JACKSON HOLE’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | MAY 17-23, 2017
Becom i n g Indivisible How Wyoming’s young Latinos are navigating a web of prejudice and an uncertain fate.
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JACKSON HOLE'S ALTERNATIVE VOICE
VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 19 | MAY 17-23, 2017
12 COVER STORY BECOMING INDIVISIBLE How Wyoming’s young Latinos are navigating a web of prejudice and an uncertain fate. Cover illustration by Kiki Kita
4 THE NEW WEST
18 MUSIC BOX
6 DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS
20 CREATIVE PEAKS 22 CULTURE KLASH
8 THE BUZZ
28 COSMIC CAFE
10 THE BUZZ 3
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THIS WEEK
MAY 17-23, 2017 By Meteorologist Jim Woodmencey After a couple of March-like days this week, it looks like we get back to something closer to “normal” weather conditions for late May, as we roll through this weekend and into early next week. Cool temps with some snow is still not that uncommon for this time of year, but it is generally considered unwelcome! What we hope for is sunny and 70-degrees. May does bring some of that, along with cloudy and 40-degrees the next day.
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There was much more fluctuation in the afternoon high temperatures last week. The warmest day was 73-degrees on Friday, May 12th. Then it dropped more than twenty degrees the next day, with a high of only 52-degrees on Saturday, May 13th. Average high temperatures this week are supposed to be in the mid-60’s. We might get close to that, however, it is unlikely we’ll make it to the record high of 85-degrees, set back on May 23rd, 1934.
64 32 85 13
THIS MONTH AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 1.8 inches RECORD PRECIPITATION: 6 inches (1980) AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 1 inch RECORD SNOWFALL: 14.5 inches (1942)
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MAY 17, 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
Low temperatures in Jackson this past week were down into the 20’s almost every day between May 10th and May 16th. The coldest of those mornings was 25-degrees on May 10th. That is a little cooler than normal. Average low temperatures this week are right at the freezing mark, 32-degrees. The record low temperature in town this week is 13-degrees. It has been that cold twice this late in May, once on May 23rd, 1986 and once before on May 21st, 1975.
NORMAL HIGH NORMAL LOW RECORD HIGH IN 1934 RECORD LOW IN 1986
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JH ALMANAC
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4 | MAY 17, 2017
Endangered Courage Republicans of the West are on a perilous path riding for the Trump brand. U.S. SECRETARY OF INTERIOR OFFICE
BY TODD WILKINSON @BigArtNature
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retending they were cowboys, Vice President Mike Pence, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana donned caballero hats last weekend and cantered their horses up a hill on the Crow Indian Reservation. On a quest to carefully choreograph the right political optics, they struck dramatic defiant poses for the camera, as if characters enlisted for a Marlboro commercial. It wasn’t the first time politicians in wrangler duds have attempted to flaunt their manly bona fides by theatrically stampeding across western sagebrush for effect. Jackson Hole had its own famous episode, an act of rebellion which we’ll get to shortly. Right now, however, it’s special election season in Montana. Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton here by more than 20 percentage points in November, but the president’s plummeting public approval ratings nationally, fueled by his erratic personal behavior and concerns his administration may make the health care crisis worse, have GOP operatives in Washington worried. On Saturday, Pence, who was campaigning in the Treasure State on behalf of GOP Congressional candidate Greg Gianforte—in Mr. Gianforte’s bid to win the seat recently vacated by Zinke—autocratically pronounced, “On behalf of the president of the United States, I’d like to declare that the war on coal is over.” Pence’s declaration came not many hours after the same president of the United States signed a trade agreement, increasing natural gas exports to China, that further dooms any possible resurrection of the American coal industry. Few respected economists believe coal is coming back—bad news for a state like Wyoming, swimming in hundreds of millions of dollars of budget shortfalls. Most experts note it wasn’t climate change policy that brought down coal; rather, a glut of natural gas and oil, the development of which was, ironically, zealously pushed by the same Wyoming politicians who are now stuck dealing with an energy market mess they helped create. As for the worn-out analogy of “a war” being waged against coal by the Obama Administration and the
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, left, rides with Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines last Saturday on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana.
false hope Republicans are peddling to western miners, the truth doesn’t matter to avowed swamp drainers riding high in the saddle. Earlier last week, Zinke went to Utah. There, he visited the new Bears Ears National Monument, set aside by Obama and the result of decades of public discussion, most of it aimed at safeguarding 1.35 million acres of Bureau of Land Management tracts holding 100,000 indigenous artifacts, one of the largest unprotected troves of cultural heritage in America. Following Trump’s vow to “review” 27 national monuments created since 1996 and setting the stage for them possibly being undone, Zinke contributed to several patently false assertions—that Bears Ears involved a federal land grab, that it would prevent the Navajo from engaging in subsistence activities, that it will devastate the economy of San Juan County and that Indians (according to U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch) don’t understand what national monument status for Bears Ears means. Prior to this “fact-finding session,” Zinke, Gianforte and Daines barnstormed across Montana in the company of Donald Trump Jr., who touted his father’s credentials as a self-proclaimed maverick. It’s a bold move by Gianforte to declare himself a loyalist to Trump, who now owns the lowest public approval ratings of any president in history through his first three months of office. What does any of this have to do with Jackson Hole? The ride in Montana is reminiscent of a PR event carefully orchestrated in 1943 when the late rancher Clifford Hansen led a Bundy-like protest against the federal government. Hansen and Hollywood actor Wallace Beery rode with guns in hand to overturn Jackson Hole National
Monument, set aside by Franklin Roosevelt who invoked the federal Antiquities Act. Hansen was then a Teton County commissioner and would go on to serve as governor and U.S. senator. Had Hansen and his wild bunch prevailed 74 years ago, Grand Teton National Park as we know it today might not exist and along with it the $728 million in economic activity it generates. Many would argue the anti-conservation agenda led by Trump and supported by Western lawmakers, including all three members of Wyoming’s Congressional Delegation, is itself an expression of monumental shortsightedness, the same as it was in 1943. Hansen came around and, to his credit, admitted he was wrong. But his GOP descendants who continue to spin false narratives about conservation, public lands, climate change, coal, and health care may be in for a rude awakening. No longer can Republican elected officials continue to evade town hall meetings because they are afraid of being confronted by angry constituents demanding accountability. How many real cowboys hide in the bushes? If or when Trump tumbles, those who stood by him, or worse, who said nothing because they were too afraid to speak the truth, will have a lot to answer for. PJH Todd Wilkinson has been writing his award-winning column, The New West, for nearly 30 years. He is author of Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek about famous Grizzly 399 featuring 150 photographs by Tom Mangelsen. The book is only available at mangelsen.com/grizzly.
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
MAY 17, 2017 | 5
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
6 | MAY 17, 2017
Whose Autocracy is it Anyway? Thirteen authoritarian jokes on America.
If you can’t get Rudy Giuliani or Joe Arpaio, Gowdy is perfect. Not only did he direct the 11-hour grilling of the ever-hated Hillary, but when the House Intelligence Committee questioned Comey in March, Gowdy demonstrated no interest in finding out how Russia had influenced the election. He has, however, been quite interested in prosecuting journalists who publish leaked materials.
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then-National Security Advisor Mike Flynn had been compromised by Russia 18 days before he was fired. During that time, Flynn sat in on a call with Putin.
VIII
FBI Director James Comey was speaking to federal agents when news of his firing flashed across the television behind him. The regime blamed new Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and cited Comey’s treatment of the Clinton email investigation—as if daring us to pretend they are telling the truth.
The rest of the Republicans, meanwhile, have been busy stripping healthcare from people with pre-existing conditions. When Dan Heyman, a reporter in West Virginia, repeatedly asked Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price if domestic violence would count as a pre-existing condition, he was arrested. He faces up to six months in jail for disrupting the work of government. Price commended the police on the arrest.
Back in July, a week before Trump asked the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails, he gave out Lindsey Graham’s phone number and told his supporters to call the senator. Graham recorded a video called “How to Destroy Your Cell Phone With Sen. Lindsey Graham,” where he chops, stabs, sets fire to, blends, toasts, bats, and drops bricks on his phone. But now it seems like the punchline is the fact Graham was using a Samsung flip phone—maybe digital illiteracy saved him from being hacked.
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More than 200 people arrested en masse on Inauguration Day are now facing decades in jail. Authorities issued search warrants and slapped others, like Dylan Petrohilos, with conspiracy charges after the fact. “Prosecuting people based on participation in a public protest,” Petrohilos said, “seems like something that would happen in an authoritarian society,”
Desiree Fairooz, an activist with Code Pink, was found guilty of disorderly and disruptive conduct and parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds—for laughing when Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, said that Sessions’ record of “treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented.” Sessions sent a memo ordering federal prosecutors to seek the stiffest possible penalties in all of their cases, reversing an Obama-era policy that steered away from “enhanced” penalties and mandatory minimums for minor or nonviolent drug crimes.
BY BAYNARD WOODS @DemoInCrisis
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III Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from anything having to do with the investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign after he was caught lying to the Senate about his meetings with Sergei Kislyak, a Russian ambassador widely considered to be a spy. But Sessions still wrote a letter recommending Comey’s canning. He is also involved in hiring the new FBI director, who will be expected to lead the investigation of the Trump campaign.
IV Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina congressman best known for heading up the endless Benghazi hearings, has been floated as a candidate for FBI chief.
VII Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was fired when she refused to enforce Trump’s Muslim ban. She was supposed to testify to the House Intelligence Committee about Russia back before its chair, Devin Nunes, flipped out and jumped from an Uber at midnight on his way to a mysterious White House meeting. Finally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, no fan of Trump or Russia, called her to testify before the Senate, where she said that she had warned the Trump team that
While dismissing concerns about Russia, Trump created a “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” to investigate virtually non-existent voter fraud, putting the presidential seal on his false claims that illegal voters cost him the popular vote. Again, he dares us to believe him.
X Shortly after Comey’s firing, the initial story of Rosenstein’s concern over the treatment of Clinton started to fall apart and it soon became clear Trump himself had initiated the action. But Trump’s story about the decision continues to change. Now Comey is a “showboat,” said the preening reality star. When you lie constantly, it is no longer a problem to be caught in a lie. “Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future ‘press briefings’ and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???” Trump tweeted when the press asked about the contradictory stories.
XI The day after Comey got canned, Trump met with Sergey Kislyak, the same ambassador both Flynn and
Sessions lied about meeting with. The U.S. press was kept out of the meeting, but Russian state media covered it and sent out pictures of Trump and Kislyak shaking hands with the big, arrogant smiles of men who are celebrating something. Later, Press Secretary Sean Spicer hid from reporters in the dark, between two bushes.
XII
Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, another cabinet member with long-term business ties to Russia, also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov—at Putin’s request. When a reporter asked about the firing of Comey, Lavrov laughed. “Was he fired? You’re kidding,” Lavrov said sarcastically as Tillerson stood by. Then the two men left the room without answering any further questions. Later a reporter asked Putin about Comey. He was wearing a hockey uniform in a tunnel that created an iconlike halo around his head on the television screen. Putin, too, said the question was funny. “President Trump is acting in accordance with his competence and in accordance with his law and constitution,” Putin said. “You see, I am going to play hockey with the hockey fans. And I invite you to do the same.” The team was made up of worldclass athletes. Putin scored many, many points.
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Later the administration claimed Russia tricked them into the state-media photo op. Donald Trump recently said he was a “nationalist and a globalist.” Since contradiction doesn’t seem to bother him, perhaps he is also a weak strongman. PJH Email tips to democracyincrisiscolumn@gmail.com.
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8 | MAY 17, 2017
Housing Watch Council OKs car camping and relaxed affordable housing regulations. BY SHANNON SOLLITT @ShannonSollitt
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lmost 12 hours of exhaustive town council meetings yielded, among other things, a handful of victories for housing projects, if being allowed to sleep in a car is considered housing (it is now). Starting June 16, members of Jackson’s workforce will likely be able to legally sleep in their cars in designated parking spots. Town councilors directed staff to prepare an ordinance for reading that will allow overnight parking and car camping in a designated lot north of the Rec Center. The ordinance is in response to a proposal by the housing advocacy group Shelter JH. For time’s sake, the final blueprint for the pilot program is “real barebones,” said councilman Jim Stanford. The town will designate 20 spaces for car camping in cars or attached campers from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The site will not offer water or electricity, just a spot to park your car for the night. To ensure spots are occupied by the workforce, which was a concern for councilors throughout the lengthy discussion, the town will grant permits for each site to local employers, who can then distribute permits to employees as needed. That system, says Parks and Recreation director Steve Ashworth, guarantees that full-time eligible employees utilize the spots, and that spots are occupied consistently throughout the summer. “They purchase the permit as an employer for three months, and if their employee turns over, it’s available to another,” Ashworth explained. Because the program is so rudimentary, councilors felt comfortable with the price tag. Between line painting, signs, porta-potties and two short-term charging stations, the program will cost the town an estimated $9,045. But the $15 charge per night is expected to cover all the cost, and is “extremely reasonable” for a downtown campsite,
councilman Don Frank said. Councilors voted four-to-one to move forward with the ordinance, with councilor Hailey Morton-Levinson the sole dissenting voice. “I’ve been consistent in saying we get one chance,” she said. “I hope [in the fall] you’re telling me, ‘I told you so,’ but I’m not going to support it at this time.” Instead, MortonLevinson said she wants to budget for a “more permanent option” for 2018. “Hopefully in the fall I’ll get to tell you I told you so,” Mayor Pete Muldoon responded. Muldoon acknowledged that the program is not “a great solution, but it’s the best we have.” Calling it a pilot program appeased Frank and Councilor Jim Stanford. “It’s a small step, and a worthwhile experiment,” Stanford said. Frank supported the program despite his initial reluctance. In previous discussions, he had echoed public concerns that parking lots were an unsustainable solution to such a vast housing crisis. Still, on Monday he said he was willing to give it a shot. “There’s a very clear need for relief,” he said. Staff still has to draft the ordinance to allow for overnight parking, which will undergo a series of three readings before the June 16 starting date. The final motion also includes language that allows “staff to make dynamic adjustments” to the program as they see fit, per Muldoon’s request.
Tenant protections In another victory for Shelter JH, councilors voted unanimously to approve a seven-person task force to guide discussions and future policy on tenant protections. The task force’s first order of business is to discuss and make recommendations regarding a proposed licensing program that would require business licenses for landowners leasing one or more residential units. Doing so would hold landlords more accountable for regular inspections and livability standards, though there is concern that such a requirement and a $100 fee would deter landowners from leasing their units. The council essentially agreed to put the responsibility on the taskforce, and trust whatever suggestions members make. “It’s a well-assembled group,” Frank said. “I think we should engage the task force, and trust them to do this work.” Other task force discussion points
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THE BUZZ
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include minimum property maintenance standards, and amended contested case rules to make the process of reporting problems, like leaky roofs or faulty heat, less intimidating for tenants. “It’s a more administrative process as opposed to a criminal process,” explained town attorney Audrey Cohen-Davis. Councilors have yet to make any policy decisions on tenant protections, but the mission of the task force is to guide them in doing so. The task force will hold bi-weekly meetings from now until July 17, at which time it will present recommendations to the council. The seven task force members are Shelter JH board member Rosie Read, public health representative Emily Freeland, landlord Todd Oliver, property manager Tina Korpi, Shelter JH board member and faith leader Mary Erickson, landlord Monay Olson, and property manager Kevin Kavanaugh.
Hidden Hollow inches ahead Developers from Hansen & Hansen LLP are one step closer to breaking ground on a 168-unit housing project on North Cache. Town council unanimously approved a development plan for Phase 1a of the project, which is only for utilities like sewers, water, pathways and sidewalks, roadways, and gas. Approving a development plan in pieces is not the usual order of business, Stanford noted, but town planning director Tyler Sinclair said doing so on this project is in the interest of time. “[The applicants] were ready with utility drawings two months before they were ready to submit architectural drawings,” Sinclair said. Now, developers can get a head start on laying the groundwork for the development. “We’re not going to do anything we can’t finish,” said applicant Zane Powell of Hansen & Hansen LLP. “We’re here to get a head start. These things have to
get done.” Developers will come back to the council with a development plan for actual building construction in a few months time. The project is a mixedunit development of 13 detached single-family units, 20 attached singe-family units (townhomes), and 135 attached single-family units. Councilors approved the development plan under three conditions: that the applicant and the town enter into a development agreement, to be separately reviewed on June 5, outlining cost responsibilities for “oversized and offsite improvements,” like burying power lines; that the developer pay for the full cost of a five-foot sidewalk on the south side of Mercill Street, which borders the property; and that the applicant submit a Letter of Map Revision with FEMA and pay the associated fees.
Adios affordable standards
And finally, after months of contentious debate, an ordinance exempting new apartment buildings of 20 units or more from affordable housing standards passed in a third reading after no discussion at all. If you’re just tuning in, the ordinance is an amendment to Land Development Regulations (LDRs). For the next five years (a five-year sunset clause was one of the council’s conditions of approval), all new apartment buildings of 20 units or more (for context, the Grove phase 1 is 20 units) will no longer have to regulate any of their units “affordable.” Instead, applicants argued that dense apartment buildings are inherently affordable and work-force occupied. The ordinance is a victory for applicant and restaurateur Joe Rice, who can move forward with his proposed 90-unit apartment complex unencumbered by affordable housing standards, which he argued are crippling to developers. PJH
THE BUZZ 2 Quashing Corporate Coffers Wyomingites join states in the battle to rid dark money from the political piggy bank. BY ROBYN VINCENT @TheNomadicHeart
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ratification method, apparently regardless of whether Congress or a convention of states proposes the amendment. Chestek acknowledges the path ahead is drawn-out and daunting. “This is unquestionably a lengthy process just to get the amendment proposed and ratified. And even once the amendment has been ratified, all it does is empower Congress and the state legislatures to enact meaningful campaign finance measures,” he said. “But that ... doesn’t mean we should give up; nothing will ever change unless we start the process now.” For states like Nevada, that have already started the process, its work may be paying off soon. Assembly Bill 45 may include an amendment that requires all candidates for public office to disclose the total amount in their campaign accounts at the end of the reporting period, reported the Las Vegas Review Journal in April. Wyoming, too, had a chance at legislative action when Jackson Rep. Mike Gierau introduced House Joint Resolution 10, Free and Fair Elections, in January. The bill, co-sponsored by local Rep. Andy Schwartz and Reps. Cathy Connolly and John Freeman, passed out of committee but died on the House floor. As the CEO of a multimillion dollar business, Gierau says the issue resonates with him, particularly when it comes to transparency. “I do not believe I should have any more of a voice than anyone else and right now that’s not true,” he told PJH. “When I personally give money, I have to fill out a form and there is no mystery to it. You can type my name into google to see who I have contributed to, yet if my company donates a million dollars to a PAC (political action committee) it is nowhere to be found. That’s not right.” PJH
MAY 17, 2017 | 9
measures in 2012 by a staggering 75 percent margin. In Montana, C.B. Pearson led that effort through his group Stand with Montanans. “Republicans and Democrats alike were involved … we were able to bring together a diverse group of people, even while the group American Traditional Partnership tried to have it removed from the ballot,” Pearson told PJH. “It’s really about pushing the campaign finance system so that people are represented by their representatives … everyone agrees we are losing our democratic system because of the role of wealth in elections and policymaking.” That a “straight shooter” like Simpson, respected by liberals and conservatives alike, is advocating for the campaign gives Pearson hope for its success in Wyoming. “We are honored Al Simpson has made such a strong message on this … I have always admired him,” he said. The Simpson factor aside, Chestek likes to note the measure has passed in every state where it has made it to the ballot. “This is a non-partisan issue,” he said. “It just passed in Washington and Wisconsin, even in Paul Ryan’s district … I feel very confident that if we can get it on the ballot, it will pass.” To get it on the ballot, though, there’s a lot of work to be done, a lot of volunteers to knock on doors, a lot of tables at county fairs. “We are going to do everything you can think of,” Chestek said. There’s also the elephant in the room—members of Congress, who are the primary beneficiaries of the current system of campaign finance, are highly unlikely to propose an amendment allowing the system to change, Chestek explained. But if a total of 34 states call for a limited convention of the states to propose such an amendment, then a proposed amendment would be adopted as soon as it was ratified by 38 states. State ratification, Chestek noted, is by either the legislature or a state convention, and Congress determines the
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
non-partisan group in Wyoming wants to purge dark money from politics, and its ramping up efforts all over the state, including in Jackson Hole. Wyoming Promise—whose supporters include former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, former Governor Dave Freudenthal and a couple hundred citizens—is leading an initiative to call for a 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution that would overturn Citizens United. The fallout from the 2010 landmark Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commissions, is that there’s no limit to the amount of money corporations and unions can spend to support lawmakers. In a letter to Wyoming citizens, Simpson wrote, “support a 28th Amendment to the Constitution so we can … secure human liberty and equal representation rather than turn our government over to a global corporate marketplace.” Folks like Simpson, Freudenthal, and Wyoming Promise chairman Ken Chestek say the deluge of corporate money in politics is the single greatest threat to democracy. Politicians are no longer beholden to the people, but instead to those who bankroll them by the thousands and millions. “Congress has lost its connection to voters,” said Chestek, who will speak at the Old Wilson Schoolhouse Thursday night. “We see examples of this all the time,” he continued. “Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) voted against importing prescription drugs from Canada, which would have saved us all a lot of money, but several pharmaceutical companies in his district gave him money so he
voted against it.” Chestek, a University of Wyoming law professor, decided to pursue the initiative after an unsuccessful bid for the Wyoming House, where he had hoped to craft campaign finance reform legislation. He is working with National Promise, the grassroots organization leading the charge on campaign finance reform across the country. After Wyoming’s Secretary of State certifies the initiative this month, residents will have until February 12, 2018 to submit 38,818 signatures, sourced from at least 16 counties, for the initiative to appear on the November 2018 general election ballot. Almost 40,000 signatures seem a lofty goal for a sparsely populated state like Wyoming. That number is dictated by state law—it represents the 15 percent of voters in the state who turned out for the 2016 presidential election. But every week another example of Congress’ blatant disregard for constituents surfaces that makes this issue increasingly apparent to the public, Chestek said, and this campaign more relevant. He pointed to public uproar over the American Health Care Act (Trumpcare). “The AHCA will not help ordinary folks and you see the town halls with folks yelling at Congress, but [the House of Representatives] passed it because wealthy donors wanted it to be passed.” Indeed, these wealthy donors are showering politicians with more and more cash than in recent years. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, this year the amount of money D.C. lobbyists spent on their political pals was the largest for a first quarter since 2012: $838.4 million. While Wyoming is among the five states with citizen groups pushing for this measure, 18 states have already enacted measures calling on Congress to propose an amendment overturning Citizens United. Neighboring Montana and Colorado passed ballot
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
10 | MAY 17, 2017
THE BUZZ 3 Master Plans More public input some argue, is necessary before moving forward with the town hill’s blueprint for expansion. BY SHANNON SOLLITT : @ShannonSollitt
“I
live close to a forest, and my dog was eaten by a mountain lion. If I lived next to a ski resort, I’d expect development.” So concluded Rick Hunt’s interesting public comment in support of Snow King’s Phase 2 development plan Monday afternoon. Hunt was among approximately 20 people who voiced their support of Snow King Mountain Resort’s Phase 2 development plan at Monday’s town council workshop. Discussion and public comment on the first agenda item alone lasted almost two hours. Snow King, many emphasized, is the community’s playground, and an essential part of the town’s character. The development plan, which includes a gondola, summit amenities, and expansion to the South and West, is essential to Snow King’s economic vitality, proponents argue. But the merits of Snow King Resort were not what the council was there to discuss, said 47-year resident Franz Camenzind. Instead, town councilors were asked to consider writing a letter to Bridger-Teton National Forest that would allow the United States Forest Service to begin the National Environmental Policy Act review process for Snow King’s expansion application. Crystal clear, right? Quick synopses: BTNF owns much of the land on Snow King Mountain, which means the community owns it, too. It’s public. For Snow King’s development plan to move along, the Forest Service must first grant approval, and before that can happen, it needs to go through NEPA, which is designed to protect federal wilderness. Still following? The town also owns a big chunk of Snow King territory, so its input matters, too. What makes everything so controversial isn’t the proposed development, necessarily, but the lack of public involvement and the order of operations. “Once something’s approved through NEPA, it’s approved,” said Craig Benjamin, executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. In other words, there’s no going back. “We need to make sure that the things that are getting approved through NEPA really benefit our community,” Benjamin said. “That’s the whole goal of Snow King, so it should be in their best interest to make sure the order is correct.” What, exactly, should that order be? There are options, Benjamin said, but all of them need to include an update to Snow King’s 17-year-old base master plan. Otherwise, “it feels like you’re building a second-story addition on a house when the foundation is crumbling.”
“The master plan is 17 years old,” echoed the Alliance’s community planning director Mary Gibson during the workshop. “We seem to avoid that point today. … The interest is in overall vision and community character, and cost and impacts to the community.” Gibson proposed that the master plan be revised first, or at least in tandem with the National Forest review process. “I feel like were putting the cart before the horse,” Mike May agreed. “I’d like to see the 17-year plan updated, and wait on the NEPA process.” Gibson and May were the minority voices at the May 15 workshop, but town councilors received approximately 20 emails from locals on Monday morning expressing similar concerns. Many of them were from a template drafted by the Conservation Alliance. “If you allow Snow King to move into the NEPA process, you’ll be tacitly endorsing their proposed projects without understanding their impacts on our community and without a plan to mitigate these substantial impacts,” the email reads. “There has been no public process and the community has not had any sort of opportunity to make their voice heard on this hugely important issue, so those steps should happen before NEPA.” Councilor Hailey Morton-Levinson addressed the email directly at the meeting, questioning whether a letter accepting the master plan would, in fact, be an endorsement of it. Not necessarily, said planning director Tyler Sinclair. The town could still direct opportunities for public comment, even after the letter was signed. “The process is not binding,” said BTNF official Dale Dieter. “I can’t think of any project where the final decision reflected where it started. It’s always informed by public comment.” Morton-Levinson also addressed the concern that “we don’t know how [the development] will impact wildlife.” NEPA, she said, examines exactly that. Still, those who align with the Conservation Alliance fear a lack of public engagement should the NEPA process begin before the master plan is revised. Despite general manager Ryan Stanley’s assertion that Snow King has “done an extraordinary public feedback process,” Benjamin says it’s not enough. Meetings that include free food and beer are “appreciated,” he said, “but that’s not really public process.” The plan itself is also dated, Councilor Jim Stanford observed, and includes “many promises that haven’t
been delivered on.” “It’s not just about the recreational feature,” Stanford said. “There’s a built-in base, agreements and responsibilities that never came into fruition.” Agreements like 600,000 square feet of developable land—the equivalent of six Marriots—that have yet to be developed. Without developments, the Alliance notes on its blog, there are “no corresponding public benefits” that original property owners agreed to provide 17 years ago. But many who stood behind Snow King at Monday’s meeting were concerned with the hill’s economic future. Stanley pointed out that small resorts like Snow King across the country are dying. “It’s a tough ball game,” he said. “This winter was our best financially … and we still lost money. We want to make Snow King sustainable in the summer and winter.” Even those who are “wary of development,” like Emily Coombs, recognized Snow King’s necessity to grow in order to survive. Snow King, Coombs pointed out, serves members of the community that don’t have access to Teton Village, like the valley’s growing Latino population. “I’ve met Max [Chapman, president] myself, and I believe him. He says he cares about the Latino community; I believe him.” Benjamin agrees that no one wants to see Snow King fail. The question, he said, is “what’s the best way to move forward with development plans in a way that’s best for the community.” “Everyone loves Snow King,” he said. “It belongs to all of us, it’s our public land. Everyone feels a sense of ownership of it, and rightfully so.” After two hours of discussion and comment, councilors moved to continue the discussion to the next regularly scheduled town council meeting on June 5. Morton-Levinson said she felt more comfortable with the NEPA process after so much discussion, but Stanford and Mayor Pete Muldoon remained wary. “I can’t wait to ride on the gondola,” Muldoon said. “But it’s our responsibility to make sure we look into the details.” Councilor Don Frank reminded citizens who are concerned with public input that engagement is as easy as showing up. “Snow King made significant efforts for public outreach,” he said. “I encourage citizens to pay attention to whatever process we engage in. Engage early, so you’re not coming to meetings feeling like the train’s left the station. The process is completely open if you pay attention.” PJH
NEWS OF THE
WEIRD
By CHUCK SHEPHERD Sweet, Sweet Revenge
It is legal in China to sell electric “building shakers” whose primary purpose apparently is to wreak aural havoc on apartment-dwellers’ unreasonably noisy neighbors. Models sell for the equivalent of $11 to $58—each with a long pole to rest on the floor, extending ceiling height to an electric motor braced against the shared ceiling or wall and whose only function is to produce a continuous, thumping beat. Shanghaiist.com found one avenger in Shaanxi province who, frustrated by his miscreant neighbor, turned on his shaker and then departed for the weekend. (It was unclear whether he faced legal or other repercussions.)
Can’t Possibly Be True
Mats Jarlstrom is a folk hero in Oregon for his extensive research critical of the short yellow light timed to the state’s red-light cameras, having taken his campaign to TV’s 60 Minutes and been invited to a transportation engineers’ convention. In January, Oregon’s agency that regulates engineers imposed a $500 fine on Jarlstrom for “practicing engineering” without a state license. The agency, in fact, wrote that simply using the phrase “I am an engineer” is illegal without a license, even though Jarlstrom has a degree in engineering and worked as an airplane camera mechanic. He is suing to overturn the fine. nLast year, surgeons at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), for only the second time in history, removed a tumor sitting on the peanut-sized heart of a fetus while the heart was still inside the mother’s womb—in essence successfully operating on two patients simultaneously. The Uruguayan mother said her initial reaction upon referral to CHOP’s surgeons was to “start laughing, like what, they do that?” The baby’s December birth revealed that the tumor had grown back and had to be removed again, except this time, through ordinary heart surgery. nThe word “Isis” arrived in Western dialogue only after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as an acronym for the Islamic State, and the Swahili word “Harambe”
said the tyke had been relentlessly hassling their daughter (trying to kiss her) and that Balboa Elementary School officials seem unable to stop him.
was known to almost no one until May 2016 when the gorilla “Harambe” (named via a local contest) was put down by a Cincinnati zoo worker after it had dragged an adventurous 3-year-old boy away. In April, a Twitter user and the website Daily Dot happened upon a 19-year-old California restaurant hostess named Isis Harambe Spjut and verified with state offices that a driver’s license (likely backed by a birth certificate) had been issued to her. (“Spjut” is a Scandinavian name.)
n A private plane crashed on take-off 150 feet from the runway at Williston, Fla., Municipal Airport on April 15, killing all four on board, but despite more than a dozen planes having flown out of the same airport later that day, no one noticed the crash site until it caught the eye of a pilot the next afternoon.
Government in Action
Least Competent Criminals
Thirty-four residents of State Street in Brooklyn, N.Y., pay a tax of more than $1,000 a year for the privilege of sitting on their front stoops (a pastime which, to the rest of New York City, seems an inalienable right). The property developer had made a side deal with the city to allow the tax in exchange for approving an architectural adjustment. n The town of Conegliano, Italy, collects local taxes on “sidewalk shadows” that it applies to cafés or businesses with awnings, but also to stores with a single overhanging sign that very slightly blocks sun. Shop owners told reporters the tax felt like Mafia “protection” money.
Finer Points of the Law
“Oh, come on!” implored an exasperated Chief Justice Roberts in April when the Justice Department lawyer explained at oral argument that, indeed, a naturalized citizen could have his citizenship retroactively canceled just for breaking a single law, however minor—even if there was never an arrest for it. Appearing incredulous, Roberts hypothesized that if “I drove 60 miles an hour in a 55-mile-an-hour zone,” but was not caught and then became a naturalized citizen, years later the government “can knock on my door and say, ‘Guess what? You’re not an American citizen after all’?” The government lawyer stood firm. The Supreme Court decision on the law’s constitutionality is expected in June.
Edwin Charge Jr., 20, and two accomplices allegedly attempted a theft at a Hood River, Ore., business on April 23, but fled as police arrived. The accomplices were apprehended, but Charge took off across Interstate 84 on foot, outrunning police until he fell off a cliff to his death. n Police said Tara Cranmer, 34, tried to elude them in a stolen truck on tiny Ocracoke Island, N.C., on April 22. Since it is an island, the road ends, and she was captured on the dunes after abandoning the truck.
Update
Italian Surgeon Sergio Canavero—notorious as the world’s most optimistic advocate of human brain transplants—now forecasts that a cryogenically frozen brain will be “awakened” (“thawed”) and transplanted into a donor body by the year 2020. His Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group claimed success in 2016 in transplanting a monkey’s head, with blood vessels properly attached (though not the spinal cord). Canavero promised such a head transplant of humans by 2018, though problematic because, like the recipient monkey, the recipient human would not long survive. Of the subsequent brain transplant, one of the gentler critics of Canavero said the likelihood of success is “infinitestimal”—with harsher critics describing it in more colorful language. Thanks this week to Pete Randall, Liz Baer, Don Cole, Steve Dunn and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.
Wait, What?
Emily Piper and her husband went to court in January in Spokane, Wash., to file for a formal restraining order against a boy who is in kindergarten. Piper
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Becom i n g Indivisible How Wyoming’s young Latinos are navigating a web of prejudice and an uncertain fate.
N BY SARAH ROSS
o one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well ... no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land – an excerpt from Home by Warsan Shire
could happen any second.” This fear permeates even those who’ve been here most of their lives: “People forget that not everyone chooses to be here. I forgot I was supposed to be worried about being deported. I’m from here. I went to school here. I graduated from here.” Now, Serrano cannot afford to make a mistake. “If an undocumented person makes a mistake, it can be a death sentence in some ways.” This limbo has become especially excruciating under the Trump administration, which has demonstrated a commitment to more deportations, even of those who were previously safe— like those with minor criminal histories, or those protected by the DREAM Act. For many immigrants in Wyoming, the future is uncertain.
“We’re going to fight this to the end”
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It wasn’t until Serrano was a teenager that he realized that some would rather exclude him from their vision of the state. When his dad died and they moved to Cheyenne, the slurs began, the run-ins with the police, the racism: “I started to notice there was a difference between people. The north side was rich and white, Mexicans lived on the south side.” This de facto residential segregation is a hangover from a time of more institutionalized racism, when it was not uncommon for restaurants to refuse to serve people of color or for stores to hang signs reading, “No Dogs, No Mexicans.” Prejudice is no longer so blatant, but Serrano sensed a quiet unease, an underlying resistance to people like him. Once, he took his little brother out to eat and overheard a conversation between two teachers. “One was talking about how ‘those Mexican kids don’t listen.’ I was just thinking how my little brother would feel hearing that.”
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In Gonz Serrano’s case, his mother didn’t put him on a boat. She put him on an inner tube. He was six years old when she pushed him across the Rio Grande as part of their long journey from Guanajuato, Mexico, to Burns, Wyoming, where his father was waiting. The first time someone called Serrano a wetback, his mother was confused: “But mijo, your back never even touched the water!” It was 1993, and Burns had a population of 272. Soon, the family moved to Albin, population less than 100. Serrano’s family was one of many Mexican families that would eventually settle in Albin during the 1990s. Now, like Jackson Hole, Albin is more than 30 percent Latino. Serrano doesn’t remember the journey across the river. He doesn’t remember much from before Wyoming. He didn’t know he was part of the largest immigration wave from Mexico, spurred by poverty, violence, and a feeling of hopelessness for the future. His family left two years before a massive economic crisis devastated the country.
Since then, nearly everyone in his family has immigrated to the US. In Mexico, Serrano lived “in extreme poverty … in a house that was made up of stacked rocks and concrete … I remember scorpions on the walls and taking cold showers with a bucket in the middle of the room where there was a drain.” If he’d stayed, Serrano said, “there’s little doubt I would’ve ended up selling drugs, then most likely getting killed.” Since the family’s departure, violence has increased exponentially in the area. According to the San Miguel Times, Guanajuato has one of the highest rates of violence in the country, including more than 100 homicides a month. Moving to Wyoming ensured Serrano a future he wouldn’t have had in Mexico. Now, his memories are like those of many who grow up in the West. He recalls a happy, rural childhood surrounded by friends and family, most who worked in the agriculture industry. “I grew up working in the fields. We’d go out there with our grandpas, uncles, and friends, and we’d pick weeds from the wheat field.” However, as for many Mexican immigrants in the state, an idyllic childhood always carried an undercurrent of fear. Serrano barely remembers a home other than Wyoming, but he was recently reminded that he cannot afford to feel too safe. He is currently caught in one of the confounding binds of immigration policy. “There is no path to citizenship,” he said. “It’s an obstacle course.” When his father died when he was 16, his family struggled amid the grief. He dropped out of school, and his family moved around. In the chaos, Serrano failed to register for the draft when he turned 18. Several years later, he accidentally let his green card lapse. When he went to renew it, he discovered that because he hadn’t registered for the draft, he wouldn’t be able to apply for citizenship until he turns 31. He is 30 now. Until next year, he waits, he hopes, and he advocates for others: “It never really goes away. You find yourself really paying attention to your speed as you drive … you think about it constantly. It
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over. I try to take everything I’ve learned up to this point, everything I have … that’s how we win in the end. With love. That’s how we do it, that’s how we have to do it.” Many immigrants in Wyoming face this tension. In learning to manage near constant fear and anger, they convert pain into love for their communities and homes, and into a struggle they don’t necessarily know if they’ll win. “My whole family, we are undocumented and unafraid,” Serrano said. “We’re going to fight this to the end.”
“Less and less and less” Gonz Serrano
From a young age, Serrano learned to be on high alert around law enforcement, an awareness that has intensified over time. Several years ago, Serrano was preparing to move from Cheyenne to Oregon and was standing outside his going away party with some family members when a police car pulled up and an officer started questioning them. “The cops said, ‘we have reports of a stolen bike,’” Serrano recalled. “We told them we didn’t have any bike, that we were having a going away party. All of a sudden, there were seven cop cars in the corner all asking us questions, and we were just saying ‘we didn’t do anything.’” Eventually, Serrano asked if he could record what was happening because it was making him uncomfortable. The cops left. “We know we’re targeted,” Serrano said. “Deep down we always feel it … they tell us we’re safe, but we’re really not ... I was taught to fear the cops, to fear white people. My family had too much to lose.” Serrano is one of the co-founders of Juntos, a Cheyenne-based group that advocates for members of the Latino and undocumented population. Juntos organized the recent May Day March in solidarity with laborers across the country. On May 1, a large group walked from downtown Cheyenne to Governor Matt Mead’s office to deliver a letter asking that he formally protect Wyoming’s undocumented workers. It wasn’t the first time Serrano marched for the rights of those in his community. More than a decade ago, Serrano and his sister organized an event in solidarity with undocumented workers. As they marched, people hurled insults from cars, calling them “spics” and “wetbacks.” Every time Serrano is called a slur or feels a surge of fear when a police car passes, anger is his first reaction. “It’s always the first thing to come up. But it’s so important to not let that take you
Serrano’s experience in the southern part of the state is echoed by young Mexican heritage people in Jackson Hole. Anna Morillon was born and raised in the valley, and is now a student at University of Wyoming. Her family has been here for generations: “My grandparents were some of the very first Hispanic people to settle in Jackson.” Back then, it was easy to get visas to work in the U.S. Now, her parents own a cleaning company and a Mexican goods store near the Town Square. “We’ve been here since the beginning,” Morillon said. Morillon has always been a bridge between cultures. Until third grade, she was the only bilingual person in her class. “A lot of the kids coming in did not speak English, so I would be a translator for their parents,” she explained. Even as a young child, Morillon was caught between two emotions—a feeling of solidarity with her community, and shame that she was a part of that community. “For a while I was embarrassed. I heard negative comments like, ‘oh all these Mexicans are coming into town,’ so I would try to disassociate myself as much as possible from them. But also try to help them out.” As Morillon describes it, the children of immigrants struggle to find their place. “Kids want to disassociate themselves from who they are and where they come from,” she said. “I’ve met a lot of Hispanic Anna Morillon kids who say they don’t want
to speak Spanish, they only want to speak English … the stigma of being Mexican makes kids deny their roots.” Morillon loves Jackson Hole, but she notices the glances, the subtle ways she is made to feel less than. “People always assume that just because I have a different skin color I’m stupid.” Recently, she was in line at Smiths when she realized she forgot her wallet and said she’d have to go get it from the car. The man behind her muttered, “Just like a typical Mexican.” She turned around and said, “Excuse me?” He was shocked that she replied. “I wasn’t going to let him humiliate me like that. He didn’t apologize, he just left the line.” She knows it’s harder for people who are more vulnerable—those who aren’t bilingual, or who are undocumented. “I know one woman, she’s a single mom who works four jobs and gets four hours of sleep. People are so nasty to her because they assume she doesn’t have papers, that she’s stupid, that she doesn’t speak English. ... It makes you feel less and less and less.” Morillon’s perception that people feel like they live on the fringes is substantiated by data compiled by a 2015 assessment by Eriksen-Meier Consulting. It demonstrated that in Jackson Hole, 60 percent of the Latino community are first generation (and therefore far more likely to be undocumented), 36 percent are second generation, and 4 percent are third generation. Of those polled in the immigrant community, 55 percent said they felt included in the greater Jackson community, 45 percent said they did not. Forty-five percent also said they don’t feel that their voices are heard or that their opinions matter. When asked to elaborate, participants wrote comments like, “I feel marginalized”; “Why don’t they take us into account?” and “Language, racism.” One person wrote a barrier to being heard was “accessibility of housing.” They suggested “more propagation of information. It is very
Victor Zarate
to commit crimes and steal jobs. “It really hurts because I thought we were a more connected community,” he said. Zarate was very close to two of the most recent Jackson deportees. He says one of them immigrated here when he was a toddler, after his mother escaped an abusive relationship in Mexico. He was on probation for possession of a small amount of marijuana. The man has a newborn, and Zarate says he’s “been working hard to have money, to get an education, to be somebody.” The deportation was painful enough, but it hurt to see community members speak as if the deported men were lessthan. “They say things like Mexicans are only here to steal jobs and steal housing. It affects you. You wish to not be living this.” The people closest to Zarate are fearful right now. His mother was concerned about him speaking publicly about immigration issues, but Zarate sees it as his duty. “I don’t want my parents to be afraid. I will do anything to keep my parents safe because I’m a U.S. citizen and those are my parents and I claim them … they had the courage to come to this country when there was a chance they wouldn’t make it.” As the child of immigrants, Zarate feels strongly that it is up to him to tell his family’s story, and to resist injustices when he sees them: “My generation is going to fight. It’s our job as immigrant kids to speak out because right now people like my parents are too afraid to speak.”
“It’s our job as immigrant kids”
“Their kids go to school with your kids” Juntos is working to alleviate some of that fear. One of its priorities is to help immigrant families fill out emergency paperwork so that if a parent is deported there’s a plan for their children. People from Juntos coach folks on what to say if ICE arrives at their door, and educate undocumented people about their rights. Serrano says that these trainings provide so much relief to people—any way they can feel in control, he said, is important. Lena Graber, who was raised in Jackson Hole and is now an attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in California, says this fear is not unfounded. While deportations were high during the Obama administration, she says they’ve taken on a new tone. “ICE is less predictable, and more indiscriminate,” she said. “A lot more people are disappearing.” For example, those with prior deportation records have no right to legal hearings and can be deported by ICE on the spot. Recently, Graber has heard reports of ICE arresting these people and transporting them to Mexico within hours. Their families will not know where they are until they call from across the border. This method is more extreme and new. “These disappearances have
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Victor Zarate, 19, was also born in Jackson Hole. His parents arrived about 30 years ago, though neither has been able to achieve legal status. They moved to the United States because they couldn’t find any work in Mexico. “You can’t control anything there. The only choice they had was to leave. They came here for one reason only. To work,” he said. Growing up, Zarate always noticed disparities. He was occasionally called a wetback, but the differences also took more subtle forms: “My white friends traveled, they got to do things I never did. You look at yourself in the mirror and you see a Hispanic kid, and you have a wish to go somewhere, but we can’t. We don’t want to lose what we already have, we have to work. So immigrant kids don’t get the same opportunities.” He always noticed that “Hispanics work in the kitchens, they’re not seen. Behind every piece of fruit and vegetable is an immigrant.” His parents dreamed of more opportunity for their kids—Zarate was never allowed to go to sleepovers because his mom said he needed to focus on school. Zarate has recently noticed an uptick in people expressing prejudicial viewpoints. He’s felt hurt by commenters online suggesting that Jackson will be a cleaner place if ICE deported more people, and that immigrants come to this country
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hidden here.” When asked what they would like to improve about the community the most, respondents overwhelmingly said more affordable housing. Many also highlighted the need for renter’s protections, and others wrote about discrimination. Answers included: “Humane feelings toward the neediest class”; “Law enforcement is prejudiced” and “Information and more help for how to contribute to the community.” One person wished there would be “no discrimination by which we are outcast.” Another said they wanted to see “the Anglo community communicate more with the Latino community.” “To listen to the minority,” was someone else’s wish for the community. “More housing for Latinos,” read another comment, “because we are the ones who do the dirty jobs.” Several wished they could obtain driver’s licenses, something Wyoming law currently forbids. And some wrote that they wished for legal status, to “have access to social security.” To feel consistently marginalized takes a toll, especially when compounded with socioeconomic difficulties. Though Latinos constitute around 30 percent of Jackson’s population, the highest concentration in the state, many struggle to make ends meet. Immigrants’ average income is $26,000 as compared to the average $72,000. Morillon has witnessed the toll this takes: “I’ve seen a family of 10 live in an apartment for two.” She struggles when so much blame is placed on immigrants. “They’re not supposed to drive without a license, but they have to get to work,” she said. “You’re expecting them to go on the START bus with their kids day and night. The system is so broken but so much is asked of people.” The system seems broken partially because
of how difficult it is for people to achieve legal status. It took Morillon’s mother 25 years to complete the process to become documented. “Was she supposed to not drive that whole time?” Morillon asked. Fear was a constant companion during those 25 years, and it hasn’t gone away. “My own parents are afraid and they are here legally,” she said. “My dad is scared his store will get closed down.” Morillon grew up knowing people who got deported, or watching friends’ parents be deported. She recognized some of the five people most recently arrested by ICE. “I saw people I grew up with.” Now, Morillon feels it is her obligation to speak out against the damaging stereotypes about her community, and to take pride in her heritage even under an administration that has broadly painted Mexicans as criminals: “I grew up in Jackson, but my roots are in Mexico and I will always defend them.”
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kids, you’ve got to take notice. When you see your kid’s friend out marching it has to open your eyes a little bit. That’s the most important thing, to remind people that we are still people.”
Strawberry fields
About 200 people gathered in downtown Cheyenne on May 1 for a May Day March to stand in solidarity with Wyoming’s undocumented workers.
been under Trump, not Obama,” she said. Part of the problem is that there is virtually nothing requiring ICE to keep its word. For example, the ICE spokesman for Wyoming has said that ICE will not target those with low level crimes, but there is nothing holding agents to that, and the data demonstrates that agents’ behavior on the ground sometimes diverges from policy. In Jackson Hole, 75 percent of immigrants with previous convictions arrested in Teton County between 2002 and 2015 had misdemeanors, not high level crimes. “This is the crisis of our immigration system,” Graber said. “People are up for deportation even if they’ve never so much as pulled someone’s hair.” Because ICE operates as a separate entity, local law enforcement across the country have severed ties, refusing to cooperate or communicate with the agency, especially as court cases increasingly demonstrate that ICE’s use of detainers is unconstitutional. “The agencies that do cooperate with them usually do so out of habit,” Graber said, “or because they’ve never thought of it, or because they were asked.” However, they are under no obligation to do so. It is incredibly difficult for undocumented residents to become documented, and if they are undocumented, they are deportable by an organization that has little oversight. The constant possibility of deportation causes a fear that, as Zarate said, can cause some to live in the dark, to feel safe only in the shadows. Serrano rejects this. Part of the May Day March was to show that undocumented people are here, that they are unafraid, and that native-born people interact with them every day: “That visibility is so important … you know these people. In Wyoming, you definitely do. You stand with them in the grocery store line, their kids go to school with your
“That visibility is so important … you know these people. Their kids go to school with your kids, you’ve got to take notice.”
Part of being an undocumented resident is to be familiar with fear. However, there’s also a power and a pride that comes with that history. Serrano feels every day. The morning of the May Day March, for example, he was eating a strawberry. As he ate, he remembered a time he was outdoors with a filmmaker friend. He commented that the view was beautiful. The filmmaker agreed, but added more for him: “He told me what he saw. I saw the depth, the texture, everything he saw. He gave me his eyes for a second. He gave me his filmmaker eyes, and it blew my mind.” Lending perspective is the most powerful thing anyone can do, Serrano said. And that’s what he hopes Wyomingites can do for one another. That day he saw that strawberry with an immigrant’s eyes: “I know my people picked, processed, and shipped that strawberry to me.” If everyone could see the world through this lens, to build an awareness of the contributions of undocumented laborers, everything, he says, would be different. “Perspective gives you patience,” Serrano said. “Anger is easier. You want to lash out and fight when you don’t understand something or somebody else. Patience is harder.” Taking the time, then, to reorient and to see something differently humanizes those who seem so distant, like the undocumented worker picking strawberries in California, or slicing the same berries in the kitchen of a Jackson Hole restaurant. PJH
The May Day March procession was headed by members of Juntos, an immigrants rights organization co-founded by Gonz Serrano.
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MA/LPC
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MAY 17, 2017 | 17
SEE CALENDAR PAGE 20
THURSDAY, MAY 18
n Storytime 10:30am, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-6379 n Storytime 11:00am, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-6379 n Silver Projects: Fabrication and Stone Setting Varieties 11:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $70.00 $84.00, 307-733-6379 n Teton Toastmasters 12:00pm, Teton County Commissioners Chambers, Free, n Reedy Urban featuring Talley Collections 1:00pm, Reedy Urban, Free, 307-739-9121 n Docent Led Tours 2:30pm, Murie Ranch of Teton Science Schools, Free, 307739-2246 n After School Monthly Workshops 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $180.00 $216.00, 307-733-6379 n Jewelry Making for Ages 6-16 3:30pm, The Local Galleria, n Music Video Production: GR 4-8 3:45pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $99.00 $118.00, 307-733-6379 n Covered Wagon Cookout 4:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-739-5386
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Wilderness First Responder and BLS CPR 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, $725.00, 307-733-7425 n Teton Village Spring Clean Up 10:00am, Teton Village, Free, 307-733-5898 n Fables, Feathers & Fur 10:30am, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Free, 307-7325417 n Vertical Harvest Tours 1:00pm, Vertical Harvest, 307-201-4452 n Docent Led Tours 2:30pm, Murie Ranch of Teton Science Schools, Free, 307739-2246 n Covered Wagon Cookout 4:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-739-5386 n Adobe InDesign 5:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $200.00, 307-733-7425 n Covered Wagon Cookout 5:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-733-5386 n Barbara Trentham Life Drawing 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307733-6379 n Beginning Throwing
6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $215.00 $258.00, 307-733-6379 n Open Studio Modeling: Figure Model 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307733-6379 n Game Night 6:00pm, Snake River Brewing, Free, 307-739-2337 n Introductory, Conversational Spanish 6:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $110.00, 307-733-7425 n KHOL Presents: Vinyl Night 8:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307733-1500 n Karaoke Night 9:00pm, The Virginian Saloon, 307-733-2792
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
18 | MAY 17, 2017
MUSIC BOX Skanky Sounds Idaho’s The Opskamatrists to send Tavern crowd into a dirty flurry. BY JASON SUDER
T
he summer is ramping up and as temperatures rise so too will the fabric shielding winter whitened thighs. The energy is not just in the air, but in the sound waves echoing around Jackson’s speakers. It’s time to bust out the old reggae mixes and elevate. Try the Town Square Tavern 10 p.m. this Friday with Idaho Falls’ own ska-punk sextet The Opskamatrists. It was an easy addition for Tavern talent buyer Chris Colella, who looks to the expertise of local artistry when turning his sights to the stage he books. When the Sneaky Pete boys recommend an impending dance party, Colella takes note. “If [Sneaky Pete and the Secret Weapons] like a band on Facebook,” Colella said, “they’re probably going to end up at the Tavern. I think there’s a good ska following in the Hole, and we try to mix it up by booking any genre we think people will enjoy.” Although originally founded in 1998, this band dates back nearly three quarters of a century to the Jamaican beaches where calypso skanked its way into the arms of American jazz. Their appendages flailed and other local styles swirled around them. What was born was a horn-rich walking bass line where listeners could not help but bob their heads and stamp their feet to the high-energy musical experience. In the late 90s, brothers Chad and Bruce Christensen became ensnared by this sound’s surge in the United States. Chad Christensen remembers well the radios blasting bands like Buck-O-Nine and Reel Big Fish. “We went and saw Buck-O-Nine when they came
to Rexburg,” he said, “and we just fell in love with the music.” The brothers have been playing together since the early years of high school, and their sound mirrored more of what Weezer was doing around the same time. “Rock” is what Christensen called it. “After we went to that concert, we were just like, ‘we should do this!’” he said. Over the past two decades, Super Skank became the LDS-friendly Opskamatrists as Christensen felt that the kids and admins at BYU-Idaho might take the former name by its American understanding rather than as it was intended. Today, 25 different members have wailed trumpets and saxophones with the highhat/cymbal syncopations to the valley-boy inflection of Bruce’s California vocal imitations.
Few constants have carried through the years, not their mates or the lensless glasses they would all wear on stage. The passion for this type of performance and the brothers Christensen are all that remain from the early years, and Christensen says that once one of the brothers taps out, the show is over. “It’s something that him and I just love doing,” he said, “and we figure as soon as we stop, we’re done doing it.” It is their camaraderie and “chill” personalities that have glued the project together. “We’ve been in a band together since [Bruce] was a freshman in high school and I was a sophomore,” Christensen said. “We’ve always just played music together, and it’s worked out.” On stage, the appeasing attitudes give way to rock star eccentricities, as the “skank-pit” ensues. It’s not a
mosh pit where fans push, shove and slam into each other, but a wild and racing dance circle, with the vocalists ringleading their every move. Sometimes, it’s to tease the crowd with a bit of play. “We try to make it fun for the crowd and try to get them involved in different songs, clapping or singing along,” Christensen said. “Sometimes, we’ll play games with the crowd. We’ve kind of developed this musical ‘skanking chairs.’” Six chairs appear in the center and the music sends a few jiving around the seats. When the music stops, grab your spot. And, play is the name of the game. As the band has grown and matured the message has with them. The early days dealt with facing down the Pocatello metal scene of the aught years armed with songs preaching
religion and pot. “The whole environment of music in the valley out here has changed from death metal to wanting different types of music,” Christensen said. “The last two years or so, the scene has changed … to where we can go down there and draw a really good crowd.” Paraphernalia gave way to individuality as Christensen and Co. started having kids, the overarching theme being having fun—a sentiment well practiced by the versed mountain crowd of the Town Square Tavern. Whether barely legal or approaching senility, it’s something every age group can get behind. “Our music can affect and be enjoyed by all generations of people,” Christensen said. PJH
MAY 17, 2017 | 19
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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
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WEDNESDAY Vinyl Night (8 p.m. at The Rose) Whiskey Mornin’ during the Global Village Benefit (7:30 p.m. at Silver Dollar) THURSDAY Major Zephyr (7:30 p.m. at Silver Dollar) FRIDAY Friday Night DJ with E.R.A (10 p.m. at The Rose) Quinn Brown Project (9 p.m. at the Virginian) SATURDAY Bush Pilots (10 p.m. at Town Square Tavern) Flannel Attractions (7 p.m. at Silver Dollar) Quinn Brown Project (9 p.m. at the Virginian) SUNDAY Down in the Roots with Bob Greenspan (7 p.m. at Silver Dollar) MONDAY Hootenanny (6 p.m. at Dornan’s) Silent Space (12:15 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church) TUESDAY Bluegrass Night with O.T.P. (7:30 p.m. at Silver Dollar)
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
20 | MAY 17, 2017
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CREATIVE PEAKS Seasoned Response In a new solo show, Pamela Gibson muses on the passage of time. BY MEG DALY @MegDaly1
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verything I do is landscape,” said painter Pamela Gibson. The artist’s abstract encaustic paintings may not always be instantly recognizable as landscapes, but that’s the beauty and mystery of the work. By rendering landscape in abstract expressionistic ways, Gibson invites the viewer to reflect upon actual and metaphorical places. Gibson’s exhibition of new work opens Friday at The Stable, a relatively new Jackson gallery by Visions West Contemporary of Denver. “Telling Time” includes a year’s worth of intricate paintings, including a series of 50 six- by six-inch pieces that chart the changes in the Tetons over the course of a year. “They are like words in an essay,” Gibson said of her small paintings. She entitled the series of mini paintings, “Progression.” “Some pull out an essential element of the landscape, others focus on a small detail. I was responding to changes in color and texture as things change over the course of a year.” The small paintings were a departure for Gibson, who tends to work big. Using layers of waxy encaustic paint in rich colors, Gibson’s process is subtractive. She paints in layers, then scrapes parts away. Sometimes she adds in three-dimensional elements like scraps of paper or dress patterns. She also uses writing as a pattern element in her paintings, enjoying the effect of flowing cursive words across the painting. These various elements create a kind of collage, yet Gibson’s work is rooted in painting itself, the movement of paint on surface. Gibson says her work is as much about the materials and techniques she uses, as the themes of landscape and time passing. The horizon line is a formal element, she says, a way of grounding a painting. “You can’t look at landscape without seeing ground and
sky,” she said. “Or perhaps infinite air.” Rather than following the standard rule of thirds that says the horizon line should be two-thirds of the way up the canvas from the bottom, Gibson’s horizons often appear low on the canvas, allowing for huge, sweeping “skies.” Her canvases are cradle boards, which can support the weight of the many layers of wax paint used in encaustic painting. In a series of four large paintings entitled, “To Every Thing There Is a Season,” Gibson painted the four seasons in Jackson Hole. Summer, fall, and spring are contained on three-by four-foot panels, but winter gets a larger, three-by five-foot panel. “Winter comes and everything looks dead,” Gibson said, “but in fact it is getting ready to bloom.” Gibson says observing the passage of time is comforting. “Time is really the only thing we have. For me it is spiritual.” Her close observation of the seasons revealed a hidden truth that the seasons do not progress evenly in their changes day by day. Instead, Gibson said, there are relatively static periods and then bursts of change. She works from photographs she takes to document the changes. “It’s moments,” she said. “I wanted to capture the color of the willows in early May. By the time I got it, that color had already changed.” A third series of paintings entitled “Time’s Glory” rounds out the exhibit. In these medium-sized paintings Gibson wanted to invoke time’s ability to provide perspective. “I was thinking about the enormity of time,” she said. “Truth comes out in time. When we are
in the middle of it, we don’t see it all.” She made “Time’s Glory” after the presidential election as a response to the unsettled and off-kilter mood of the country. For three paintings, she used a palette of pinks and soft violet, while a fourth painting contains the bright aqua of a mountain lake. Other elements include graphite, written marks, and metallic crackle. “I wanted to make an emotional not a political statement,” she explained. Whether they end up visible or not, Gibson includes words in all of her paintings. She writes as she goes, using words from the painting’s title and theme. Inspired in part by the calligraphic work of Cy Twombly, Gibson said writing in the painting is a way of incorporating other arts like literature and music into the work. “Writing becomes a graphic element,” she said. “I like the pattern. Also, it allows me to have a kind of conversation with other artists throughout art history.” Collectively, Gibson’s paintings offer a visionary meditation on the rise and fall of seasons and the inexorable cycle of life. Some paintings—or sections of paintings—burst with bright colors and gestures, while others are soft, misty, quietly luminous from within. By looking outward to the landscape that surrounds her, Gibson also charts the inner seasonal changes in a human life. “This is my slice of time,” she said. Gibson is an artist fully present in the larger chapter of human history in which she resides. PJH Telling Time, 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 19 at The Stable, 130 S. Jackson St.
FRIDAY, MAY 19
SEE CALENDAR PAGE 23
SATURDAY, MAY 20
n Elkfest 2017 7:00am, Town Square, 307733-3316 n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n REFIT® 9:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $20.00, 307-7336398 n Adobe Lightroom Workshop by Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris 9:00am, Wort Hotel, $295.00, 307-690-6402 n Mountain Man Rendezvous and Traders Row 9:00am, Teton County Fairgrounds, Free, 801-641-9451 n Aerial Tram Summer Opening 9:00am, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, 307-733-2292 n Being Creative Workshop 10:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $80.00 $95.00, 307-733-6379 n Intro to Papermaking 10:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $65.00 $78.00, 307-733-6379 n Oil Painting - For Adults 10:00am, The Local Galleria, n Library Saturdays: Mini Music & Movement 10:15am, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-6379 n Dancers’ Workshop Presents Progress Performance 2017 Tributes 1:00pm, The Center Theater, $12.00, 307-733-6398 n Vertical Harvest Tours 1:00pm, Vertical Harvest, 307-201-4452 n Dancers’ Workshop Presents Progress Performance 2017 Tributes 4:00pm, The Center Theater, $12.00, 307-733-6398 n 2nd Annual Wyoming Backcountry Adventure Workshop (WYBAW) 4:30pm, Teton County Search & Rescue, Free, n Covered Wagon Cookout 4:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-739-5386 n Covered Wagon Cookout 5:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-733-5386 n Pam Drews Phillips Plays
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MAY 17, 2017 | 21
n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Portrait Drawing 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307733-6379 n Open Studio Modeling: Portrait Model 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307733-6379 n Wilderness First Responder and BLS CPR
9:00am, CWC-Jackson, $725.00, 307-733-7425 n Vertical Harvest Tours 1:00pm, Vertical Harvest, 307-201-4452 n Docent Led Tours 2:30pm, Murie Ranch of Teton Science Schools, Free, 307739-2246 n FREE Friday Tasting at Jackson Whole Grocer 4:00pm, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-7330450 n Friday Tastings 4:00pm, The Liquor Store of Jackson Hole, Free, 307-7334466 n Covered Wagon Cookout 4:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-739-5386 n Pick up Basketball Game with Coach Lunz 4:30pm, JH Classical Academy, Free, 307-201-5040 n Telling Time - Artist’s Reception 5:00pm, Visions West Contemporary - The Stable, Free, 503-780-3256 n Covered Wagon Cookout 5:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-733-5386 n Cocktails and IMPROV 5:30pm, Black Box @ The Center for the Arts, $10.00, 307-733-3021 n Pam Drews Phillips Plays Jazz 7:00pm, The Granary at Spring Creek Ranch, Free, 307733-8833 n Reel Paddling Film Festival 7:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, $5.00 - $10.00, 307-733-1500 n The Flannel Attractions 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Free Public Stargazing Programs 9:00pm, Rendezvous Park, Free, 1-844-996-7827 n Friday Night DJs 10:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307-733-1500 n Fridaynight Night DJ featuring E.R.A. 10:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free, 307-733-1500 n The Opskamatrists 10:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
n Adobe InDesign 5:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $200.00, 307-733-7425 n Springhill Suites by Marriott Chamber Mixer 5:00pm, SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Free, 307-201-2309 n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Covered Wagon Cookout 5:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-733-5386 n Weed Management and Composting Tips for Gardeners 6:00pm, Teton Recreation Center, $15.00, 307-739-9025 n Friends and Family Mental Health Support Group 6:00pm, Eagle Classroom of St. John’s Medical Center, Free, 307-733-2046 n Bacchus & Brushes 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $45.00 $54.00, 307-733-6379 n Chi Running Workshop 6:00pm, One to One Wellness, $15.00, 307-739-9025 n Introduction to MELT® with Kate Kosharek 6:00pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00, 307-733-6398 n Improvisation for Adults with Josh Griffith 6:30pm, Black Box Theater, $150.00, 307-733-4900 n Jackson Hole Community Band 2017 Rehearsals 7:00pm, Center for the Arts, $10.00, 307-200-9463 n Major Zephyr 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Salsa Night 9:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307733-1500
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
22 | MAY 17, 2017
DAVID BOWERS
CULTURE KLASH
Your Weekend of Zen Get out, get going this weekend with obstacle courses, backcountry beta and a film fest. BY SHANNON SOLLITT @ShannonSollitt
T
he objective of the sixth annual Ultimate Towner is similar to years past: “to engage the community in a celebration of overcoming obstacles,” said Grand Dynamics International president Tim Walther. This year’s weekend-long event, however, introduces a new program: on race eve, competitors and community members have the chance to gather in Grand View Lodge (up the hill from Snow King) to hear a series of inspirational speakers share stories of overcoming their own obstacles. “That’s the one universal thing every human being has,” Walther said. “We all have our own stories, our own challenges.” He hopes the evening programming will help inspire racers and the public to evaluate obstacles in other areas of their lives. “The idea is that through these [presentations], towners will be inspired to have a different perspective on life,” he said. The course itself also offers a series of lessons on overcoming obstacles—literally. From uphill climbs on Snow King to mud crawls to rope swings, each portion of the course presents a new challenge. It is difficult enough, Walther said, to “challenge anyone,” but also “just doable enough that lots of people can do it.” Last year, Teton Adaptive Sports athlete Odie Pierce completed the course in a wheelchair. The course may be physically challenging, but Walther says the biggest barrier in any obstacle is often mental. “The first obstacle people often have is a perception of limited belief,” he said. In this case, people thinking they’re not strong enough, or fit enough. But such challenges, Walther says, are 90 percent
Ultimate Towner offers lessons in overcoming physical and mental obstacles, costumed revelry included.
mental. Proof? A simple affirmation of “I have the capacity to do something like this,” he said, is enough to carry you through the course. The weekend kicks off with packet pickup and the speaker series 4 p.m., Friday, May 19 at Grand View Lodge. The race is noon Sunday, May 21, and begins with a warm-up flash mob, where racers will follow along to a dance routine choreographed by Dancers’ Workshop. On site registration begins at 10 a.m. Proceeds will benefit Teton Adaptive Sports. Registration is $89; $29 for children and seniors.
Savvy backcountry enthusiasts unite Tired of hearing, “If you don’t know, don’t go?” Backcountry Zero wants you to know—and they’ll teach you this weekend. Saturday’s second annual Wyoming Backcountry Adventure Workshop offers a series of educational sessions for five different sport tracks: biking, hiking, climbing/mountaineering, water sports, and paragliding. Each “track” includes three distinct classes: “What’s in Your Pack,” first aid specific to that sport, and a “distinct and unique” sport-related session. The water sport track, for example, includes a class on pack rafting and river stand up paddleboarding. “It’s a chance to get exposed to something a little bit new,” said Amy Golightly, associate director of the Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation. Golightly says backcountry education is especially important in the beginning of a season, when an influx of new people come into town who don’t have backcountry experience. It’s also important for seasoned athletes to refresh their knowledge, she said, so they can be sharp and prepared should it become necessary to use it. “I’ve been here for 20 years, and every time I learn something new,” Golightly said. The evening concludes with a keynote presentation by Laurence Gonzales, author of the book Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. While the workshops teach “hard skills and practical things,” Golightly said, Gonzales’ talk will address
the psychological factors that go into survival in the backcountry. In emergency situations, Golightly said the instinct is often to panic—but that’s a dangerous way to react. “Prepared, Practiced and Present” are Backcountry Zero’s three pillars for safe and successful backcountry travel, and “present is one of the biggest parts of all,” Golightly said. “Having a communicating plan, being willing to turn around … all the mental things that go into it,” are as vital to a trip’s success as a person’s technical knowledge in the outdoors. The workshop is 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 20 at The Lodge at Jackson Hole Conference Center. Registration is $30, and includes a swag bag, dinner, beer and a ticket to the keynote address. Tickets for the keynote address only are $25.
Paddle for reel
The Reel Paddling Film Festival celebrates all kinds of paddle sports: from white water kayaking to pack rafting to stand up paddleboarding. “Pretty much anything that has a river as a focus, is what we’re showing,” said Jackson Hole Kayak Club director Rainer Kelly, JH Kayak Club and Snake River Fund are co-hosting the festival to raise money for youth paddling and river stewardship and conservation. The two nonprofits will split the proceeds for the evening, but the event is more than just a fundraiser, Kelly said. “It’s a kick-off to paddling season for the whole community.” While paddling is the common thread, the films are really a celebration of adventure in any form. “The outdoors is a means to tell a story,” Kelly explained. While some films will be “action packed,” the films are really about “showcasing the people, the adventure. … Even people who aren’t river people can still get something out of these movies, and still really enjoy them.” PJH The action begins 7 p.m. Friday, May 19 at Pink Garter Theater. $10 tickets; $5 for kids. Buy them at Rendezvous River Sports or PinkGarterTheater.com.
Jazz 7:00pm, The Granary at Spring Creek Ranch, Free, 307733-8833 n Jackson Hole Juggernauts vs. Naughty Pines Derby Dames 7:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $10.00, 3076901982 n The Flannel Attractions 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n The Bush Pilots 10:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886
SUNDAY, MAY 21
n Adobe Lightroom Workshop by Jackson Hole Wildlife Safaris 9:00am, Wort Hotel, $295.00, 307-690-6402 n Mountain Man Rendezvous and Traders Row 9:00am, Teton County Fairgrounds, Free, 801-641-9451 n 6th Annual Ultimate Towner 11:00am, Phil Baux Park, $89.00, 307-733-1989 n Jackson Hole High Noon Chili Cook-Off 12:00pm, Town Square, 307201-2309 n Stagecoach Band 6:00pm, Stagecoach, Free, 307-733-4407 n Down in the Roots 7:00pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939
MONDAY, MAY 22
TUESDAY, MAY 23
FOR COMPLETE EVENT DETAILS VISIT PJHCALENDAR.COM
MAY 17, 2017 | 23
n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n REFIT® 8:30am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $20.00, 307-7336398 n Youth Mental Health First Aid Training 8:30am, St. John’s Hansen Hall, Free, 307-733-2046 n Teton Plein Air Painters 9:00am, Outdoors, Free, 307733-6379 n Wilderness First Responder and BLS CPR 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, $725.00, 307-733-7425 n Mountain Man Rendezvous and Traders Row 9:00am, Teton County Fairgrounds, Free, 801-641-9451 n Compressed Natural Gas Informational Workshop
10:00am, Lower Valley Energy, Free, n Toddler Time 10:05am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307-733-2164 n Toddler Time 10:35am, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-2164 n Toddler Time 11:05am, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-6379 n Photography Open Studio 12:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, Free, 307-7336379 n Workshop about Nonprofit Compensation 1:00pm, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, $20.00, 307-739-1026 n Docent Led Tours 2:30pm, Murie Ranch of Teton Science Schools, Free, 307739-2246 n Covered Wagon Cookout 4:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-739-5386 n Workshop about Exceptional & Effective Board Practices 5:00pm, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, $20.00, 307-739-1026 n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Covered Wagon Cookout 5:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-733-5386 n Basic Silversmithing 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $35.00 $42.00, 307-733-6379 n Advanced Photography Techniques 6:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $65.00 $78.00, 307-733-6379 n Introduction to Wildlife Photography 6:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $175.00 $210.00, 307-733-6379 n Ladies Night Oil Painting 7:00pm, The Local Galleria, n Bluegrass Tuesdays with One Ton Pig 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Wilderness First Responder and BLS CPR 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, $725.00, 307-733-7425 n Mountain Man Rendezvous and Traders Row 9:00am, Teton County Fairgrounds, Free, 801-641-9451 n Art Education: Kindercreations 9:30am, Art Association Borshell Children’s Studio, $16.00, 307-733-6379 n Docent Led Tours 2:30pm, Murie Ranch of Teton Science Schools, Free, 307-
739-2246 n Beginning Stained Glass Design With Light 3:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $176.00 $211.00, 307-733-6379 n After School Kidzart Club: Grade K-2 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $165.00 $198.00, 307-733-6379 n Studio Sampler 3:45pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $264.00 $316.00, 307-733-6379 n Covered Wagon Cookout 4:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-739-5386 n Intermediate Stained Glass - Design With Light 5:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $230.00 $276.00, 307-733-6379 n Covered Wagon Cookout 5:30pm, Bar T 5, $38.00 $46.00, 307-733-5386 n Great Jackson Eclipse information session 6:00pm, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-2164 x229 n Hootenanny 6:00pm, Dornan’s, Free, 307733-2415 n Get Ready for the Great Jackson Eclipse of 2017 6:00pm, Teton County Library, Free, 307-739-9025
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
24 | MAY 17, 2017
CINEMA Football is over. Let the BRUNCH begin! Sat & Sun 10am-3pm •••••••••••
HAPPY HOUR
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••••••••••• Monday-Saturday 11am, Sunday 10:30am 832 W. Broadway (inside Plaza Liquors)•733-7901
Gods and Monsters Alien: Covenant can’t decide whether to get philosophical or homicidal. BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottrenshaw
I
f you’re befuddled by what the Alien movie franchise has become, the line forms behind me. What began nearly 40 years ago as a creepy extraterrestrial slasher movie kept finding new incarnations in subsequent installments. James Cameron turned it into the shoot-’em-up action of Aliens, Joss Whedon wrote a weird farewell to Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Alien Resurrection and the whole thing degenerated into unapologetic genre cash-grab with two Alien vs. Predator movies. By the time 2012’s Prometheus rolled around, it was worth asking whether being part of the Alien franchise told an audience anything anymore about what they could expect. O Xenomorph, where art thou? Alien: Covenant finds director Ridley Scott returning to many of the Big Ideas that were swirling around in Prometheus, but it grows increasingly confusing as to why he’s packaging those ideas in this particular cinematic world. While this might in many ways be more instantly recognizable as an Alien movie than Prometheus was, its themes clang against the delivery system so discordantly that it can be heard even in the vacuum of space. Set in 2105, Covenant serves as more or less a direct follow-up to Prometheus, beginning with a vessel on a multi-year journey to colonize a distant planet. But, in the fine tradition of the original Alien, the crew of the Covenant is
Katherine Waterston in Alien: Covenant
awakened early to deal with a crisis, at which time they discover a previously unknown planet with an earth-like atmosphere nearby. When they investigate that planet, they find… well, let’s just say it doesn’t take long before things are bursting out of people in vivid ways. It should come as no spoiler that the reason for these events involves the fate of the ship seen heading off into the unknown at the end of Prometheus. A prologue reunites the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender) with his creator, Weyland (Guy Pearce) many years before the Prometheus events, engaged in a discussion about creators and their creations. Indeed, Covenant continues the existential musings launched in Prometheus, investigating the impulse to be godlike both through creation and destruction in potentially fascinating ways. Even the title of this new film hints at the theological shift from Prometheus, turning the ship into a kind of Noah’s ark with paired-off crew members and addressing the co-existing responsibilities of creator and created: What do we owe to God, and what does God owe to us? That’s heady material, but the script—credited to veteran John Logan and first-time screenwriter Dante Harper—doesn’t feel nearly as serious about it as Prometheus did. Indeed, of all the post-1979 Alien installments, this feels like the one most determined to mimic its formula even beyond the premature awakening of the crew: landing party, face-huggers, tough female protagonist (Katherine Waterston as
second-in-command Daniels), ineffectual captain (Billy Crudup), questions of quarantine, enigmatic android (Fassbender turning in a typically superb performance). Scott gets creatively grotesque in staging the emergences of his aliens, and delivers some moments of genuinely terrified people trying to wrap their heads around the horror of their situation. Then, for the finale, Scott shifts hard toward Aliens, as two solid action sequences find Daniels and the Covenant’s pilot (Danny McBride) fighting off a Xenomorph. If there was some uneasiness about Prometheus feeling at all like the Alien movies people loved first and best, there’s no such confusion here. Instead, the confusion rests in why big ideas are jammed uncomfortably into this movie. It feels like a trick, an attempt by Scott to sneak in musings on mortality and hubris by wrapping it in a familiar franchise package. Ambitious though it may be, the elements never pull together, leaving only reminders that the original served up its own fascinating ideas—about dehumanization and domination—without ever underlining them. Like the monster at its center, this franchise keeps changing shape, but like most mutations, that doesn’t mean it’s an improvement. PJH ALIEN: COVENANT BB.5 Michael Fassbender Katherine Waterston Danny McBride Rated R
TRY THESE Alien (1979) Sigourney Weaver Tom Skerritt Rated R
Aliens (1986) Sigourney Weaver Michael Biehn Rated R
Alien Resurrection (1997) Sigourney Weaver Winona Ryder Rated R
Prometheus (2012) Noomi Rapace Michael Fassbender Rated R
BEER, WINE & SPIRITS
Summer Suds A bevy of brews for barbecues and postadventure lounging. BY TED SCHEFFLER @critic1
I
’ve been known to go entire winters without cracking open a single beer. But as temps heat up, it’s hard to resist the appeal of a chilled brew. Of course, in spring and summer, we tend to gravitate toward light, crisp and refreshing beers for barbecues, campouts, outdoor concerts and such. It’s time to put away the porters and break out the pilsners. Clean, crisp Czech pilsners are always a great warm weather choice, and it’s hard to beat the world’s most popular one: Pilsner Urquell ($2.09/12 ounces), brewed with Saaz hops since 1842, is slightly sweet and malty—the prototype
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.
From Bend, Ore., comes Deschutes Twilight Ale ($1.95/12 ounces), with five different types of whole-flower hops to impart nice grassy and citrus flavors. And whenever I’m in New York City, I always make sure to score some Brooklyn Brewery Summer Ale ($1.50/12 ounces), which is dry-hopped and somewhat herbal, but with a firm malt backbone and zippy lemon flourishes. A couple of German beers always make their way into my summer brew rotation. Up first, Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse ($2.24/500 ml.). This wheat beer is top-fermented and highly carbonated, which also makes it good on hot days and nights, although you might get impatient waiting for the abundant head to settle—a classic hefeweisse. I also like Ayinger Jahrhundert Bier ($3.11/500 ml.). Like the Franziskaner, this one has a massive white head atop a clear, light
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golden-colored brew. It’s also nicely carbonated and refreshing, and slightly hoppy—a really nice lager. A bit closer to home, Uinta Brewing Company has just put a new canning line into its operation and released canned Uinta Sum’r Ale ($1.50/12 ounces). It’s got light citrus notes and a hop profile that I really like. I tried to find out from Uinta what hops they use in their Sum’r Ale, but they weren’t “comfortable” sharing their secrets. Oh well; this is a beer that’ll be well-stocked in my fridge this summer. Finally, a few “not-the-usual-suspects.” Red Rock’s CoHOPeration ($3.47/500 ml.) was brewed in tandem with Oregon’s Pelican Brewery, a hop lover’s dream come true! Pyramid Apricot Ale ($1.85/12 ounces) has a perfect bitter/sweet balance, and brims with apricot essence. Unibroue Blanche de Chambly ($3.49/12 ounces) is a Belgian-style witbier, nice and spicy. And finally, nothing makes me happier in hot weather than an iced bucket of slammers: Schoenling Little King Cream Ales ($1.19/7 ounces). PJH
Foodie JULY
2017
EDITION
HAPPY HOUR Daily 4-6:00pm
307.201.1717 | LOCALJH.COM ON THE TOWN SQUARE
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
Lunch 11:30am Monday-Saturday Dinner 5:30pm Nightly
for pilsner. A better bang-for-the-buck, though, is Lev Lion Lager ($2.10/500 ml.), with hints of honey, toasted bread and slightly spicy hops. And, speaking of bang-for-the-buck, I recently ran across a Czech beer I wasn’t familiar with: Zatec Bright Lager Beer ($1.72/500 ml.). I thought maybe the beer was over the hill, but was surprised to find it nicely hopped with Czech Zatec hops and somewhat malty, with excellent carbonation— an all-around good pils. A number of America’s best-known craft brewers make special summer beers. These are among the ones I like to sip on the patio. Anchor Steam has been making its Summer Beer ($2.01/12 ounces) for more than 30 years. It’s full of malted wheat goodness, but is light and dry. Noble hops and citrus notes (hints of lemon and lime) dominate Samuel Adams Summer Ale ($1.95/12 ounces), a really bright, refreshing warm-weather brew.
IMBIBE
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MAY 17, 2017 | 25
For rates and reservations, contact Jen or Caroline at 307-732-0299 or email sales@planetjh.com
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
26 | MAY 17, 2017
FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT PIZZAS, PASTAS & MORE HOUSEMADE BREAD & DESSERTS FRESH, LOCALLY SOURCED OFFERINGS TAKE OUT AVAILABLE Dining room and bar open nightly at 5:00pm (307) 733-2460 • 2560 Moose Wilson Road • Wilson, WY
A Jackson Hole favorite since 1965
Featuring dining destinations from buffets and rooms with a view to mom and pop joints, chic cuisine and some of our dining critic’s faves! OFF SEASON SPECIAL
2FOR1
ASIAN & CHINESE TETON THAI
ENTREES
Valid through May 25th | Good all night Open nightly 5:30pm | Closed May 16th & 23rd
733-3912
160 N. Millward • Reservations recommended Reserve online at bluelionrestaurant.com
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.
THAI ME UP
®
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
CONTINENTAL Large Specialty Pizza ADD: Wings (8 pc)
Medium Pizza (1 topping) Stuffed Cheesy Bread
$ 13 99
for an extra $5.99/each
(307) 733-0330 520 S. Hwy. 89 • Jackson, WY
ELY UNIQUPEAN EURO
AT TH
AT THE
307.733.3242
ALPENHOF
Serving authentic Swiss cuisine, the Alpenhof features European style breakfast entrées and alpine lunch fare. Dine in the Bistro for a casual meal or join us in the Alpenrose dining room for a relaxed dinner experience. Breakfast 7:30am-10am. Coffee & pastry 10am-11:30am. Lunch 11:30am-3pm. Aprés 3pm-5:30pm. Dinner 6pm-9pm. For reservations at the Bistro or Alpenrose, call 307-733-3242.
THE BLUE LION
F O H ‘ E H T
INNERGE D I UNCHETON VILLA L I T IN T FAS BREAKE ALPENHOF
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.
A Jackson Hole favorite for 39 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. Open at 5:30 p.m. Off Season Special: 2 for 1 Entrees. Good all night. Must mention ad. Closed May 16th & 23rd. Reservations recommended, walkins welcome. 160 N. Millward, (307) 733-3912, bluelionrestaurant.com
LOCAL & DOMESTIC STEAKS SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK @ 5:30 TILL 10 JHCOWBOYSTEAKHOUSE.COM 307-733-4790
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
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.
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 fresh seafood, shellfish, houseground burgers, and seasonally-inspired food. We offer an extensive wine list and an abundance
of locally-sourced 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 MonSat 11:30am. Dinner Nightly 5:30pm. 55 North Cache, (307) 201-1717, localjh.com.
LOTUS ORGANIC RESTAURANT
Serving organic, freshly-made world cuisine while catering to all eating styles. Endless organic and natural meat, vegetarian, vegan and glutenfree choices. Offering super smoothies, fresh extracted juices, espresso and tea. Full bar and house-infused botanical spirits. Serving breakfast, lunch & dinner starting at 8am daily. 140 N. Cache, (307) 734-0882, theorganiclotus.com.
MANGY MOOSE
Mangy Moose Restaurant, with locally sourced, seasonally fresh food at reasonable prices, is a always a fun place to go with family or friends for a unique dining experience. The personable staff will make you feel right at home and the funky western decor will keep you entertained throughout your entire visit. Teton Village, (307) 733-4913, mangymoose.com.
MOE’S BBQ
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.
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
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 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
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
Two-for-one 12” pies all day. Dine-in or Carry-out. (LIMIT 6 PIES PER CARRYOUT ORDER, PLEASE.)
PizzeriaCaldera.com
Jackson Hole’s only dedicated stone-hearth oven pizzeria, serving Napolitana-style pies
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.
MAY 17, 2017 | 27
11am - 9:30pm daily 20 W. Broadway 307.201.1472
PIZZERIA CALDERA
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
Two- fer Tuesday is back !
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 | MAY 17, 2017
World Wisdom
E
very culture has a wealth of universal truths and wisdom teachings which are shared in stories of a few concise paragraphs. The following are three examples for your inspiration, reflection and learning. They are sourced from Western, Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures.
Learn to write in the sand Two friends were walking through the desert, and along the way they had an argument. One of the friends slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying a word he knelt in the sand and wrote with his finger, “Today my best friend slapped me in the face.” They kept on walking until they found an oasis with a spring large enough to take a swim. The one who got slapped and hurt was in the water when he suddenly got stomach cramps and started drowning. The other friend immediately jumped in and saved him. As soon as he recovered from the fright, the friend who nearly drowned grabbed a knife from his backpack and carved on a stone, “Today my best friend saved my life.” His friend was puzzled by this and asked, “Why after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone?” He smiled and replied, “When a friend hurts us we should write it down in the sand where the winds of forgiveness will erase it away quickly. And when something great happens between friends, we should keep it in our hearts like engraving it on a stone, where no wind can erase it.”
It is what it is
news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “Maybe,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned bringing with it three wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “Maybe,” replied the farmer. The following day the farmer’s son tried to ride one of the wild horses, was thrown off it, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathies. “Maybe,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they did not take him. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good fortune and how well things had turned out. “Maybe,” said the farmer.
How do you perceive the world? A traveler on his way to the next town saw an old woman sitting by the side of the road. “What are the people like in the next town?” asked the traveler. “What were the people like in the town you left?” replied the old woman. “They were unfriendly, cold and indifferent… that’s why I left,” answered the traveler. “I’m afraid you’ll find the people in the next town are just the same,” said the old woman. Later in the day another traveler passed by the old woman and asked the same question. “What are the people like in the next town?” “What were the people like in the town you just left?” the old woman repeated. “Oh, they were warm and friendly and helpful,” replied the traveler. “They’re the same in the next town,” said the old woman. PJH
Once there was a farmer who worked the fields his entire life. One day his horse ran away. On hearing the
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.
DEEP TISSUE • SPORTS MASSAGE • THAI MASSAGE MYOFASCIAL RELEASE CUPPING
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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
MAY 17, 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 | MAY 17, 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.
is hiring!
SaleS aSSociateS
Newsprint • Glossy • Web • Interactive Digital Media Join a workforce that really makes a difference in our community. Local media sales experience preferred, not required. Will train qualified candidates.
Contact Jen Tillotson and John Saltas: jen@planetjh.com & john@cityweekly.net
L.A.TIMES “HOLY MOLY!” By AGNES DAVIDSON and C.C. BURNIKEL
SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2017
Across 1 Library attention-getter 5 Secretly kept in the message loop, for short 10 Prior president who swore in two subsequent presidents 14 Spicy 18 Trick 19 NutraSweet developer 20 Donor drive target 21 Penne __ vodka 22 Check for doneness? 24 Drama written in code? 26 Tylenol result, ideally 27 Juice-and-fish-broth product 29 Weather Channel concern 30 Brown on a shelf 31 USC, for one 33 Like most cheeseburgers 35 Teeny tiny 36 President’s daily delivery? 40 Poppycock 42 IMF division?: Abbr. 43 Vintage vehicle 44 It helps you focus 45 Bronco’s bailiwick 48 “The Simpsons” disco devotee 49 Chew the fat 50 Wish were here 51 North Pole yoga need? 53 Universe of Energy locale 55 Cell dweller 56 Having a kick 58 Preventative power 59 Foam finger number 60 “That hurts!” 62 The end of its name is also its natl. airline 63 Scout rider 64 Yoga position 67 Iditarod trainee? 69 Mayflower notable 70 Waits for an agent, maybe 71 The __ Store 72 Minor tiff
73 74 75
It’s only make-believe “That’s clear” Plants of immortality, to ancient Egyptians 77 God in the Vatican 78 SeaWorld performer 81 Ace accountant 83 Lab gel 85 Grafton’s “__ for Burglar” 86 Usually single-stranded molecule 88 Twists, e.g. 89 Scheme 90 Had the most points 91 Short cut 92 Sun. speech 93 Cat’s tail, maybe? 96 Sharp criticism 99 Rulers in a line 101 You can’t live without it 102 Tolkien monster 103 Taste enhanced by shrimp paste 105 Make more than 107 Joined forces 110 Spy with a sweet tooth? 112 Burrower servicing borrowers? 115 Sea once home to 1,100-plus islands 116 Dell operator 117 Chews the scenery 118 Milan moolah 119 Bear’s advice 120 Pharmacy pickups 121 Big Pharma dept. 122 Aligned, with “in” Down 1 Sharable doc format 2 Court figure 3 “C’mon, let’s go!” 4 Like revealing memoirs 5 Hearty comfort food 6 Short filmmaker? 7 Exhibit with a baby
8
Its logo contains Hebrew letters 9 Separates 10 Wrapped Mexican fare 11 Many 12 Public outcry 13 Corp. symbols 14 Mesmerized 15 Give the green light 16 Limerick neighbor 17 “I did it!” 19 Pronoun for a skiff 23 Salon treatment 25 Accompanist? 28 Common town ctr. 32 John of “Star Trek” (2009) 34 Twist in a tale 36 Wrong at the start? 37 Certain entrance fee 38 Speak 39 Assure 41 John of “Hairspray” (2007) 45 Shrewd 46 Change, as a will 47 Foamy eye-opener 49 First name in virology 50 Mop tamer 51 Acknowledge the general 52 Tom or Jerry 54 Denounces 55 “Off” is often printed on one 57 Live-in nanny 61 LaserJet printers 63 Dash gauges 64 Words after make or take 65 “That’s a shame” 66 Siri’s Amazon counterpart 67 Grand Canyon rentals 68 Computer download 73 Lines for an audi-
ence Big name in labels Acknowledge the general One who may cease to exist when under-appreciated? 80 USC part: Abbr. 82 Nailed the test 84 Filmy fabric 85 Backstabbed 87 Jungle chest-beater 89 Movie promoters 90 Floral ring 91 Progress 93 Treated very roughly 94 Yoplait competitor 95 Cuba libre ingredient 96 Biblical backstabber 97 Love, Italian-style 98 Yawn-inducing 100 Loop in a cattle drive 104 Think (over) 106 Arco de Constantino locale 108 Versatile NFL defenders 109 “Nebraska” Oscar nominee 111 Tight-lipped 113 Weather-sensitive airport stat 114 Mythical bird 75 76 79
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
HALF OFF BLAST OFF!
BY ROB BREZSNY
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) My pregnant friend Myrna is determined to avoid giving birth via Caesarean section. She believes that the best way for her son to enter the world is by him doing the hard work of squeezing through the narrow birth canal. That struggle will fortify his willpower and mobilize him to summon equally strenuous efforts in response to future challenges. It’s an interesting theory. I suggest you consider it as you contemplate how you’re going to get yourself reborn. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) I invite you to try the following meditation: Picture yourself filling garbage bags with stuff that reminds you of what you used to be and don’t want to be any more. Add anything that feels like decrepit emotional baggage or that serves as a worn-out psychological crutch. When you’ve gathered up all the props and accessories that demoralize you, imagine yourself going to a beach where you build a big bonfire and hurl your mess into the flames. As you dance around the conflagration, exorcise the voices in your head that tell you boring stories about yourself. Sing songs that have as much power to relieve and release you as a spectacular orgasm. CANCER (June 21-July 22) In normal times, your guardian animal ally might be the turtle, crab, seahorse, or manta ray. But in the next three weeks, it’s the cockroach. This unfairly maligned creature is legendary for its power to thrive in virtually any environment, and I think you will have a similar resourcefulness. Like the cockroach, you will do more than merely cope with awkward adventures and complicated transitions; you will flourish. One caution: It’s possible that your adaptability may bother people who are less flexible and enterprising than you. To keep that from being a problem, be empathetic as you help them adapt. (P.S. Your temporary animal ally is exceptionally well-groomed. Cockroaches clean themselves as much as cats do.) LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Lady Jane Grey was crowned Queen of England in July 1553, but she ruled for just nine days before being deposed. I invite you to think back to a time in your own past when victory was short-lived. Maybe you accomplished a gratifying feat after an arduous struggle, only to have it quickly eclipsed by a twist of fate. Perhaps you finally made it into the limelight but then lost your audience to a distracting brouhaha. But here’s the good news: Whatever it was—a temporary triumph? incomplete success? nullified conquest?—you will soon have a chance to find redemption for it.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) My friend Allie works as a matchmaker. She has an instinctive skill at reading the potential chemistry between people. One of her key strategies is to urge her clients to write mission statements. “What would your ideal marriage look like?” she asks them. Once they have clarified what they want, the process of finding a mate seems to become easier and more fun. In accordance with the astrological omens, Scorpio, I suggest you try this exercise—even if you are already in a committed relationship. It’s an excellent time to get very specific about the inspired togetherness you’re willing to work hard to create. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) In ancient Greek myth, Tiresias was a prophet who could draw useful revelations by interpreting the singing of birds. Spirits of the dead helped him devise his prognostications, too. He was in constant demand for revelations about the future. But his greatest claim to fame was the fact that a goddess magically transformed him into a woman for seven years. After that, he could speak with authority about how both genders experienced the world. This enhanced his wisdom immeasurably, adding to his oracular power. Are you interested in a less drastic but highly educational lesson, Sagittarius? Would you like to see life from a very different perspective from the one you’re accustomed to? It’s available to you if you want it.
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) “You remind me of the parts of myself that I will never have a chance to meet,” writes poet Mariah Gordon-Dyke, addressing a lover. Have you ever felt like saying that to a beloved ally, Capricorn? If so, I have good news: You now have an opportunity to meet and greet parts of yourself that have previously been hidden from you—aspects of your deep soul that up until now you may only have caught glimpses of. Celebrate this homecoming!
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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) I predict that you won’t be bitten by a dog or embarrassed by a stain or pounced on by a lawyer. Nor will you lose your keys or get yelled at by a friend or oversleep for a big appointment. On the contrary! I think you’ll be wise to expect the best. The following events are quite possible: You may be complimented by a person who’s in a position to help you. You could be invited into a place that had previously been off-limits. While eavesdropping, you might pick up a useful clue, and while daydreaming you could recover an important memory you’d lost. Good luck like this is even more likely to sweep into your life if you work on ripening the most immature part of your personality. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Leonardo da Vinci wrote a bestiary, an odd little book in which he drew moral conclusions from the behavior of animals. One of his descriptions will be useful for you to contemplate in the near future. It was centered on what he called the “wild ass,” which we might refer to as an undomesticated donkey. Leonardo said that this beast, “going to the fountain to drink and finding the water muddy, is never too thirsty to wait until it becomes clear before satisfying himself.” That’s a useful fable to contemplate, Libra. Be patient as you go in search of what’s pure and clean and good for you. (The translation from the Italian is by Oliver Evans.)
ARIES (March 21-April 19)
“A two-year-old kid is like using a blender, but you don’t have a top for it,” said comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Would you like to avoid a scenario like that, Aries? Would you prefer not to see what happens if your life has resemblances to turning on a topless blender that’s full of ingredients? Yes? Then please find the top and put it on! And if you can’t locate the proper top, use a dinner plate or newspaper or pizza box. OK? It’s not too late. Even if the blender is already spewing almond milk and banana fragments and protein powder all over the ceiling. Better late than never!
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.
ANJA.
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MAY 17, 2017 | 31
Time out. It’s intermission. Give yourself permission to be spacious and slow. Then, when you’re sweetly empty—this may take a few days—seek out experiences that appeal primarily to your wild and tender heart as opposed to your wild and jumpy mind. Just forget about the theories you believe in and the ideas you regard as central to your philosophy of life. Instead, work on developing brisk new approaches to your relationship with your feelings. Like what? Become more conscious of them, for example. Express gratitude for what they teach you. Boost your trust for their power to reveal what your mind sometimes hides from you.
DRAG BINGO
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) While shopping at a funky yard sale, I found the torn-off cover of a book titled You’re a Genius and I Can Prove It. Sadly, the rest of the book was not available. Later I searched for it in online bookstores, and found it was out of-print. That’s unfortunate, because now would be an excellent time for you to peruse a text like this. Why? Because you need specific, detailed evidence of how unique and compelling you are—concrete data that will provide an antidote to your habitual self-doubts and consecrate your growing sense of self-worth. Here’s what I suggest you do: Write an essay entitled “I’m an Interesting Character and Here’s the Proof.”
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32 | MAY 17, 2017
| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |