Planet JH 2.15.17

JACKSON HOLE’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | FEBRUARY 15-21, 2017

Pillar of Support

How Matt Stech and PMO Teton County are dissolving stigmas and training people to be networks of prevention.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

2 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Valentine’s Swing

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

RABBIT ROW REPAIR WE SERVICE THEM ALL …

What: Jazz music and swing dancing with your sweetheart When: Friday, February 17th 7-10pm Where: Center for the Arts Theatre Lobby

JAZZ FOUNDATION OF JACKSON HOLE Admission is FREE | www.jfjh.org

4 2 8 0 W. L E E P E R • W I L S O N • 3 0 7 - 7 3 3 - 4 3 3 1

WINDSHIELDS WINDSHIELD REPLACEMENT SPECIALISTS ••••

Intermountain

Auto Glass

Same company, Same professional service

FREE MOBILE SERVICE INSURANCE APPROVED

Specializing in European & Luxury Vehicles UP TO

$50

$10OFF

CASH BACK ROCK CHIP ON WINDSHIELD REPAIR REPLACEMENT INTERMOUNTAIN AUTO GLASS

733.3282

Ask about our lifetime warranty.

JACKSON HOLE'S ALTERNATIVE VOICE

VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 6 | FEBRUARY 15-21, 2017

12 COVER STORY

PILLAR OF SUPPORT How Matt Stech and PMO Teton County are dissolving stigmas and training people to be networks of prevention.

Cover photo by Lina Collado

18 MUSIC BOX

4 DEMOCRACY

IN CRISIS 6 THE NEW WEST 8 THE BUZZ

20 CULTURE KLASH 22 CREATIVE PEAKS 24 FOODIE FILES

16 FREE SPEECH

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, Shannon Sollitt

SALES DIRECTOR

COPY EDITOR

Jen Tillotson / jen@planetjh.com SALES EXTRAORDINAIRE

Caroline LaRosa / caroline@planetjh.com

Mann, Sarah Ross,Ted Scheffler, Chuck Shepherd, Melissa Thomasma, Tom Tomorrow, Lisa Van Sciver, Todd Wilkinson, Jim Woodmencey, Baynard Woods

Jessica Sell Chambers CONTRIBUTORS

Rob Brezsny, Aaron Davis, Annie Fenn, MD, Carol

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

567 W. BROADWAY | P.O. BOX 3249 | JACKSON, WYOMING 83001 | 307-732-0299 | WWW.PLANETJH.COM

February 15-21, 2017

By Meteorologist Jim Woodmencey As I mentioned last week, February had already exceed its average precipitation for the month, in the first seven days of the month. Before we had even finished the second week of February, the old precipitation record for February was broken. The deluge of rain and snow during the past two weeks produced 3.12 inches of water at the Jackson Climate Station, literally pouring right past the old record of 2.83 inches, established back in February of 1962.

SPONSORED BY GRAND TETON FLOOR & WINDOW COVERINGS

The record low temperature in town this week is 44-degrees below zero, set back on February 18th, 1942. The high temperature in town that day was only eight degrees, below zero. That was an exceptionally cold February in Jackson, and there are several low temperature records around that date that still stand today, all established in 1942.

Average low temperatures this week are a more reasonable 9-degrees, above zero. We are almost up and out of the single digits.

Forty years after the record low for this week was established, the record high was reached for this week, when it tagged 56-degrees on February 21st, 1982. Seeing a few days make it into the 40’s in mid-February is not all that uncommon. Fifties would feel almost tropical this time of year, and might cause widespread spring-fever hysteria around Jackson Hole. Just keep reminding yourself, that average high temperatures are still in the lower 30’s this week. Anything warmer is bonus.

NORMAL HIGH 33 NORMAL LOW 9 RECORD HIGH IN 1982 56 RECORD LOW IN 1942 -44

THIS MONTH AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 1.14 inches RECORD PRECIPITATION: 2.8 inches (1962) AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 14 inches RECORD SNOWFALL: 33 inches (1978)

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

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 3

Jim has been forecasting the weather here for more than 20 years. You can find more Jackson Hole Weather information at www.mountainweather.com

WHAT’S COOL WHAT’S HOT

THIS WEEK

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

JH ALMANAC

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

4 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Nevertheless, She Persisted What the treatment of Sen. Elizabeth Warren means in Trump’s ‘new error of justice.’

BY BAYNARD WOODS

S

enators shuffle by the desk on Tuesday to cast their votes on the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education, chattering like kids returning from summer break to find that everything has changed. Somehow even the victors seem confused. None of them really expected the world to look like this.

Except, maybe, Sen. Jeff Sessions. He is standing toward the front of the Senate chambers, his hands behind his back, at ease. There is a grin on his face. He has just cast what will be his final vote as senator—to confirm DeVos. Though he is not attorney general yet, he was instrumental in planning the flurry of authoritarian executive orders marking Trump’s first weeks in office, including the now-contested Muslim ban.

Sessions wanted to go even harder, hoping for a “shock and awe” approach, overwhelming the opposition with the dramatic pace of change.

In a Washington Post story that called Sessions the “intellectual godfather” of “Trump’s hard-line actions,” the director of a conservative immigration think tank compared the Republican senator to a

“guerrilla in the hinterlands preparing for the next hopeless assault on the government” who suddenly learns that “the capital has fallen.”

With his dark suit, white hair, and wrinkled white peach of a face, Sessions does not look like he’s spent much time training in the jungle. But he does seem surprised—stunned almost—that the next vote his colleagues cast will make him attorney general of the United States.

He walks slowly to his seat.

Sitting down, he bows his head. His eyes seem to be closed, as if praying. He brings the tips of his fingers together, facing upward, on his lap.

A few moments later, he takes out a silver object and holds it gingerly between the first two fingers and thumbs of each hand, almost as if unwrapping foil on a stick of gum.

But it doesn’t seem to be gum—it’s impossible to tell what it is from the press gallery above the Senate floor—and he does not unwrap it, he just fingers it, his head bowed.

Then the vote is called. He puts away the silver object. It is 50 to 50.

As expected, Vice President Mike Pence confirms DeVos with a historic tie-breaking vote. It is a huge blow to anyone who cares about competency, public education, or ethics in government. The Democrats spent the last 24 hours complaining about all of these issues, but that doesn’t matter now. They have no control. The whole process demonstrated that the new regime can do as it wishes on the Hill.

Across the room, Sen. Al Franken acts like he is charging someone with a podium, making a clear

“Rule 19 was created in 1902 after a notorious white terrorist and senator beat up a colleague.”

SNOW PACK REPORT STORMY MEMORIES

Last week Mother Nature caused memorable events affecting most of the surrounding valleys. Roads were closed, ski areas shut down, and avalanches released to the valley floor. Now, looking around the mountains it is evident during the last storm cycle there was widespread avalanche activity. Avalanche crowns can be seen high on mountaintops and piles of wet debris are visible on the valley buttes. It is possible Mother Nature shut everything down to keep us safe, because last week the mountains were active.

On February 7, strong winds ripped across the valley floor and knocked down essential power access to Teton Village. The Village was without power for four days and the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort closed for five. On Wednesday the warm valley temperatures began widespread avalanche activity at lower elevations. Then on Thursday the Bridger Teton Avalanche Center’s hazard

reference to Melissa McCarthy’s Saturday Night Live skit satirizing Sean Spicer, the president’s communications director and press secretary.

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham sit beside each other talking quietly, as if conspiring or gossiping. McCain says something and sucks his bottom lip. Graham scans the room from left to right.

Sessions gets up and looks around the room again before he heads toward the door.

When he returns to the Senate later that day, Sessions is the nominee under consideration.

He sits behind Majority Leader Mitch McConnell while Sen. Elizabeth Warren quotes late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who called Sessions a “disgrace to the Justice Department” during a 1986 confirmation hearing, when Sessions was denied a federal judgeship because of allegations of racism.

Now Warren reads from a letter that Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., sent to the Senate during that same failed confirmation.

“Mr. President. Mr. President,” McConnell interrupts, defending Sessions. “The senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama, as warned by the chair. Senator Warren said, ‘Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens in the district he now seeks to serve as a federal judge.’”

“I call the senator to order under the provisions of Rule 19,” McConnell said.

The crazy thing about Rule 19, in this context, is that it was created in 1902, after the notorious white

SPONSORED BY HEADWALL SPORTS

rating rose to extreme, and sadly on that day an experienced snowmobiler was killed by an avalanche just west of Alpine. After days of rain, on Friday, two skiers triggered a wet slab avalanche on a skier-compacted slope at Snow King Mountain. Both skiers were caught and uninjured. During this time period there was rapid loading from rain, snow and wind along with warming temperatures.

The month of February has been very stormy with more than 88 inches of snowfall in Rendezvous Bowl, hundreds of avalanches recorded, and wind gusts to 75 mph. Snow depths are 10 to 15 feet at upper elevations, five to seven feet at mid elevations, and dry ground to three feet at lower elevations. Snow surfaces vary greatly. At low elevations there are rain crusts with runnels.

At mid and upper elevations sun crust, soft snow, windpack and other surfaces exist. These will become our new sliding layers as more snow covers the mountains.

– Lisa Van Sciver

terrorist and Senator “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman beat up a colleague who had defected to the other side of a debate. Tillman founded a group called the Red Shirts, which terrorized African-Americans as Reconstruction bled into Jim Crow. He was an early mentor of white supremacist Strom Thurmond, who, as the chair of the Senate’s judiciary committee, was the guy who both smashed Sessions’ hopes of becoming a federal judge and the guy who kept King’s 1986 letter out of the Senate record. When Warren read the letter, she was correcting Thurmond’s 30-year-old error.

So it is grimly fitting that McConnell, who has learned to manipulate the Senate in order to grab control of the judiciary for his party, cites Rule 19 to defend Sessions, the old-school law-and-order white supremacist who stuck around long enough to make it mainstream again.

During the exchange (in which McConnell now famously uttered the iconic sentences “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted”), Sessions picks his nose, rubbing it with a handkerchief, making sure he gets it all, blowing again.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Nearly 24 hours later, McConnell uses the last few minutes of debate to offer a cornpone encomium to his departing colleague, calling Sessions a “true Southern gentleman,” like that’s an unquestionably good thing, eliding the difficult history connecting Sessions’ home state and the fight for civil rights.

Finally, in a Thursday morning ceremony, Pence swears in Sessions, who cites a “dangerous permanent trend” of increasing crime and pledges to end “lawlessness.”

Like Sessions, Trump regularly exaggerates the increase in violent crime. He uses the occasion of Sessions’ swearing in to sign three executive orders that further empower the already vast police state, now overseen by Sessions.

Neither man mentions the epidemic of African Americans shot and killed by police.

“A new era of justice begins, and it begins right now,” Trump said. PJH

REPORTER

WANTED THE QUALIFIED APPLICANT:

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 5

EMAIL WRITING SAMPLES AND RESUME TO EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

• IS PASSIONATE ABOUT NEWS, ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT, LONG-FORM NARRATIVES, AND COMMENTARY • DISTILLS COMPLICATED ISSUES FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION • WRITES WITH CLARITY AND CONTEXT • OBSERVES, LISTENS, AND ASKS THE RIGHT QUESTIONS • DIGS DEEPER TO FIND THE UNTOLD STORY AND THE ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

6 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Insights From the North Russell Rowland’s new book offers extraordinary wisdom on the Treasure State and the rural West.

BY TODD WILKINSON

Wyoming, it’s a state as scarlet as they come, meaning Republican electorally not Communist. As for neighboring Montana—red or blue?

Writer Russell Rowland visited every single county in Montana—covering an expanse of landscape equal to a couple of New Englands—to get a better sense of who Treasure Staters are.

What he produced, the remarkable book Fifty-Six Counties: A Montana Journey (Bangtail Press), offers an eye-opening look into a land whose motto is oro y plata, silver and gold, on the state flag. Recently, I spoke with Rowland.

Todd Wilkinson: Former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus walked across Montana decades ago in making his first bid to serve in Congress. Looking back at your odyssey, what are a few things you know now that you didn’t at the start of your journey?

Russell Rowland: I think the thing that surprised me the most from this trip was the optimism. You hear about the high suicide rate in Montana, and it’s no big secret that the rural areas are really struggling right now, but Montanans seem to have this relentless idea in their heads that everything is about to turn, no matter how bad it might seem on the surface.

I’m guessing much of that comes from the fact that we have always been a state that relies on such boom and bust economic structures. There is a certain level of expectation that things will occasionally get really tough for a while. People almost plan for it.

TW: Is Montana an urban or rural state?

RR: The short answer would be yes— it is both, urban and rural, red and blue.

But like most things about Montana, it’s way more complicated than that.

It certainly started out as a rural state, although the influence of Butte was pretty pervasive in those early decades.

So there’s always [been] a bit of an urban element. But in terms of the mentality and the worldview, I think it’s still very much on the rural side.

I heard this morning at a gathering that 70 percent of our population now lives in the urban centers in the state, which would include Billings, Missoula, Bozeman, Butte, Helena, Kalispell and Great Falls. But many of these urban centers are still very much made up of rural people.

TW: Author J.D. Vance won acclaim for his book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, which delves into some of the fear and angst that resulted in Donald Trump’s election. Did you find Trump’s winning of Montana to be a surprise?

RR: I wasn’t surprised at all by the fact that Trump won in Montana, mainly because of the strong anti-government stance that so many people have in this state. Our history suggests that this anti-government was strong from the beginning, and that many people came by it honestly. Hillary [Clinton] represents the very thing that most of Montana has come to distrust about government over a long history. Whether it’s true or not, the fact that they were able to imply that she has been followed by scandal fits right into the narrative that would appeal to Montanans and their libertarian bent.

My fear is that Trump is a classic example of someone who has managed to gather the support of the very people that will suffer most from his policies TW: For rural communities, is there a way to keep them alive?

RR: I think that’s going to be the crucial question for Montana’s future.

Almost every town east of Billings has declined in population since the 1950s, and it’s hard to imagine that ever changing direction. The small towns that are still showing signs of life in Montana are the ones who embrace different options

for their economic structure, especially tourism, which has moved up to second in the state after agriculture.

But there are many towns that don’t have much to attract tourists, and it’s hard to see other options for those places. One thing I found kind of amusing— the main employer for most of these towns is the very government they love to belittle. There’s an odd disconnect there. Many of these counties wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for government jobs.

Many people have gotten wealthy off of Montana’s resources, without putting much back into the state. And the mess they leave behind often ends up being another huge tax burden on our people, [including] three of the largest Superfund sites in the country.

The thing that makes Montana unique is the strong attraction of the quality of life here. So many people stated that as the first reason to why people come to their county. PJH

TW: How is Montana a microcosm for the rest of America?

RR: It’s a microcosm in that so much of our history follows a very distinct pattern of having big companies come in here that present themselves as saviors to the working class. Starting with the Copper Kings and the railroads, many huge companies have created jobs that brought a flood of people out here hoping to live the American Dream. And it seems that the working stiffs are always the ones left in the lurch once these companies either fold or pull out.

Todd Wilkinson writes his award-winning column, The New West, every week, as he has done for 28 years. He is author of Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek about famous Jackson Hole grizzly 399, only available at mangelsen.com/grizzly

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM SUPPORT THE PEOPLE WHO SHARE YOUR PASSION ABOUT ALL THINGS JACKSON HOLE.

Quiscill uptatis et adipsun tiatio con pliberion repedipid maiorem quaeper spidus, volorib usandis cillabo.

Nam, ipsa endae doluptatam simaximint velesto rerum, quiscia digendic tota cus.

SUPPORT THE PLANET.

Dolestrum aut faccus dolendae.Bis vernatur, sequati te ventiis ut facia venihicius, undis ut moluptaquas audandit voloratem velesti tem intiani hitatum quiae vellis utenis.

Itaquis sit odi dolorer runtist rumenti onemquam et estem que natemporit dersper eperiti nveliquiatem aut faceaqui odi odis aceperum vel eos rem voluptati omnienimil ilitinciis doloruntia conseri busam, cumquo intio tem dolupta dipsae a non postet.

FOR ADVERTISING AND MARKETING INFO , CONTACT JEN OR CAROLINE AT 307-732-0299.

NEWS TIPS?

MARCH 22ND

FOOD • MUSIC • SILENT AUCTION AND MORE!

MORE DETAILS TO COME!

#bojh17 | bestofjh.com

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 7

EMAIL EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM

Party

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Evenitatis int.

Elit, officia vitiundes esti ducideb itaqui omnis ea eum audae conseque suntota corum comnihil id entotat quassincimus et doloritius ni a nat quis exceptur, tem. Itatur, exeria vendellendam int acculli quidit qui berchil ma vendel imus, quia iderum quaspit platemporia qui nonsectum.

9 Annual Best of JH th

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

8 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

SARGENT SCHUTT

THE BUZZ

Deciphering Disaster Is the valley destined for more wild, destructive storms as climate change tightens its grip around Jackson?

BY SHANNON SOLLITT @ShannonSollitt

T

he now infamous winter storm of 2017 was a literal disaster for Teton County. Flooding, 90 mph winds, avalanches, downed power lines and closed highways affected thousands and stretched response crews to capacity.

Social media users dubbed the storm that garnered national headlines “snowmageddon.” And while climate experts say one incident is not enough to draw definitive conclusions, it is hard to remove the hazardously warm weather from the context of Jackson’s—and the globe’s—steadily warming climate.

So what is Teton County doing to

An early casualty of ‘snowmageddon,’ the Sears roof collapsed from precariously heavy snow.

mitigate the disasters that result from climate change’s effects—warmer, wilder storms among them?

Not a whole lot, says Teton County Commissioner Mark Newcomb.

Historical perspective Newcomb can recall one storm in history that compares to this one. It was back in 1986, and lasted almost two weeks.

Otherwise, this winter was only record-breaking because of October’s heavy precipitation, said Jeff Lukas, research integration specialist for Western Water Assessment. Lukas’s research in Colorado and Wyoming focuses on water resource management and climate change in the Rocky Mountain West. This winter, he said, has “no doubt been unusually wet.”

“But how unusual has it been for the Jackson area, and in what ways?” he asked. The answer, until last week, would have been rather underwhelming.

This winter, from October through February 8, was the highest in precipitation on record “by a wide margin,” Lukas said. Most of the precipitation was from heavy rain that fell in October.

In terms of total snowfall, however, this winter is not the highest.

“This suggests that more of the precipitation has fallen as rain, or the snow has been denser—higher water content—than in previous very wet winters,” Lukas said. “This sounds consistent with the impacts of snow and rain in Jackson you’re seeing.”

Lukas said he expected this winter to stand out in terms of temperature as well. He was surprised, however, to find that it has actually been “on the cool side overall, and cooler than winters with similar precipitation levels.”

In fact, January was second coolest on record for Jackson, according to Chris Nicholson. Nicholson is the director of the Water Resources Data System and Wyoming State Climate Office at University of Wyoming. He said that it was too soon to measure how this month “stacked up” to previous years.

“We’d have to wait until we’re well into March” to make any conclusive claims.

Just 10 days into the month, however, February temperatures were the warmest on record. It has also already seen 2.8 inches of precipitation compared to last February’s one-inch total.

Making sense of it all

So where does this data fit into a larger conversation about climate change and a warming climate?

Newcomb, who co-authored The Coming Climate, a report detailing the potential local impacts of climate change, said it’s important to remember that, “no single event can necessarily be attributed directly to climate change.” So attributing last week’s disaster to climate change alone is a hasty conclusion.

It is reasonable, however, to examine patterns this winter overall and winters preceding it.

Newcomb noted that average minimum temperatures in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are rising— today’s minimum temperature is 10 degrees above the 30-year rolling average, he said. “That has a direct bearing on the ecosystem and how we see precipitation. Over the course of 10 winters, a fairly definite number of days were rain instead of snow at given elevations.”

But Jackson weather is sticking to historical patterns. “There’s been unusual persistence in weather

patterns bringing storms and precipitation to Jackson and the surrounding area, of the sort historically you would see every 10 to 20 years,” Lukas said.

“So, for the most part, we’re looking at a repeat of natural, historic variability.”

However, what Lukas called “slightly juicier individual winter storms” could be the result of “the overall warming trend, which has been linked to anthropogenic causes.”

In other words, climate change could be at least partially responsible for crises like last week’s storm. They could also just be outliers in the larger timeline of climate history.

Heads up, Teton County Still, Newcomb said the county has a responsibility to at least pay attention.

There is “probably a reasonable ideological debate” over government responsibility versus private sector involvement, he said. Private enterprises, he noted, have a lot to lose from climate change disasters—like the collective millions of dollars in lost revenues reported by Teton Village businesses last week. The county also spent at an estimated $1.5 million to restore electricity to affected areas, and there is no guarantee that the federal government will assist with those costs.

The response to snowmageddon was swift. Ochs said he noticed the power flicker out around 6 p.m. Tuesday night.

By 7:45, the emergency operation center was all hands on deck working to make and execute a plan. Despite the shortage of hands among all agencies, responders were able to follow through with their promises. Electricity was restored to Teton Village Saturday, and all roads but Gros Ventre were open by Saturday afternoon. Miraculously, no one was injured.

That response teams were able to work so quickly speaks to the amount of preparation local agencies had already done in case of such events, Ochs said.

Still, he noted that “we try to make sure that we as a community come out of these events and are better prepared for the next one. We owe it to the community to keep getting better.”

Disaster response is a defensive

move. Offensively, however, other locales around the country have implemented climate change action plans whose goals are to reduce the impacts of climate change on local communities. A carbon tax is one of the more obvious solutions, but Newcomb said that politically, it would be nearly impossible to pass.

An easier solution, he says, would be to create a position for an environmental scientist in the planning department. “Someone that could keep track of the ecosystem, keep track of private lands, who could work with the conservation district whose role is important, but statutorily defined, so they can’t do everything.”

Newcomb continued, “[The employee] could help commissioners understand the incremental impacts of development and could help evaluate impacts of infrastructure such as pathways and new roads.” They could also be the liaison between the county and public land managers—the Forest Service, Park Service, Elk Refuge, etc.—who have “so much knowledge and expertise about everything around us.”

Conversations about climate change mitigation boil down to resources. “As a county, we’re limited on how we can raise revenue,” Newcomb said. And when revenues decreased during the recession, the county had to cut staff, people who Newcomb says did have at least some responsibility to pay attention to the ecosystem.

As it stands, county efforts to mitigate climate change are relegated to promoting alternative transportation and energy efficiency—not inconsequential efforts, but Newcomb lamented that the county has yet to put any resources into adaptation and preparing for climate change. “As a county, to put it bluntly, I’d say we’ve gone backwards,” he said.

But without the funds, there’s only so much electeds can do.

“It’s literally a million dollar question.” PJH

“As a county, I’d say we’ve gone backwards.”

-Commissioner Mark Newcomb

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 9

SEND COMMENTS TO EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

10 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Four’s a Crowd Senior center, Children’s Learning Center, CWC and boat ramp stalled in SPET discussion.

BY SHANNON SOLLITT @ShannonSollitt

C

ounty commissioners and town councilors failed to reach a decision Monday with what Teton County Commissioner Mark Newcomb called the “outside four” SPET ballot items. The foursome includes a new St. John’s senior center, a Jackson campus for Central Wyoming College, a new Children’s Learning Center and the construction of a Wilson boat ramp.

Of the 13 proposals in question, eight definitively made it onto the ballot.

Most were directly related to housing and transportation, which Newcomb and Mayor Pete Muldoon identified as community priorities.

Electeds agreed, for example, to keep funding for the Redmond Hall affordable rentals, but they did not decide on an amount. Funding for the project would otherwise come from Housing Authority money acquired through the sale of Cheney Lane ($1.95M) and funding from the town ($2.1M).

The other winning SPETS include Fire Station No. 1 and 3 improvements ($6.8M); fleet facility maintenance and START Bus storage ($15.3M); START Bus replacement ($6.5M); affordable housing/rental units ($5M); Town of Jackson sidewalk improvements ($1.5M); Rec Center repairs and renovations ($2.35M) and the S. Highway 89 Underpass ($1.5M).

Parking lot limbo Meanwhile, the outside four, Newcomb said, are projects “that are not strictly for housing and transportation, yet they clearly play a crucial role in sustaining a vibrant community.” These items remain “in the parking lot,”—they were not removed from the ballot, nor did they advance. They will undergo one more round of discussion at a final meeting next week.

Newcomb explained that the eight items on the ballot already amount to

roughly $50 million. Historically it has taken a full election cycle—four years— to accrue that amount in taxes. Adding the additional proposals brings the total amount up to almost $80 million.

There is no statutory limit to SPET dollars, but traditionally projects have operated under a four-year budget and time frame. Accommodating for the extra $30 million, Newcomb worries, could dilute funds and attention from other projects that arise in the future.

The most heavily debated item on the docket at Monday’s joint meeting was also the most expensive: $17 million for St. John’s Medical Center—which it will match—for the construction of a new senior Living Center. It’s one of the biggest asks in SPET history.

The new Living Center facility would include the addition of a memory center for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s. Hospital CEO Paul Beaupré argues there is “no question” that such a center is invaluable to many of their prospective residents. Without it, senior citizens are forced to either leave the valley for proper care, or sacrifice that care for the sake of staying close to home.

“We’re talking to families who are struggling with the hard decision of keeping their family in Jackson, or moving them,” he said.

It would also add private bedrooms and bathrooms, though the number of beds would not increase.

Currently, most of the resident rooms are semi-private.

“There are very fine seniors in the Living Center today that toil their entire lives to make Jackson the place they know and love. We cannot dignify them by having a place for them to call their own?”

Those in full support of the proposal see the Living Center as an essential contribution to the community.

Councilor Hailey Morton-Levinson said that while she’s the first to prioritize housing and transportation as community needs, “there’s also other ways we need to take care of our people … these are definitely needs, not wants.”

While all electeds voiced support of the project to some degree, they could not agree on the price tag.

Commissioners Newcomb, Natalia Macker and Smokey Rhea voted in favor of leaving all $17 million on the ballot. Levinson and Councilman Don Frank were also prepared to advance the project.

All other electeds wanted to explore

ST. JOHN’S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION

THE BUZZ 2

The new senior center is a $35 million dollar project. St. John’s is hoping to secure half the funds from SPET.

ways to split up the funds.

Muldoon said he wants to be consistent about funding construction for projects that are “shovel ready.” Instead of going all-in on the $17 million, he and Councilman Jim Stanford proposed putting only as much money on this spring’s ballot as is necessary for project design and development, and revisiting construction costs during a new SPET election cycle as soon as next summer. But that requires an entirely new conversation, councilor Hailey Morton Levinson pointed out, and neither the town nor the county could make that promise on the spot.

Splitting funds between design and construction isn’t a new strategy. The library, Fire Station 1, and the Rec Center are all the results of such a division. But Levinson said that there’s no precedent, as far as she knows, for promising another election within such a short timeframe. There is no way to guarantee that it would happen.

That uncertainty, Beaupré fears, could cripple the project. “The word that scares me to death is when you say ‘assumption’ that we’re going to have another SPET earlier or in two years ... we cannot entertain [less funding] with anything short of a promise that in two years we will have the opportunity to come back,” he said.

Without that guarantee, the Living Center could find itself in a perilous position. St. John’s is already underwriting $1.5 million a year for the center, Beaupré reminded electeds. A lack of funds at any juncture could put other “very vital programs” at risk.

To promise another SPET election and then go back on that promise, Muldoon said, would be bad politics. “If we partially fund anything with the expectation that we have another election in two years, we’ll have that election,” he said.

Funding for a Central Wyoming College campus in Jackson is also under dispute after a series of proposal changes left electeds questioning how ready the project really is. They will explore other (lesser) funding amounts during a meeting next week. Town and county officials will also revisit dollar amounts for employee housing units at the START building. Like the Living Center, neither of those projects was unanimously considered “shovel ready.”

Funding in any amount is still on the table for a new Childern’s Learning Center building and a Wilson boat ramp.

Councilman Don Frank supported every initiative at the full amount.

“Each and every one has virtue,” he said. “We have prioritized housing, health and transportation.” It is now up to voters to decide what is important to them.

But Muldoon reminded electeds that it is their job to vet each proposal as thoroughly as possible. The public is counting on them to present complete and comprehensive initiatives.

“Parking lot” items will undergo one final round of scrutiny in a joint town and county meeting, 3 to 5 p.m.

February 22. PJH

Extreme vetting But Muldoon and Stanford say election seasons provide that guarantee.

SEND COMMENTS TO EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM

NEWS

By CHUCK SHEPHERD

OLLOW US

OF THE

WEIRD EWWWW!

On Jan. 31, doctors at Stanley Medical College and Hospital in Chennai, India, removed a live, full-grown cockroach from the nasal cavity of a 42-year-old woman whose nose had been “itchy” earlier in the day.

Two hospitals were unable to help her, but at Stanley, Dr. M N Shankar, chief of ear-nose-throat, used an endoscope, forceps, and, for 45 minutes, a suction device—because, he said, the roach “didn’t seem to want to come out.” Another doctor on the team noted that they’ve removed beads and similar items from the nasal cavity (demonstrating the splayed-out trespasser in full wingspan), “but not a cockroach, especially not one this large.” [Times of India, 2-3-2017]

Can’t Possibly Be True

Zachary Bennett and Karen Nourse have found Manhattan quite affordable, reported the New York Post in January—by simply not paying, for six years now, the $4,750 monthly rent on their loft-style apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood, citing New York state’s “loft law,” which they say technically forbids the landlord from collecting. Since the other eight units of their building are “commercial,” the landlord believes it doesn’t need a “residential certificate of occupancy,” but Bennett and Nourse believe the law only exempts buildings with at least two residences, and for some reason, the landlord has obstinately declined to initiate eviction or, until recently, to sue (for back rent, fees, and electricity). [New York Post, 1-8-2017]

Update From “Big Porn”

The colossus PornHub dot com, in its annual January rundown, reported its several sites had 23 billion “visits” in 2016 (about one-fourth from females), during which time its videos were viewed 91 billion times. In all, earthlings spent 4.6 billion hours watching PornHub’s inventory (that is 5.2 centuries’ time doing whatever people do when viewing porn). USA took home the gold for the most “page views” per capita, just nipping Iceland. Online visitors from the Philippines, for the third straight year, remained (per capita) on the sites the longest per visit. The top search term on PornHub from U.S. computers was “step mom.” [The Daily Dot, 1-5-2017]

Unclear on the Concept

ON FACEBOOK FOR THE LATEST PLANET HAPPENINGS! @

n Precocious: Girl Scout Charlotte McCourt, 11, of South Orange, New Jersey, saw her sales zoom recently when she posted “brutally honest” reviews of the Scouts’ cookies she was selling—giving none of them a “10” and labeling some with dour descriptions. She was hoping to sell 300 boxes, but as of the end of January, had registered 16,430. For the record, the best cookie was—of course—the Samoa, rated 9, but longtime favorites like the Trefoil (“boring”) rated 6 and the Do-Si-Do (“bland”) 5. The new Toffee-tastic was simply a “bleak, flavorless, gluten-free wasteland.” [NJ. com, 1-31-2017]

“Less Cowbell!”

Applicants for passports in Switzerland are evaluated in part by neighbors of the applicant, and animal-rights campaigner Nancy Holten, 42, was rejected in January because townspeople view her as obnoxious, with, said a Swiss People’s Party spokesperson, a “big mouth.”

Among Holten’s “sins” was her constant criticism of the country’s hallowed fascination with cowbells—that make, according to Holten, “hundred decibel,” “pneumatic drill”-type sounds (though a hit song, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” by the group Blue Oyster Cult, skillfully employed the cowbell—before it was satirized in an epic “Saturday Night Live” sketch starring Christopher Walken). [The Independent (London), 1-19-2017]

The Aristocrats!

In January, Texas district judge Patrick Garcia was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct after a dispute outside the courthouse in El Paso. An April trial date was set for Garcia, who was accused of giving the middle finger, in public, to another judge. [Associated Press via KTVT-TV (Dallas-Fort Worth), 1-20-2017]

Least Competent Criminals

Not Ready for Prime Time: A suspect pointing a gun attempted a robbery at a laundromat in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, in February was not immediately identified. (The official reason for not initially identifying him was that, though detained, he had not yet been booked; less likely, perhaps, police might have been trying to spare him embarrassment in that the laundromat’s overnight clerk, a woman named Naou Mor Khantha, had simply taken his gun away from him and shot him three times. He was hospitalized in serious condition.)

[Philly.com, 2-3-2017] Thanks this week to Seth Franklin and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.

For all MEETING AGENDAS AND MINUTES WEEKLY CALENDAR JOB OPENINGS SOLICITATIONS FOR BIDS PUBLIC NOTICES AND OTHER VALUABLE INFORMATION

Visit our website

TetonWyo.org The public meeting agendas and minutes for the Board of County Commissioners and Planning Commission can also be found in the Public Notices section of the JH News and Guide.

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 11

n The British Medical Association issued a formal caution to its staff in January not to use the term “expectant mothers” when referring to pregnancy—because it might offend transgender people. Instead, the Association’s memo (reported by the Daily Telegraph) suggested using “pregnant people.” The BMA acknowledged that a “large majority” of such people are, in fact, “mothers,” but wrote that there may be “intersex” and “trans men” who also could get pregnant. [Daily Telegraph, 1-29-2017]

In 2001, Questcor Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to make Acthar Gel, a hormone injection to treat a rare form of infantile epilepsy, and gradually raised the price from $40 a vial to $28,000 a vial. The British company Mallinckrodt bought Questcor in 2014 and apparently figured the vials were still too cheap, raising the price to $34,000. However, the Federal Trade Commission noticed that Mallinckrodt also during the latter period bought out—and closed down—the only company manufacturing a similar, cheaper version of the product, thus ensuring that Mallinckrodt had totally cornered the market. In January, the FTC announced that Mallinckrodt agreed to a $100 million settlement of the agency’s charge of illegal anti-competitive practices. (“$100 million” is only slightly more than the price of giving one vial to each infant expected to need it in the next year.) [Futurism, 1-18-2017]

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Late last year, Oxford University professor Joshua Silver accused Britain’s Home Secretary of a “hate” crime merely because the Secretary had made a speech urging that unemployed Britons be given preference for jobs over people recruited from overseas. Silver denounced this “discrimination” against “foreigners” and made a formal complaint to West Midlands police, which, after evaluation, absolved Secretary Amber Rudd but acknowledged that, under the law, the police were required to record the Secretary’s unemployment speech as a “non-crime hate incident.” [BBC News, 1-12-2017]

Leading Economic Indicators

O

LINA COLLADO PHOTO

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

12 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Pillar of Support

Matt Stech of PMO Teton County

ctober 29 was an average day in Teton County dispatch. Calls occasionally lit up the desktop screens of dispatchers Jenn McGrath and Jim Ligori, all to the soundtrack of radio chatter from officers across the county. Then Ligori answered an unforgettable call.

“The caller just rattled off a bunch of numbers. It was bizarre,” McGrath remembered. “Then he said, ‘Tell them I’m sorry, I just can’t do it anymore,’ and hung up.”

From just this brief call, they knew that this man was suicidal, and they had very little time to intervene.

The two sprang into action. Ligori worked to get the man back on the line, while McGrath cobbled together every shred of information they had. “We didn’t know if he was in a car, or in a home, we didn’t know if he was in Moran or in Hoback,” she said.

McGrath quickly realized that the caller had given them the phone numbers of loved ones; people who were able to give her more information about who the caller was, and what he planned to do.

Clues came together, and soon she was able to set law enforcement on the right path with accurate descriptions of the man and his vehicle. “Amazingly, we were able to do that very, very quickly,” McGrath said.

Eventually, Ligori got the caller back on the phone.

“I started just asking him questions,” he said. “We talked about sports and all kinds of things, anything to break up his train of thought.” Soon he had the man’s trust. “We started talking about snowmobiling and hunting. I found his Facebook page that referred to him being a former service member, so I asked him about his service, his hobbies and what he liked to do.”

The dispatchers’ compassion and understanding encouraged the man to reconsider his plan to commit suicide. By the time deputies reached him, he did not resist their intervention.

McGrath’s and Ligori’s quick thinking, gentle demeanor and direct communication saved a life on that fall day.

Their work earned them both the Teton County Sheriff’s Office Life-Saving Medal, recognition bestowed on them at a Teton County commissioners meeting last week.

How Matt Stech and PMO Teton County are dissolving stigmas and training people to be networks of prevention.

By Melissa Thomasma This call isn’t one that McGrath and Ligori will forget anytime soon, and it represents a common scenario in Wyoming.

Beyond celebrated mountain culture and recreation, Western states are exceptional in some much darker capacities. Map out the average suicide rates across the nation, and you can’t miss it: stretching from Arizona to Montana, the “Suicide Belt” highlights a serious issue for Wyoming and its neighbors. Substance abuse rates reflect a similar pattern, especially among young people. There’s no question that Jackson Hole—like other communities across the state—faces formidable challenges when it comes to addressing these complex public health concerns.

The Prevention Management Organization (PMO) of Wyoming—which the Wyoming Legislature is debating substantial budget cuts to right now—leads critical prevention work. Efforts by the Teton County branch, launched in early 2015, have kept its two staff members busy with outreach activities. From influencing local policies to distributing gun locks, connecting with local students to hosting free suicide intervention trainings, prevention specialists Matt Stech and Jacob Richins are on the front lines in Jackson Hole. In a state with the highest suicide rate in the nation, the importance of their work cannot be overstated.

Path to compassion

“Across the board, there are some universal risk factors. Wyoming has them all.”

Wyoming has all the risk factors

According to the Centers for Disease Control, suicide is the second leading cause of death among Wyomingites aged 15 to 44. However, while suicide numbers are rising nationally—according to CDC, from 1999 to 2014, the suicide rate in the US increased 24 percent—Wyoming’s suicide rates have remained static over the last 15 years.

Though the state’s suicide rate is almost double the national average, the fact that Wyoming’s rates haven’t increased signals prevention efforts here are working.

In 2009, Stech returned to Jackson and began working as a substance abuse counselor at the Jackson

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 13

Later, as a student at the University of Delaware, Stech saw the serious toll substance abuse took on the people closest to him: their grades suffered, they had trouble with the law, and they struggled with addiction. Alongside his peers, Stech’s own substance use escalated from alcohol to more serious drugs. But witnessing the consequences some of his friends faced inspired him to reconsider the path he was on, and how he could help pull others out of damaging cycles.

At the time, he didn’t realize that he could combine this important work with his love for the wilderness.

Stech still carried with him a deep appreciation of the wild world, and its power to help young people through challenging times. When he saw an advertisement for a job as a counselor at a wilderness camp for at-risk youth in New Hampshire, he leapt at the opportunity.

For Stech, this job marked the beginning of a career journey that would save lives.

Focused on suicide and substance abuse prevention for more than 20 years, Stech’s work in Jackson Hole began in 1996 when he left the East Coast for a job at Red Top Meadows, a residential treatment facility and therapeutic wilderness program for adolescent boys.

During his seven years at Red Top, Stech recalled a young man, an LGBT student, having suicidal thoughts.

When he left Red Top and headed to pursue a masters in substance abuse counseling at the University of Wyoming, he had already been involved in a significant amount of LGBT support work, and he realized how

interwoven the challenges are.

“I was in Laramie on the tenth anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s murder with LGBT students who wanted support. I had already seen teenage boys from around the state sent to residential treatment who were LGBT and heard their stories about the kinds of things they experienced— physical violence, bullying.” It was through this work and the connections that Stech developed that he became increasingly aware of not only the prevalence of suicide in Wyoming, but also its preventability.

Stech’s co-worker Richins also has compelling reasons for immersing himself in this work. “Just before and during my six years in the Marines, the military was experiencing the highest rates of suicide in decades,” Richins explained.

“Beginning in boot camp and every year following, I received training on suicide prevention. When I was in a leadership position one of my Marines was displaying suicide risk signs, so I did as I had been trained: I asked about suicide, showed that I cared about him and escorted him to professional treatment.” That Marine, Richins explained, recovered and is leading a meaningful life today. “When I saw an opportunity to train other people in a civilian version of the training I received, I applied for the job here.”

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

There’s no singular path to preventing substance abuse or suicide, and PMO Teton County takes as many approaches as possible. “One thing I like about the job is that I might be meeting with the mayor to talk about local alcohol concerns and potential alcohol-related policies, or the chief of police,” Stech said, “then later on the same day, I might be delivering gun locks to a hardware store. I might present to the town council one day, but then be talking to the staff at ... the rec center about handing out gun locks the next.”

Even when he’s explaining troubling statistics or tragic stories, stylishly bespectacled Stech exudes compassion and understanding. His tone never so much as flickers into judgment or critique; in fact, he will even bubble into a chuckle at the more lighthearted elements of his work. It’s clear that no matter someone’s struggles or past, he respects them wholeheartedly and wants to support them.

Born into a military family, Stech spent the first years of his life between California and Hawaii before moving to the D.C. area around the age of six. But even in the city, his love for the outdoors never waned. “When I was really little, my dad took me out on little adventures in California. I was exposed to the mountains from a very

young age. I have always been drawn to mountains, forests, rivers and wild places.”

As a teenager, when his parents divorced, Stech’s time spent outside became more meaningful. He discovered an interest in fishing, and treasured the trips that he took with his father in a canoe together, traversing rivers along the eastern seaboard.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

14 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Hole Community Counseling Center. Over the years, he has witnessed how people here grapple with suicide.

“I worked with individuals on the spectrum from occasional suicidal thoughts to actual attempts,” he said. Though it’s easy to look around a place like Jackson and feel immune to such problems, professionals like Stech assure that’s inaccurate. It happens here.

“Across the board, there are some universal risk factors,” Stech said. “Wyoming has them all.” Stech points to a constellation of factors that he believes contribute to these high numbers. Social isolation, limited availability of mental health services and widespread substance abuse are issues in the vast majority of communities across the state.

When it comes to substance abuse, Stech says that Teton County has it in spades. “Teton County has really significant alcohol issues from a national standpoint and a Wyoming standpoint.” While Jackson Hole’s penchant for over-consuming alcohol spans many age groups, rates of binge drinking among older high school students are the highest in the state. In a PMO survey, 33 percent of valley high school seniors reported binge drinking—defined as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks in a row—the highest rate for that age group in the state; 55 percent of the same students reported consuming alcohol in the past two weeks.

“Adult use drives youth use,” Stech explained. Adults not only drive availability of alcohol, but also model social norms around alcohol use for young adults. And the picture that the adults of Teton County often paint isn’t one of moderation. Half the arrests in the county are DUIs, 87 percent of all arrests are alcohol-related, as are 71 percent of domestic violence arrests. These statistics are higher than the state average. It’s no wonder that 86 percent of the 12th graders surveyed reported attending an event in the last year where they saw drunken adults.

It’s important to note that substance abuse alone does not cause suicide. “The estimation is that 90 percent of people who die by suicide could be or were diagnosed with either a mental health or substance abuse disorder” Stech said. “And often it would be both.”

Lack of affordable, easily available mental health support

contributes to the troubling rates of suicide in Wyoming and neighboring states.

Also a potential factor for many locals? The housing crisis. Stech noted the theme during his time as a counselor at the Community Counseling Center. “More and more research is indicating that unstable housing is a serious risk factor for many people’s mental health and substance abuse.” In other words, Jackson Hole is short on homes and long on booze.

“It’s really critical to note that suicide is a complex thing, and doesn’t have one single cause,” Stech said. “But what’s equally important is that suicide is preventable, not inevitable.”

Altitude turned out to be a more predictive factor than any othe risk factor that the researchers considered.

Availability of firearms also increases the risk of suicide in many Wyoming communities, especially for younger people. The Cowboy State has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the nation, and many households have multiple firearms.

Additionally, new research is exploring the links between altitude and suicide. While the connection is not yet fully understood, it is compelling, Stech said.

Researchers mapped out suicide rates in various communities in the Rocky Mountains, and then compared those rates with the town’s altitude. The altitude turned out to be a more predictive factor than any other risk factor that the researchers considered.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s very interesting. I’ve been discussing it in our trainings. I think it’s worth sharing,” Stech said. “Hopefully this will give us some new tools for treatment and prevention. I don’t know what yet, but different interventions for communities. That’s my hope. The research sounds pretty strong.”

Pushing dialogue

Suicide is inherently difficult and painful to talk about. But Stech believes it’s important to understand that the ways in which communities discuss—or fail to discuss—suicide can directly contribute to its prevention. And the media has an important role to play.

Breaking down the myth that “it doesn’t happen here” is the first step towards building prevention and protective resources. “It’s actually helpful when stories are able to report suicides and emphasize prevention,” Stech said. What’s less helpful, even dangerous, is sharing too much or sensationalizing suicides.

“Giving details and speculating on an individual’s motives actually creates risk,” he explained.

Conjecturing about the situation or causes of

someone’s reasons for committing suicide is problematic for multiple reasons. First, such musings tend to oversimplify the factors that lead to suicide.

It’s almost never a single cause—a breakup, loss of job or other life event—but rather a combination of risk factors.

Additionally, speculation on motives can create a narrative with which other at-risk people can identify. For example, if the narrative surrounding a suicide focuses too heavily on a specific difficulty in the deceased person’s life, it can increase the risk for suicide in others who are suffering from and identify with that same difficulty.

Sharing too many graphic details can have the same risk-increasing effect in others. Information about the method of suicide or the scene can be dangerous to share, Stech said. Especially in small communities, it can cause what is known as “suicide contagion,” or an emergence of copycat suicides.

The potency of real talk

Myths and stigma swirl around suicide, and often stand in the way of prevention and support for suicidal people. One of the most damaging myths, according to Stech, is that even mentioning suicide will inspire people to harm themselves or create suicide contagion.

Actually, the opposite is true. Having the courage and compassion to ask a friend or family member if they are thinking about suicide is one of the best ways to prevent it.

Stech advises pointing out the behaviors or comments you’ve seen in that person—such as increased substance use, giving away treasured possessions or planning self-harm—followed by a blunt question about suicide. Stech says he’s asked the question several hundred times over the course of his career: “I notice x, I notice y, I notice z, and I’m concerned about you. Are you suicidal? Are you thinking about killing yourself?”

But for some, finding the courage to confront someone who might be considering suicide sounds intimidating. Stech, however, has yet to receive an awkward response. “I’ve really never had a negative reaction from someone when I’ve asked them,” Stech noted. He’s found that most people aren’t upset when someone asks the question from a heartfelt and genuine place. Instead, he’s found that most people answer honestly. And if they are considering hurting themselves? The next step is to connect them with the Counseling Center—whose crisis line is open 24 hours a day at 307-733-2046—or the emergency department at St. John’s Medical Center.

Research also shows that asking a suicidal individual about their plans does not make them more likely to follow through on them. In other words, do not be afraid that asking will make someone worse, or somehow plant the idea of self-harm.

The willingness to address suicide honestly is the key theme in the suicide intervention training that PMO Teton County hosts twice a month. “From a suicide prevention perspective, that’s the most important takeaway,” Stech said.

Another troubling myth around suicide is that someone who is suicidal is chronically so. “Most people who become seriously suicidal only do that once,” Stech said. While there are people who are suicidal for

Informed interventions

is PMO Teton County’s work in the schools. Stech has taught QPR training to classes at the Jackson Hole Community School, facilitated mental health conversations with parents and students at the Journeys School, and is returning to Jackson Hole High School to present to seniors. His focus is mental health, substance abuse and suicide awareness. “It’s a great opportunity to educate them a little more about what mental health is, and some key ideas about suicide.

We talk a little about risk factors like addiction, too.

Just trying to build that bridge; make sure it’s clear that [suicide and substance abuse], unfortunately, go together at times.” Given the rates of alcohol abuse among this demographic, Stech’s presentation is especially important.

Stech and Richins provide trainings to a wide variety of groups by request. “If they’re interested and have five or more people, we can bring the training to them,” Stech said. They have customized training for Community Safety Network, the Jackson Police Department, Community Entry Services, Transportation Safety Administration, Fire/EMS and even Teton County Weed and Pest, among others.

The consequences of budget cuts to PMO may be unknown, but Stech feels hopeful when he considers the static suicide numbers in Wyoming.

Just last week, Stech received a message from someone who took the QPR training: “I want to let you know that because of your suicide training, I found the courage to reach out to an acquaintance who made suicidal comments on Facebook,” the note read.

“Apparently, I was the only one who called, and he has commended me multiple times since. That call made a difference, and it was because of your QPR training.

Thank you.” PJH

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 15

Demolishing harmful mythology and empowering community members are the core goals of PMO Teton County’s outreach and education work. One of the most popular and frequent trainings that it offers is called “QPR”—“Question, Persuade and Refer”—the critical steps to keep in mind when helping someone who is suicidal. The hour-long training is held twice a month, and is free for any community members to attend. Stech is particularly excited when young adults join the trainings, since they have so much potential to influence their peers, as well as the community as they get older. “We love it when teens come in; we get especially excited when young people take the class,” he said. The content is appropriate for anyone age 16 and older.

“I love teaching QPR because I believe in it.

Almost everybody walks away having had a positive experience,” Stech said.

So far, the team has trained more than 400 Jackson community members, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Stech said attendees reported feeling more informed and empowered to intervene should someone they know have a suicide crisis. “That’s one of the most satisfying things for me in the job; when we do that training, to pass on information and to give people confidence, and let them know that if they’re concerned about somebody, they can take action to support that person. Even if that person is in a really bad situation or mindset.”

These trainings, as well as other more in-depth courses aimed at professionals, are potentially on the chopping block with looming budget cuts. A new budget proposed by the Joint Appropriations Committee is poised to be passed by the Legislature and would eliminate $2.1 million from the Wyoming prevention budget. This steep cut—40 percent of the current budget for prevention work—would have serious implications for the PMO Teton County branch.

However, a recent change to the budget proposal would restore approximately half of those funds to the program. While the impact of a $1 million cut is still significant, Stech hopes that this recent development will mitigate the fallout, at least a little.

“It’s hard to say exactly what the consequences will be,” Stech said, “but I would anticipate operating budget cuts. That might mean facilitating fewer highlevel suicide prevention trainings for clinicians, school staff and law enforcement.” Last year, the organization hosted a two-day training that was attended by school employees, private counselors, law enforcement officers and an array of other local professionals. A significant decrease in funding would likely translate into fewer opportunities like this.

Other outreach that could suffer from cutbacks

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

extended periods of time, they represent the minority.

This is important to understand, according to Stech, because believing that someone is chronically suicidal discourages others from helping them get the care they need. “It’s harmful if those who are trying to help have an attitude of, ‘Well, even if I save them today, they’ll probably just kill themselves tomorrow.’ And we certainly don’t want to be treating anyone like a lost cause.”

Similarly problematic is the tendency to label incomplete suicide attempts as a cry for help. “When someone has a purposeful drug overdose, you’ll sometimes hear even professionals say, ‘It must have been a cry for help since they took all these pills and then they called 911.’ There’s evidence to support that people actually changed their mind. I think it is a disservice to prevention to spread the mythology that it’s a cry for help.”

Stech says when behavior is labeled as attentionseeking, both professionals and others around an individual are less inclined to take that person’s needs and concerns seriously.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

16 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

FREE SPEECH Football is over.

Let the BRUNCH begin!

Sat & Sun 10am-3pm •••••••••••

HAPPY HOUR

1/2 Off Drinks Daily 5-7pm

••••••••••• Monday-Saturday 11am, Sunday 10:30am 832 W. Broadway (inside Plaza Liquors)•733-7901

Wendell’s Jackson What it was like to be the only black man in the valley.

BY SARAH ROSS

W

hen he enters a room, Wendell Brown isn’t surprised to see heads turn. Growing up, he was among the few black students in his school. Then, at 23, he moved to Jackson Hole. The year was 1976. “There were no people of color,” he remembered.

“And I mean none.”

The valley was his home for 25 years.

Now, he is the first African American mountain host at Deer Valley ski resort in Park City, Utah. His life has been a practice in dismantling stereotypes and the embedded lies of racism: “You break down so many barriers by being one of the few … you dispel the mythology.”

Still, Brown has witnessed racism take form everywhere. In fact, he was subject to two life-threatening attacks in Jackson Hole. But he refuses to let racism be his life.

“It takes patience and time and wisdom,” he said. “Think about the ocean raging with a storm on the surface, but a foot below there’s calm … I can’t arrange my life in such a way that keeps [racism] from happening, but it impacts me less when I have a focused and purposeful way of looking at my life.”

Brown has been married to his wife, Anne, who is white, for more than 30 years. Yet he was born at a time when partnerships like his were illegal. He lived through the Civil Rights Movement in one of the most segregated parts of the country. After so much exposure to systemic and personal prejudice, he’s learned to develop something his parents taught him: “an innate foundation of self-respect.”

His life is “a living history of how to live together, how to achieve equality by learning to understand each other.”

“I wouldn’t leave this community I love” For Brown, Indianapolis, Indiana, his hometown, was a daunting place to grow up. Once, an elementary school teacher told Brown, “white kids were taken out of the oven at just the right

time while black kids were dark and black and ruined.”

Many in the white community saw him only as a categorization: “It was so much acculturated that blacks were not equal and they were not capable of learning. ...Basically, they were at the servant level,” Brown said.

When Brown started high school in 1966, government mandated busing programs began to desegregate schools. Brown was among those bused to primarily white schools. White students across the country revolted in response.

Brown’s escape was biking, but his territory was limited. The best rural roads were dangerous. “You got cans thrown at you, cars running you off the road,” he said. “Jim Crow laws were enforced by the police—you had to make sure you weren’t riding your bike through these small towns at night because you could be legally harassed.”

However, moving to Jackson changed everything for Brown. Here, he could be himself. Brown says he became an adult in the shadow of the Tetons, where he found open spaces, “open minds, and open hearts … people were curious, they weren’t indoctrinated generation upon generation with all these myths about black people.”

He moved for familiar reasons—the promise of deep snow and empty roads.

With a friend, he opened Teton Cyclery, a bike shop with “an incredible following in town.” To him, Jackson Hole was “nirvana, perfection … it was the American Dream, I was living it.”

But even in this American Dream, he still encountered people who called him “the n-word every once in awhile,” as well as two instances of physical violence, both while he was biking.

The first was in 1980 when Brown was biking north of town. A truck of four men passed. “I felt something hit me,” Brown remembered, “and I look down and there’s a lariat rope that had been thrown out, a noose, it went around my handlebars but they’d been trying to get it around my body, like they were roping a calf.”

As an experienced rider, Brown was able to keep his bike upright. Eventually, the truck stopped, and a man got out to retrieve the rope. Witnesses pulled over, everyone was “yelling and screaming and getting the license number.”

When confronted, the man replied, “Somebody had to do it.” The men were convicted of assault and battery with a deadly weapon. They had attempted

to rope other cyclists too. Though some applauded them, the majority of Jacksonites did not appreciate or accept that philosophy of hate, Brown said.

Thirteen years later, he saw an eerily similar situation. Brown was cresting Teton Pass when a pickup approached him. The driver slowed to a creep in front of him. Each time Brown tried to pass, the driver cut him off. Noticing a rack with a gun and rope attached, Brown thought, “I don’t want to die today, I’m going to stay behind.” This continued for miles—the truck creeping along, Brown giving it distance.

Suddenly, Brown noticed the rope had disappeared from the gun rack, and the passenger was waving for him to pass.

He refused, and called the police when he arrived in Wilson. When the police confronted the driver, he said the “n*gger” had been at fault.

In a 1995 article in the Jackson Hole Guide, the driver’s lawyer argued he’d “never even met a black person, and therefore has no basis for racism.” Two years later, after the case landed in the Wyoming Supreme Court, the driver was convicted of harassment.

Brown’s family and friends feared for his safety, asked him not to ride alone, and to carry a gun. But he did not see Jackson as a hateful place, a place he had to protect himself against.

“I couldn’t give into it,” he said. “I wouldn’t leave this community that I love. I can’t say other people of color or women or anyone who’s harassed should take the same tactic, but it’s what I chose.”

Brown does not describe himself as a “change maker,” but his rejection of fear and his commitment to community is his legacy.

“I just live it every day. The West gives you an opportunity to do that … you change people’s minds one at a time, just by talking about it, creating a dialogue … knowledge dispels this idea that people of color are so different.”

PJH

THIS WEEK: February 15-21, 2017

Compiled by Caroline LaRosa

Opening Reception for The Magnificent Night Sky Exhibit ​5:30​p.m. Thursday​​at Library Gallery Enjoy a gallery walk followed by a slide talk with photographer Mike Adler. Light refreshments will be served.

The exhibit features images of 30 amazing celestial objects that are overhead in the night sky of Jackson Hole. All of the images were taken here in Jackson Hole at an observatory housing three telescopes ranging in size from 6 inches to 20 inches at the photographer’s home in Wilson. As an aid in helping people relate to the objects, maps of the sky will be used to show where the objects are located and when in the year they are overhead. Highlighted are 10 sets of images where both a large view and a more detailed view of the same object will be displayed using different telescopes.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16

n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Jackson Community Blood Drive 8:00am, Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, Free, 307-733-9551 n Adult Cross Country Ski Tour: South Shadow Mountain Area 9:00am, Teton Recreation Center, $25.00, 307-739-9025 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 17

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 19

n Savion Glover’s BARE SOUNDZ 7:30pm, Center for the Arts, $27.00 - $47.00, 307-733-6398 n KHOL Presents: Vinyl Night 8:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307733-1500 n Shook Twins 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, $15.00, 307-733-3886

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Digital Photography 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, 307733-7425 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Fables, Feathers & Fur 10:30am, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Free, 307-733-5771 n Jackson Community Blood Drive 12:30pm, Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, Free, 307-733-9551 n Senior’s Classic and Skate Ski Workshop 1:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, $12.00, 307-739-9025 n Snowshoe with a Ranger 1:30pm, Grand Teton National Park, Free, 307-739-3399 n Get Your Taxes Done For Free 3:00pm, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-2164 n PTO 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913

n SPUR Re-Opening / JHSC Benefit Party 4:00pm, SPUR Restaurant & Bar, $40.00, 307-733-6433 n Wednesday Night Lights 5:00pm, Snow King Mountain, $12.00, 307-733-6433 n Estate Planning 5:30pm, CWC-Jackson, $190.00, 307-733-7425 n Open Studio: Figure Model 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307733-6379 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Intermediate Spanish 6:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $110.00, 307-733-7425 n Ramen Night At The Handle Bar 6:00pm, Handle Bar, 307-7325056 n Latin Dance Week 6:30pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $270.00, 307-7336398 n Flies for Every Season 6:30pm, JD High Country Outfitters, $75.00, 307-7333270

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

18 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

MUSIC BOX Funky Sours and Awakened IndiePop Roadhouse Brewing and Snake River Brewing host The Motet with sour onslaught and the Shook Twins shake the Tavern.

BY AARON DAVIS @ScreenDoorPorch

I

n beer obsessive towns like Asheville, North Carolina, sour beer has hijacked the IPA craze, spreading faster than the naturally occurring bacteria that give the genre its funky, lip-puckering complexities. Locally, adventurous palates and kickass brewers are driving the sour beer market from what used to be negatively referred to as “diseased” or “infected” beer. Through the love of funk music, funky beer and food pairings, Roadhouse Brewing Co. and Snake River Brewing are teaming up with the Pink Garter Theatre and The Rose to offer Sour Beer Funk Fest featuring Colorado’s veteran funk and Afrobeat ensemble The Motet.

Experience the evening a la carte, or dive into the full offering, which includes a collaboration dinner at The Rose with nine sour beers on tap, sour beer talks from lead brewers Adam Chenault (Roadhouse) and Cameron Hieronymous (Snake River), beer tastings and wild and exuberant music moments to close the night.

“We’re all huge music fans and this was Adam’s brainchild,” said Roadhouse sales manager Neil Albert. “The brewing community here is really cool

The Motet

and even with it being competitive, it’s a cohesive family. The collaboration with SRB was a natural progression as we’re always aware of what Cam is working on at SRB. We’re like the little brother—happy to help them when we can and they’ve been more than willing to help show us the ropes when we need it.”

“It’s exciting to live in a town with three outstanding breweries and as soon as Adam pitched this concept, it was a done deal,” added Hieronymous, who moved to Jackson from Illinois in 2011 and got his start as a home brewer.

The funk of sour beers has transcended the dominion of the geeks and spilled into the common sphere.

Those tart and tangy flavors come from a fermentation process that uses offbeat bacteria and yeasts, and so-called “wild” strains with clunky names like Brettanomyces, along with lactic acids such as pediococcus and lactobacillus.

“It’s somewhat of an arms race in the American Beer industry, and sour beers are the inevitable progression,” explained Hieronymous. “Like crafting the biggest IPA, it’s an incredibly innovative industry

that’s not tied down like Europe, where it’s a little more rooted in tradition. Everybody’s trying to diversify and really, it makes the job more fun to experiment.”

Special beers from SRB will include the blackberry-flavored and pinot noir barrel-aged Sour Panda Belgium Quad, the Oregon cherry influenced Serpent Cerise, and the low alcohol sour wheat dubbed Electric Kool-Aid. The latter beer includes the lactobacillus bacteria, also used to make yogurt, and the SRB twist of fresh grapefruit added to the concoction.

Sours from Roadhouse Brewing, courtesy of brewers Chenault and Kyle Fleming, include some longhaul aging and all of their Sacred beers start with the house Sacred Creed Saison. Those include Plum Sacred Brett (aged one year in a JH Winery pinot noir barrel), Pineapple Hibiscus Sacred Brett and Sacred Brett, the latter two both aged one year in a JH Winery syrah barrel. Other special recipes include the Raspberry Cherry Flanders (aged a year and a half in an oak Edna Valley chardonnay barrel), Sour Brown Brett (aged two years in a Wyoming Whiskey barrel), and the Currant Kettle Sour.

WEDNESDAY Shook Twins (Town Square Tavern) THURSDAY Jamie McLean Band (Trap Bar), Major Zephyr (Silver Dollar) FRIDAY George Kilby Jr. (Silver Dollar), Lantz Lazwell and the Vibe Tribe (Mangy Moose) SATURDAY Sour Beer Funk Fest featuring The Motet (Pink Garter/ The Rose), Greg Creamer (Knotty Pine)

Shook Twins

The Motet—formed in Boulder in 1998 by drummer and bandleader Dave Watts—is poised to put on a groove clinic. Rumor has it they’ve been digging into to some George Clinton, Herbie Hancock and a heavy dose of tunes from the 2016 release Totem. The six-piece with horns takes the throwback sounds of The Commodores and Earth, Wind & Fire and splices it with a style “that slaps you in the face with sounds that are fresh and unique,” reads the band’s bio.

Roadhouse Brewing and Snake River Brewing present Sour Beer Funk Fest featuring The Motet, 9 p.m.

Saturday, February 18 at the Pink Garter Theatre and The Rose. $25 for the show, $75 for dinner, or $90 for both. PinkGarterTheatre.com.

Quirky twin folk Amusing and whimsical indie-folk with twin vocal harmonies from Katelyn and Laurie, the Shook Twins finally make their first stop in Jackson after years of performing in Teton Valley and Grand Targhee. Their adventurous spirit has taken them to bigger stages in the last couple of years, including Red Rocks and

Western festivals like WinterWonderGrass. Singing through a telephone and beat boxing over ambient loops might not sound like your typical folk band, and you’re right. The band’s latest full-length album, 2014’s What We Do represents the group’s rootsy sensibilities, while the 2016 single “Call Me Out” captures the band’s progression to indie-pop edge, following a move from Sandpoint, Idaho, to Portland, Oregon.

“We feel strongly about holding each other accountable in this life,” Laurie Shook said. “There are a lot of distractions in the world, and it’s easy to not be fully awake, disrespectful, or to feel the need to show and tell in order to prove your worth when really all we need to be is good, honest human beings and everything will work out.” “‘Call Me Out,” Shook continued, “is about taking on the responsibility to help those around you become better people. To encourage them to live up to their fullest potential.”

Shook Twins, 10 p.m. Wednesday, February 15 at Town Square Tavern, $15. Townsquaretavern.com PJH

SUNDAY Jason Tyler Burton (Silver Dollar), Stagecoach Band (Stagecoach) MONDAY George Kilby Jr. (Trap Bar) TUESDAY Lotus (Pink Garter Theatre), BOGDOG (Town Square Tavern)

n Jamie McLean Band 3:00pm, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 307-353-2300 n After School Monthly Workshops 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $180.00 $216.00, 307-733-6379 n Stackhouse 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n Après Ski and Art 5:00pm, Diehl Gallery, Free, 307-733-0905 n February Art Walk 5:00pm, Jackson Hole Galleries, Free, 307-733-6379

n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Lightroom Basics 5:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00 $168.00, 307-733-6379 n Opening Reception for The Magnificent Night Sky Exhibit 5:30pm, Teton County Library Gallery, Free, 307-733-2164 n Mental Health Support Group 6:00pm, Board Room of St. John’s Medical Center, Free, 307-732-1161

n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Glaze Chemistry 101: A Guide To Creating Custom Glazes and Firing Kilns 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $184.00, 307733-6379 n Intro to Leather Working 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $105.00, 307733-6379 n Intro to Silversmithing 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $154.00, 307733-6379

n Bacchus & Brushes 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $45.00, 307-7336379 n Intro to Papermaking 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $132.00 $158.00, 307-733-6379 n Healthy Home Environment 6:00pm, Spark JH, Free, 303483-8207 n Eclipse and Chips #1 6:00pm, The Wildwood Room, Free, 208-787-2667 n Armchair Adventures: A Solo, Self-Supported Bicycle Ride Across the US 6:30pm, Teton Recreation

Center, 307-739-9025 n Latin Dance Week 6:30pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $270.00, 307-733-6398 n One Night Seminars on Fly Fishing 6:30pm, JD High Country Outfitters, 307-733-3270 n Jackson Hole Communty Band 2017 Rehearsals 7:00pm, Centre for the Arts, Free, 307-200-9463 n Major Zephyr 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Lotus 9:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, $25.00 - $30.00, 307-733-1500

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 19

n Beginning Throwing 10:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $184.00 $220.00, 307-733-6379 n Toddler Time 10:05am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307733-2164 n JD High Country Outfitters Brown Bag Fly Tying 11:00am, JD High Country Outfitters, Free, 307-733-3270 n Teton Toastmasters 12:00pm, Teton County Commissioners Chambers, Free, n Intro Photography 3:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00 $168.00, 307-733-6379

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 21

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

20 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

CULTURE KLASH

Lance Letscher

Dreams and Dark Matter New works at Tayloe Piggott and Asymbol will usher viewers to the edge.

BY MEG DALY @MegDaly1

P

erhaps the best way to approach a collage by Lance Letscher is to imagine looking into a kaleidoscopic scene from a dream. Witness shards of memories, bursts of symbolism, and an intricate logic inherent to the dreamspace itself.

Using imagery and lettering from his massive collection of vintage magazines, catalogs, schoolbooks, and various printed materials mostly from the mid-20th century, Letscher creates color-rich compositions rising from his unconscious mind and appealing to the viewer’s own narrative.

“Untroubled Mind,” a new exhibition by the Austinbased artist, premieres on Saturday at Tayloe Piggott Gallery. The show features 22 collage works of found paper and metal. Though rich with details from past decades, the work feels vibrantly contemporary.

“I’m interested in typography, color, space, line and texture, and creating optical illusions,” Letscher told PJH. “If a piece reminds a viewer of their childhood then maybe that is a strength, but it’s not my main goal.”

Instead, the artist wants to get out of his own way and let his unconscious mind do the work of making the art. “My conscious mind creates an obstacle and a plateau,” he said. “With my conscious mind I tend to solve problems the same way every time.” His creative

process leads him to access a part of his mind he says is much more powerful. “You have a dream life populated with people you don’t know. There’s a history in your dream life you didn’t create, there are infinite details and odd uncanny elements that you wouldn’t have in waking life. In order to be a stronger artist, it’s my practice to remove as many obstacles to that part of my mind.”

For two decades, Letscher worked exclusively with paper, gaining international recognition. In recent years he started also making collages from metal. In one of the works on exhibit at Tayloe Piggott Gallery, the 52 inch by 40 inch “Hand,” Letscher contracted with a vendor in India to find the blue cobalt strips of metal that he needed. “I wanted it to have a certain feel, like a palmistry hand,” he said. “Or maybe a hand that you might see on an Indian religious deity.”

To affix the strips of tin and other metals onto the backing board, Letscher uses a staple gun. Actually, five staple guns, of varying sizes. He also has several pairs of scissors designed for cutting metal, shorter for cutting curves, longer for cutting straight lines.

He said “Hand” was an unusual piece in that he actually had a clear idea of the image he wanted to create, and sketched it out prior to assembling the collage. Normally Letscher doesn’t plan his pieces, instead letting the materials, and his intuition, guide the process. “I try to not to overthink or analyze. If I make a mistake and the mistake makes the piece stronger, I let it.”

The February 18 opening reception also includes a screening of scenes from a new documentary about Letscher by Oscar-nominated film editor-turned-director Sandra Adair. She has edited 18 of Rick Linklater’s films, including the cult classic, Dazed and Confused, and the more recent, Boyhood. The Secret Life of Lance Letscher was Adair’s brainchild.

Scenes from The Secret Life of Lance Letscher, 8 p.m. Saturday, February 18 at Pink Garter Theatre.

Artist reception 9 p.m. at Tayloe Piggott Gallery.

Schoph

Get hip to the 3As: Artlab, Asymbol and an Art Walk

Dress dapper Thursday night and celebrate a postsnowpocalypse event during the monthly Gallery Association Art Walk, when local galleries stay open late.

There are two hot art parties happening Thursday that you won’t want to miss in your wanderings. First, stop by Teton Artlab’s “Wallpaper” art show and fundraiser, where you can buy work Artlab residents, both guests and locals. The proceeds help fund the Artist in Residence program, which hosts artists from around the country and the world for one-month residencies. Featured work by Ben Blanton, Scotty Craighead, Alissa Davies, Walt Gerald, Wendell Field, Katy Ann Fox, Mike Piggott, Abby Paffrath, Ben Roth, Lisa Walker, and Travis Walker. Wallpaper, 6 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, February 16 at Teton Artlab.

Next, head over to Asymbol for the opening reception of “Human Nature III,” a group show by the HMNNTR artist collective that runs through February 22.

Founded by Schoph—an artist Asymbol’s Josi Stephens described as “uncompromising and savage in his execution, using art to show how seamlessly beauty and dark matter can combine in the right hands”—and designer Kyle Maynerd, HMNNTR prides itself on being “for the artists by the artists.”

Previous exhibitions have taken place in London and Seattle, elucidating the broad reaches of board sports culture.

The Asymbol exhibition features work by notable artists in the field, including shred icon Jamie Lynn, Schoph, Maynerd, Iuna Tinta, Desiree Melancon, Peter-John-De Villiers, Corey Smith, and hometown snowboard legend Bryan Iguchi. Live music happens care of Fader, Magavin, and The Risky Livers.

Human Nature III, 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, February 16 at Asymbol. PJH

GOT SOME GRIPE-WORTHY ISSUES, OR EVEN… SOMEONE TO PRAISE? MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD WITH A LETTER TO THE EDITOR. EMAIL EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM WITH “LETTER TO THE EDITOR” IN THE SUBJECT LINE.

​ abin Fever Story Slam C 5 p.m. Tuesday at T​ he Rose Live Storytelling Competition:​​five minutes​, ​no notes​, ​win prizes Get storytelling tips: tclib.org/cabinfever

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17

n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n 25th Annual Moose Chase Nordic Ski Race presented

by Skinny Skis 8:00am, Trail Creek Nordic Center, $20.00 - $75.00, 307733-6433 n REFIT® 9:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $20.00, 307-733-6398 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Teton Valley Winter Farmers’ Market 10:00am, MD Nursery, Free, 208-354-8816 n Sour Beer Day 1:00pm, Grand Teton Brewing Co., Free, 208-538-0068 n Snowshoe with a Ranger 1:30pm, Grand Teton National Park, Free, 307-739-3399 n Latin Dance Week 3:00pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $270.00, 307-7336398 n Winter Wonderland - Ice Skating on Town Square 4:00pm, Town Square, $0.00 $8.00, 307-733-3932 n Family Round Up: Free Raptor Night 4:00pm, Hotel Terra, Free, 307-733-2292 n Après Ski and Art 5:00pm, Diehl Gallery, Free, 307-733-0905

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 21

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 23

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Open Studio: Portrait Model 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307733-6379 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Feathered Fridays 12:00pm, Jackson Hole & Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center, Free, 307-201-5433 n Snowshoe with a Ranger 1:30pm, Grand Teton National Park, Free, 307-739-3399 n Brain Works 3:00pm, St. John’s Medical Center, $300.00, 307-739-7493 n Powder Pig Fundraiser 3:00pm, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 307-353-2300 n Screen Door Porch 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n Apres Ski with George Kilby Jr. 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n Friday Tastings 4:00pm, The Liquor Store of Jackson Hole, Free, 307-7334466 n FREE Friday Tasting at Jackson Whole Grocer 4:00pm, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450

n Snow King Mountain Winter Appreciation Party 4:00pm, Snow King Mountain, Free, 307-734-3351 n Après Ski and Art 5:00pm, Diehl Gallery, Free, 307-733-0905 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Latin Dance Week 6:30pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $270.00, 307-7336398 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 George Kilby Jr. & The Road Dogs 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Lantz Lazwell and the Vibe Tribe 9:00pm, Mangy Moose, $7.00, 307-733-4913 n Salsa Party with DJ Jose Rosas 9:30pm, Pink Garter Theatre, $15.00, 307-733-1500 n CREST No School Day Planetarium Programs Jackson Elementary School, Free, 844-WYO-STAR

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

22 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

CREATIVE PEAKS

New West Wildlife Why it’s time to visit, or revisit, 25 Fables: Aesop’s Animals Illustrated at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.

BY MEG DALY @MegDaly1

F

or her latest community art project at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the curator and artist Bronwyn Minton invited 25 local artists to illustrate 25 separate stories from Aesop’s Fables. The result is an enlivening, enlightening show.

The exhibit, on display through April 23, was recently acquired by the museum to be part of its permanent collection.

Strategically hung in the King hallway gallery, the exhibit lends a narrative arc to the panels. Viewers can start at one end and read the texts like a storybook from beginning to end, or read them piecemeal jumping back and forth across the hall. Fables are short tales used to teach moral lessons, and certain themes recur among the 25 selected stories. Excessive pride, greed and vanity all fall prey to critique.

Each story features animals that embody human characteristics. The ink on board illustration by Walt Gerald depicts a fox and stork entwined with the stork cradling a vessel of soup. In the fable, the two animals take turns taunting one another with meals served in containers that they cannot fit their mouths into. “Do unto others,” reads a banner in the illustration.

In “The Fox and the Crow” a sly fox tricks a crow

into dropping a piece of cheese by flattering the bird.

Jocelyn Wasson’s expressive ink on board illustration captures just a hint of the fox’s teeth grinning in its elongated snout. Wasson depicted the crow as full of diverse textures and patterns in its feathers, a kind of crazy quilt appearance not normally associated with the sleek corvids. Close inspection reveals that the fox’s tail is woven with tiny animals—mice, birds, fish, who have perhaps also fallen prey to the fox’s tricks.

The artists for the exhibit were given a board of a set size (20 by 30 inches) and each vertical illustration is in black and white, creating uniformity. The artist list combines a vibrant mix of established and emerging artists, including nationally published illustrator Tim Tomkinson, former Jackson Hole High School art instructor Greg Houda, and Jackson Hole muralist Greta Gretzinger.

Minton has curated a number of group shows like, corralling a range of artists from different backgrounds and disciplines.

Painter Emily Boespflug uses charcoal to illustrate “The Peacock and the Crane,” filling the space as she would a painting, with rich textures, muted shadows, a brilliant summer sky dotted with clouds. In the foreground, a crane and a peacock stand together in a Wyoming field, the peacock looking very much out of place with its fancy plumage, while a group of cranes show off their ability to fly to the flightless dandy bird.

In contrast, Sam Dowd takes a minimalist approach to “The Crab and his Mother.” Using cut paper on board, Dowd illustrates the mother crab’s vain attempt to model how to walk in a straight line for her offspring. The crab with her peering, alien eyes can only move side to side across the space.

Because of its limited palette, the exhibit as a whole provides a meditation on shadow and light. Some artists—Matt Grimes, Erin Ashlee, Ben Carlson, David Klarén—take a deliberately graphic style where bold lines and stark contrast convey meaning. Others utilize a detailed sketching style—Olaus Linn, Ben Roth, Emily Poole—creating shadows and subtlety as the animal drama springs forth from the canvas.

A few artists push the envelope of style and media, notably Steven Glass, whose illustration of “The Gnat and the Bull,” combines spray paint, screen print and paint pen. A longhorn bull, its contours blurred from the screen print process, ambles across a checked background, a surreal kind of mashup of urban design and a dry, New Mexico plain. A giant gnat rests delicately on the bull’s horn, ready to take flight. “It’s all the same to me; I didn’t notice when you came, and I won’t know when you go away,” the bull says.

There are so many standout pieces in this exhibit it’s impossible to do them all justice here.

Mike Piggott’s bear peeking up at the bottom of a page lined with Piggott-esque trees does not appear to be a predator who almost ate a human, but instead a friendly inquisitor in a scene of human folly. Lisa Walker’s Owl screen print and shashiko stitching on black canvas is stunning— playful, balanced, timeless. Jenny Dowd’s “The Crow and the Pitcher” is as whimsical and elegant as Dowd’s ceramic creations. Henry Raynor Williams’ “The Serpent and the Eagle” is fierce and captivating.

In the context of the museum as a whole, the 25 Fables exhibit illustrates the imaginative, inventive breadth of approaches contemporary local artists contribute to the genre of wildlife art. PJH

Close inspection reveals that the fox’s tale is woven with tiny animals—mice, birds, fish, who have perhaps also fallen prey to the fox’s tricks.

n Anastasia Kimmett: An Impression of Trees 5:00pm, Diehl Gallery, Free, 307-733-0905 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Wine Tasting Dinner 6:00pm, Dornans, $85.00, 307-733-2415 n Snowpocalypse Cancellation Ball 6:00pm, The Virginian, $50.00, jhshriners.org n 8th Annual Teton County Idaho Search and Rescue Fundraiser 6:30pm, The Wildwood Room, 208-787-2667 n George Kilby Jr. & The Road Dogs 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Tayloe Piggott Gallery presents: Lance Letscher “Untroubled Mind” 8:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free, 307-733-0555 n Greg Creamer 8:00pm, Knotty Pine, Free, 208-787-2866 n Lantz Lazwell and the Vibe Tribe 9:00pm, Mangy Moose, $7.00, 307-733-4913

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21

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 Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Toddler Time 10:05am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307-733-2164 n White Lightning Open Mic Night 3:00pm, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 307-353-2300 n Brain Works 3:00pm, St. John’s Medical Center, $300.00, 307-739-7493 n The Maw Band 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n POP UP: Art FUNdamentals 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $70.00 - $84.00, 307-733-6379 n Hand and Wheel 3:45pm, Ceramics Studio, $180.00 - $216.00, 307-7336379 n Cabin Fever Story Slam 5:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307733-1500 n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Jackson PFLAG Meeting 7:00pm, St. John’s Church, Free, 307-733-8349 n B.O.G.D.O.G. 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886

FOR COMPLETE EVENT DETAILS VISIT PJHCALENDAR.COM

WRITER WANTED

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.

EMAIL WRITING SAMPLES TO EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM.

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 23

n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Perpetual Painting 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $160.00, 307733-6379 n Digital Photography 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, 307733-7425 n Create with Me: Ages 2 & 3 with caregiver 9:15am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $75.00 - $90.00, 307-733-6379 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Kindercreations Ages 3-5 10:30am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $80.00 $96.00, 307-733-6379 n Foreign Policy Series 12:00pm, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-2164 n Snowshoe with a Ranger 1:30pm, Grand Teton National Park, Free, 307-739-3399 n George Kilby Jr 3:00pm, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 307-353-2300 n B.O.G.D.O.G - Band On Glen Down on Glen 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n After School Kidzart Club: Grade K-2 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $165.00 $198.00, 307-733-6379 n Handbuilding Plus!

3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $150.00 $180.00, 307-733-6379 n Studio Sampler 3:45pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $264.00 $316.00, 307-733-6379 n Hootenanny 6:00pm, Dornan’s, Free, 307733-2415 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316

n Printmaking 101 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $200.00 $240.00, 307-733-6379 n Foreign Policy Series 6:00pm, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-2164 n Tom Bennett’s One Man Band 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

n Interdenominational Worship Service at Rendezvous Lodge 9:30am, Top of Bridger Gondola, Free, 307-733-2292 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n How to Cultivate a Sustainable Yoga Practice 2:00pm, Teton Yoga Shala, $75.00, 307-690-3054 n Major Zephyr 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Intro to Silversmithing 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $154.00, 307733-6379 n Stagecoach Band 6:00pm, Stagecoach, Free, 307-733-4407

n Jason Tyler Burton 7:00pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Jambase Presents THE MOTET 9:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, $25.00, 307-733-1500

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

24 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

LATHAM JENKINS PHOTOS

THE FOODIE FILES

Frothy Unions Five things I learned at the Brewpub about pairing beer with food.

BY ANNIE FENN, MD @jacksonfoodie

I

t would not be exactly correct to say that I never drink beer. If I am floating down the Snake River on a hot summer day and there’s nothing else to drink, I’ll have a beer. If I’m in a developing country where I wouldn’t drink the water and wine is not on the menu, I’ll order a beer. Or if I’m heading out to fish all day with girlfriends, I may throw a can of beer in the back of my fishing vest because I just haven’t gotten on board with canned wine yet.

In my narrow, wine-centric foodie world, beer is meant to quench thirst but does not enhance the enjoyment of food.

Wrong.

It took an eight-course Brewmaster’s Dinner at Snake River Brewing to change my mind about pairing food with beer. I have long been a fan of the Brewpub, as we locals like to call our hometown brewery/restaurant. Not only is the Brewpub family-owned and operated by Noa and Ted Staryck, the staff make it feel like you’ve walked into the living room of one happy, beer-swilling family. Exuberant, friendly people are always on hand to greet you at the door. A solid team behind the scenes includes Chris Erickson, director of brewing operations for the last 20 years, and executive chef Ryan Brogan, who has been cooking food from scratch in the Brewpub kitchen for more than 15 years.

When I dine at the Brewpub, I usually order its

Left: amuse bouche of butternut puree, maple foam, duck liver pate and pomegranate. Middle: The pork belly tataki that helped the author appreciate how to drink an IPA. Right: The 7th course pairs an assertive Four Pines pale ale with a Wyoming lamb chop.

famous warm beet salad and a glass of sauvignon blanc. Lame, I know—to order a mediocre glass of wine when dining at a brewery twice named Small Brewery of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, with an impressive list of award-winning microbrews.

As I took my seat at the Brewmaster’s Dinner last month, I brought an open mind and an empty stomach. But when Erickson began pouring me a tall glass of Pako’s IPA to accompany the roasted pork belly tataki, kimchi and red microbeets, I held up my hand and said, “Just a taste. I don’t love IPA.” In my limited experience drinking hoppy IPA beers, I have been turned off by the bitter flavor profile. If you’ve been living under a rock, as I apparently have, during the last 10 years of a microbrew revolution, IPA stands for India Pale Ale—a hop-forward beer of midrange alcohol content with earthy and herbal flavors and overtones of citrus.

To make a long story short, I proceeded to be surprised and delighted by every course that came out of Dorgan’s kitchen as his team (Thomas Arena, Eric Navratil, and Shawn Smith) presented plate after beautiful plate. With some guidance from Erickson, I grasped why the Blood Orange Pakito’s IPA’s fruitiness was a perfect match for the semi-cured salmon and hamachi with fennel, picholine olives, blood orange, pistachios, beet, pickled ginger and shallots.

And why a bitter stout pairs with a chocolate and berry-drenched profiterole as well as any old aged port wine.

I had a huge “Aha!” moment when tasting the Pakos’ IPA with the pork belly tataki. The flavor of the meat tamed the bitterness of the beer and brought out other herbal, caramel flavors I had never noticed.

Remember me, the one who doesn’t like IPAs? I stand corrected; I just wasn’t drinking them right.

Thanks to Snake River Brewing for my newly discovered love for bitter brews and fruity ales. I’ll keep these rules in mind as I dream up a few beer and food pairings of my own.

The brewed beta

1. The hops in beer (like in an IPA) function like the acid component in wine (as in sauvignon blanc) and can cut through the richness of a dish. Hoppy IPAs pair well with creamy Indian curries and grilled meats, especially if that meat has a crust of caramelization to bring out the caramel malt in the beer.

2. For a multi-course beer pairing dinner, start with light bodied beers (lager, pilsner, wheat) and progress to heavier, more complex ones (stout, porter).

3. Match like with like to evoke a pleasant echo in the food and beer. When the fruity Blood Orange Pakito’s IPA picks up the ginger and blood orange elements in Drogan’s hamachi dish, there’s a nice synchronization of flavors.

4. Match contrasting flavors to highlight the differences between the food and beer. Pairing an assertive stout with a berry and chocolate dessert works because the yin-yang of sweet and bitter enhances both the food and the beer.

5. Just like wine (and coffee), beer is all about aroma. To experience the full flavor of the beer, pour it into a proper glass, stick your nose in it, and inhale all the aromas as you swirl it around. PJH

Annie Fenn is a physician with a passion for food, health, sustainability and the local food scene. Her current mission? Spreading the word about how to cook and eat to prevent dementia. Find recipes and stories at jacksonholefoodie.com and on Instagram @jacksonholefoodie.

Tasting 101

Why wine geeks swirl, slosh, sip and spit.

BY TED SCHEFFLER @critic1

BEER, WINE & SPIRITS

A

IMBIBE

t a restaurant dinner recently, my son Hank asked me, “Does that really make any difference?” He was referring to the fact that I was swirling and sloshing the wine in my wine glass around before drinking it. “It actually does,” I replied.

The somewhat odd-looking behaviors and habits of seasoned wine drinkers—swirling wine, sloshing it around in the mouth, and (sometimes) spitting the wine out—might seem like nervous tics, or maybe just bad manners. But they’re not. Though they may appear peculiar, wine geeks go through those motions, and more, for good reason. Combined, they help us to better know, and therefore enjoy, the wines we drink.

Why was I heartily swirling the wine around in my glass? Well, unless it’s been decanted in advance— which is fairly rare—almost all of the wine we drink has been cooped up in a bottle until we decide to drink it. It has been resting, peacefully. That is as it should be. We don’t want to abuse wine in bottles.

However, most wines poured directly from a newly opened bottle—at home or in a restaurant setting—are “closed” and “tight.”

They need room to breathe, literally.

So, we “breathe” the wine by swirling it vigorously in a glass and introducing air into it. Infusing air and oxygen into the wine tends to accentuate both the wine’s flavors and aromas. If you don’t believe me, do this simple exercise the next time you open some wine: pour two identical glasses of wine, but only give one of them a swirl. Then, stick your nose into each glass. I guarantee that the one you

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

SALES@PLANETJH.COM OR CALL 307.732.0299

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 25

CONTACT YOUR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE TODAY TO LEARN MORE

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

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.

swirled will be much more fragrant—inviting you to enjoy it.

A floral smelling wine like Viognier becomes even more floral when it’s given room to breathe. Ditto the wine’s flavors: aerating the wine can bring up front the flavors you were looking for when you bought it, but also render more subtle the harsher notes in a wine. In short, introducing air into wine, be it by decanting, with tools aimed at introducing oxygen, or just by swirling the wine in a glass, help it to come alive.

Probably the most annoying and seemingly antisocial behavior to non-wine drinkers is the habit of sloshing wine around in the mouth before either swallowing or spitting. It sounds and looks a lot like the way the Japanese eat ramen, which is totally approved of in their culture.

Our tongues have various sensors that recognize sweetness, acidity, tartness and so on. Tasting wine first in the front of the mouth, and then letting it flow towards the tonsils, helps wine drinkers identify the various taste aspects of the wine. That wouldn’t happen if you simply tossed the wine down your gullet.

Allowing the wine to settle in the mouth briefly also helps the drinker to identify the weight, or body, of the wine. How does it feel? Silky? Heavy? Fizzy? Do the tannins make your mouth pucker? These sensations tell you a lot about the wine you’re drinking, and whether you’ll want to drink it again.

Finally, to spit or not to spit? Most wine drinkers and experts I know love to drink wine. That is, they swallow. However, when attending a wine tasting where perhaps a dozen or more wines are being sampled, it’s smart to spit. First, you won’t get sloshed if you do. But also, you’ll avoid the palate fatigue that comes with tasting too many wines in a short period. I rarely want wine to go to waste in a spit bucket, but that’s your call. PJH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

26 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

ASIAN & CHINESE 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) 733-0022 and in Driggs, (208) 787-8424, tetonthai.com.

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.

THAI ME UP

LOTUS CAFE

TETON THAI

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.

Two- fer Tuesday is back !

Two-for-one 12” pies all day. Dine-in or Carry-out.

(LIMIT 6 PIES PER CARRYOUT ORDER, PLEASE.)

®

Large Specialty Pizza ADD: Wings (8 pc)

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

PizzeriaCaldera.com

$ 13 99

Medium Pizza (1 topping) Stuffed Cheesy Bread

for an extra $5.99/each

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

ELY U Q I N U PEAN EURO EARLY BIRD SPECIAL

20%OFF ENTIRE BILL

Good between 5:30-6pm • Open nightly at 5:30pm Please mention ad for discount.

733-3912 160 N. Millward

Make your reservation online at bluelionrestaurant.com

THE LOCALS

FAVORITE PIZZA 2012-2016 •••••••••

$7

$5 Shot & Tall Boy

LUNCH

SPECIAL Slice, salad & soda

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

TV Sports Packages and 7 Screens

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

F O H ‘ E TH

R DINNEAGE I H LUNCTETON VILL I T S IN FA BREAKE ALPENHOF AT TH

AT THE

CONTINENTAL ALPENHOF

MANGY MOOSE

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.

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.

THE BLUE LION

Opened in Jackson Hole by Tom Fay and David Fogg, Moe’s Original Bar B Que features a Southern Soul Food Revival. Moe’s Original Bar B Que offers award-winning Alabama-style pulled pork, ribs, wings, turkey and chicken smoked over hardwood served with two unique sauces in addition to Catfish and a Shrimp MoeBoy sandwich. Additionally, a daily rotation of traditional Southern sides and tasty desserts are served fresh daily from recipes passed down for generations. With a kitchen that stays open late, the restaurant features a menu that fits any budget. While the setting is family-friendly, there is a full premium bar offering a lively bar scene complete with HDTVs for sports fans, music, shuffle board and other games upstairs. Large party takeout orders and full service catering with delivery for any size group for parties, business lunches, reunions, weddings and other special events is also be available.

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 5:306:0pm, Open nightly at 5:30 p.m. 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 TuesSat 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

307.733.3242

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. 140 N. Cache, (307) 734-0882, tetonlotuscafe.com.

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

FULL STEAM SUBS

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

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

MOE’S BBQ

MILLION DOLLAR COWBOY STEAKHOUSE

Jackson’s first Speakeasy Steakhouse. The Million Dollar Cowboy Steakhouse is a hidden gem located below the world famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Our menu offers guests the best in American steakhouse cuisine. Top quality chops and steaks sourced from local farms, imported Japanese Wagyu beef, and house-cured meats and sausages. Accentuated with a variety of thoughtful side dishes, innovative appetizers, creative vegetarian items, and decadent desserts, a meal at this landmark location is sure to be a memorable one. Reservations are highly recommended.

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

LOCAL & DOMESTIC STEAKS SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK @ 5:30 TILL 10 JHCOWBOYSTEAKHOUSE.COM 307-733-4790

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

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.

Hand-tossed, 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

PIZZERIA CALDERA

Jackson Hole’s only dedicated stone-hearth oven pizzeria, serving Napolitana-style pies

FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT PIZZAS, PASTAS & MORE 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

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 27

HOUSEMADE BREAD & DESSERTS

using the freshest ingredients in traditional and creative combinations. Five local microbrews 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.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

The locals favorite! Voted Best Pizza in Jackson Hole 2012-2016. Seek out this hidden gem under the Pink Garter Theatre for NY pizza by the slice, salads, strombolis, 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.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

28 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Earth’s Accelerating Vibration

aspects of our DNA and likely new strands of DNA. All of this will open a repertoire of more advanced perceptual abilities, new ways to relate, to travel, to heal, to perceive, to communicate with all life, including with other planetary and stellar civilizations. It’s a quantum leap.

Right now Earth is progressing faster in its frequency upgrade than we are. So the time is now to intentionally bring our personal and collective human vibration to the higher frequency of love.

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” – Nikola Tesla

Love as a state of being

A global heartbeat The Earth has the equivalent of a heartbeat, which is a measurable frequency called the Schumann Resonance.

The importance of knowing about this right now is twofold.

1. All life on Earth is calibrated to the frequency of the planet. Everything from our brain waves and biorhythms to our states of consciousness are directly correlated to the Earth’s frequencies.

2. The Schumann Resonance has been steady at 7.83Hz until three years ago when it began to accelerate to somewhere in the 15 to 25Hz levels. Less than one month ago, on January 31, the Schumann Resonance had reached frequencies of 36+ for the first time in recorded history. This is a big deal. The Earth is rapidly shifting her vibration.

What this means for us is that since 2014 we are all being exposed to and required to calibrate to the accelerated planetary frequencies if we want to evolve with the new Earth. Scientists tell us that not only is the frequency of Earth accelerating, but changes are also in process in the sun and entire solar system.

Heart is the ticket The direction of the planetary evolution correlates closely to the higher energy frequency of love. Right now is when the long-standing wisdom to choose love over fear is the ticket to our evolution. This acceleration is not meant to do us in. It is a wake-up call for us to upgrade our consciousness and take a quantum evolutionary leap with the planet.

Science has already demonstrated that the energy of love upgrades our biochemistry and our well-being on all levels. The shift we will experience by upping our frequency will activate more parts of our brains, additional

When it relates to a shift in consciousness, love refers to a state of being, which is where you are coming from— the lens through which you perceive life. The energy, frequency and vibration of that lens determines how you think, feel, act and react to what life presents. The attribute of the lens translates into specific emotional expressions, behaviors, attitudes, actions and possibilities.

Living from an underlying state of love is accompanied by openness, expansion and flexibility in the body, the mind and psyche. It’s about compassion, trust, collaboration, connection, support, inclusion and inner peace. The biochemistry of well-being prevails. Creativity expands and there is access to higher states of consciousness. All of this relates to coming from one’s heart and soul, and allowing the higher intelligence of those directives to inform your life.

However, a loving state of being is not about being naïve and in denial. It includes using discernment and having healthy boundaries. Feeling fear when it’s appropriate because there is some impending danger is always an important navigational tool.

Reflections from a Hopi elder “You have been telling the people that this is the eleventh hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. And there are things to be considered: Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relation?

Where is your water?

Know your garden.

It is time to speak your truth.

Create your community.

Be good to each other.

And do not look outside yourself for the leaders.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” PJH

Carol Mann is a longtime Jackson resident, radio personality, former Grand Targhee Resort owner, author, and clairvoyant. Got a Cosmic Question? Email carol@yourcosmiccafe.com

WELLNESS COMMUNITY

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

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 No physician referral required.

(307) 733-5577•1090 S Hwy 89

www.fourpinespt.com DEEP TISSUE • SPORTS MASSAGE • THAI MASSAGE MYOFASCIAL RELEASE CUPPING

Oliver Tripp, NCTM

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

MASSAGE THERAPIST NATIONALLY CERTIFIED

253-381-2838

180 N Center St, Unit 8 abhyasamassage.com

Enjoy

TM

®

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

307-690-4511

www.tm.org/transcendentalmeditation-jackson

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 29

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

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

30 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

SUDOKU

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.

Are you motivated, have a sense of humor and do what it takes to get it done? Planet Jackson Hole is currently looking for an Advertising Associate who can help us stay in touch with some of our awesome advertisers as well as be our on-thestreets super star for Planet JH. The ideal person will be outgoing, hard-working, a team player and must have some experience.

All inquiries, please send your resume and a brief explanation of why you think you’re the one to: jen@planetjh.com

L.A.TIMES “BETWEEN THE COVERS” By Derek Bowman

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2017

ACROSS 1 4 9 13 18 20

Mouth Healthy org.

Lineal beginner Gibbons, e.g. __ palm Long and drawn-out, say Meredith Grey’s half sister on “Grey’s Anatomy” 22 14th-century Russian ruler 23 Some pool English?

25 “Save Me the Waltz” writer Fitzgerald 26 Vote in 27 Ballet phenom?

29 “The Fountainhead” author Rand 30 More agile 33 Two by two 34 Shoebox letters 35 Chess pieces 37 Holds (up) 40 Regular stockings, as opposed to fishnets?

49 Old DJs’ assortment 51 Same, for starters 52 Military wear, for short 53 Courted 54 Logan of “60 Minutes” 55 One in a rib cage 56 Sends out 58 Shone 61 “Fuller House” actor 63 8 or 9, e.g.?

66 Word for a lady 68 PC file extension 69 “Wish Tree” artist 70 Snowfall during the Olympics?

79 “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” soloist 83 Vulcans, for one 84 Biker’s invite 86 Skip it 87 Gentle 88 Territories of a sort

91 92 93 94

Writer __ Neale Hurston Samarra’s land Use (up) Doghouses and scratching posts?

98 White choice, familiarly 100 Deli option 101 Texting qualifier 102 Nickname in satirical music 106 Transferred to computer memory 109 __ tai 112 Goal for a teacher’s pet?

116 DVD player option 118 Paragon 119 Subscription deal promos ... and a hint to this puzzle’s seven other longest answers 122 Punk, e.g.

123 Bologna bride 124 Cry from Poirot 125 Jane Austen specialty 126 Cabinet dept. with an atom on its seal 127 Cabinet dept. first led by Hamilton 128 Op-__

DOWN 1 2 3

Hopelessly lost Tatted covering Eve who played the principal in “Grease” films 4 Exuberant review term 5 Dadaist Jean 6 Paris pronoun 7 Show for quick feedback 8 Val d’__: French ski resort 9 Two before Charlie 10 Sneak a look at 11 Former pen pal?

12 Exercise done from a supine position 13 Unusually strange 14 Yet

15 Powder source 16 Köln closing 17 Defense attorney’s challenge 19 Gumshoe 21 “Como __?”

24 Eponymous physicist 28 Potluck fare 31 What “p” may stand for 32 Completely make over 36 “TMI!” 38 Hatched backup 39 Jag 40 Comes together 41 Cyan relative 42 Tolled 43 Took in 44 “The Kite Runner” boy 45 Unleavened Indian flatbread 46 Hindu mystic 47 Place of control 48 Jon Arbuckle’s dog 50 __ City: Baghdad suburb 54 Tangy treat 57 Pirate shipmate of Starkey 59 __-Cat 60 Sushi offering 62 At that point 64 “All My __ Live in Texas”: George Strait hit 65 Support pro 67 Blunder 70 Waterskiing hurdle 71 Hipbone-related 72 Closers often open it 73 Post-WWII commerce agreement 74 “... __ o’ kindness ... ”: Burns 75 Only 76 Exude 77 Each 78 Like some love affairs 80 DEA agent

81 Attends 82 Law office abbreviations 85 Supermodel Campbell 89 Empty storefront sign 90 Secret agent 94 “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” singer 95 Blue-pencil 96 “Vive __!”

97 Generic trendsetters 99 “Oh, shucks” 103 Super Bowl XXXIV champions 104 Hang 105 Incandescent bulb gas 107 Young partner 108 “Be __ ... ” 109 Haggard of country 110 Didn’t procrastinate 111 Chorused “Who’s there?” response 112 1958 winner of nine Oscars 113 Polish-German border river 114 Fallon’s predecessor 115 Kingpin 117 Bush in Florida 120 Curling surface 121 Second Amendment org.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

HALF OFF BLAST OFF!

BY ROB BREZSNY

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Here’s your mantra for the next three weeks: “I know what I want, and I know how to glide it into my life.” Say this out loud 11 times right after you wake up each morning, and 11 more times before lunch, and 11 more times at bedtime. “I know what I want, and I know how to glide it into my life.” Whenever you do this little chant, summon an upflow of smiling confidence—a serene certainty that no matter how long the magic might take, it will ultimately work. “I know what I want, and I know how to glide it into my life.” Don’t let any little voice in your head undermine your link to this simple truth. Lift your heart to the highest source of vitality you can imagine.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) The next four weeks will be an excellent time to upgrade your understanding of the important characters in your life. In fact, I suspect you will generate good fortune and meaningful synchronicities whenever you seek greater insight into anyone who affects you. Get to know people better, Leo! If there are intriguing acquaintances who pique your curiosity, find out more about them. Study the oddballs you’re allergic to with the intention to discern their hidden workings. In general, practice being objective as you improve your skill at reading human nature.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) “We cannot simply sit and stare at our wounds forever,” writes Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. “We must stand up and move on to the next action.” That’s your slightly scolding but ultimately inspirational advice, Pisces.

According to my astrological analysis, you have done heroic work to identify and investigate your suffering. You have summoned a tremendous amount of intelligence in order to understand it and further the healing. But right now it’s time to turn your focus to other matters. Like what? How about rebirth?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) In 1787, English captain Arthur Phillip led an eight-month naval expedition to the southeastern part of the continent now known as Australia. Upon arrival, he claimed the land for England, despite the fact that 250,000 Aboriginal people were living there, just as their ancestors had for 2,000 generations. Two hundred years later, an Aboriginal activist named Burnum Burnum planted the Aboriginal flag on the White Cliffs of Dover, claiming England for his people.

I encourage you to make a comparably artful or symbolic act like Burnum’s sometime soon, Virgo—a ritual or gesture to assert your sovereignty or evoke a well-deserved reversal or express your unconquerable spirit.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) By my estimates, 72 percent of you Aries are in unusually good moods. The world seems friendlier, more cooperative. Fifty-six percent of you feel more in love with life than you have in a long time. You may even imagine that the birds and trees and stars are flirting with you. I’m also guessing that 14 percent of you are weaving in and out of being absurdly, deliriously happy, sometimes without any apparent explanation. As a result of your generosity of spirit, you may be the recipient of seemingly impossible rewards like free money or toasted ice cream or unconditional tenderness. And I bet that at least ten percent of you are experiencing all of the above.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) The ancient Roman rhetorician Quintilian authored a twelve-volume textbook on the art of oratory. As ample as it was, it could have been longer. “Erasure is as important as writing,” he said. According to my reading of the astrological omens, that counsel should be a rewarding and even exciting theme for you in the coming weeks.

For the long-term health of your labor of love or your masterpiece, you should focus for a while on what to edit out of it. How could you improve it by making it shorter and more concise?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Do you know about the long-running kids’ show Sesame Street? Are you familiar with Big Bird, the talking eightfeet-tall yellow canary who’s one of the main characters? I hope so, because your horoscope is built around them. In the Sesame Street episode called Don’t Eat the Pictures, Big Bird solves a riddle that frees a 4,000-yearold Egyptian prince from an ancient curse. I think this vignette can serve as a model for your own liberation.

How? You can finally outwit and outmaneuver a very old problem with the help of some playful, even child-like energy. Don’t assume that you’ve got to be relentlessly serious and dour in order to shed the ancient burden. In fact, just the opposite is true. Trust blithe and rowdy spirits.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Will Giovanni surreptitiously replace Allesandra’s birth control pills with placebos? Will Camille take a hidden crowbar to her rendezvous with the blackmailer? Will Josie steal Jose’s diary and sell it on eBay? Given the current astrological omens, you may have an unconscious attraction to soap opera-type events like those. The glamour of melodrama is tempting you. But I’m hoping and predicting that you will express the cosmic currents in less toxic ways. Maybe you’ll hear a searing but healing confession after midnight in the pouring rain, for instance.

Perhaps you’ll break an outworn taboo with ingenious grace, or forge a fertile link with a reformed rascal, or recover a lost memory in a dusty basement.

Your lessons in communication are reaching a climax. Here are five tips to help you do well on your “final exam.” 1. Focus more on listening for what you need to know rather than on expressing what you already know. 2. Keep white lies and convenient deceptions to a bare minimum. 3. Tell the truth as strong and free as you dare, but always—if possible—with shrewd kindness. 4. You are more likely to help your cause if you spread bright, shiny gossip instead of the grubby kind. 5. Experiment with being unpredictable; try to infuse your transmissions with unexpected information and turns of phrase.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) The meaning of the Latin phrase crambe repetita is

MILL IRON RANCH

$30 TOWARDS GROOMING SERVICES FOR $15

50% OFF ONE ADULT SLEIGH RIDE AND DINNER FOR $40

CORE CHANGES WITH CAREY

JACKSON HOLE FEED & PET

50% OFF ONE DROP IN CLASS FOR NEW CLIENTS FOR $9

FULL STEAM SUBS $10 VOUCHER FOR $5

1 VALUE SIZE BOX OF GREENIES LARGE DOG TREATS OR GREENIES PRODUCT FOR $18.50

PINKY G’S PIZZERIA

MOE’S BBQ

ONE SPECIALTY PIE FOR $11.50

PIZZERIA CALDERA

1-MONTH UNLIMITED INTRO NEW CLIENTS ONLY FOR 49.50

JH COMPUNET

TETON COUNTY SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING

HAUL IT HOME DOUBLE WIDE PORK PACK FOR $13

$20 VOUCHER $10

1 HOUR OF COMPUTER REPAIR/ CLEAN UP FOR $47.50

REVOLUTION INDOOR CYCLING

UP TO 100 LBS OF SECURE DOCUMENT SHREDDING FOR $12.50

JOIN LOCAL MERCHANTS IN PLANET JACKSON HOLE’S ADVERTISING TRADE PROGRAM,

“cabbage reheated, twice-cooked.” I urge you to avoid partaking of such a dish in the coming weeks, both literally and figuratively. If you’re truly hungry for cooked cabbage, eat it fresh. Likewise, if you have a ravenous appetite for stories, revelations, entertainment, and information—which I suspect you will— don’t accept the warmed-over, recycled variety. Insist on the brisk, crisp stuff that excites your curiosity and appeals to your sense of wonder.

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.

REDEEM THESE OFFERS AT HALFOFFJH.COM

FEBRUARY 15, 2017 | 31

CANCER (June 21-July 22) All naturally-occurring matter on earth is composed of 92 basic elements arranged in various combinations.

Since some of these appear in trace amounts, they took a long time for humans to discover. In the 18th and 19th centuries, chemists were exuberant when they tracked down seven of the 92 in a single location: an underground mine on the Swedish island of Ytterby. That small place was a mother lode. I’m predicting a metaphorically similar experience for you, Cancerian: new access to a concentrated source that will yield much illumination.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

BRANDI’S GROOMS

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) I am launching a campaign to undo obsolete stereotypes about you Bulls. There are still backwards astrologers out there who perpetrate the lie that many of you are stingy, stolid, stubborn slowpokes. As an antidote, I plan to heighten everyone’s awareness of your sensual, soulful sweetness, and your tastefully pragmatic sensitivity, and your diligent, dynamic productivity. That should be easy in the coming weeks, since you’ll be at the height of your ability to express those superpowers. Luckily, people will also have an enhanced capacity to appreciate you for who you really are. It will be a favorable time to clarify and strengthen your reputation.

SAVE UP TO 50% OFF

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

32 | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

SINC 1896 E

TWO GRAND PRIZES

$500 EACH

Bootleg Flyer & the Miller Sisters

AT THE VIRGINIAN SILENT AUCTION | DANCE LESSONS | GAMBLING | COSTUMES WELCOME

PROCEEDS BENEFIT: JH LION’S CLUB - EYE CARE PROGRAM and HOLE FOOD RESCUE - REFRIGERATION PLATINUM SPONSORS

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

Teri Hernandez

Judy Singleton/ Raymond James Advisors

“Ink King” Printing

T

1 20 4 3 73 ll ca r o , n o Li y n a ickets available at Valley Book Store,