively responding to it and preparing for its impacts. We can invest in clean energy, affordable housing, and transportation choices.

We can rally our community to fight back against the extreme agenda to privatize our public lands. We can invest in protecting wildlife and improving habitat connectivity.

We can complete and implement our wildlife crossings master plan and develop a conservation action plan. We can craft and enforce land use rules and incentives that encourage protected open space and connected wildlife habitat. We can use science, facts, and data to guide our local decisions.

We can rescue food. We can help those in our community who need it most. We can walk next door and introduce ourselves to our neighbors. We can pull fences that are bad for wildlife. We can stand up to bullies.

We can reject the politics of division, and stand united as a community in support of each other and everything that makes this place special.

We can seize this moment to come together as a community to both fight back against bad ideas and do what we can locally to make Jackson Hole a strong community with a brighter future. And the only way all of this will happen is if we all join together as a movement.

So whether you’re despondent or delighted with what happened last week, if you care about protecting the wildlife, wild places, and community character of Jackson Hole, join a local organization working to create a better future that inspires you. Give your time, give your money, and give your passion. Let’s come together as a community and fight for our values. PJH

“Trump’s anticonservation agenda is a grave threat to the wildlife, wild places, and community character of Jackson Hole.”

Craig Benjamin is the executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance.

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REPORTERS NOTEBOOK We Are the Same Fearing Syrian refugees is like fearing ourselves.

BY NATOSHA HODUSKI @natoshahoduski

EIRIK JOHAN SOLHEIM

S

A beach landing for Syrian refugees on the Greek Island of Chios.

“This place was not meant to be home.

These people were never meant to belong here.”

as some of the worst refugee camps in the world by the UNHCR. Many refugees are not even getting processed there. According to the Independent, some are even being returned to Syria. There is no onward passage. Many families have spent their savings trying to escape the warzone just to be met with deportation back to the places they are attempting to escape.

The U.S. has taken in its pledged 10,000 Syrian refugees, but that’s barely .000021 percent of the 4.5 million refugees born from this great humanitarian crisis. Half of the people affected by the displacements in Syria are children, according to World Vision.

President-elect Donald Trump has said the United States is under no obligation to help these people, and worse still, he preached that they are a danger to “our way of life.”

“Trump? Trump is your big leader?” Ahmed asked the day after the election.

I didn’t know what to say to him. I just nodded my head.

“Then I will never go to Texas,” he winced.

“I’m sorry,” I answered, because I wasn’t sure what else to say.

He nodded his head, “No problem, no problem,” he said as he patted me on the back before walking away.

Few things have devastated me more than watching that resigned silhouette limp back into the camp with the flapping wind tents and the coldness of the long night ahead. He was already that haunting color blue.

This place was not meant to be a home. These people were never meant to belong here. And we, as citizens of an immensely wealthy, powerful country, have the space and the means to help them. If only we would listen to the heartbeat of an entire nation, pumping out the words: we are the same. PJH

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NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 9

hadn’t meant to laugh, but the words were such a contrast to the scars I was looking at. Due to a complete lack of medical attention, his arm will likely be partially paralyzed for the rest of his life.

“No problem, my friend, no problem.”

I have sat on the floors of these tents for hours a day, laughing in a patchwork of different languages. I have been blessed and welcomed and made “Shai” with more hospitality and grace than I ever could have imagined.

We sit cross-legged on the ground and I am asked to enjoy anything it is they have to offer. It is almost always the peanuts or fruit we distributed at meals the day before— one portion for each tent dweller, and they are sacrificing it to make me feel at home.

“I will hurt when you go,” Ahmed told me.

I realized that must be terrible: seeing me and so many other volunteers come and leave at will when the indefiniteness of his stay haunts him.

“In 10 days, I will be nine months here. Ashera, Ashera,” he told me, holding up 10 fingers to explain. “Where should I go?” he asked.

I did not have an answer for him. The EU has basically enacted an embargo on refugees. No one in Souda even considers the United States an option, because they know how impossible it is for them to attain asylum there. The conditions in Turkey, they say, are appalling, and they have no homes to return to in Syria.

My friend Mohammed was put in a Turkish jail for two days without water or food after trying to escape the refugee camps that have essentially become detainment facilities. The photos he took of that jail cell showed garbage piled up all around him. There were no toilets, no places to sleep, and the lights were always on. Going back to Turkey is not an option. Many of the camps in Turkey are rated

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

ouda Refugee Camp is an informal, non-militarized camp run by non-government organizations from across Europe and Asia. The camp is tucked into the hemline of a sea barrier on the coast of Chios, Greece. I have found myself on this island’s shores for the last month, and now, with just a week left before I leave, I am struggling to sift through the thousands of stories that should be known. There are so many stories to tell.

So, so many stories. I find myself scribbling them on the corners of napkins and on the palm of my hand, because I simply cannot contain the magnitude of human suffering, shelled up in that corner of my throat that makes it difficult to speak.

I have seen firsthand the flooded UNHCR tent that was meant to protect a family’s most precious belongings, now sitting in two inches of rainwater. That little girl’s doll is now mildewed and water logged and she will still love it once it is bleached out a bit in the morning sun. I have seen a man carried away to his tent by his friends after he collapsed—sobbing, because his entire family died in a bombing raid that day. I have held the hand of my new Syrian friend Omar as he told me why he fled, describing the horrors he has experienced firsthand, perpetrated by the Islamic State [hereafter referred to as “Daesh”—a term that, if used in Syria, is punishable by the chopping off of hands], and I wonder, how did we get here? And is there any way to end this suffering?

Ahmed has spent eight months in a ten-dollar tent on this gale-force, windy island, and I may never be able to make anyone understand the color blue his skin turns in the cold. He’s from Homs in Syria, where the weather is almost always warm.

“Ahmed, tell me what we can do to help Syria,” I asked him at dinner a few days ago.

He looked at me with a tired look that meant I could never understand, “Wash your hands, my friend. Wash your hands.”

“You have no hope of returning?” I pressed.

“Hope?” he seemed to struggle over the word.

“You don’t want to go back?” I tried again.

“Back? To Syria? Back? No. Back to what?”

Homs has been torn apart by Daesh. A city that predates Rome, full of beautiful, ancient buildings, is now rubble. Back to what? Back to tombs made of brick, bones, and the mortar of forgetting.

Ahmed’s hand no longer faces the right way when he straightens out his arm. He is sixteen years old and he will limp the rest of his life. His home collapsed on him after a bombing raid, crushing the left side of his body. When he showed me the pink, folding scars where the bones had shone through, I cried. He put his hand on mine and said, “No problem, my friend, no problem. I did not want to make you sad.”

“No problem, my friend?” I laughed rather suddenly. I

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

10 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

TRUMP’S FOURTH ESTATE

Why fact-based journalism is now under fire, and what the public needs to know about its endangered future.

BY PATRICK CHADWICK |

@PatrickChadwick

“Covering Trump was a massive challenge.

Recovering from Trump may be all but impossible for the political press.”

- JAY ROSEN, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

F

or many in the Jackson Hole community, the shock and tears that came with Donald J. Trump’s election have now ceded to a creeping realization of how his words may turn into action as president. Among these dour considerations is Trump’s attack on journalism and what it could mean for American democracy.

Trump has called the media “dishonest,” “disgusting,” “corrupt” and “absolute scum.” During his campaign, he spoke of opening up libel laws while revoking press credentials for respected journalists at media outlets ranging from the The Washington Post to Univision to The Des Moines Register.

At his rallies, Trump required that journalists stand in a press pen, where he could single them out and direct boos from his supporters. There were incidents of physical assault and chants of “Jew-S-A” and “Lügenpresse,” a German word meaning “lying press” associated with Hitler’s Nazis and modern-day xenophobic groups on the far right. At a Trump rally on Nov. 6 in Minnesota, a supporter wore a shirt that read, “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some Assembly Required.”

There is no indication Trump’s disdain for journalism will soften when he gets into the White House. So far as president-elect, Trump has broken with White House tradition by forgoing the protective pool of journalists who typically travel with the soon-to-be commander in chief during the transition period. Instead he just appointed a notorious white supremacist, the now former executive chairman of Breitbart News, Stephen Bannon, to be his chief strategist. Breitbart is an alt-right media outlet that promulgates racist, sexist and xenophobic messages and conspiracy theories.

Today, the public’s responsibility to become more critical consumers of media cannot be overstated.

There’s justified media criticism, then there’s Trump

Renovating the Fourth Estate

Fact-averse on Facebook

In September, BuzzFeed News analyzed more than one thousand political posts from six hyper-partisan Facebook pages, looking at three left-wing pages, such as Occupy Democrats, and three right-wing sites, such as Freedom Daily. The analysis showed that 30 percent of all posts contained false or misleading information. Even worse, the pages with the shakiest facts tended to have the most shares, reactions and comments from the public.

In contrast, the three mainstream sites chosen by BuzzFeed for comparison—ABC News Politics, CNN Politics and Politico—posted a mix of true and false information less than 1 percent of the time, with zero posts labeled as mostly false.

The impatience with facts on social media can help explain how Americans elected a president whose statements were rated mostly false or worse 70 percent of the time by the fact-checking site PolitiFact. Far-right Facebook pages supporting Trump were the worst offenders in the BuzzFeed analysis, with 38 percent of their posts containing false or misleading information.

Speaking to Business Insider in August, popular conservative

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 11

Journalism has long been referred to as the Fourth Estate, aiming to be a factual counterweight to the three branches of U.S. government. When the media has been repressed or state-controlled in other countries like China, Russia and North Korea, human rights violations have run rampant.

Trump aside, the Fourth Estate is currently vulnerable in the United States, with a September Gallup poll finding that only 32 percent of Americans currently trust mass media.

The foundation of the Fourth Estate has weakened in the 21st century as newspapers have consolidated, local investigative journalism has been stripped down, and cable news networks have chased ratings by adding far more opinionated programing.

On Election Day, Teton County voter Irene Griswold, 51, explained her concerns.

“To me, it’s disappointing the way the news industry has gone from having really good investigative reporters as opposed to now just either taking blurbs from other media or being obviously very biased for one side or the other,” she said. “It’s not news—it’s just their belief system they are espousing to.”

The public’s declining trust in the mainstream media has coincided with the rise of what Harvard Law School professor Yochai Benkler called the “networked fourth estate” in his 2011 paper, “A Free Irresponsible Press.”

Expanding the Fourth Estate to include decentralized, nontraditional media sources like Wikipedia, WikiLeaks and small news sites, the networked fourth estate is not only defined by its media outlets, but also, how they interact and share information through online networks.

Benkler explained, “The new system will have high

quality, effective participants of each type, and low quality rumormongers on either side of the traditional/networked media divide.”

While the networked fourth estate has granted the public access to an unprecedented amount of vital information online, it also enabled a vast spread of misinformation during the presidential campaign.

A revealing example is WikiLeaks’ uncovering of legitimate political news this election. In July, WikiLeaks posted hacked emails from the DNC that revealed instances of internal favoritism for Clinton during the Democratic primary.

In the month leading up to the election, the nonprofit organization released an ongoing drip of hacked emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Among the emails was content from Clinton’s private speeches to Wall Street and discussions highlighting potential conflicts of interest involving the Clinton Foundation.

Defending the release of these emails, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange posted the following on the eve of the U.S. presidential election: “The U.S. public has thoroughly engaged with WikiLeaks’ election related publications which number more than one hundred thousand documents. Millions of Americans have pored over the leaks and passed on their citations to each other and to us. It is an open model of journalism that gatekeepers are uncomfortable with, but which is perfectly harmonious with the First Amendment.”

But WikiLeaks’ delivery system also stoked the public’s cynicism with vague, open-ended posts and tweets that implied additional Clinton scandals when there were none.

The hacked emails found a second life on independent WikiLeaks-focused Twitter accounts that often placed email content out of context, or falsely attributed that content to Clinton’s team.

If journalism is supposed to offer both sides of a story, WikiLeaks could not provide a look behind the scenes of the Trump campaign. And if journalism is supposed to be without agenda, this was a sustained effort that focused solely on one candidate in one U.S. party.

Assange’s statement also asserts that journalism—a profession that requires extensive training and experience— can simply be left to the general public. If today’s Facebook feeds are any indication, Americans should probably stick to their day jobs.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

The mainstream media’s role in the 2016 presidential election was complex. It is important to differentiate between the journalists who were verbally abused by Trump for doing their jobs from those at the top who dictated the overall direction and subject matter of coverage.

From a corporate standpoint, mainstream media outlets have received fair criticism for giving Trump oversized coverage in the Republican primaries, for normalizing him as a presidential candidate, and for promoting false equivalency with Hillary Clinton’s politics-as-usual flaws.

There is also lingering criticism from supporters of Bernie Sanders that the mainstream media rushed to anoint Clinton in the Democratic primaries. To top it all off, the media’s prognosticators were almost all wrong in predicting the outcome in the presidential election.

“There seems to be zero pause in the nonsensical punditry, zero pause in the proffering of ill-informed or hypocritical opinions, zero ownership of their piece in this mess, and very little actual journalism,” said Jessica Chambers, who will be focusing on her role as Wyoming’s national committeewoman for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) after coming up short in her bid for Jackson Town Council.

“We clearly have a broken national political system,” said Jackson’s Mayor-elect Pete Muldoon. “Trump lost the popular vote, but still won the election. The media valued ratings and access over the public interest.”

Despite criticism of the media from all sides in the presidential election, there was important, fact-based journalism done on Trump. Typically, the more revealing the work was, the more the Republican candidate railed against it.

In May, Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold identified that Trump had not paid the $1 million he claimed to have personally donated to veterans groups at a televised fundraiser nearly four months earlier. After Trump finally donated the money to a charity and Fahrenthold suggested that it was only due to media pressure, Trump reportedly said to him, “You know, you’re a nasty guy. You’re really a nasty guy. I gave out millions of dollars that I had no obligation to do.”

A few weeks later, The Washington Post was added to Trump’s media blacklist. Fahrenthold still went on to reveal that the nonprofit Trump Foundation had been used to pay $258,000 in legal bills for Trump’s for-profit business, and he was the first to report on Trump’s lewd “Access Hollywood” tape.

At The New York Times, a four-reporter team published a story in early October that revealed Trump had reported a $916 million loss on his 1995 tax return, and that he could have used the loss to cancel out his federal income taxes for up to 18 years. Trump doesn’t seem to have forgotten, as he took to Twitter this past weekend attacking the newspaper: “Wow, the @nytimes is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the ‘Trump phenomena’.”

The New York Times denied Trump’s accusation.

Even before Trump’s fact-denying presidential campaign, journalism was threatened by the rise of hyperpartisan websites and social media pages that allow the public to continuously validate their own political views. An institution that has been essential to America’s democracy is now met with regular accusations of bias and corruption across the country’s political spectrum. Modern mainstream journalism must contend with whether it is healthy enough to fend off a sustained attack from the leader of the “free” world as well.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

12 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

talk radio host Charlie Sykes explained how conservative media has “basically eliminated any of the referees, the gatekeepers” when it comes to facts.

“There’s nobody. Let’s say that Donald Trump basically makes whatever you want to say, whatever claim he wants to make. And everybody knows it’s a falsehood. The big question of my audience, it is impossible for me to say that, ‘By the way, you know it’s false.’ And they’ll say, ‘Why? I saw it on Allen B. West.’ Or they’ll say, ‘I saw it on a Facebook page.’

And I’ll say, ‘The New York Times did a fact check.’

And they’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s The New York Times. That’s bullshit.’ There’s nobody—you can’t go to anybody and say, ‘Look, here are the facts.’”

Sykes’ radio show airs in Wisconsin, a reliably blue state that turned red for Trump this year. With other surprising wins for Trump in Michigan and Pennsylvania, the country elected a president who has fully embraced—and been empowered by—antiempiricism and conspiracy theories.

Jay Rosen, a media critic and journalism professor at New York University, struck an ominous tone in a blog post addressing journalism’s struggle to cover Trump two days before the election.

“We who care about news, truth, factuality, and democracy. We don’t know where we are with Trump and the depiction of reality in an election contested this way. We have lost the plot,” Rosen wrote.

He concluded his post by writing the following: “’When we act, we create our own reality’ was a boast in the Bush White House, a bit of outrageousness intended to shock the reporter. Now we have Trump’s attempt to substitute his reality for news of the world. Covering Trump was a massive challenge. Recovering from him may be all but impossible for the political press.”

If the political press is to regain its health, the recovery may need to start with a greater urgency to report or clarify facts at conservative news outlets like Fox News or The Wall Street Journal. After all, a significant portion of Americans—perhaps enough to swing an election—is now fully dismissive of any story reported by the likes of The New York Times or The Washington Post.

A factual future in Teton County

While the national media landscape paints a grim picture, 68 percent of Teton County voters rejected Trump’s alternate reality with a vote for Clinton, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein or a write-in.

During Planet Jackson Hole’s conversations with local officeholders, candidates and voters leading up to and on Election Day, there seemed to be a larger appetite for facts and an elevated awareness of implicit media bias, even if many interviewees gravitated toward mainstream publications that tend to align with their political beliefs.

Teton County voter Michael Azevedo, 26, noted the diversity of views between the Facebook posts of his friends from his six years in the military and those of his Jackson friends.

“As [the election] got closer, I was kind of frantically searching around,” said Azevedo, who eventually decided to vote for Johnson. “I’m always curious what other people are saying. Sometimes it would end up in Google searches of what I was interested in.”

Though her paid online subscription to The New York Times acts as her primary source for national political news, Jackson Town Councilor and Democrat Hailey Morton Levinson also uses a quick Google search or a peek at her more conservative friends’ posts to get another take on the same story.

“I try to see what the other side is getting—more so that I can know what info they are going off of and how they arrive at the conclusions that they are arriving at,” explained Morton Levinson.

Teton County Commissioner Mark Newcomb, a

Democrat, counts The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist among his go-tos for what he describes as a “reasonable balance of left to right views.”

On the other hand, Republican Teton County Commissioner Barbara Allen, who voted for Johnson, said she mainly reads The Wall Street Journal online before bed.

“If I see posted articles on social media that look rational, I’ll read them. I’ll read The New York Times as well, but not as often,” Allen said.

Along with push notifications on his phone from mainstream outlets like the NYT, NPR and the BBC, Teton County Commissioner-elect and cable chordcutter Greg Epstein gets most of his news from his curated Facebook feed, which includes posts from progressive pages like the online news show The Young Turks and political commentator Robert Reich.

“A lot of times I’ll actually go and find who the source is, who owns the website,” explained Epstein, a Democrat. “I’ll go in and do research and say, ‘OK, who’s funding this website,’ because that’s a big way to know what their angle is.”

Jackson Mayor Sara Flitner, an Independent, reads The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR and theSkimm e-mail newsletter while avoiding cable news altogether.

“While I know all media has a bias, just like I do, my time is too limited to spend a lot of it on days of speculation and opinion by talking heads,” Flitner said. “I want to know what happened, when, why and how. I will form my own opinion based on that.”

Local Clinton voter Cheryl Davison, 28, used the Flipboard news app along with CNN and The New York Times to get most of her news during the election. “I use my own intuition with whether or not I feel like it’s crap or whether I think that it’s actually good information,” she said.

Asked how she knows what is “crap,” Davison responded, “Anything that Fox News posts.”

By comparison, Teton County Republican Party Interim Chairman and Trump voter John “Tote” Turner cited Fox News as his sole source for national news.

“I have not diversified the way I should have,” Turner admitted. “If I made more time, I would probably expand that to The New York Times.”

Nearly every Teton County voter interviewed also mentioned that they turn to one, or both, of the two local newspapers frequently. As community newspapers continue to shutter or cut staff across the country, the popularity of Jackson’s papers is a hopeful sign of this area’s appetite for healthy civic discourse.

The New York Times is the go-to news outlet for many local Dems.

The head of the alt-right propagandist site Breitbart News, Stephen Bannon, was just selected for Trump’s cabinet.

Accepting bias, rejecting untruths

In Jackson Hole at least, media bias is becoming common knowledge, and it does not necessarily have to be damaging to democracy. It is The Planet’s belief, and that of many reputable media outlets, that reporters should admit their biases. What should never be accepted, however, are lies or an absence of facts in expressing an opinion publicly. President Theodore Roosevelt conveyed this message when he spoke of exposing the evils of politics, business and social life in 1906.

“I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform or in a book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful.”

In his 2011 paper, Benkler predicted that the networked fourth estate would improve its watchdog function by reaching a sort of happy medium between “traditional representatives of the fourth estate, like The New York Times, and the more edgy, muckraking elements of the networked environment.”

Although many elements of the networked fourth estate are still rife with misinformation, Google

Politico was shown to be a trustworthy site in a Buzzfeed study.

U.S. Uncut is among the sites that has disguised itself as a reputable news source.

CNN Politics posted a mix of true and false information less than 1 percent of the time, a Buzzfeed analysis showed.

and Facebook are taking steps to implement factchecking mechanisms in this environment.

Last month, Google introduced a “Fact check” tag that enables articles that perform fact checking on major stories to be labeled as such in Google News results. Meanwhile, a Facebook spokesperson recently told The Atlantic that the company is already using machine learning to identify when the veracity of a link in a user’s post is hotly contested by other users.

For example, if multiple Facebook users respond to the post with links to fact-checking sites, like Snopes. com and PolitiFact, Facebook may flag the original link as fake. Ultimately the post may then be less likely to appear in users’ news feeds, regardless of who posts it.

There will be a fine line to walk as these information-sharing platforms try to encourage factual discourse while maintaining their original intent as unfiltered tools. But, with a presidentelect who rejected facts full stop in his campaign, these efforts and those similar could be crucial for America’s democracy going forward.

Looking inward

stories combined were shared nearly 1.3 million times across social media. Meanwhile, the alternative weekly newspaper, High Plains Reader, based in Fargo, ND, has provided continuous coverage on the Dakota Access Pipeline protests often while mainstream media remained silent. “[North Dakota] has always been pretty conservative and our role is to balance that out and give a voice to people who are not often heard,” said Raul Gomez, publisher of High Plains Reader. “The protesters were not getting their fair share of coverage … they were not getting their voices and positions heard correctly and our role was to clarify their reasoning for protesting, especially when national media came in, we wanted to give our local view.”

As the public struggles to discern the corporate sires holding the strings of mainstream media outlets and what that means for these outlets’ coverage, alternative newspapers, like High Planes Reader and The Planet, find themselves assuming more important roles. Indepedent media outlets, beholden to no one, are increasingly carrying the torch and filling a void to present clear, truthful information to the public and place continuous pressure on power.

As media consumers who have leaned to the left in recent presidential elections and are, in many cases, overeducated for the jobs they fill, Teton County It would be disingenuous to suggest that the residents might contribute to a more factual online environment by taking a closer look at the news sites explosion of political misinformation this election was the main reason for Trump’s victory. There is a that they and their friends frequent.

In his pre-election blog post, Rosen notes that the growing consensus that the Democratic Party and movement away from facts and empiricism during its presidential candidate failed to strike a resonant the past decade or so has not been confined to the message with the white working class. In states like right. He points out that the far left has spread Pennsylvania and Iowa, there were massive swings misinformation about the side effects of vaccines and toward Trump in working-class areas that had twice genetically modified foods, as well as the conspiracy voted for President Obama.

“The two big factors for me are that 9/11 was an inside job. first, that America is obviously still “They just never had the a very racist country, and secondly, influence among office-holders that the establishment is completely and opinion leaders that, say, out of touch and has been ignoring climate change denialists and the the working class for far too long,” birther movement had within the Muldoon said. “A large number of Republican coalition,” Rosen writes. people finally decided that they’d One of the most popular news had enough.” sites and Facebook pages on the The willingness to ignore facts left this election season was US this election might be better Uncut. Now boasting 1.5 million described as a symptom of this Facebook followers, about a half populist anger. If the left heads in million less than CNN Politics, US a similarly populist direction as it Uncut rose to prominence on the social networking site with a mix of - NOAM CHOMSKY looks to win back white workingclass voters, it will need to place political memes and news stories. a greater priority on framing its But, the organization has played arguments within a factual realm. Otherwise, it could fast and loose with the truth along the way.

During the Democratic primaries, Snopes.com rated end up with its own fact-free version of the Tea Party US Uncut with a “false” for its article titled, “Did Hillary or an inverse copy of Trump.

During the Trump presidency, the health of the Clinton Just Admit on LIVE TV That Her Iraq War Vote Was a Bribe?” Prior to the first presidential debate, the Fourth Estate and its networked elements will be just site framed a satirical article from Raw Story that said as dependent on those who consume their news as the Attorney General had warned the public against those who dictate and write the stories. If the more sensational, less factual content continues to receive drinking every time Trump lied as a real story.

US Uncut has the look of a media company, but the most shares and reactions online, then it will be it is described as a “direct action group” that is churned out at an even greater rate.

In a 2010 interview with Truthdig, political designed to mobilize against corporate tax avoidance and austerity. This speaks to the challenge for the philosopher Noam Chomsky offered advice for public to comprehend the agendas of news sites on Americans living in what he considered to be a both the left and the right—sites that are designed democracy in grave danger.

“There is plenty of information,” Chomsky said. “You to thrive in their Facebook feeds.

Still, when they get their facts straight, sites like US have got to learn how to judge, evaluate and compare Uncut have proven instrumental in capturing under- it with other things. You have to take some things on represented voices and spreading public knowledge trust or you can’t survive. But if there is something of legitimate stories that have been under-covered significant and important, don’t take it on trust.”

Whether it is applied to mainstream outlets, a by the mainstream media, or, at the very least, overshadowed by the election. Take, for example, the political Facebook meme or the site where that quote ongoing protests and militarized police presence at was found, Chomsky’s advice may be more important than ever under a Trump presidency. PJH the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.

A lover of sad songs in our happy valley, Patrick According to BuzzSumo, three of the four most shared Dakota Access Pipeline stories have come Chadwick is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and a content from alternative sources, including Counter Current writer for local businesses. He studied communications News, Reverb Press, and White Wolf Pack. The three at Boston College.

Future of misinformation

Teton County Republican Party Interim Chairman and Trump voter John “Tote” Turner gets all his news from Fox News.

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 13

The Washington Post is on Trump’s media blacklist.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

The Wall Street Journal is read by Dems and Republicans alike.

“If there is something significant and important, don’t take it on trust. ”

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

14 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

THE BUZZ ‘We Stand By You’ New leaders Muldoon and Epstein vow to protect the rights of locals under a Trump presidency.

BY SARAH ROSS

T

his week people across the country expressed fear and uncertainty about what a Donald Trump presidency means for minorities, women, immigrants, the environment and America’s place in the global community. In contrast, however, the valley’s choice in local elected officials reflects a continued commitment to progressive, inclusive policies. Both Mayor-elect Pete Muldoon and Teton County Commissioner-elect Greg Epstein say they will work to enact local legislation that protects all people here, particularly Jackson’s most vulnerable populace—the Latino community.

In this unprecedented national political climate, local governments face the challenge of at once needing to do just what Trump did—validate constituents’ pain, promise to subvert systems that have worked to disenfranchise them—while also resisting and condemning the racism, sexism, and xenophobia that Trump has emboldened.

Muldoon does not see this as an impossible feat. “We have to realize that there are a lot of Trump voters who just wanted change and voted for him despite the hate, and not because of it. We should appeal to their better instincts,” he said.

However, this appeal, Muldoon says, must happen in the context of “pushing back in every way that we can” against Trump’s plans.

“Trump has promised to uproot 11 million people who are an integral part of communities across this country.

This is morally despicable and doesn’t make economic sense. It’s a fearful and emotional outburst.”

Hence, it will be up to America’s towns and cities to resist these movements.

The first thing Jackson can do, Muldoon said, “is make sure that those in our community who rightfully feel threatened by the things Trump has promised know that we stand with them, and that we value them and see them as equals. We’re all in this together, and it’s important to express that.”

This is already happening. On Wednesday, November 16, One22 is holding a free community forum at St. John’s Episcopal Church. The forum, organizers say, is “in response to an overwhelming request for information on immigration law under a new administration.”

One22’s executive director Mary Erickson says worry among community members is widespread. “We’ve heard from school administrators, teachers, and parents concerned about the kids. Kids pick up on everything. They are afraid a parent will be deported. They are concerned about their friends. The day after the election people told us they were closing bank accounts. I think some of that initial panic has calmed a bit, but people are still afraid,” she said.

Right now, Erickson says community advocates are urging folks to take a deep breath because nothing will change until January. “We don’t know exactly what will

Mayor-elect Pete Muldoon and County Commissioner-elect Greg Epstein. happen under a Trump administration, but we do know some things. So [attorneys] Elizabeth Trefonas and Rosie Read will share those things that we know [at the forum].”

Erickson says she does not believe there will be a mass deportation. She says she is concerned, however, for the possibility of significant changes that could dramatically impact people in the community. “One22 is committed to standing with members of our community who feel threatened or at risk,” she said. “Our first job is to help educate and increase understanding throughout the community.”

She encourages residents all of stripes to attend the forum in solidarity.

Epstein echoed Erickson’s priorities. The county commissioner-elect, who, like Muldoon, was inspired to run for office because of Sen. Bernie Sanders, says he will work to keep the valley “a friendly town that accepts people from all different kinds of lives.” Responses to potentially prejudiced policies, he said, will require a “top down” commitment.

“Local government needs to show we’re not going to be on a witch hunt. The Latino community needs to know we’re all in this together,” he said.

Muldoon agreed, saying that he will resist if the federal government “starts pushing” 287(g) agreements, which authorize the feds to work with local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.

“I’m opposed to having our local law enforcement work with federal immigration to tear our town apart by uprooting and deporting hardworking immigrants who play a huge role in our community,” he said.

Epstein said, as a county commissioner, he will encourage the town to enact protections for vulnerable populations. “The best thing [county commissioners] can do is just be advocates to the town. While the county is under Wyoming state law, the Town of Jackson can create their own ordinances. I will advocate for the town to move in this direction.”

Supporting the vulnerable will require that city governments take strong stances. Multiple American cities have declared they will remain sanctuary cities—protecting illegal immigrants either by law or action—even as Trump threatens to rob these cities of millions in federal funding for doing so.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray declared that, “Seattle is the same city today that it was yesterday … guided by equality

and inclusion and openness,” Murray was reported saying in the Seattle Times. Murray joins the mayors of Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and others who also have vowed to protect their citizens of all stripes even if it means losing federal funding.

Working to ensure that Jackson remains a place that protects its inhabitants regardless of what happens in the next four years will take work, but Jackson has chosen officials who say they will do just that. Epstein says both locally and nationally, people want change, and that Muldoon represents “a level of progressive idealism.”

Leaders, he says, need to be prepared to work within the dynamism of a unique community.

“We’re not a quaint little mountain town anymore,” Epstein said. “We’re growing up and we have elected people who will tackle what comes next.”

Muldoon says his election doesn’t necessarily reflect a shift in values. Progressive values, he says, have always been here but the policy hasn’t always matched up.

Jackson is rapidly changing, he says, and if policies don’t catch up with that pace, the result will be “angry and frustrated voters; and angry and frustrated people don’t always make good decisions.”

Indeed, in the presidential race, many angry, frustrated and desperate folks turned to Trump. People who felt disenfranchised and unheard. The Guardian’s Naomi Klein argued: Trump’s message was, “All is hell,” while Clinton’s was, “All is well.” Her message alienated those who have lost jobs, pensions, and the safety net that had previously softened those losses, she wrote.

As the U.S. enters an extremely complicated time, Muldoon says there is a unique opportunity here. “The world notices what Jackson Hole does,” he said. “We have a lot of influence here—millions of tourists pass through here each year, or dream about doing so. We’re known as the wealthiest county in the country, as well as for having the highest income inequality. We’re internationally known for our conservation ethic.

“We’re also located in a state ... [where] our voters have nearly 80 times more power in the Senate than the voters of California. For better or for worse, Wyoming has an outsized influence on our country. What we do here matters.

And people pay attention. It’s a responsibility I hope we can live up to.” PJH

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THE BUZZ 2 Numbers and Neighborhoods A break down of local voter behavior by area.

BY JAKE NICHOLS

T

uesday’s general election held a few surprises—one of them was not turnout. A high number of voters showed up at the polls as history shows they do.

Turnout in presidential year general elections is always near 100 percent (96.3 percent in 2012, 97.2 percent in 2008).

This year was no exception—12,793 of the 13,245 registered voters cast their ballots for a 96.6 percent turnout.

The results defied even the Teton Barber poll. Co-owner Mike Randall rates the poll an A, at about a 90 to 92 percent success rate in predicting how the election will go. This year, however, he gives himself a D+, with the poll missing on President, US House, and Jackson mayor.

Blue-eyed county The Democrats’ strong showing is also not surprising in this county. Teton went for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, 57 to 31 percent. Still, Trump won the state easily, winning the majority vote in every county except Teton. Wyoming hasn’t gone blue since 1964. In 2012, Teton County went Barrack Obama’s way, 54-42 percent over Mitt Romney. Same thing in 2008 when Obama outpaced John McCain by a 61 to 37 percent margin.

With a great many voters expressing a pre-poll distaste for either candidate, the 449 write-ins for POTUS was much higher than usual for the county. There were only 105 writeins in 2012, and 63 in 2008.

Teton County again bucked the statewide trend, preferring a Dem instead of Wilson resident Liz Cheney-R for US House. Despite Ryan Greene’s shellacking of Cheney in Teton County (58 to 34 percent of the vote), Cheney cruised to victory across the rest of the state.

As usual, a Democrat took Teton County for House District 22—which spans Teton, Sublette, and Lincoln counties—but staunchly GOP Sublette and Lincoln counties helped the Republican to victory, anyway. Marti Halverson-R topped Marylee White-D by a 2,942 to 2,157 margin, even though White was better by far in Teton.

Natalia D. Macker-D beat Halverson in 2014 for HD 22 but lost badly in Sublette and Lincoln counties.

Deb Bancroft, co-owner at Teton Barber where the barbershop talks shop as far as politics while they clip heads, said this election was all about the Democrats surge in the county.

“It’s the whole ‘D’ thing,” Bancroft said. “A lot of millenials are Democrats and they are a growing [demographic] here. The state gets accused of the whole ‘R’ thing. Teton County is now the ‘D’ county in Wyoming.”

County commissioner Democrats were rewarded with victory in local races.

Donkeys took both open seats to form a 4-1 coalition on the board of Teton County commissioners. Greg Epstein-D easily led the way with 6,241 votes. Incumbent Macker was close behind at 5,810.

It had to be a disappointment for Nikki Gill-R, who romped to victory in the primary, pulling down the second-highest vote total of any of the six candidates after

Teton County looks a little different than the rest of the state...

Epstein, and was second in the barbershop poll. She may have benefitted from bullet voting in August. The GOP primary race experienced the highest percentage, 30, of ballots with just one of two allowed selections made for commissioner.

Republicans also outnumbered Democrats in August, but only by a slight margin. Of 11,189 registered voters, 4,888 (43.7 percent) were registered Republican for the primary and 2,672 voted. Democrats counted 4,080 (36.5 percent) registered with 2,492 voting.

So the Red-Blue deficit either got close to zero in the county, or Independents and undeclareds swung to the left in the commission race, or both. Gill’s 5,069 was far off the pace and Trey Davis made up no ground from his last-place finish in the primary with 4,015 votes. Gill speculated that voters voted along party lines given that her two Democratic opponents both favored the 1 percent sales tax, which failed (6,800 to 5,435), while she did not.

Macker raised the most ($22,157) and won while Davis had the second-biggest war chest with $14,250. Epstein and Gill raised $10,105 and $6,795, respectively.

What may not have mattered, and even hurt, is yard signs. Randall said, “There was a boatload of [sky blue] for Gill all around the valley and, in the end, it didn’t matter.”

Everyone at the barbershop agreed Epstein, who topped their poll, hit a wide range of demographics from builders (his father is a contractor) to skiers (Epstein has a management role with Teton Gravity Research) to millenials who noticed his robust presence on social media.

Town races While two new faces pop onto the county commission, it’s the same-old, same-old in town. Incumbents Jim Stanford and Hailey Morton Levinson held onto their seats on the council with little trouble. Candidates finished in the same order as the primary and exactly as the barbershop poll predicted.

The run for mayor was close, but no closer than in many years. Just 38 votes separated Pete Muldoon from incumbent Sara Flitner. Flitner won by a similar margin (40 votes) over Mark Nowlin in 2014. In 2000, Jeanne Jackson edged Scott Anderson for mayor by just 17 votes. It was so close this year, that if every write-in ballot was counted as a Flitner vote, the candidates would be dead even at 2,414 votes each. Think your vote doesn’t count? A total of 302 town voters left the mayor race blank for whatever reason.

Barber Dave Johnson thinks Muldoon benefitted from his huge peer following, while the anti-Flitner vote may have been all about change in general. “As far as the criminal history: nobody’s an angel. That was quite a while ago and it doesn’t make him a bad person. We all make

mistakes and his huge friend base that knows him to be a good person.”

“Sara may have been more of the Chamber of Commerce, business community vote, but a lot of those people live outside of town and couldn’t vote for mayor,” Randall said.

Deep in the numbers

A few generalizations can be made by delving deeper into the numbers and looking at how individual precincts voted. For instance, councilman Stanford likely appeals to a majority of younger, left-leaning voters. Those voters, for the most part, are well-represented in East Jackson where Stanford lives. It was there in Precincts 1-2 (Mid-East Jackson) and 1-8 (East Jackson) that Stanford saw his biggest margins of victory.

The only precincts Stanford failed to carry were 1-4 (North Jackson) and 1-11 (Indian Trails). The former, aside from the “old school” Gill Addition, is downtown business core, where Stanford may have rubbed a few the wrong way with his opposition to hyper-growth District 2 zoning proposals. The latter is one of the more affluent neighborhoods in town, likeliest to swing conservatively right.

Precinct breakdowns for mayor were equally telling. For instance, Flitner beat Muldoon in more conservative sections of town. Muldoon romped where young people live.

Muldoon took East Jackson; Flitner, west. Flitner nabbed north Jackson and smoked Muldoon in tony Indian Trails (103-44), but Muldoon’s steady dominance in Cottonwood more than made up the difference.

In the county race, Gill beat all comers in 1-1 (South Jackson) and 1-10 (South Hoback) where her family ranches. She was also dominate in Alta, where they flat out vote Republican. But Gill couldn’t win anywhere else. Skyline (1-3) and north Jackson appeared to be Epstein’s only weaknesses. He crushed it in West Jackson. Macker was solid pretty much everywhere except in GOP camps. Davis didn’t win a precinct but he was very well received in Alta and north Jackson.

The 1 percent sales tax voter breakdown by area is interesting, and a bit tougher to figure. Predictably, precincts located anywhere along commuter lines were for the tax that could get people taking the bus. The tax would have passed if the only precinct voting was Skyline. Wilson was also close to passing the sales tax. Maybe it was more about affordable housing? All of downtown Jackson, East and West, was for the tax. But on the periphery—Rafter J, South Hoback, Kelly/Moose,Airport, Teton Village—where presumably most have already secured their home for some time, the tax failed. PJH

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Dem Distress Local and state liberals speculate what’s next for the DNC.

BY JESSICA SELL CHAMBERS @jesellechambers

D

onald Trump’s election shocked some and did not surprise others.

The results triggered an avalanche of mixed emotions ranging from elation to devastation. This overshadowed the fact that the Democratic Party is in for an internal mix-up. Without a Democratic POTUS, the party is now open for serious change.

Within days of the election results several groups started jockeying to take control. But DNC politics can be distant from Wyoming Democratic Party needs. What’s clear is that major changes are on the horizon, but cohesive plans have yet to materialize.

Several progressives won local races, which could push Democrats in a more progressive direction. Gary Trauner, a twotime Democratic candidate for Wyoming’s sole congressional seat, cited a younger, more progressive voter turnout, which could signal creative changes and progressive policies he hopes will “put people first.”

As far as the national election, Trauner said Democratic leadership was playing too much insider baseball and missed the national pulse. Clinton was the wrong candidate for this election, he said.

Ryan Greene, Democratic nominee who challenged Liz Cheney for U.S. Congress and lost, said the focus must be on the Wyoming Democratic Party moving forward and building unity from within. The work starts now and requires a “solid infrastructure of messaging, communications, resources, marketing, etc.,” he said. Greene also cautioned: “If Trump fails, then the country fails.”

National Delegate for Clinton, Ken Chestek, ran for Wyoming House District 46 and lost. He received more votes than the Republican winner two years before, but there was a 50 percent increase in voter turnout, largely chalked up to Trump voters.

Chestek says he has been energized by these losses and intends to fight even harder.

Overturning Citizens United, the Supreme Court case that essentially allowed corporations to make unlimited campaign contributions, will be a main focus for him.

Chestek cited fear, anger, confusion, and lies as reasons for Trump’s win, but he cautioned against “demonizing” Trump supporters. He said the Republican Party has managed to effectively denounce Democrats and accordingly they need to find a counter message, to keep values front and center, and “get dark money out of politics.”

Newly elected Wyoming National Committeeman to the Democratic National Committee, Jon Gardzelewski said, “Everything is up in the air.” Trump won in part due to the left not coming out for Clinton. Even though Trump lacked decency, “he connected with his voters on issues that are important to them.”

Gardzelewski believes the only way to move forward is by rebuilding both parties from the ground up. “There are some nice details, but the foundation has eroded out from under us,” he said.

Citing the lack of incentive for Republicans to work with Democrats in Wyoming, Gardzelewski says it is imperative Democrats not be “brash, bullheaded, or arrogant, or unhelpful,” but instead liberals must reach out and offer something new and less focused on partisan politics.

He said the changes needed are, “on us, not on the president,” and Democrats should be active leaders. “If you hate Trump, forget about it... If you hate your Democrat neighbor with her angry climate change bumper stickers, forget about it. We all want to make Wyoming a better place,” he said.

The Wyoming Democratic Party assumed a different focus on election night. This year the number of Democratic challengers doubled in state races. House minority floor leader from District 11, Mary Throne, narrowly lost. In a statement released Tuesday the WDP wrote, “In some instances we had very near misses with two races being lost by less than 75 votes. We believe that these close races indicate there is an alternative narrative that is not being represented by our Republican leadership.”

At the national level, former local Democratic Party official Joe Albright predicts two factions will persist in the Democratic Party: a progressive wing led

by Elizabeth Warren and a more moderate wing led by Tim Kaine. Albright said he suspects the two groups will paper over differences through 2018 when many Democratic incumbents are up for reelection in staunchly red states, such as Senator Manchin in West Virginia and Senator Tester in Montana. Albright sees Representative

Ellison as the future DNC Chair.

In response to election results, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the progressive who came reasonably close to grasping the Democratic nomination, said in an email the people of the United States are tired of politics, economics, and media as usual. “That means the Democratic Party needs to look itself in the mirror and work tirelessly to become once again the party that working people know will work for their interests.”

Representative Keith Ellison announced his candidacy for DNC Chair on Monday.

Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer endorsed him. Long time Democrat and former chair of the DNC, Howard Dean, whose 50 State Strategy was very popular, has also indicated he will once again vie for chair.

The Clinton campaign affirmed some of the reasons offered by the Sanders’ camp for the loss, but cited Comey’s FBI letter as the final nail in the coffin. The campaign’s head of opinion research Nevin Nayak wrote in an email this week, “We believe that we lost this election in the last week. Comey’s letter in the last 11 days of the election both helped depress our turnout and also drove away some of our critical support among college-educated white voters—particularly in the suburbs.”

Months before the general election, Sanders’ campaign shifted their momentum into the 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Our Revolution. The group supported more than 100 progressive candidates nationwide, including Wyoming House Representative Charles Pelkey. The organization circulated a petition supporting Representative Ellison for DNC chair and within 24 hours it had amassed more than 250,000 signatures.

In the coming days, weeks and months, it should be clear who will take the reigns of the Democratic Party nationally, locally, and statewide. PJH

[Jessica Sell Chambers is Wyoming’s national committeewoman to the DNC. - Ed.]

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Blossoming Activists A generation of politically engaged young people is born.

BY SARAH ROSS

K

Emmy Hammond, 22, of Wilson, works on a sign during a rally in the Town Square Thursday.

Among the young people rallying against hate and violence on the Town Square Saturday was Jeremy Lam, 19, of Salt Lake City. He was visiting Jackson with his fraternity. “It’s important to know we still have to accept one another despite our political differences,” he said.

Rainer-McIntosh Round, 17, is a student at Journeys School and a proud Eagle Scout. He stood on the square with his family on Saturday, raising his fist in solidarity to honking motorists. “I love this awesome example of people coming together and standing up for what’s right,” he said.

This might be a moment of the politicization of young people, of serious social change.

Jon Schwartz, a writer and research producer, noted that it was only 20 years ago that the “U.S. elites had so successfully depoliticized America that simply caring about politics was like having a superweird hobby.”

Right now, however, politics are once again personal for young people who are angry and concerned about the environment, marginalized people, and their futures. PJH SEND COMMENTS TO EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 19

said a professor noted, “It was the biggest non-sports turnout they’d seen in seven years.” Duncan says people held banners with messages such as “You Belong.” and there were chants in English and in Spanish. “We wanted to show Larmaie, and UW, that not only are we committed to students and citizens feeling safe here, we are committed to them being safe here.”

Duncan emphasized the importance of these gatherings in small and rural communities. “People expect the cities to protest, to stand up. We see that on the news all the time. But in smaller towns, it is more surprising and noteworthy ... it resounds in very different and possibly even louder ways than it would in a big city.”

Young folks in Jackson Hole seem to agree. Since the election, there have been three rallies, all organized by young people and primarily comprised of them.

Their main focus was to gather folks in the name of rejecting the racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and sexism espoused by Trump.

Similar to Salt Lake City, protestors were met with peace signs and honks of support. A group of high school students marched around Broadway, chanting, “My body, my choice!”

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

alamu ya Salaam, an activist and social critic from New Orleans, said the Civil Rights Movement revealed so many injustices that “it was unthinkable to believe that we didn’t have to struggle.”

In the midst of social turmoil, it is painful for some to realize that there is no going back, that the future may be a battle.

On November 9, young people across the country awoke to the election of president-elect Donald Trump. Some felt a pain and disenchantment they’d never felt before. Had the election gone their way Clinton would have been elected (or more accurately, Bernie Sanders).

According to an analysis of 2016 exit poll data by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, of the estimated 24 million people under 30 who voted in the 2016 presidential election, a large majority supported Hillary Clinton. But Clinton received notably less support from young voters than Barack Obama did in 2008 and 2012, particularly in the crucial battleground states she lost to Donald Trump, reported KQED News, an NPR member station.

After surveying 1,000 young Americans, right-wing political consultant Frank Luntz recently noted: “The hostility of young Americans to the underpinnings of the American economy and the American government ought to frighten every business and political leader as they excite activists for Sanders and, to a lesser degree, Clinton activists.”

Young voters also reject other underpinnings of America’s history, like its legacy of racism and sexism.

Nikita Muromcew, a ninth grader at the Journeys School, expressed fear in the wake of Trump’s election, and concern for all those who might suffer under Trump’s policies but who cannot vote—children, felons, undocumented workers.

“He represents values we’ve been trying to abandon,” she said. “That sends a message that those values are OK. I’m worried that my minority friends won’t even be able to leave the house.”

Nikita’s sibling, Mary, an eighth grader at Journeys School, says she is personally afraid. “I’m a person of color and queer,”

Mary said. “People don’t know what it’s really like for minorities. What will be happening to us in four years?”

Despite the fear of the future, Mary believes that this is a moment of rebirth for the country. “We are going to remember this. It is the moment to decide who we are.

They expected us to fall down, but we’re going to do the opposite. If anything, we’ll be louder.”

Mary and Nikita will both be coming of age under Trump’s administration. “We’re finding our voices,” Mary said. “We’ve been rushed to find our inner strength more quickly than others have.”

“I am going to help our country,” Nikita vowed.

The sisters vow to help Jackson, too.

They both attended a rally against Trump on the Thursday after the election, and plan to stay politically involved. They hope that Jackson will be a place that can welcome and learn from their engagement.

Nikita urges Jackson locals to “open your eyes and your mind. You may not see that minorities are here, but I am here.”

Mary and Nikita believe that “we’ve been hit but we can still fight.” Young people across the country who have joined in protesting against Trump share this sentiment, especially after the president-elect just appointed Stephen Bannon, a white nationalist and anti-Semite, his chief strategist and senior counselor.

Stefanie Schulz, a Jackson native who now works as an account coordinator in Park City, joined two thousand protestors in Salt Lake City’s downtown this past week. “The energy was intense because people were devastated and angry,” she said. As the group marched, “people were getting out of their cars at stoplights, honking horns and standing on balconies to cheer us on.”

Schulz says that she usually doesn’t attend protests, but felt she had to go and exercise her rights. “I felt so much anger after Trump won,” she said. “Every time I heard his voice I cried. I knew that if I went, I could channel all of my emotions to move forward positively.” Carrying this energy forward is critical, Schulz added. “We need to pay attention to midterm elections in two years ... voting local is going to be more crucial than ever.”

Wyoming towns have also been sites of protest. Students, faculty, and staff at University of Wyoming held a walkout in protest of Trump’s election on Monday.

Hundreds of people attended. Organizer Rihanna Kelver says she wanted to provide the community with a safe space to express how they were feeling.”Many of us are afraid, uncertain, and anxious because of the rhetoric and rise in hate crimes ... in the week since the election.”

Graduate student and Showing Up For Racial Justice organizer Sarah Duncan

ROBYN VINCENT

THE BUZZ 4

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20 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

THE BUZZ 5 Penny For Your Thoughts Making sense of the 1 percent sales tax failure.

BY JESSICA SELL CHAMBERS @jesellechambers

L

ast week Teton County voters shot down the 1 percent general sales tax ballot measure in a 6,800 to 5,435 vote. Money generated from the sales tax increase would have gone into the newly created Community Priorities Fund. Jackson visitors would have paid likely two-thirds to three-quarters of the sales tax.

Food is not taxed. The projected 12 million dollars of annual revenue would have been split evenly between the valley’s most pressing issues: housing and transportation.

The ballot measure was a sticking point for many. All local candidates, the Town of Jackson, many local organizations, parties, and political action committees took a stand for or against it. Interestingly, voters chose the candidates who were vociferous proponents of the measure, while the candidates who opposed it lost. Where was the disconnect?

Two town council candidates specifically held contrasting views of the 1 percent sales tax. Incumbent Councilman Jim Stanford crafted pro-tax campaign ads that were a playful attack against the anti-tax ads from an organization called Keep Wyoming Wild. Stanford, who won the council race with the most votes of any town candidate, called the mismatched results bewildering.

Challenger Judd Grossman, who did not secure a seat on the council, vocally opposed the tax measure, using campaign ads to call for its defeat. “It’s rare to find a candidate that comes even 70 percent of the way towards your perfect choice. The tax vote gave the public an opportunity to have a voice on a very specific issue,” he said.

All of the other local election winners, however, came out in favor of the tax: Councilwoman Hailey Morton Levinson, Commissioner Natalia D. Macker, Commissioner-elect Greg Epstein, and Mayor-elect Pete Muldoon.

Muldoon may have benefited from the underlying political tones to a degree. People seem to be relatively fed up with politics and the status quo, which could potentially explain the contrary election results. Muldoon says it’s hard to pinpoint the disconnect between the winners and the sales tax but that “it’s certainly possible that voters didn’t want to approve the tax without knowing who was going to be elected. And maybe we needed to do a better job of making our case.”

The mayor-elect says he plans to move forward in May with SPET, a special purpose excise tax geared specifically to capital projects that is decided upon by voters, in May and will keep all options on the table. “We know the housing crisis is the number one issue in the community, and we will find a way to fund the solutions,” he said.

The winners in this election were either long-time residents of Jackson Hole, incumbents, or some combination of both, and perhaps the mismatched result of winners and the sales tax defeat aren’t so confounding.

Before the primary, economist Jonathan Schecter gave a

two-part “algorithm” for local election results. “Winning requires name recognition. In local races that’s usually correlated with how long someone has lived in Jackson Hole … Because being in office boosts name recognition, unless they’re wildly incompetent, incumbents usually win re-election.” The sales tax then took a backseat to popularity.

For Epstein, it has more to do with funding and ads.

“Save Historic Jackson Hole outspent the proponents of the 1 percent tax and ultimately filled the airwaves with misinformation on an already tricky subject to discuss,” he said.

Save Historic Jackson Hole (SHJH) was a vehement opponent of the tax. Self-described advocates of “responsible planning and development, strong community values, and respect for nature,” they wish to protect Jackson’s character and promote a “sustainable community.” The reasons presented by SHJH against the sales tax were compelling and plentiful, and according to the SHJH website, were taken directly from a recent Tea Party antione-percent sales tax advertisement. Speaking directly to the readers, their arguments hinged on general tax opposition, lack of trust for electeds, the need to fix government spending in general.

However, one argument that seemed to be inaccurately presented by SHJH was that the main proponent of the tax, the Community Priorities Coalition (CPC), was a clandestine organization of unknowns. They claimed CPC misleadingly concealed the fact that passing the sales tax would result in new ‘discretionary’ funds and questioned who these unknowns would directly benefit.

However, the CPC website describes its coalition as “a diverse group of local individuals and organizations committed to addressing Jackson Hole’s highest priorities.” All of its players were listed at the bottom of the website and in various ads. There’s no evidence that the freeing up of general funds was purposely withheld from the conversation. Various candidates spoke about the advantage to passing the 1 percent sales tax in light of state budget cuts and the need to make up social service funding locally.

CPC arguments were more cogent than those of SHJH. They countered practically all of the opposition arguments

but did so dryly using only facts and numbers while not engaging directly with the reader. There were relatively sophisticated videos addressing common questions and issues but no way to tell how many times the videos had been viewed. CPC reasons to support the tax were largely focused on the benefits derived from the new revenue or were in response to opposing views.

Some have pointed to confusing ballot language as the reason for the failure. Teton County Clerk’s Chief Deputy Melissa Shinkle said there were similar complaints about the confusing nature of the District 2 Referendum language in September. Shinkle said the language is crafted by town and county attorneys and is then approved by electeds.

Even if the language is straightforward, people may read things differently in the ballot box, which is why campaigns circulate actual ballots to prepare voters.

Sometimes too, when voters are faced with issues they do not understand, many simply vote ‘no.’

The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance played a key role in gaining support for the measure with its door-todoor canvassing and other grassroots efforts.

“The unhelpful ballot language, along with well-funded and organized opposition, made it very challenging to pass this measure,” said Craig Benjamin, the Alliance’s executive director. “While it’s disappointing that Teton County voters did not support this measure, our community now has the opportunity to continue the conversation about how to best address our housing and transportation challenges. Benjamin says he is also hopeful to expand valley dialogue now to include protecting wildlife and improving habitat connectivity.

SHJH speculated on their website that the tax question was a referendum on tax hikes in general, on trust for the electeds, and on “socialism” in local government. PJH

SEND COMMENTS TO EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM

THIS WEEK: November 16-22, 2016

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17

n November Food Drive at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe, $20.00 - $25.00, 307733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Yoga 9:00am, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n Toddler Time 10:05am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307733-2164 n Storytime 10:30am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307733-2164 n Teton Toastmasters 12:00pm, Teton County Commissioners Chambers, Free, n Dinner Honoring Veterans 12:00pm, Senior Center, $0.00 - $10.00, 307-733-7300 n Thanksgiving Lunch 12:00pm, Senior Center, 307733-7300 n Spin 12:10pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n Center Stage: Theater & Story-crafting (Afterschool) 3:45pm, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307733-2164 n Airport Program Chamber Mixer 5:00pm, Jackson Hole Airport, Free, 307-201-2309 n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539

n Zumba 5:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n Ski Fitness 5:30pm, Teton County/ Jackson Parks and Recreation, $8.00 - $85.00, 307-732-5754 n Snow King Mountain Open Houses 5:30pm, King’s Grill, Free, 307734-3351 n Mental Health Support Group 6:00pm, Board Room of St. John’s Medical Center, Free, 307-732-1161 n Whiskey Experience 6:00pm, VOM FASS Jackson Hole, Free, 307-734-1535 n Bacchus & Brushes 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $45.00, 307733-6379 n Film: SCREENAGERS presented by Raising Girls/ GAP! 6:00pm, Jackson Hole High School Auditorium, $0.00 $10.00, 307-690-8043 n Making the Most of College Visits 6:00pm, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307733-2164 n Los Colores: A Spanish Pre-K Art Class 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $5.00, 307-7336379 n Sage Wreath Class 6:00pm, Old Wilson Schoolhouse, $20.00, 307-733-1088 n Sustainability Series Presents: Sustainable Fashion 6:00pm, Spark JH, Free, 303483-8207 n The Better Way Back®, St. John’s Medical Center, and Teton Orthopaedics Present Innovations in Spine Treatment 6:30pm, The Wort Hotel Jackson Room, Free, 800-745-7099 n JH Community Band Rehearsal 7:00pm, Center for the Arts Performing Arts Wing, Free, 307-200-9463 n Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruyl 7:30pm, Dancers’ Wokshop Studio 1 - Center for the Arts, $12.00 - $15.00, 307-203-9067

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 21

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 23

n Community Forum to Address Immigration Questions Under New Administration 6:00pm, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Hansen Hall, Free, 307739-4500 n Open Studio: Figure Model 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307-7336379 n Apple Technology Club 6:30pm, CWC-Jackson, $50.00 - $175.00, 307-734-7425 n KHOL Presents: Vinyl Night 8:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free

Compiled by Caroline LaRosa

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

n Yoga 7:00am, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n November Food Drive at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe, $20.00 - $25.00, 307733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 8:30am, Teton Recreation Center, $4.00, 307-739-9025 n A Strategic Approach to Finance and Funding 9:00am, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, $20.00, 307-739-1026 n Storytime 10:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library Victor, Free, 208-7872201 n Fables Feathers & Fur 10:30am, National Museum of Wildlife Art, 307-732-5435 n Lap Sit 11:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, Free, 208-787-2201 n Total Fitness 12:10pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n Things That Go Boom: Science & Games (Afterschool) 3:45pm, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307733-2164 n QuickBooks Club 5:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $40.00 - $140.00, 307-733-7425 n FAFSA Application Help Hosted by Jackson Hole High School 5:00pm, JH High School Media Center, Free, 307-733-2164 n Barbara Trentham Life Drawing 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307-7336379 n Cribbage 6:00pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, Free, 208-787-2201 n Introductory, Conversational Spanish 6:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $110.00, 307-733-7425 n Writers at the Library: Will Stolzenburg 6:00pm, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-2164 x 229

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

22 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Crème Solide After losing two members, The Posies still manage to grow.

BY BRIAN STAKER @Stakerized

O

n the other side of the world, in a Manchester pub, The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow struggles to be heard over noisy pint-hoisting patrons and a wavering wi-fi connection. Before the call cuts out, he exclaims, “We’re the crème brûlée of indie rock!”

That might sound like a bit of bravado. Take it as a metaphor for undergoing the fire of adversity to create the esteemed alt-rock/power-pop band’s musical confection, after Stringfellow and longtime friend and musical

DOT PIERSON

MUSIC BOX

The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer. partner Jon Auer watched bassist Joe Skyward and drummer Darius Minwalla pass away within 10 months of each other.

Minwalla, who had played in a number of other bands—including backing Hugh Cornwell of British punk legends The Stranglers—died unexpectedly last May, during the recording of The Posies’ newest album, Solid States (Lojinx). “Darius’ death really threw us into turmoil,” recalled the 48-year old Stringfellow via email. “We spent several months wondering what to and if to do, at all. Eventually we realized resuming work on the album was the way out of the emotional crater that we were in.”

Skyward, also known for playing with Sunny Day Real Estate, had been battling cancer for several years, and lost the fight in March.

The Posies are no strangers to losing bandmates. In 2010, months before the release of their last studio album,

Blood/Candy (Rykodisc), Stringfellow and Auer lost Alex Chilton, leader of renowned power-pop band Big Star, which the pair joined in 1993. Chilton passed just three days before a highly anticipated performance at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. The show morphed into an all-star tribute, with the likes of John Doe, The Watson Twins, Chris Stamey, Mitch Easter, Evan Dando, Sondre Lerche and R.E.M.’s Mike Mills joining Stringfellow, Auer and drummer Jody Stephens for a poignant set of Big Star hits and stories. Although Big Star continued to perform on occasion, including complete performances of their masterpiece, Third, the band is now essentially inactive.

Not so The Posies, who originally formed in Bellingham, Wash., in the late ‘80s, and whose power-pop hits “Dream All Day” and “Golden Blunders” provided counterpoint to the grunge of the ‘90s. The loss of Minwalla and Skyward became part of their agenda to re-invent themselves. “The

band has undergone a radical transformation, musically, which we’d planned as soon as we embarked upon making this album,” Stringfellow said. They enlisted Frankie Siragusa, who’d played on Stringfellow’s 2012 solo release, Danzig In The Moonlight, to replace Minwalla, and complete Solid States.

Since The Posies have a reputation for setting the bar high, it’s no surprise that Solid States is lyrically dense and sonically deep. Like Stringfellow says, the band tinkered with their sound, using a laptop, as well as a new synthesizer and effects pedals. The upshot is that the band’s guitar-based sonic palette is lusher than ever. Sometimes the more modern touches, like the electronics on “Radiance,” can slightly overwhelm the melodies or, with its smoothness, make them seem slight. But on the best cuts, like the single “Squirrel vs. Snake,” the atmospherics enhance the subtleties of the lyrics—just like on classic Posies tracks.

Thematically, much of the album centers around familiar pop topics of romantic intrigue, but “Squirrel

vs. Snake” adds a political snipe: “Don’t trust some guy that says he needs to be relied on/ or a government that says you should be spied on.” And naturally, some songs concern the loss of their friends. Stringfellow says several songs are about Minwalla, including the haunting sing-along “Unlikely Places,” where Auer sings, “I’ve been looking for you in unlikely places.” The album’s themes of healing and love still find relevance today, especially in light of recent darkness.

In keeping with mixing things up, The Posies are currently on a “Secret Pop-Up Shows” tour, commencing earlier this year in Europe, where they perform for crowds as small as 10—and no larger than 100. They seem to be part of a recent “hip” trend of name artists playing small, intimate performances in private homes, but there’s more to it than that. “In the age of ubiquitous, ‘everything all the time’—drones delivering your whims to your balcony, music streaming from any device you choose—we made everything more difficult,” Stringfellow said. “You can only get the physical album at shows. You have to buy a ticket to the shows to find out where they are. … It’s fun to play places that aren’t the usual go-to rock club in town, and make a unique experience for each show.”

Seeing The Posies at a secret show is like having a crème brûlée prepared tableside at a small restaurant: a treat that’s sweet but also a bit intense, even incendiary.

Not to mention cathartic and commiserative. Stringfellow says The Posies’ sets always include the songs about Minwalla and Skyward and “we talk about them both every night.” PJH

THURSDAY Jazz Foundation of JH Big Band (Silver Dollar) FRIDAY Boondocks (Silver Dollar), Brendan Nolan (Town Square Tavern) SATURDAY Candice Miller & Friends (Knotty Pine), WYOBASS (Town Square Tavern), Boondocks (Silver Dollar) SUNDAY Stagecoach Band (Stagecoach)

The Posies-Secret Pop-Up Show 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19 Cedar Hills (40 minutes south of downtown Salt Lake City), Utah. Exact location revealed day of show. $30 All ages Eventbrite.com ThePosies.com

TUESDAY One Ton Pig (Silver Dollar)

n Jazz Foundation of Jackson Hole 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18

n Total Fitness 12:10pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n InDesign Fundamentals: Brochure and Book Layout 3:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $130.00, 307733-6379 n Fun Fridays: Self-directed play (Afterschool) 3:45pm, Teton County Library Youth Auditoirum, Free, 307733-2164 n Friday Tastings 4:00pm, The Liquor Store of Jackson Hole, Free, 307-7334466

n Thanksgiving Tasting at Jackson Whole Grocer 4:00pm, Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe, $5.00, 307-733-0450 n Whiskey Experience 6:00pm, VOM FASS Jackson Hole, Free, 307-734-1535 n Pam Drews Phillips Plays Jazz 7:00pm, The Granary at Spring Creek Ranch, Free, 307-7338833 n Free Public Stargazing 7:30pm, Center for the Arts, Free, 844-996-7827

n Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruyl 7:30pm, Dancers’ Wokshop Studio 1 - Center for the Arts, $12.00 - $15.00, 307-203-9067 n Boondocks 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Brendan Nolan 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886 n Teton Gravity Research Town Store Opening 10:00pm, Teton Gravity Research Town Store, Free n Friday Night DJ Featuring DJ Therapy 10:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free, 307-733-1500

n Quick Change 9:00pm, Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, $5.00, 307-733-2207

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19

n November Food Drive at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe, $20.00 - $25.00, 307733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n REFIT® 9:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $20.00, 307-733-6398

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 23

n November Food Drive at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe, $20.00 - $25.00, 307733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 8:30am, Teton Recreation Center, $4.00, 307-739-9025

n Portrait Drawing Club 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307-7336379 n Yoga 9:00am, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n Open Studio: Portrait Model 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307-7336379 n Tai Chi for Better Balance 10:30am, Senior Center of Jackson Hole, $3.00, 307-733-7300 n Zumba 12:00pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 24

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

24 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20

n November Food Drive at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe, $20.00 - $25.00, 307-733-0450 n Silversmithing Special Topics: Sawing, Setting & Piercing - Weekend Workshop 9:30am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00, 307-733-6379 n NFL Sunday Football 11:00am, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 307-3532300 n Quilting 12:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $100.00, 307-7337425 n Stagecoach Band 6:00pm, Stagecoach, Free, 307-733-4407

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21

n Yoga 7:00am, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307739-9025 n November Food Drive at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe, $20.00 - $25.00, 307-733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 8:30am, Teton Recreation Center, $4.00, 307739-9025 n The Clay Surface: Color & Pattern 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole $110.00, 307-733-6379 n Total Fitness 12:10pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n Maker Monday’s 3:00pm, Valley of the Tetons Library Victor, Free, 208-787-2201

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 25

WELL, THAT HAPPENED

ANDREW MUNZ

n Holiday Bazaar 9:00am, Our Lady of The Mountains Catholic Church, Free, 307-733-2516 n Silversmithing Special Topics: Sawing, Setting & Piercing - Weekend Workshop 9:30am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00, 307-733-6379 n Whiskey Experience 6:00pm, VOM FASS Jackson Hole, Free, 307734-1535 n Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruyl 7:30pm, Dancers’ Wokshop Studio 1 - Center for the Arts, $12.00 - $15.00, 307-203-9067 n Boondocks 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307732-3939 n Candace Miller & Friends 9:00pm, Knotty Pine, 208-787-2866 n WYOBASS 10:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-7333886 n Jameson Black Barrel Music Series Presents: Bo Elledge & Dave Rice 10:30pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free, 307-7331500 n Quick Change 9:00pm, Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, $5.00, 307-733-2207

Gasping For Air Learning how to emerge from the rubble of political dissention.

BY ANDREW MUNZ @AndrewMunz

I

n last week’s column, I predicted that Secretary Hillary Clinton would win the presidential election. Like most Americans, I was under the impression that polling was a more-or-less accurate representation of the political heartbeat.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, and I don’t think there’s a one of us that wasn’t, on some level, shocked by the results, and the words, President-elect Donald J. Trump.

I spent election night at the Town Square Tavern watching CNN’s John King and Wolf Blitzer tap away on their massive touchscreen of the United States, zooming in and out as one state after another transformed from light, liberal blue to deep, conservative red. The Republicans took the majority of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and, ultimately, the executive branch as well. The mood at the Tavern plummeted from joyful chatter and free tacos, to teary-eyed looks of despair.

I couldn’t hold back my tears. This election meant a lot to me as a member of the LGBT community, and I understood how much it meant to so many other minorities, immigrants, women, and other people whose voices are underrepresented in politics. This was never just about you or

Faced with a sinking feeling, the author ruminates some possible plans for Inauguration Day. me. This was about preserving the progress that past generations worked so hard to build. That the Trump administration will work to repeal so much of that progress is heartbreaking.

That night I went on Facebook and commiserated with many of my friends around the world. Conversations about immigrating to different countries were abundant. As a dual citizen with Austria, I realize that I own the ability to easily return back to Iceland or choose a country in the European Union and escape a Trump reality. My overactive and sensitive mood pushed me to unfriend a handful of people who I knew to be Trump supporters. When others came out of the woodwork to write dissenting remarks on my profile, I deleted their voices too, which I regret.

I was so emotionally wrecked. I still am.

After nearly two years of election coverage, I decided that Facebook was a big part of why I felt so crushed by this election. I ended up posting a status about my abstention from the social media drug until I was ready to return. Breaking away from social media, a place where “click bait” headlines and misinformation have run rampant in recent years, has helped me zero-in on my priorities and improve my productivity.

But just being absent from the discussion does not remedy the problem.

Yes, our country is greatly divided.

Yes, there is a larger difference of opinion than we’d ever predicted. And of course it’s tempting and easy to unfriend people who disagree with us, or leave the country because we literally can’t even… But as my roommate Madeleine said, “If you cut out all the people you disagree with, you’ll be trapped in an echo chamber.”

This concept of leaving the country is certainly anyone’s right. But part of me wants to stay and fight, to hold Trump supporters to the forthcoming legislation of a Trump administration. Trump voters are often outraged when they’re called sexists, homophobes, racists, etc., so I fully expect those people to be vocal and stand with their liberal friends if Trump and Congress do what they campaigned to do and begin passing and repealing laws that target minorities.

More than ever, the outcome of this election will begin to change the fabric of our country both domestically and our perception overseas. It already has. Yet, we still stand strong. We have no other choice.

I strongly believe there is hope on the horizon, but we have to make strides to pull the country together. Initially, it might be good to separate yourself from your social media ties and online news sources, just to reexamine your values and priorities.

We have to learn how to be real humans again, not technological puppets so easily persuaded and affected by headlines, comments sections, opinion pieces, etc.

The more we revert back to the comfortable mental zone of, say, 2008, when we were less married to our phones and our social media apps, perhaps we’ll rediscover the worth in helping our fellow neighbors, being on time, paying attention, and listening, actually listening to people again. The moment we transform back into level-headed human beings is the moment we stop having such one-click, knee-jerk reactions, and can quit this habit of fixing bullet wounds with Band-Aids and, ultimately, become the open-minded, progressive Americans the world expects us to be. PJH

FREE SPEECH

Creative Protesting Local artists respond to the presidential election.

BY MEG DALY @MegDaly1

W

WALT GERALD

Left: Protest art installed in the Indian Paintbrush neighboorhood in response to the election results. Right: Walt Gerald made this poster in honor of his two young daughters. and where has that gotten us?” Musser asked. “Where we are today.”

The song proved too political for many music magazines and online venues, according to Musser. So they released it on the Benyaro Facebook page.

“Not enough people took the possibility of Trump seriously,” Musser said. “Now we have protestors in the streets, but where was that energy before the election? Art could have engaged younger folks. This video could have done that.”

Despite his frustrations, Musser and his band-mate will continue their tour ending with a show in San Luis Obispo on November 17 and a show in Los Angeles on November 19. Check their Facebook page for details.

Meanwhile, Gerald said his poster has received a great reception and he is shipping posters out to people across the country. “It’s been very well received,” he said.

“I’m glad people are starting to shift emotions into action.”

Evie Lewis invited her friends and neighbors to channel their shared despair over the election into making art. Lewis, a long-time theater artist, had the idea to create cardboard people and paint them blue and black. She and her friends installed the blue people in a field at the base of the Indian Paintbrush neighborhood on Fall Creek Road.

“It’s art protest,” Lewis said. “These people are in mourning for America. Our country elected a racist, misogynist bully.

That seems to me worth mourning.”

Lewis said viewers will see different things in the people who were intentionally created to represent diverse races and classes of people. Some might see a field of Democrats decrying the Republican win.

Whatever the perception of the blue people, the cardboard and acrylic paint won’t hold up for long in the elements, Lewis said.

Perhaps there’s a little bit of hope in the ephemeral nature of grief. PJH

n November Food Drive at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer and Cafe, $20.00 - $25.00, 307-733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n REFIT® 8:30am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $20.00, 307-733-6398 n Yoga 8:30am, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307739-9025 n Toddler Time 10:05am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307-733-2164 n Tai Chi for Better Balance 10:30am, Senior Center of Jackson Hole, $3.00, 307-733-7300 n Bubble Play 11:30am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307-733-2164 n Spin 12:10pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307-739-9025 n Make It & Take It: Themed Crafts (Afterschool) 3:45pm, Teton County Library Youth Auditoirum, Free, 307-733-2164 n Zumba 4:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307739-9025 n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-6906539 n Total Fitness 5:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, $8.00, 307739-9025 n Ski Fitness 5:30pm, Teton County/ Jackson Parks and Recreation, $8.00 - $85.00, 307-732-5754 n Tuesday Trivia Night 6:00pm, Q Roadhouse, Free, 307-739-0700 n Glaze like a Pro 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $84.00, 307-733-6379 n Cribbage 6:00pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, Free, 208-354-5522 n One Ton Pig 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307732-3939

FOR COMPLETE EVENT DETAILS VISIT PJHCALENDAR.COM

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 25

sadness into action. That’s the only way things will change.”

Gerald and his wife Carter Cox say they expose their daughters to diverse cultural experiences whenever possible, and they teach them that differences should be celebrated. “As far as our values go,” Gerald said, “We believe that someone’s gender, orientation, or religion shouldn’t restrict them from an equal opportunity for success and happiness.”

Artist Bronwyn Minton also values diversity, and turning to her regular art practice was a salve to the disappointment she felt over Trump’s election.

“My work is about complexity and pattern and beauty,” Minton said. “It comes out of observation of nature and it can be used as a metaphor for all kinds of things.”

Minton’s work includes drawings, photographs and sculptures that play with shapes and forms found in nature. A macro view of crystalized salt might suggest fundamental elements, or cause a viewer to muse upon how much space exists between particles of solid matter. A black on black drawing of a flower might suggest the power of nature to push up through dark earth.

“Art is really important to culture. By having a bunch of different people making different things we have diversity.”

For Ben Musser and Leif Routman, of the indie-acoustic soul and roots band Benyaro, making political art started before the election with their Get-Out-theVote tour. They’ve been on tour for several weeks, including election week. Leading up to the election they released a starkly political music video of one of their songs, “Too Many Men.” “We decided to pluck this one song and do a music video that had a message,” Musser said. “It’s about our frustration with the old guard impeding progress.”

The video calls out Trump and Ted Cruz and critiques them for their patriarchal ways. “We’ve been led by men for centuries

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

hen the election results were finally announced, Walt Gerald was crestfallen. As a father of two young girls, ages 5 and 2.5, the graphic designer and printmaker had planned on celebrating with his wife and daughters the election of the first female president of the United States. Instead he found himself having to explain how and why America had elected a man who, with his derogatory words, has disrespected women everywhere.

As he grappled with what to say, he found direction from Hillary Clinton in her concession speech. “To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams,” Clinton said.

Gerald decided to take those words and make an art piece, a poster printed in his eldest daughter Piper’s favorite colors, pink and purple.

“I felt like I needed to do something positive,” Gerald said.

The artist then posted an image of the poster on Facebook and told viewers that if they wanted a copy of it, they should make a donation to a progressive nonprofit (Gerald suggested the Human Rights Coalition, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU) and let him know about their donation. He, in turn, would send them an original print emblazoned with the presidential candidate’s uplifting words.

“I don’t want to make any money off of this,” Gerald said. “We need to turn our

n After School Kidzart Club: Grade K-2 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $150.00, 307-733-6379 n Movie Mondays: Films & Gaming (Afterschool) 3:45pm, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307-733-2164 n Etching - Evening 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $180.00, 307-733-6379 n Kiln Formed Glass 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $210.00 - $252.00, 307-733-6379

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

26 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

BEER, WINE & SPIRITS

Thanksgiving Wine Guide Ten wines for the Turkey Day table.

BY TED SCHEFFLER @critic1

M

y favorite food day of the year is Thanksgiving, for all the obvious reasons. But food aside, one of the reasons I’m so fond of Turkey Day is that it provides the perfect opportunity for tasting wine. With so many complimentary and contrasting food flavors—cranberries, dark turkey meat, salty stuffing, buttery mashed spuds, savory-sweet pumpkin pie, etc.—the Thanksgiving meal is a good place to try out an array of different wines with different foods and courses.

I usually like to treat Thanksgiving guests to cheesy little French gougeres to snack on prior to the big meal. Sparkling wine is a terrific accompaniment to the cheese puffs, but also a very versatile libation that could carry through the entire

Thanksgiving meal, thanks in part to its relatively low alcohol content. I’m particularly fond of pinot noir-rich rosé bubbly on this celebratory day. A good, inexpensive choice is Bisol Jeio Cuvée Rosé Spumante Brut ($15) from Veneto, Italy, with lychee and citrus notes. For a domestic sparkling rosé, it’s hard to beat Domaine Chandon Etoile Rosé ($31.99), a gorgeous, but restrained wine that is a perfect partner for foie gras and pâté. Or, you could really kick out the jams with a bottle of Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage Rosé 2008 ($69.99), with its beautiful floral and botanical notes.

Bubbles aside, I think rosé wines in general are excellent choices for Thanksgiving dinner.

They’re extremely versatile and fairly low in alcohol, so you can enjoy them throughout a lengthy

IMBIBE holiday meal. The syrah in Frescobaldi Toscana Alìe Ammiraglia Rosé 2015 ($18) makes it a smart choice to sip with turkey, and the same can be said for the syrah/ grenache/cinsault blend in Cuvée M de Minuty Rosé 2015 ($20) from the Côtes de Provençe.

Italian red wine might not be traditional at Thanksgiving time, but I like the combination of versatility and value that some Italian reds offer. One such wine is Avignonesi Rosso di Montepulciano DOC 2014 ($16.10).

It was a weird year in Tuscany in 2014, vintage-wise, but it favored younger, fruity wines like this easy-drinking one.

Red currant and white pepper notes should pair nicely with foods ranging from cranberry sauce to light and dark turkey meat. Another attention-getting Italian wine for your holiday table is Arnaldo-Caprai Montefalco Rosso 2012 ($22.95). It might not seem like the 15 percent sagrantino grape—sometimes called the “jewel” of Umbria—would make much difference, but its abundant

tannins balanced with sweet, dark fruit makes this a memorable Italian red that’s well-suited for special occasions.

From France, I’d turn to E. Guigal Crozes-Hermitage 2013 Rouge ($28.99) on Thanksgiving. Again, syrah here provides a good partnership for roasted turkey and rich stuffing and gravy. Plus, it’s just damned tasty to drink—at Thanksgiving or any other time. It’s also plenty big enough to drink with prime rib, ribeye roasts, game or other meats that might make their way to your holiday table.

If you’re looking for a great American wine to drink on the all-American Thanksgiving holiday, I’d suggest Joseph Phelps Freestone Vineyards Pinot Noir 2013 ($42.99). Although it’s made in Sonoma, this pinot noir is definitely made in the French red burgundy style. It’ll be beautiful with herb-roasted turkey, as well as any salmon or mushroom dishes.

For a good white wine on Turkey Day, I’d turn to Landmark Vineyards Overlook Chardonnay 2014 ($27.49). This is Landmark’s meat and potatoes wine—the backbone of the winery—but not one you’d want to drink with meat and potatoes. You will want to drink it with roasted turkey and mashed potatoes, however. It’s certain to be a hit at your Thanksgiving celebration. PJH

SCOOP UP THESE SAVINGS

1/16TH COLOR AD Trio is located just off the town square in downtown Jackson, and is owned & operated by local chefs with a passion for good food.

Our menu features contemporary American dishes inspired by classic bistro cuisine. Daily specials feature wild game, fish and meats.

Enjoy a glass of wine at the bar in front of the wood-burning oven and watch the chefs perform in the open kitchen.

Dinner Nightly at 5:30pm

Local is a modern American steakhouse and bar located on Jackson’s historic town square.

Serving locally raised beef and, regional game, fresh seafood and seasonally inspired food, Local offers the perfect setting for lunch, drinks or dinner.

Lunch 11:30am Monday-Saturday Dinner 5:30pm Nightly

45 S. Glenwood

HAPPY HOUR Daily 4-6:00pm

Available for private events & catering

307.201.1717 | LOCALJH.COM ON THE TOWN SQUARE

For reservations please call 734-8038

• FREE PRINT LISTING (50-75 WORDS) • FREE ONLINE LISTING ON PLANETJH.COM • 6 MONTH MINIMUM COMMITMENT • $25 A WEEK CASH OR $40 A WEEK TRADE ON HALF OFF JH

CONTACT YOUR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE TODAY TO LEARN MORE

SALES@PLANETJH.COM OR 307.732.0299

Mangy Moose Restaurant, with locally sourced, seasonally FRESH FOOD at reasonable prices, is a always a FUN PLACE to go with family or friends for a unique dining experience. The personable staff will make you feel RIGHT AT HOME and the funky western decor will keep you entertained throughout your entire visit.

Reservations at (307) 733-4913 3295 Village Drive • Teton Village, WY

www.mangymoose.com

THE LOCALS

FAVORITE PIZZA 2012, 2013 & 2014 •••••••••

$7

$4 Well Drink Specials

LUNCH

SPECIAL Slice, salad & soda

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

TV Sports Packages and 7 Screens

Under the Pink Garter Theatre (307) 734-PINK • www.pinkygs.com

Featuring dining destinations from buffets and rooms with a view to mom and pop joints, chic cuisine and some of our dining critic’s faves!

ASIAN & CHINESE TETON THAI Serving the world’s most exciting cuisine.

Teton Thai offers a splendid array of flavors: sweet, hot, sour, salt and bitter. All balanced and blended perfectly, satisfying the most discriminating palate. Open daily. 7432 Granite Loop Road in Teton Village, (307) 7330022 and in Driggs, (208) 787-8424, tetonthai. com.

THAI ME UP Home of Melvin Brewing Co. Freshly remodeled offering modern Thai cuisine in a relaxed setting. New tap system with 20 craft beers. New $8 wine list and extensive bottled beer menu. Open daily for dinner at 5pm.

Downtown at 75 East Pearl Street. View our tap list at thaijh.com/brews. 307-733-0005.

CONTINENTAL ALPENHOF Serving authentic Swiss cuisine, the Alpenhof features European style breakfast entrées and alpine lunch fare. Dine in the Bistro for a casual meal or join us in the Alpenrose dining room for a relaxed dinner experience. Breakfast 7:30am-10am. Coffee & pastry 10am-11:30am.

Lunch 11:30am-3pm. Aprés 3pm-5:30pm.

Dinner 6pm-9pm. For reservations at the Bistro or Alpenrose, call 307-733-3242.

cool ways

to PERK

UP

THE BLUE LION

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

A Jackson Hole favorite for 38 years. Join us in the charming atmosphere of a historic home. Ask a local about our rack of lamb.

Serving fresh fish, elk, poultry, steaks, and vegetarian entrées. Live acoustic guitar music most nights. Early Bird Special: 20% off entire bill between 5:30-6:0pm, Open nightly at 5:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays until ski season. Reservations recommended, walk-ins welcome. 160 N. Millward, (307) 733-3912, bluelionrestaurant.com.

CAFE GENEVIEVE Serving inspired home cooked classics in a historic log cabin. Enjoy brunch daily at 8 a.m., Dinner Tues-Sat 5 p.m. and Happy Hour Tues-Sat 3-5:30 p.m. featuring $5 glasses of wine, $5 specialty drinks, $3 bottled beer. 135 E. Broadway, (307) 732-1910, genevievejh. com.

ELEANOR’S

1110 W. Broadway • Jackson, WY Open daily 5:00am to midnight • Free Wi-Fi

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 27

Enjoy all the perks of fine dining, minus the dress code at Eleanor’s, serving rich, saucy dishes in a warm and friendly setting.

Eleanor’s is a primo brunch spot on Sunday afternoons. Its bar alone is an attraction, thanks to reasonably priced drinks and a loyal crowd. Come get a belly-full of our two-time gold medal wings. Open at 11 a.m. daily. 832 W. Broadway, (307) 733-7901.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

28 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Re-opening

Tuesday, Nov. 29 th

(Just in time for 2-fer Tuesday!)

OFF SEASON SPECIAL

2FOR1 733-3912

160 N. Millward • Reservations recommended Reserve online at bluelionrestaurant.com

The deli that’ll rock your belly. Jackson’s newest sub shop serves steamed subs, reubens, gyros, delicious all beef hot dogs, soups and salads. We offer Chicago style hot dogs done just the way they do in the windy city. Open daily11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Located just a short block north of the Town Square at 180 N. Center Street, (307) 733-3448.

LOCAL

ENTREES

Good all night • Open nightly at 5:30pm Closed Tuesdays until ski season

FULL STEAM SUBS

11am - 9:30pm daily 20 W. Broadway 307.201.1472

PizzeriaCaldera.com

®

Local, a modern American steakhouse and bar, is located on Jackson’s historic town square. Our menu features both classic and specialty cuts of locally-ranched meats and wild game alongside fresh seafood, shellfish, house-ground burgers, and seasonally-inspired food. We offer an extensive wine list and an abundance of locallysourced products. Offering a casual and vibrant bar atmosphere with 12 beers on tap as well as a relaxed dining room, Local is the perfect spot to grab a burger for lunch or to have drinks and dinner with friends. Lunch Mon-Sat 11:30am.

Dinner Nightly 5:30pm. 55 North Cache, (307) 201-1717, localjh.com.

LOTUS CAFE Large Specialty Pizza ADD: Wings (8 pc)

Medium Pizza (1 topping) Stuffed Cheesy Bread

$ 13 99

for an extra $5.99/each

(307) 733-0330 520 S. Hwy. 89 • Jackson, WY

APRÈS–SKI THANKSGIVING

BUFFET NOV. 24

3-6:30 PM

FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT PIZZAS, PASTAS & MORE

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED $20 KIDS / $10 CHILDREN

JOIN US AT THE ‘HOF, THE ALPENHOF LODGE

307.733.3242 | TETON VILLAGE

HOUSEMADE BREAD & DESSERTS FRESH, LOCALLY SOURCED OFFERINGS TAKE OUT AVAILABLE Dining room and bar open nightly at 5:00pm (307) 733-2460 • 2560 Moose Wilson Road • Wilson, WY

A Jackson Hole favorite since 1965

Serving organic, freshly-made world cuisine while catering to all eating styles. Endless organic and natural meat, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices. Offering super smoothies, fresh extracted juices, espresso and tea. Full bar and house-infused botanical spirits. Open daily 8am for breakfast lunch and dinner. 145 N. Glenwood St., (307) 734-0882, tetonlotuscafe. com.

MANGY MOOSE Mangy Moose Restaurant, with locally sourced, seasonally fresh food at reasonable prices, is a always a fun place to go with family or friends for a unique dining experience. The personable staff will make you feel right at home and the funky western decor will keep you entertained throughout your entire visit. Teton Village, (307) 733-4913, mangymoose.com.

SNAKE RIVER BREWERY & RESTAURANT America’s most award-winning microbrewery is serving lunch and dinner. Take in the atmosphere while enjoying wood-fired pizzas, pastas, burgers, sandwiches, soups, salads and desserts. $9 lunch menu. Happy hour 4 to 6 p.m., including tasty hot wings. The freshest beer in the valley, right from the source! Free WiFi. Open 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 265 S. Millward. (307) 739-2337, snakeriverbrewing.com.

TRIO

OLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR THE LATEST PLANET HAPPENINGS! @

Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner ••••••••• Open daily at 8am serving breakfast, lunch & dinner.

BYOB

145 N. Glenwood • (307) 734-0882 WWW.TETONLOTUSCAFE.COM

Owned and operated by Chefs with a passion for good food, Trio is located right off the Town square in downtown Jackson. Featuring a variety of cuisines in a relaxed atmosphere, Trio is famous for its wood-oven pizzas, specialty cocktails and waffle fries with bleu cheese fondue. Dinner nightly at 5:30 p.m. Reservations. (307) 734-8038 or bistrotrio.com.

ITALIAN CALICO A Jackson Hole favorite since 1965, the Calico continues to be one of the most popular restaurants in the Valley. The Calico offers the

right combination of really good food, (much of which is grown in our own gardens in the summer), friendly staff; a reasonably priced menu and a large selection of wine. Our bar scene is eclectic with a welcoming vibe. Open nightly at 5 p.m. 2560 Moose Wilson Rd., (307) 733-2460.

MEXICAN EL ABUELITO Serving authentic Mexican cuisine and appetizers in a unique Mexican atmosphere. Home of the original Jumbo Margarita. Featuring a full bar with a large selection of authentic Mexican beers. Lunch served weekdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Nightly dinner specials. Open seven days, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. 385 W. Broadway, (307) 733-1207.

PIZZA DOMINO’S PIZZA Hot and delicious delivered to your door. Handtossed, deep dish, crunchy thin, Brooklyn style and artisan pizzas; bread bowl pastas, and oven baked sandwiches; chicken wings, cheesy breads and desserts. Delivery. 520 S. Hwy. 89 in Kmart Plaza, (307) 733-0330.

PINKY G’S The locals favorite! Voted Best Pizza in Jackson Hole 2012, 2013 and 2014. Seek out this hidden gem under the Pink Garter Theatre for NY pizza by the slice, salads, stromboli’s, calzones and many appetizers to choose from. Try the $7 ‘Triple S’ lunch special.Happy hours 10 p.m. - 12 a.m. Sun.- Thu. Text PINK to 71441 for discounts.

Delivery and take-out. Open daily 11a.m. to 2 a.m. 50 W. Broadway, (307) 734-PINK.

PIZZERIA CALDERA Jackson Hole’s only dedicated stone-hearth oven pizzeria, serving Napolitana-style pies using the freshest ingredients in traditional and creative combinations. Five local micro-brews on tap, a great selection of red and white wines by the glass and bottle, and one of the best views of the Town Square from our upstairs deck. Daily lunch special includes slice, salad or soup, any two for $8. Happy hour: half off drinks by the glass from 4 - 6 daily. Dine in or carry out. Or order online at PizzeriaCaldera.com, or download our app for iOS or Android. Open from 11am - 9:30pm daily at 20 West Broadway. 307-201-1472.

SWEETS MEETEETSE CHOCOLATIER Meeteetse Chocolatier brings their unique blend of European style chocolates paired with “Wyomingesque” flavors. Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit, Sage, Huckleberry and Sarsaparilla lead off a decadent collection of truffles, Belgian chocolates and hand made caramel. Sample Single Origin and Organic chocolates at our Tasting Station. Open Weekends, 265 W. Broadway. 307-413-8296. meeteetsechocolatier. com

WELLNESS COMMUNITY

These businesses provide health or wellness services for the Jackson Hole community and its visitors.

Enjoy

TM

®

Transcendental Meditation Center of Jackson Hole Introduction - Instruction Refreshers - Advanced Programs

307-690-4511

www.tm.org/transcendentalmeditation-jackson

DEEP TISSUE • SPORTS MASSAGE • THAI MASSAGE MYOFASCIAL RELEASE CUPPING

Oliver Tripp, NCTM MASSAGE THERAPIST NATIONALLY CERTIFIED

253-381-2838

180 N Center St, Unit 8 abhyasamassage.com

No physician referral required.

(307) 733-5577•1090 S Hwy 89

www.fourpinespt.com

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 29

TO ADVERTISE IN THE WELLNESS DIRECTORY, CONTACT JEN AT PLANET JACKSON HOLE AT 307-732-0299 OR SALES@PLANETJH.COM.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Professional and Individualized Treatments • Sports/Ortho Rehab • Neck and Back Rehab • Rehabilitative Pilates • Incontinence Training • Pelvic Pain Rehab • Lymphedema Treatments Norene Christensen PT, DSc, OCS, CLT Rebekah Donley PT, DPT, CPI Mark Schultheis PT, CSCS Kim Armington PTA, CPI

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

30 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

SUDOKU

Are you a discerning drinker who knows her scotch from her whiskey? When you’re talking bouquets, are flowers the last thing on your mind?

Then we want YOU. The Planet is looking for a drink columnist who likes to imbibe and write about it with authority.

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9.

No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

EMAIL WRITING SAMPLES TO EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM.

L.A.TIMES “MELEE” By C.C. Burnikel

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2016

ACROSS 1 6 10

Relaxes on the porch, say Character set “Some girls with a snuffle / Their tempers are uffle” poet 14 Pest control brand 19 Digs in the snow 20 Many a woman, vocally 21 “Homeland” actress Miranda 22 Revolutionary diplomat Silas 23 *Retail enticement 25 Cassandra’s prophecy 26 Ill-fated energy company 27 Peaceful and relaxed 28 “Word is ... ” 29 *Western nickname 31 Chipotle option 33 Expert in futures?

35 __ buco 36 Foe of Rocky 37 Desert or tundra 38 Longoria of “Telenovela” 39 Org. in some le Carré novels 42 Federal Reserve chair Yellen 43 Supplied, as a forgotten line 44 Sitarist Shankar 46 Skin 47 *Reporter’s credential 49 Pollen source 51 Annual stage award 52 Auction ender?

53 Outer: Pref.

54 *Mall rarity at Christmas 56 Contend (with) 59 Thus far 60 Friend of Claudius I 61 Seedy digs 64 Quite a journey 67 “Whoop-de-doo” 70 Bolt on the track 72 Comes into view 76 *Like much farm decor 79 Goliath, to David 80 It might have the family name

on it Coastal raptor Make public, in a way *Many sandwiches are made for it 86 Raggedy dolls 87 __ review 88 Mower handle?

90 Devoured 91 Born, in Bordeaux 92 Brick-shaped candy 93 __-mouthed: inclined to curse 94 Brown in the kitchen 95 NYC line with a Babylon branch 97 Bluffing words, perhaps 99 Thick slice 100 *Airport employee 103 Forearm bones 106 Mauna __ 109 Moronic 110 Chipotle option 111 Fracas, and a hint to both words in the answers to starred clues 113 GoPro competitor 114 Sneaker brand 115 Muddy ground 116 One lacking roots 117 Crockpot dishes 118 Min. divisions 119 Assist in a gym 120 “Ciao!”

81 82 83

DOWN 1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8

High-end hotel Grimm meanie The dot-com boom coincided with much of it Org. for the great outdoors Seeks earnestly Free Wi-Fi provider, often __ Romeo Sports testing subjects

9 A.L. East team 10 “Ixnay” 11 Island ring 12 Kiln, e.g.

13 Sweet spot?

14 Black Sea resort 15 Property owner’s income 16 Where to find flat beer drinkers?

17 Tied, briefly 18 Endangered state bird 24 Sounds of discovery 29 Indian pastries 30 __ eyes 32 Lover of Aphrodite 34 Poppycock 36 More Spartan 37 Cream 38 Tied 40 “It’s what you do” insurance company 41 Run 42 Picture file acronym 43 Aspect 44 Gathered (in) 45 Peaceful relations 46 Robin Williams title role 48 Trapper’s prize 50 “You’d like this” 54 Tropical fruit used in salsas 55 Smith of Fox News 57 Trims in the garden 58 Huff and puff 62 Charlotte __ 63 Daisylike bloom 65 Rhone tributary 66 Building guideline 67 Large amount 68 Mezzo Marilyn 69 Carnival treat 71 Volunteer’s phrase 73 Question of responsibility

74 75 77 78

Cheap collegiate cupful WWII submachine gun Media mogul Murdoch Santa __ Valley: California wine region 79 Violent anger 83 “Go for it!”

84 Rowdy sorts 85 “Ciao” 89 Some “Doctor Who” creatures 92 Hogs the mirror, say 93 Zoo animals with Chinese names 94 “Yeah, right!”

96 “No duh!”

97 Cry of surrender 98 Museum piece 100 Anchovy containers 101 Part of A.A. Milne?

102 Latin trio part 104 Flying start?

105 OFF! ingredient 107 Aveeno rival 108 “The Aviator” Oscar nominee 111 Radio settings 112 Sushi roll topping

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Does the word “revolution” have any useful meaning? Or has it been invoked by so many fanatics with such melodramatic agendas that it has lost its value? In accordance with your astrological omens, I suggest we give it another chance. I think it deserves a cozy spot in your life during the next few months. As for what exactly that entails, let’s call on author Rebecca Solnit for inspiration. She says, “I still think the [real] revolution is to make the world safe for poetry, meandering, for the frail and vulnerable, the rare and obscure, the impractical and local and small.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “We all have ghosts inside us, and it’s better when they speak than when they don’t,” wrote author Siri Hustvedt.

The good news, Sagittarius, is that in recent weeks your personal ghosts have been discoursing at length. They have offered their interpretation of your life’s central mysteries and have provided twists on old stories you thought you had all figured out. The bad news is that they don’t seem to want to shut up. Also, less than 25% of what they have been asserting is actually true or useful. But here’s the fantastic news: Those ghosts have delivered everything you need to know for now, and will obey if you tell them to take an extended vacation.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) In the film Bruce Almighty, Morgan Freeman plays the role of God, and Capricorn actor Jim Carrey is a frustrated reporter named Bruce Nolan. After Nolan bemoans his rocky fate and blames it on God’s ineptitude, the Supreme Being reaches out by phone. (His number is 716-776-2323.) A series of conversations and negotiations ensues, leading Nolan on roller-coaster adventures that ultimately result in a mostly happy ending. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you Capricorns will have an unusually high chance of making fruitful contact with a Higher Power or Illuminating Source in the coming weeks. I doubt that 716-776-2323 is the right contact information. But if you trust your intuition, I bet you’ll make the connection.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Some spiders are both construction workers and artists.

The webs they spin are not just strong and functional, but also feature decorative elements called “stabilimenta.”

These may be as simple as zigzags or as complex as spiral whorls. Biologists say the stabilimenta draw prey to specific locations, help the spider hide, and render the overall stability of the web more robust. As you enter the web-building phase of your cycle, Aquarius, I suggest that you include your own version of attractive stabilimenta.

Your purpose, of course, is not to catch prey, but to bolster your network and invigorate your support system.

Be artful as well as practical. (Thanks to Mother Nature Network’s Jaymi Heimbuch for info on stabilimenta.)

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Kavachi is an underwater volcano in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. It erupts periodically, and in general makes the surrounding water so hot and acidic that human divers must avoid it. And yet some hardy species live there, including crabs, jellyfish, stingrays, and sharks. What adaptations and strategies enable them to thrive in such an extreme environment? Scientists don’t know. I’m going to draw a comparison between you and the resourceful creatures living near Kavachi. In the coming weeks, I bet you’ll flourish in circumstances that normal people might find daunting.

A TRUSTED FAMILY-OWNED PET FOOD MANUFACTURER FOR OVER 50 YEARS.

Available at

1300 Carol Lane • 307-734-8182 • jacksonanimalfeed.com

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Seventeenth-century British people used the now-obsolete word “firktytoodle.” It meant “cuddling and snuggling accompanied by leisurely experiments in smooching, fondling, licking, and sweet dirty talk.” The coming weeks will be prime time for you to carry out extensive experiments in this activity. But here’s an interesting question: Will the near future also be a favorable phase for record levels of orgasmic release? The answer: maybe, but IF AND ONLY if you pursue firkytoodle as an end in itself; IF AND ONLY IF you relish the teasing and playing as if they were ultimate rewards, and don’t relegate them to being merely preliminary acts for pleasures that are supposedly bigger and better. P.S. These same principles apply not just to your intimate connections, but to everything else in your life, as well. Enjoying the journey is as important as reaching a destination.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Here’s an experiment worth trying: Reach back into the past to find a remedy for what’s bugging you now. In other words, seek out on an old, perhaps even partially forgotten influence to resolve a current dilemma that has resisted your efforts to master it.

This is one time when it may make good sense to temporarily resurrect a lost dream. You could energize your future by drawing inspiration from possibilities that might have been but never were.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

By the time he died at the age of 87 in 1983, free thinker Buckminster Fuller had licensed his inventions to more than 100 companies. But along the way, he often had to be patient as he waited for the world to be ready for his visionary creations. He was ahead of his time, dreaming up things that would be needed before anyone knew they’d be needed. I encourage you to be like him in the coming weeks, Libra. Try to anticipate the future. Generate possibilities that people are not yet ripe to accept, but will eventually be ready to embrace.

Go to RealAstrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes. Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

NOVEMBER 16, 2016 | 31

ARIES (March 21-April 19) There is a 97 percent chance that you will NOT engage in the following activities within the next 30 days: naked skydiving, tight-rope walking between two skyscrapers, getting drunk on a mountaintop, taking ayahuasca with Peruvian shamans in a remote rural hut, or dancing ecstatically in a muddy pit of snakes. However, I suspect that you will be involved in almost equally exotic exploits—although less risky ones—that will require you to summon more pluck and improvisational skill than you knew you had.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) I hesitate to deliver the contents of this horoscope without a disclaimer. Unless you are an extremely ethical person with a vivid streak of empathy, you might be prone to abuse the information I’m about to present. So please ignore it unless you can responsibly employ the concepts of benevolent mischief and tricky blessings and cathartic shenanigans. Ready? Here’s your oracle: Now is a favorable time for grayer truths, wilder leaps of the imagination, more useful bullshit, funnier enigmas, and more outlandish stories seasoned with crazy wisdom.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) “Aren’t there parts of ourselves that are just better left unfed?” asked Piscean author David Foster Wallace. I propose that we make that one of your two keynotes during the next four weeks. Here’s a second keynote: As you become more and more skilled at not fueling the parts of yourself that are better left unfed, you will have a growing knack for identifying the parts of yourself that should be well-fed. Feed them with care and artistry!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) The Onion, my favorite news source, reported that “It’s perfectly natural for people to fantasize about sandwiches other than the one currently in their hands.” You shouldn’t feel shame, the article said, if you’re enjoying a hoagie but suddenly feel an inexplicable yearning for a BLT or pastrami on rye. While I appreciate this reassuring counsel, I don’t think it applies to you in the coming weeks. In my opinion, you have a sacred duty to be unwaveringly faithful, both in your imagination and your actual behavior—as much for your own sake as for others’.

I advise you to cultivate an up-to-date affection for and commitment to what you actually have, and not indulge in obsessive fantasies about “what ifs.”

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

32 | NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Food,

s u o i r o gl d! o o f

Yes,we Planetoids live to eat.

Look for our next foodie issue coming December 21st Book now for Early Bird discount rates of

40% off!

Deadline: November 30 th To advertise, contact Jen or Caroline at 307-732-0299 or email sales@planetjh.com.