Planet Jackson Hole May 17, 2018

JACKSON HOLE’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | MAY 16-22, 2018

Al Margen de Todo (On the Outside of Everything)

Jackson’s Spanish speakers find language barriers, lack of resources difficult to overcome in their path to learning and integration

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2 | MAY 16, 2018

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JACKSON HOLE'S ALTERNATIVE VOICE

VOLUME 16 | ISSUE 18 | MAY 16-22, 2018

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8 COVER STORY

AL MARGEN DE TODO (ON THE OUTSIDE OF EVERYTHING) Jackson’s Spanish speakers find language barriers, lack of resources difficult to overcome in their path to learning and integration

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BY METEOROLOGIST JIM WOODMENCEY

It is generally safe to say that the chances for snow in Jackson this time of year are very low. Although, there have been a few times in the latter half of May when we did accumulate snow on the ground in town. The most snow we have ever had in one day, this late in the month of May, was three inches on May 21st, 1931. It snowed an inch on May 18th, 1941, and almost two inches on May 17th, 1971. Must have something to do with years ending in “1”?

This week’s average low temperature is right at the freezing mark, 32-degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. The coldest temperature ever recorded in town during this week is 13-degrees, which occurred on May 21st, 1975.

It was only 15 years ago that we dipped down to a chilly 15-degrees on May 19th, 2003, establishing a new record low temperature for that date. That makes a low of 32-degrees seem relatively warm, don’t you think?

HIGHS

THIS WEEK

NORMAL HIGH NORMAL LOW RECORD HIGH IN 1927 RECORD LOW IN 1975

64 32 93 13

AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 1.8 inches RECORD PRECIPITATION: 6.02 inches (1980) AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 1 inches RECORD SNOWFALL: 14.5 inches (1942)

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

THIS MONTH

MAY 16, 2018 | 3

The average high temperature this week is 64-degrees, up three degrees from last week’s average high. The record high temperature this week is 85-degrees, which occurred 91 years ago, on May 18th, 1927. That was one of those exceptionally warm years. Several of the other record highs during this week were established back in 1934. These are examples of some of the exceptionally long-standing records for hot temperatures in Jackson.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

JH ALMANAC LOWS

MAY 16-22, 2018

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THE NEW WEST

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

Visit out our website website Visit

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

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A Western Alliance There is connection on the Jackson-Bozeman axis

BY TODD WILKINSON |

J

ackson Hole is a valley that can be almost impossible to imagine leaving permanently. When people do pull up stakes, other than fleeing over Teton Pass to Idaho out of desperate economic necessity, they often end up in Montana.

If Teton County, Wyoming, ever broke away from the Equality State, joining Montana as its 57th county, the move would be a good fit. Unlike the constant deluge of aspersions that Jackson lawmakers receive from colleagues in Cheyenne, the shrill hostility expressed by down-staters toward people dwelling in the Tetons would be more tempered in Montana.

Especially when it comes to citizens having a similar tree-hugging affinity and appreciation for protecting wildlife.

Today, there are a lot of Jackson expats who have resettled in the Treasure State and very often, when they meet each other on the street of Bozeman or Livingston, a topic of conversation is how much Jackson Hole has changed.

My friend, the great Jackson Hole nature writer Susan Marsh, who pens a column for Mountain Journal, can tell you about both communities. She worked as a backcountry specialist for both Gallatin-Custer National Forest and Bridger-Teton.

And, as she can testify, it may be easy for Montanans to peer southward and smugly shake their heads at the profound shifts occurring in Jackson Hole (involving a crisis of affordable housing, questions about how to grow, and the way proponents of industrial-strength recreation now seem to be dominating discussions about conservation), but Greater Bozeman has its own major challenges.

Unlike Teton County, Wyoming where, famously, 97 percent of the county is comprised of public land, Gallatin County,

@BigArtNature

which has Bozeman as its county seat, has a lot of private land. It holds some of the best soil for growing crops in the state and it is being rapidly entombed by a building boom that is unprecedented.

Recently, the Bozeman-based thinktank Headwaters Economics released a study that examined growth trends and construction activity statewide.

From 1990 to 2016, the number of single-family homes in Montana grew by 50 percent, from roughly 224,000 dwellings in1990 to 337,000 in 2016. Four counties—Gallatin, Flathead, Missoula and Yellowstone—have claimed half of all new home construction in the state since the new millennium began.

For nearly two decades, Gallatin has been the fastest-growing, driven by the busiest commercial airport in the state, a wave of arriving Baby Boomer retirees, a soaring real estate market, increase in students at Montana State University, and an emerging niche of high-tech entrepreneurs.

Gallatin shares a profound 21st-century distinction with Teton County that maybe only a couple of other counties in the Lower 48 (including Wyoming’s Fremont) can claim. There, you can still find the full complement of original large wildlife species that roamed the landscape 500 years ago. It is an economic engine.

The inward migration of people to Gallatin isn’t just unsurpassed but began to accelerate in the years after the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

During a 15-year span between 2001 and 2016, Gallatin’s population grew three times faster than the state and accounted for at least one of every four new jobs. Since 1990, the number of single family-homes in Gallatin grew by 150 percent from roughly 11,640 in 1990 to almost 29,000 in 2016.

As noted in an earlier Mountain Journal story, before a child born this year graduates from high school, Greater Bozeman/Gallatin is on pace to add the equivalent of a Boulder, Colorado-sized population to the landscape.

Can a place grow and not lose the things that make it attractive?

Every other month, it seems, there’s a new subdivision rising or expanding around Bozeman.

More than a third of the new builds in Gallatin countywide occurred on lots greater than 10 acres, Headwaters found.

To put that in perspective, the amount of open space consumed to accommodate development that’s already cemented in place is equivalent to 146 square miles or around six times the current size of the city of Bozeman. Hence, the prospect of adding another Boulder-sized population to the valley by the 2030s without a corresponding strategy is, to most, unthinkable.

Topographically and ecologically, the state and county boundaries of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho which converge to form Greater Yellowstone mean nothing.

We share a common region and we need, if not a common plan, then at least a better dialogue for thinking about issues that transcend artificial boundaries.

From the top of the Greater Yellowstone to the bottom, there is an inter-relatedness. In June, the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee, the group that represents the top public land managers in the region, will be hosting a symposium in Jackson about wildlife migration and its relationship to human development.

Of all the issues, this should be one that unites us around common cause.

PJH

E

DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS Journalism’s Grim Future

Emilio Gutierrez Soto’s case reveals much about the state of the free press @demoincrisis

to write newspaper stories, but he really couldn’t because he’s living in the U.S. and couldn’t write in English.”

Like so many immigrants, he had to piece together a living working in landscaping and food service as his request for asylum dragged on. The request was finally denied last December, and Gutierrez and his son Oscar were locked up once again.

Among the reasons that Judge Robert S. Hough gave for denying his request for asylum was a claim that Gutierrez wasn’t really a journalist.

“He didn’t really believe that Emilio was a journalist because he didn’t produce many articles he had written,” Molloy said, noting that Gutierrez’s house had been ransacked before he left and that Mexican papers weren’t as fastidious as, say, The New York Times at keeping clips. If you talk about the morgue at a Mexican paper, it is probably not a room where old issues are kept. Nevertheless, she compiled well over 100 stories bearing his byline— and translated a few of them.

Still, Gutierrez and his son were put in a van and driven toward the border— and what he thinks would be certain death. A last minute stay halted the van and bought Gutierrez a little more time and another shot at asylum. The Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the National Press Club, and other journalistic organizations have come out in support of Gutierrez.

But the Trump administration’s deep hostility to those seeking asylum from Mexico, along with his hatred of the press, does not bode well for him.

Charles Bowden often wrote that Juarez was the city of the future.

Trump’s attacks on the press sound an awful lot like the Mexican general who threatened Gutierrez a decade ago.

Trump hasn’t started to actually kill journalists. But sending Gutierrez back to Mexico would be a start—it could seal the fate of one reporter and portend the future of journalism in America.

PJH

CHILE

Most of Jackson has already met Chile but for those who haven’t they are missing out! Chile is a 2 year old, male, Domestic Short Hair Tabby who has Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV).

Just because he has FIV doesn’t make his life any different other than he will have to be ONLY CAT and an INDOOR ONLY cat because it can be transmitted to other cats, but not other species. Not only does he look like a mini-panther but Chile has the biggest personality of all our cats. He is playful, sassy and gorgeous. His owner originally passed away and he was brought to the Star Valley shelter and has been at the AAC since Spring 2017. Could you be Chile’s forever home?!

To meet Chile and learn how to adopt him, contact Animal Adoption Center at 739-1881 or stop by 270 E Broadway

The Alpenhof Lodge dogs remind you that most owners are eventually able to teach themselves to obey their dog.

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MAY 16, 2018 | 5

Baynard Woods ia reporter and editor at the Real News Network. Twitter @ baynardwoods; email baynard@therealnews.com

PET SPACE

Pet Space is sponsored by Alpenhof

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

appeared to have been dead for several days, possibly after his kidnapping that took place last Monday, April 16, in the city of Agua Prieta, Sonora.”

The penultimate line is a gut punch: “It appears that an agent of the Municipal Police was present at the abduction of the journalist, but he did nothing to hinder the kidnappers.”

Rodriguez was a well-known crime reporter for El Diario de Juárez. He was shot to death at point blank range on his way to work in Ciudad Juarez on November 13, 2008.

Rodriguez had been threatened, but ignored the threats. “I can’t live in my house like a prisoner,” he told the Committee to Protect Journalists. “I refuse to live in fear.”

He was gunned down in his driveway, with his eight-year-old daughter in the back seat.

Gutierrez left for the United States a few months earlier, in June 2008.

“He received a death threat and he fled rather than waiting around,” translator Molly Molloy said when I called her up to talk about Gutierrez. “Emilio is seen as in less danger because he is still alive. If you take a threat seriously and flee for your life and seek asylum, people aren’t going to believe your story because you’re not tortured and you’re not dead.”

Molloy hit on the insane logic of the infernal machine that governs the asylum process.

Gutierrez and his son were separated and held in custody for seven months.

Shortly after Obama took office, they were freed. Although Obama was often called the Deporter in Chief by immigration activists, Gutierrez attributed his release to the American president.

When he was finally released, Gutierrez and his son went to live in Las Cruces, in the house of some friends.

Bowden had also recently moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to live with Molloy, who is a Border & Latin American Specialist at the New Mexico State University Library.

Bowden published Gutierrez’s story in Mother Jones, but Gutierrez himself had a hard time figuring out what to do.

“He was sort of at a loss what he was going to do,” Molloy said. “He wanted

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milio Gutierrez Soto had to flee Mexico a decade ago to seek asylum in the United States because people there took his journalism too seriously. He may get sent back because an American judge does not take it seriously enough.

In 2005, on page 10 of El Diario, a Juarez daily, Gutierrez published a story with the headline: “Military personnel rob hotel in Palomas.”

“Six members of the Army, and one civilian who have been positively identified, robbed the guests at a motel in this town on Friday night, taking from them their money, jewelry, and other personal belongings,” the story read.

“The robbers then fled, but not before threatening their victims with death.

Yesterday, the victims gave up their right to file formal complaints about the events to denounce the crimes against them, facing the possibility that the threats they had received would be carried out.”

Gutierrez later told Charles Bowden, a great chronicler of the border, that army officials were pissed about his story and summoned him to a hotel in the center of the town of Ascension, near Chihuahua Ciudad. He was told “If you don’t come, we’ll come looking for you at home or wherever you are.”

When he got to the hotel, he was surrounded by soldiers. “You have no sources for that information,” the general said. He asked Gutierrez why he didn’t ever write about the narcotraficantes. Gutierrez confessed that he was frightened of them.

“You should fear us for we fuck the fucking drug traffickers, you son of a whore. I feel like putting you in the van and taking you to the mountains so you can see how we fuck over the drug traffickers, asshole,” a general said.

“You’ve written idiocies three times and there shall be no fourth. You’d better not mention this meeting or you’ll be sent to hell, asshole,” another officer said in a final sendoff.

Gutierrez knew they were serious.

In April 2007, he shared a byline with a reporter named Armando Rodriguez.

The story was about a third reporter, Saul Noe Martinez Ortega, who “was found wrapped in a blanket and

BY BAYNARD WOODS |

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

6 | MAY 16, 2018

THE BUZZ F

ive trillion. That’s the number of single-use plastic bags people across the planet use and toss each year. In Jackson alone, grocers estimate residents and visitors go through at least five million bags annually. That happens to be their conservative estimate.

Plastic bag bans have been enacted in countries, cities and towns across the world. Jackson, though, has yet to act.

Former Town Councilor Greg Miles proposed a plastic bag ban in 2011. He remembered driving across Wyoming and seeing plastic bags caught in barbed wire fences, billowing in the wind. The image, and that of plastic bags piled on the streets of other countries where he traveled, compelled him to suggest a ban. At the time, Jackson “could have been a leader,” he said, but the ban failed to draw the council’s support.

Seven years later, the potential to ban all single-use plastic bags and tack a 10 cent fee on paper bags has reemerged. Rising public awareness could augur a different outcome when the Town Council begins its first discussion during a May 21 workshop.

On Water, Land and in Your Stomach Researchers say plastic bags—which have only been around for 50 years— will never fully decompose. Instead, they turn into smaller pieces of plastic.

These plastic particles are invading every level of the food chain.

Microplastics, about 0.4 inches in diameter, are in the fish people eat and the water they drink. A March study by Orb Media found microplastics in more than 90 percent of bottled water tested across 11 brands in nine countries.

Broken down and intact plastics have been found in marine life from mahi-mahi to whales. In February 2017, scientists discovered a dying whale off the coast of Norway that had ingested 30 plastic bags. A sperm whale that washed up on a Spanish beach in April had more than 60 pounds of plastic and other waste brimming from its stomach.

Plastic use is indeed sharply transforming the natural world. According to a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum, oceans will contain more plastic than fish by the year 2050.

Such notions alarmed people like Andrée Dean and Wyoming House candidate Michael Yin. In 2017, they launched a grassroots effort to place a plastic bag ban front and center of

Global Problem, Local Solution Town Council could get serious about plastic bag ban

BY ROBYN VINCENT |

the Jackson Town Council. Since then, about 20 people have joined them— community organizers, conservationists, business owners and elected officials.

“I felt like this was such an easy initiative that could be done with great impacts,” Dean said. “We began having casual conversations with elected officials, people in town.” The more conversations they had, the more a ban seemed possible.

One of the first people Dean and Yin connected with was local conservationist and former head of the JH Conservation Alliance Paul Hansen.

When it comes to passing a local ordinance, Hansen said the matter is urgent: “The plastic industry in other states has been really aggressive on this and if we don’t get it done, we could see something happen in the state legislature.”

The kind of state legislation he fears would prohibit municipalities like Jackson from enacting a plastic bag ban.

Hansen is hopeful, though, that there will be more public and government support than in 2011. At the time, few public commenters spoke at that

@TheNomadicHeart

workshop. One of the ban’s most vociferous opponents was then-Mayor Mark Barron.

He worried banning plastic bags or charging a fee would “hurt the folks on the lowest rung of the economic ladder.” It was during a time, he said, when Jackson had lost hundreds of jobs and seen an increase in folks using social services like the Community Resource Center (now One 22).

Councilman Jim Stanford, then a journalist and activist, was a staunch supporter of the 2011 proposal. In fact, he was among the people who encouraged Miles to propose a ban. He doesn’t buy the economics argument. “I don’t believe those folks would be harmed.

There are ways to structure it. Think of all the people who have extra bags they could donate.”

In addition to donations, the 10 cent fee added to paper bags would ultimately relieve low-income families. It would be used to purchase reusable bags for the community and also go towards the recycling program, education and outreach.

Today, a different economic argument has surfaced: the cost of recycling plastic bags in Teton County.

Prices in the recycling market swung when the Chinese government enacted restrictions on what recyclables they will accept from the United States. “We were making $15 a ton on plastic bags, and now we are paying $40 a ton,” explained Heather Overholser, head of Teton County’s Integrated Solid Waste and Recycling Division.

She said even though they collect a “fair amount” of plastic bags, most are not being recycled. Meanwhile, the overall number of plastic bags that are recycled worldwide is less than 1 percent.

“When you go to the landfill or our trash transfer station, most of the litter you will see is plastic,” Overholser said.

“It is a huge source of litter even when it’s put into the trash.”

Plastics also make their way to bodies of water like Flat Creek. “We might be far from oceans but our waterways lead there,” she said.

Shifting Perceptions

Dean said much has changed since 2011 and the climate for a ban seems right. Since that time, “we have seen a lot of the results that have come out from other communities that have taken the initiative,” she said.

Such communities include similar resort towns like Aspen, Vail and Telluride, Colorado; states like California and soon New York. Seattle, Austin and Chicago have also banned plastic bags along with countries from the United Kingdom and Italy to France and Kenya.

Social media has helped raise awareness, too. “It has shown the visuals, I think public perception is changing,” Dean said.

Indeed, it is not just images of bloated whales with stomachs full of trash.

People are seeing the stunning “plastic soups”—collections of plastic bags, bottles and food containers floating around in the Pacific.

One of these masses is now larger than the size of Texas.

The May 21 workshop will be the first of several steps. It could result in Town Council directing town’s staff and attorney to begin work on options for an ordinance. But a ban would not happen overnight.

Still, Stanford said it is time: “How many other communities across the country and world have done this? We should not only get in step, we should show some leadership.” PJH

THE BUZZ 2

JUNTOS

R

Fears, Anxieties Deepen for Immigrants Advocacy work in other parts of the state highlights a void in Teton County

BY SARAH ROSS

MAY 16, 2018 | 7

population size, in its shared values, he said.

He grew up in Albin, Wyoming, population 120, and can fence and brand with the best of them. His father was undocumented for most of his life, but worked alongside white ranchers and farmers.

“Growing up, I saw ranchers work next to undocumented workers and stand up for them. Here, we respect workers. We respect Wyomingites.”

That’s the soul of the state, Serrano said—a place where people may not agree politically, but where hard work is honored and the land unifies everybody.

At 13, Serrano moved to the south side of Cheyenne, the less white and less affluent part of town. He knows it all— country life, city life, immigrant life.

Wyoming is a part of him, but he doesn’t always feel he’s welcome as a part of it.

“I’ve been followed in stores since I was a little kid,” Serrano said. Just this week in Walmart, he thought a man was going to call the police on him.

Meanwhile, the news has been flooded

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

a speeding ticket was recently deported.

Another has children born in the valley and was recently sent a deportation order. He refuses to leave his kids, and has been “in hiding” at various friends’ houses since then.

The people she knows left their home countries because there was little work and a lot of violence, Martinez said.

“They’re making the equivalent of $10 a day, they can’t feed their family … They make the dangerous, expensive journey to the States to work. It’s not they want to be here illegally. If there was an easy path to citizenship, they’d take it.”

In the last year, Martinez said she’s noticed fear pervade the immigrant community: “It’s really bad, it’s hard emotionally. It puts people in a depression. They feel helpless and hopeless.”

There needs to be more support for these people, Martinez said. Right now the attitude seems to be, “Oh well, what can we do about it?”

Serrano feels that something can and should be done all across the state. Wyoming’s power is in its small

with stories of white people calling the police on people of color—those touring a college, barbecuing with family, waiting for an Uber.

“We’ve always been treated differently because we’re Mexican or brown or Latino,” Serrano said. He was bullied for being Mexican in school, something that still happens in Jackson, Martinez said.

She’s heard of kids telling Latino peers that they’re going to call ICE, that their family will be deported.

For all of his life, Serrano has worked as a manual laborer. Two years ago, he co-founded Juntos. Three months ago, he was hired on as a full time ACLU organizer. Serrano’s mission is to advocate for Wyoming’s immigrants and particularly its undocumented residents, those people who “are a part of everything in Wyoming.”

Right now, Juntos’ focus is on the proposed private prison in Evanston that would serve as an ICE detention center. The company that would open the prison, Management & Training Organization, out of Centerville, Utah, has been accused of overworking guards and neglecting inmates. At its other facilities, detainees have complained of backed up toilets, moldy food, and rodent infestations.

The company has denied these allegations.

“This is not just bad for detainees,” Serrano said, “it’s bad for the people working there, and it’s bad for Wyoming.”

He said this isn’t what Wyoming stands for—incarcerating immigrants who likely have no criminal history in a place run by an out-of-state corporation.

Wyoming residents at different ends of the spectrum agree. Juntos is gaining bipartisan support from Wyoming business, faith, and political leaders. Serrano feels hopeful about stopping the construction of the prison, and doing more to support immigrants in general.

It has been difficult, though, because undocumented residents are so afraid right now. There’s a fear of speaking in public, or joining Juntos’ efforts and becoming visible.

Something needs to shift, Serrano said: “I’m happy to fight for my people, I’ll sacrifice time with my family. But I need my people to stand with me. I can’t do it alone … We’re not going to sit on the sidelines, we’re going to get involved because we matter too.” PJH

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ecently, Juntos founder and ACLU organizer, Antonio Serrano, based in Cheyenne, got a call from a girl whose father had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She couldn’t find him. By the time they tracked him down, her father was already in Mexico.

Over the past decade, but particularly since the election of President Trump, ICE has become increasingly empowered to act on its own discretion. Its tactics are more threatening, it targets more people, and the consequences of being detained are higher.

According to TracImmigration, 29.2 percent of deportations in 1992 were based on criminal activity. In 2010, that number had decreased by half. Now, less than 6 percent of deportees have a criminal history. Most are targeted based on legal status alone.

What happens after a person is detained is also of concern.

For detainees awaiting a hearing, the average wait time in prison is 700 days, more than double what it was 10 years ago.

Colorado’s facilities—where the majority of Jackson’s immigrants targeted by ICE go—have the longest wait time in the country. Immigrants wait an average of 1,058 days.

These statistics are indeed relevant to Wyoming. Between 2000 and 2016, the Latino population increased 84 percent.

Cheyenne is about 15 percent Latino, and Laramie about 8 percent. Both cities now have branches of Juntos, which trains undocumented immigrants in their rights, has a rapid response team that will go observe ICE interactions, and is fighting against the proposed ICE detention center in Evanston.

Jackson, however, lacks such resources yet it has the highest percentage of Hispanic immigrants in the state, about 30 percent of the population.

This lack of resources has compounded the fears and anxieties among Jackson’s immigrant populace.

Cecily Martinez commutes from Swan Valley, Idaho, to Jackson for work every day, and though she is white, many family members and friends are immigrants, some documented, others not.

They are in desperate need of more help, she said.

When ICE is in town, “People are scared to go to work, they don’t want to go to the grocery store, they are constantly living in fear.”

One man she knows who was in the valley for 20 years with little more than

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

8 | MAY 16, 2018

Al Margen de Todo (On the Outside of Everything)

By Rachel Attias @multi_rachel

Jackson’s Spanish speakers find language barriers, lack of resources difficult to overcome in their path to learning and integration

E

milia Alvarez dreams in English.

“Es super raro,” she said. It’s really weird.

It is super raro, because Alvarez does not speak English—not much, anyway.

The 34-year-old Paraguayan single mom moved to Jackson three years ago.

Three months later, her 9-year-old son, Martín, joined her. (Due to their pending immigration status, Alvarez and her son are using pseudonyms.)

Alvarez heard about Jackson through a friend who also immigrated here. She was mesmerized by the mountains and wildlife, but it was the promise of a better life that ultimately drew her to Jackson.

“Es un lugar increíble sobretodo para los niños, la educación, las escuelas, la gente súper amable, y no hay delincuencia.” It is an incredible place for children, the education, the schools, the very friendly people, and there is no crime.

Since then, Alvarez has held

numerous jobs, mostly cleaning houses. She also juggles nannying and light office work. Her immaculate fingernails, which on this day were bright violet, do not reveal how hard she works.

But after a few rough years bouncing from job to job, Alvarez has found some measure of stability and a regular income. “Este es el primer año que tengo menos trabajo,” she said. This is the first year that I’ve had less work.

Alvarez wants to learn English for two reasons. “Primero,” she said, “porque es como un desafío mi misma.

Es algo que nunca me imaginé por mi vida, poder vivir en un país donde se habla otra idioma.” First, because it’s like a challenge for myself. It’s something I never imagined for my life, to be able to live in a country where they speak a different language.

It is the second reason, though, that is more pressing. “Obviamente que si yo tenga buen Inglés, puedo tener un buen

trabajo, mejor trabajo.” Obviously if I speak English well, I can get a good job, a better job.

Learning English as an adult can feel like swimming against a current, like achingly slow progress toward an immediately necessary goal. It takes time to learn a language, and when you are learning for survival—to secure a higher paying job, to communicate with your coworkers, neighbors, or to navigate the obstacles of everyday life— time is a luxury many cannot afford.

Alvarez said she could excel at many jobs, but she cannot prove herself because she cannot communicate.

Local advocates say Teton County’s Latino population hovers around 30 percent (25 percent according to the 2016 U.S. census). It is a number that has been steadily increasing for years and offers a window into America’s future.

In 2015, Spanish speakers comprised

17.6 percent of the U.S. population.

According to the Pew Research Center, by 2065 the nation’s population will be roughly 24 percent Hispanic.

Already, the Department of Education has noted 32 states with a shortage of English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers in public schools. Meanwhile, Wyoming has reported a shortage since 2004.

This shortage is more pronounced when it comes to resources for adults.

According to the Pew Research Center, America’s Latino population is moving away from cities like Los Angeles and New York, which have historically had the highest Latino populations in the nation. They are moving to the South, suburban areas all over the country and resort towns like Jackson.

As larger numbers of immigrants settle in small towns rather than cities, language resources in places like Jackson are stretched thin.

Teton Literacy Center offers major linguistic support to the valley’s children and their families.

Older and Unheard

her class had similar retention issues.

“La gente nunca terminaba el proceso. Siempre vi a la misma gente estudiando lo mismo.” People never finished the process. I always saw the same people studying the same things.

CWC’s English classes are semester-based, with each semester lasting 15 weeks. After three months of learning, Alvarez left the program early.

Vulcano admits that, in the lower levels, “students start dropping out within eight weeks. Levels 1 and 2 have very high attrition rates.”

There are many reasons students leave CWC’s adult ESL classes early, or fail to return after their first semester.

Most people, with jobs and families, don’t have the time to attend twice weekly evening classes.

For single parents like Alvarez, it can be difficult to find childcare. She doesn’t have family in Jackson, and there are few people she can rely on to care for Martín while she’s busy.

It can also be difficult for adults to motivate themselves to learn a new language when it feels abstract. Vulcano’s teaching methods are aimed at adult learners, and she uses “task-based learning,” among other techniques, to teach students how to navigate necessary life activities in English.

But students do have to learn basic English in order to master these tasks.

Alvarez wanted to learn how to ask for a raise, order food at a restaurant, or

MAY 16, 2018 | 9

Nearly all the support and scaffolding available for children English Language Learners (ELLs) in Jackson is absent for adults, who must navigate the world on their own. When it comes to resources for adult Hispanic ELLs, Jackson simply does not have the manpower to teach everyone who wants to be taught. Indeed, it is left to a small coterie of instructors. One can count the number of adult ESL classes on one hand.

Alvarez found her first ESL class where everyone goes, she said. “Todo el mundo me dijo, en verdad.” Everyone told me, really.

The class is at Central Wyoming College. Inside the Center for the Arts, CWC offers free ESL classes with four different levels based on proficiency.

Jacqueline Vulcano, who teaches levels 1 and 2 for beginners, said the population in these classes is overwhelmingly Spanish-speaking, and that there is a high level of turnover.

“Ideally, we’d like people to continue from term to term until they complete our four levels, but rarely is that the case.”

Alvarez is one of the many people who did not complete the classes. She attended Vulcano’s classes twice a week for three months. She said during that time, “no aprendí nada. O sea, aprendí lo básico.” I didn’t learn anything. I mean, I learned the basics.

The problem, Alvarez said, is that she has had very few opportunities to practice the material she learned. She spends most of her days with other Spanish speakers at work, and has limited interactions in English. The English word she uses the most is “vacuum,” she said, laughing.

For adults, one of the most effective ways to learn a language is by actually using it in real situations. The fact that Alvarez doesn’t have anyone to practice her English with might be one of the greatest barriers to her learning. She would learn a word and then immediately forget it, as she had no context for its use. She noticed that other adults in

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

personalidad súper linda. Él sabe que no tiene que ser bully.” I feel very proud of him. Martín has a beautiful personality. He knows that he doesn’t have to be a bully.

For her part, Alvarez found it easier to blend in. She knew with whom she could and could not communicate. But for Martín, the whole English-speaking world seemed against him.

Now, three years later, Martín is a happy boy with many friends, but the trauma of bullying and that initial fear have stayed with him. He can be timid around other children and adults. Still, he has language to fall back on, a tool of communication that has changed his life.

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Martín was seven years old when he moved to Jackson. He started school at Jackson Elementary but was utterly lost in his new English-speaking school.

Alvarez got help contacting the school and asked for Martín to be enrolled in the dual immersion program. He was switched to that program, which he attends today. In dual immersion, students switch back and forth between an English-speaking classroom and a Spanish one.

There is a waitlist for the program and most families must enroll their children as they enter kindergarten.

There are some exceptions, though, and “whenever possible we add [newly arrived Spanish speaking students] into dual immersion,” said Charlotte Reynolds, Teton County School District’s information coordinator.

The district tries to maintain an equal balance of English and Spanish speakers, so students like Martín can enter the program if there is space and the ratio allows.

When Spanish-speaking students are unable to enroll, they receive other ESL services or are placed in a traditional classroom, depending on their needs and language aptitude.

Dual immersion helped Martín learn English quickly, and he is now fluent.

Alvarez attributes this to his being surrounded by English speakers in school all day, but “el que más sufrió con esto de no saber el idioma fue él,” she said. The one who suffered most from not knowing the language was him.

Before he learned English, Martín was bullied by his peers. They taunted him because he could not speak the language. Martín became afraid to attend school and angry with his mother. Why would she take him to a place where he couldn’t understand anyone, where he was put down because of it?

“Estaba enojado conmigo,” Alvarez said. “Yo sentí eso, y igual yo sentía mal al principio.” He was angry with me. I felt this, and I also felt bad at first.

Alvarez and her son are very close and she is a fiercely loving mother.

Once, when Martín had lice, she sat with him each day for nearly a month and picked every bug from his hair so they would not have to cut his long, wild locks.

It was hard for her to see her son suffer, and for him to blame her for it.

Now that Martín has learned English and come out the other side of his bullying ordeal, Alvarez said, “me siento mucho orgullo de él… Martín tiene una

LINA COLLADO

Painful Past, Bright Future

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

10 | MAY 16, 2018

have a conversation with an Englishspeaking friend. And while Vulcano’s classes do strive to teach students these skills, learners still have to get over the first hurdle of basic language acquisition.

This approach proved too tedious for Alvarez. For someone who is working three jobs and caring for her son alone, Alvarez decided she did not have time for tedium.

The other driving force in educational resources for the Latino community is the Teton Literacy Center (TLC). TLC offers services for children of all ages, as well as their parents, under the umbrella of their “family literacy” programming. TLC emphasizes “whole family literacy” —reading and language education for parents and children. Families learn together and from each other.

But that means it does not offer instruction to adults who do not have school-aged children.

For parents with young children, TLC has a free preschool program, which for many kids is their first real exposure to English, giving them a necessary boost for when they enter the public school system. The preschool program also extends to parents, as each family enrolled receives a monthly home visit from a TLC employee, who works with parents to connect their child’s in-school learning to daily home activities.

With the “Late Night Learning” program, TLC offers simultaneous classes for children while their parents learn English, which eliminates the problem of finding childcare.

The classes use similar teaching methods to those at CWC, and in fact when Alvarez left the English classes at the Center for the Arts, she asked around and found that TLC’s classes were “muy parecidas.” Very similar.

If CWC’s classes hadn’t worked for her, why would the classes at TLC be any different?

Reluctant to enroll in another ESL class, but enticed by the promise that TLC would take care of her son, Alvarez attempted to enroll.

But Martín was placed on the waitlist, so Alvarez waited, too.

A few months later when TLC informed Alvarez that there was finally space for Martín, she had already enrolled him in various other afterschool activities, so the two were unable to fit any TLC classes into their

schedules.

It can be difficult for many families to get into TLC’s programs. Fio Lazarte, TLC’s family literacy program manager, stressed a constant need for volunteers, who are the beating heart of TLC’s educational programs. It has 95 volunteers yet more than 100 families are on the waitlist.

Alvarez had missed her chance.

Next, she turned to private tutoring. She found her first tutor through a friend. Shortly after, one of her employers offered to find her a free tutor in exchange for Alvarez picking up more work hours, a deal she gladly accepted.

She learned a lot from her new tutor, who spoke fluent Spanish and was wellequipped to answer difficult questions about English grammar and syntax.

She had finally found a learning method that worked for her, and that she could afford, but it didn’t last long.

The linguistic honeymoon came to an end when her tutor moved away. For now, Alvarez is taking a break from lessons to save money and have more free time. She hopes to find another tutor someday.

Linguistically on the Edge An important aspect of Alvarez’s search for English classes is that she found her way to the free, federally funded services at Central Wyoming College and Teton Literacy Center, and her private tutors, solely through word-of-mouth referrals. This is not an exception, and is in fact indicative of how these programs operate.

The Latino community in Jackson is tightly knit, and most people know to send those who are looking for help either to CWC or TLC. If the classes don’t work, then they are back to asking around, left floating in uncertainty until they happen to hear of another opportunity, or find someone who knows someone who can tutor them for cheap. Vulcano and Lazarte noted that almost all of their students find their way to ESL classes by asking other ELLs where to go.

This uncertainty, and the fact that many Latinos work together, leads people to avoid English in their daily lives and stick to interactions with other members of the Spanish-speaking community.

The community is bound by language, which creates closeness, and perhaps a bubble within the bubble that is Jackson.

A proud TLC graduate.

The flip side is that many members of the Latino community feel like outsiders because of the language barrier (as well as other factors, like the high rate of poverty among Latinos and the mounting fear of deportation for the undocumented portion of the community).

One 22, a nonprofit that serves community members in need, released a study earlier this year about the needs of Latino youth in Teton County. A combination of analysis and direct quotes paints a picture of the isolation that much of the community feels.

The study found overwhelming levels of “self-segregated social groups in schools at all levels, discrimination against Latino students and low participation among Latino families in community-wide events.”

Local students reported feeling ostracized due to race, socioeconomic status, and language, saying, “The whites sometimes isolate you because

of your skin color of the way you talk and look,” and “[I don’t hang out with] La comunidad anglo porque tienen otro estilo de vida.” I don’t hang out with the Anglo community because they have another lifestyle.

Jackson’s language gap is one of the greatest barriers to interaction between the white and Latino communities, and residents of all ages are affected.

This may be why so many people, both English- and Spanish-speaking, seek structured programs to teach them how to communicate.

The Language Exchange program, hosted in tandem by CWC, TLC and the Teton County Library, is Jackson’s answer for those folks. It hinges on learning through conversation; local English speakers and Spanish speakers are paired up based on gender, age, and language ability.

Pairs undergo an hour-long training and then meet for an hour a week to have informal conversations, each

the motive is the fear that we have. These meetings scared me because it’s very difficult, but now that I’m focusing and practicing I think differently.

Another obstacle? The program requires at least a basic level of language aptitude, as complete beginners would find it next to impossible to engage in hour-long conversations in a foreign tongue. But as a supplement to ESL classes or tutoring, the program is a valuable resource.

This year it has 17 pairs, and while there are plenty of folks waiting to be paired up, the professionals in charge of the language exchange say they are overburdened with work, and would have great difficulty taking on more pairs right now.

It makes sense, as the women behind the language exchange—each representing one of three organizations that sponsor it—are Vulcano and Collado, who already teach the only ESL classes in town, along with Jordan Rich, a full-time Te t o n

English-speaking men to match their current applicants—the vast majority of whom are English-speaking women and Spanish-speaking men.

They have a few hypotheses about this, mainly that Hispanic women are too busy working and taking care of families to donate an hour a week to participate in the program. This, coupled with Susano’s theory that fear holds many women back, makes for a disheartening combination. As for the low number of English-speaking men, Vulcano, Collado and Rich aren’t quite sure why there is a lack of interest.

Too Busy, Too Fearful

MAY 16, 2018 | 11

PJH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

The problems facing the language exchange are the problems facing all of Jackson’s ESL resources, and indeed the nation as a whole: there are just not enough dedicated professionals to serve all the people who need help, and the people who would like help are often too busy or ashamed to seek it in the first place.

“Jackson, como ciudad, es muy generoso con la gente que no habla “Me h inglés,” Alvarez said. Jackson, a ay u Me ha dado as a city, is very generous b a a y s ta n uda má s e with people who don’t n la co do i nvolucr te. a r me mu n id speak English. e l mie ad y p d o ex erder And this, in part, is presa rme.” true. ESL professionIt has h e l ped als often go aboveh e l ped me a me i nv lo and-beyond their job t .

I i n the o t comm lve myse lf ’s description when it u n ity more fea r o comes to meeting the a n d lose f ex p ressi n t h e community’s increasg mys e lf. ing needs.

Any provider of services for Spanish speakers often becomes a de facto community resource for all aspects of local life, including things outside the purview of their expertise.

County Library employee. They The Latino community has many not only review every application and needs and, because of the language assign pairings, but they also train each gap, few places they can ask for help. individual pair and regularly check up Some ESL providers say that they end on pairs to make sure they are reaching up helping with other things, too, like their goals. searching for tutors, childcare, housing The three say they wish they could or jobs. expand the program, and even have “Students bring their mail for help far-off plans of creating an identical in a quick translation,” Collado said. program in Idaho with help from the “Sometimes, they just need advice on Teton County Library’s Alta branch, but where to go for certain circumstancthere is much work to be done before es—veterinarians, summer child care that can happen. options, assistance with health care They also noted a demographics bills, or how to connect with certain problem. The program has a great need organizations to pursue their hobbies, for more Spanish-speaking women and like art or volunteering.”

As a language instructor and de facto translator and advocate, Collado is indeed busy. During the school year, she also teaches ESL classes to Head Start parents at the Children’s Learning Center.

Beyond the professionals, where do ordinary native English speakers fit into the equation? “Los Americanos,” Alvarez said, “muy poco hablan español. Y cuando no saben hablar español no te hablan directamente… no se esfuerzan comunicarse contigo.”

Very few Americans speak Spanish. And when they don’t know how to speak Spanish, they don’t speak directly to you.

They don’t make an effort to communicate with you.

After three years, Alvarez still feels like she is on the outside of the Jackson community, looking in. She is lonely, and a little bored; she doesn’t have many adult friends, and she spends most of her time either working or taking care of Martín. Alvarez is very outgoing and said she would love to make more English-speaking friends.

If Alvarez were to become fluent in English, she said, she would have a better job and social life. People would talk to her more. She would make more friends, work fewer hours and spend more time with her son. She could build a better life for her family.

Alvarez offered her own solutions.

“Podrían haber más recursos para enseñar.” There could be more resources for teaching. She wants “más profesoras quizás, no gratis, quizás donde puede pagar, pero no hay.” More professors maybe, not free, maybe where you can pay, but there is nothing. Alvarez wants more teachers, more classes, more options. She doesn’t mind the idea of paying something for a class if it will diversify her options.

Initially, Alvarez said she wasn’t interested in a language exchange. She wanted to learn; she did not want to use her time to teach someone else. Now, though, she said she would participate.

The bridge across the language gap may be long and rickety, but Alvarez said she is determined to work her way across it.

“Yo estudiaría todo el día si es posible.” I would study all day if it were possible.

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speaking the other’s native language.

The language exchange is in its second year, and thanks to some advertising and (unsurprisingly) word-ofmouth traction, it has drawn a large number of applicants. If an applicant cannot be paired with someone of the same gender, similar language levels, and age, they are stuck waiting for another applicant who fits the ticket.

But for those who do manage to pair up, the program has been successful.

Adriene Henderson and Mirella Susano have been meeting weekly since last October. Henderson studied Spanish in high school and college, but virtually stopped practicing when she moved to Jackson. She is involved with a number of nonprofits and has found that, through work and her daily personal life, there are many Spanishspeaking members of the Jackson community with whom she could not communicate. She had trouble finding the time to enroll in the exchange, but finally decided that “it was time to make time.”

Both women are acutely aware of the division between Jackson’s Englishand Spanish-speaking populations. It is something they talk about often.

Henderson said the exchange, “takes some of the fear of the language barrier away, and you learn a lot about this whole other community that I feel our town is unfortunately a bit divided.”

“Sí!” Yes! Susano’s enthusiastic response sparked laughter between the women, who now consider each other friends.

Susano uses the language exchange as a supplement to ESL classes that she takes with instructor Lina Collado at Teton Literacy Center.

“Me ha ayudado bastante. Me ha ayudado involucrarme más en la comunidad y perder el miedo expresarme,” Susano said. It has helped me a lot. It’s helped me involve myself more in the community and lose the fear of expressing myself.

But it is not that simple, she added.

The fear of trying to speak English is so great for her that she avoids it in all other aspects of her life. She posits that is why more Hispanic women do not sign up for the program. “Yo creo que el motivo es el miedo que tenemos.

Me ha dado miedo reunirme porque es muy difícil, pero ya enfocandome y practicando yo pienso diferente.” I think

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

12 | MAY 16, 2018

HALF OFF BLAST OFF! Through May 23

This Week at The Wort THURSDAY, MAY 17 DERRIK AND THE DYNAMOS FRI & SAT, MAY 18 & 19 BANSHEE TREE

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

TUESDAY, MAY 22 BLUEGRASS TUESDAY WITH ONE TON PIG Full music schedule at worthotel.com 50 N. Glenwood St. • 307-732-3939

HALFOFFJH.COM

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16

n Toddler Gym 10 a.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Baby Time - Youth Auditorium 10:05 a.m. Teton County Library, n Read to Rover 3 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n VITA 2018 Free Tax Prep 3 p.m. Teton County Library, n After School at the Library 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, Free, n Fun with Library Staff: Miss Beth - Youth Auditorium 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n Teton Valley Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting 5 p.m. Chamber Office, n Panel on Mental Health 6 p.m. Teton County Library, $13.00 - $0.00, n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Intermediate Bachata 7:15 p.m. Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $90.00, 307-733-6398 n Auditions for Shorts 7:30 p.m. Dancers’ Workshop, Free,

THURSDAY, MAY 17

n Storytime - Youth Auditorium 10:30 a.m. Teton County Library, n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 12 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n After School at the Library 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, Free, n Theater Thursday, Victor 3:30 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Make stuff with Rachel Attias - Youth Auditorium 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n ARTIST RECEPTION: Long Ago when the Earth was Quiet 5 p.m. Turner Fine Art, Free, 3077344444 n Open Build 5:30 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Friends and Family Mental Health Support Group 6 p.m. Eagle Classroom of St. John’s Medical Center, Free, 307-733-2046

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 14

n Renaissance Man brings Kipling Stories to Life for Children - Youth Auditorium 6 p.m. Teton County Library, n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n App Time - Computer Lab 7 p.m. Teton County Library, n Ecstatic Dance 7 p.m. Dancers’ Workshop, $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Derrik and the Dynamos 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Derrik and the Dynamos 7:30 p.m. Wort Hotel,

n JH Mini Maker Faire @ TSS 12 p.m. Journeys School, n 3rd Annual Wyoming Backcountry Adventure Workshop 6 p.m. Pink Garter Theatre, n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Juggernauts vs Junction City 7 p.m. Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $10.00, 307413-4790 n Banshee Tree 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939

FRIDAY, MAY 18

SUNDAY, MAY 20

n Toddler Gym 10 a.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Free Food Friday 10:30 a.m. Jackson Cupboard, Free, 3076992163 n All Ages Story Time Driggs 11:15 a.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Game Night 4 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Young Professionals of the Tetons Kickoff Event 4 p.m. The Wort Hotel, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307201-2304 n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Out West Fest 7 p.m. Pink Garter Theatre, $10.00 - $12.00, 3077237016 n Banshee Tree 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n FREE Friday Night Public Stargazing 9 p.m. Center for the Arts,

SATURDAY, MAY 19

n Elk Fest / Mountain Man Redezvous 7 a.m. n App Time - Computer Lab 11 a.m. Teton County Library, n Jackson Hole Mini Maker Faire 12 p.m. Jackson Campus of Teton Science Schools, Free, n Teton Valley Swims!

12 p.m. Jackson Parks and Recreation,

n Ultimate Towner Obstacle Course 9 a.m. n Elk Fest / Chili Cookoff / Mountain Man Rendezvous 9 a.m. n Ultimate Towner Obstacle Course Jackson, WY • Sunday May 20, 2018 11 a.m. Phil Baux Park, n Nature Photograhy Celebration 12 p.m. Jackson Hole Center for the Arts, $45.00 - $325.00, 618-547-7616 n 2018 Nature Photography Celebration 12 p.m. The Virginian Lodge, $50.00 - $325.00, 618-547-7616 n Open Gym - Adult Volleyball 4 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n “Schubert Fest” - Spring Concert Performed by the Jackson Hole Chorale & Jackson Hole Symphony Orchestra 4 p.m. Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church, Free, 307-690-5015 n Jackson Wyoming Ultimate Towner Obstacle Course Race 2018

MONDAY, MAY 21

n Toddler Gym 10 a.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Nature Photograhy Celebration 10 a.m. Jackson Hole Center for the Arts, $45.00 - $325.00, 618-547-7616

CREATIVE PEAKS

The Lines of Humanity Artist’s work focuses on ‘something that matters’

BY KELSEY DAYTON |

T

forcing people to think about what they are seeing and puzzle together what it means. Sometimes people just don’t want to do that, he said. Yoshimoto’s work uses bright colors and humor to draw people into the painting and then invest them in the subject matter.

Yoshimoto went on to earn a master’s degree in art therapy and has worked with different groups including immigrants and refugees, where he has witnessed art’s healing power.

He incorporates that into his work. He created a 30-foot-long painting inspired by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan. It became a type of memorial.

“I realized I can make something powerful and interesting,” he said.

Most recently Yoshimoto traveled to places like Greece and Nepal, seeking out stories of human struggles. He’s working on a series to honor those stories.

About a year ago Yoshimoto developed tennis elbow so severe he couldn’t pick up anything, including a paint brush. He turned to creating digital work and lasercut sculptures in the interim, but found he loved it so much he plans to continue

his three-dimensional work even now that he can again paint.

Before his injury, he painted and then redrew the image digitally to make a laser cut stencil he used in a small format. Now, his laser cut work has become three-dimensional and art in its own right. He likes the physical space a sculpture demands.

He incorporates the physicality of the sculpture in the work. Most of his sculptures are rectangular; some are shaped to look like Gameboys or cellphones to give the work his trademark sense of playfulness.

With his refugee series, he’s been working on creating coins that represent the money refugees must pay for seats on overcrowded small boats that promise to ferry them to safety and for additional amenities, like life jackets. PJH Yoshimoto will show some of this work and discuss his process and the stories he wants to tell at an artist talk and studio tour from 6 to 8 p.m., May 24 at Teton ArtLab. He’ll also create a mini pop-up gallery with work from recent shows.

MAY 16, 2018 | 13

Yoshimoto was born in Japan and moved to the United States when he was 9 years old. He always drew as a child, but got serious about art while in college at the University of California Santa Barbara. One of his professors challenged him to focus on “something that matters,” so Yoshimoto began volunteering at a homeless shelter. That was when his art began to shift to look at the human condition and serious subject matter.

When his mother died in 2006, he pivoted away from solemnity.

“I started making paintings of bacon because I thought they were hilarious,” he said.

It was a way for him to deal with the overwhelming sense of loss and depression. For some reason, he found a bacon breakfast plate beautiful and funny and he obsessively painted it for months, creating 26 different works.

“It was this excessive search for joy and happiness,” he said.

That was when he realized the power of humor. He wanted to use that in his future work. Oftentimes art, especially contemporary art, isn’t accessible to viewers, he said. It relies too much on

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

he quirky composition and bright colors draw viewers to Jave Yoshimoto’s art. They might see Godzilla, or something that just doesn’t look quite right.

“Then, when they look at the rest of the painting, they realize ‘Hey, there is something else going on,’” Yoshimoto said.

He uses simple, graphic compositions, where the elements fit together like a puzzle. His work is narrative and story-driven, and he always tries to incorporate humor, even when dealing with serious subjects like his recent series on refugees.

Yoshimoto is Teton ArtLab’s artist-in-residence during the month of May. He is an alum of the program and back for the second time. Last time he was in Jackson, he created work featuring a jackalope and Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring.

While in Wyoming he hopes to again find inspiration for his work. He recently visited Heart Mountain near Cody, a concentration camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. He said he would like to make work that has elements based on the camp.

@Kelsey_Dayton

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‘Harbinger of late winter day’s dusk’ by Jave Yoshimoto.

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

14 | MAY 16, 2018

LOCAL SYNDROME

TUESDAY, MAY 22

n Nature Photograhy Celebration 10 a.m. Jackson Hole Center for the Arts, $45.00 - $325.00, 618-547-7616 n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 12 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n 2018 Nature Photography Celebration 12 p.m. The Virginian Lodge, $50.00 - $325.00, 618-547-7616 n Tech Time 1 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Read to Rover, Driggs 3 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n App Time - Computer Lab 3 p.m. Teton County Library, n 2018 Wyoming Bike Walk Trails Summit 4 p.m. Snow King Resort, n Wyoming Native Plant Society, Teton Chapter 6 p.m. Teton County Library, n Open Gym - Adult Volleyball 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Bluegrass Tuesdays with One Ton Pig 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307732-3939 n The Devil Makes Three 8 p.m. Pink Garter Theatre, $35.00,

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23

n Toddler Gym 10 a.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Read to Rover 3 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n VITA 2018 Free Tax Prep 3 p.m. Teton County Library, n Fun with Library Staff: Miss Beth - Youth Auditorium 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n 2018 Wyoming Bike Walk Trails Summit 4 p.m. Snow King Resort, n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Intermediate Bachata 7:15 p.m. Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $90.00, 307-733-6398

For complete event details visit pjhcalendar.com.

RYAN STOLP

n 2018 Nature Photography Celebration 12 p.m. The Virginian Lodge, $50.00 - $325.00, 618-547-7616 n Maker 3 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Town Council Workshop 3 p.m. n Movie Monday-Driggs 3:30 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n 2018 Wyoming Bike Walk Trails Summit 4 p.m. Snow King Resort, n Monday Night Book Club - Meeting Room 2 5:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n Town Council Evening Meeting 6 p.m. n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Intermediate Salsa with Juan Morales and Rachel Holmes 7:15 p.m. Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $90.00, 307-733-6398 n Dan Burden 7:30 p.m. Snow King Resort,

The Town Behind the Curtain Jackson is not the quaint Wyoming hamlet it claims to be

BY ANDREW MUNZ |

W

henever someone says Jackson Hole is a tight-knit community, I want to call bullshit. It’s a noble concept and certainly something a regular small town would possess, say in central Wyoming, but it’s about time we wake from that #jhdreaming.

This is no longer a regular, ole small town. Yes, it’s safer than most; yes, it’s a great place to raise kids; yes, the mountains are awesome; but a sensible little small town it ain’t. And it makes me wonder if we’ve convinced ourselves that Jackson is truly here for us.

And only us. We, the locals. The coveted members of our high-altitude society.

For it is we who have the right to dictate what is or isn’t “Jackson.” We mumble our protests in private, but wave our optimism out in public like patriots.

“It’s a mere malfunction,” we might say, about the Junot Díaz library visit or a weekend of hellish construction, “but we shall push forward.”

When you build a culture out of feigning a version of Western reality to top-dollar outside visitors, you haven’t created a tight-knit community. You’ve created Westworld.

The second season of HBO’s hit sci-fi drama is currently airing, and I, like many others, enjoy getting lost in its cryptic, engaging narrative. In it, a theme park designed to replicate the Wild West is overrun by the robots who portray characters within the park, known as “hosts.” Wealthy tourists can lose themselves in the park’s offerings, which cater to their every need.

However, the hosts become self-aware

@AndrewMunz

and fight for their survival against the humans who pull the strings. A smattering of unlucky visitors get caught in the crossfire.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

In some not-too-outlandish way, Jackson Hole is our muted version of Westworld. Here, stranger, in the Last of the Old West, you can be whoever you want to be. For a price, of course. If you want your private West Bank home, it’s yours. If you want endless opportunities for tax write-offs, look no further.

If you want to ski forever, by golly, you can. In Jackson Hole, you’re not just home; you’re a part of a tight-knit community™ that will be there for you when you need it most.

I do not believe my hometown of Jackson is paradise on Earth. I do not believe that, unless in the event of a forest fire or something, we would drop everything to help one another. Yes, the farmers’ markets are cute and quaint distractions, but we are in a moment of time where eviction could mean being exiled from this community for good.

And we selfishly chalk it up to just another malfunction that will work itself out eventually, regardless of the cost.

A tight-knit community would be more proactive. But we are too fearful of losing our façade of comfort to truly care about our neighbors, especially if those neighbors aren’t deemed “local” enough to begin with. As long as we’re not the victim in the equation, we tend to ignore it.

Living in Jackson Hole is the ultimate game of white-privileged Survival

of the Fittest in existence. And those who win have no problem congratulating themselves. The winners will write Jackson’s history.

Call me a pessimist, a bitter, ungrateful nobody, but for whom is Jackson good for other than those who can afford to be here? Sure, our tourist dollars contribute much to the rest of the state but we are far from being even a AAA battery in comparison to California’s now fifth-largest economy in the world. Teton County’s per-capita income is almost double that of Wyoming’s per-capita total, and yet we can’t figure out how to house our workforce.

What becomes of our town when only those who can afford it can enjoy it? The locals who get priced out become mere pawns, expendable, the weakest among us, the first to go.

Westworld is indeed fiction, but a line recently spoken by a host named Dolores gave me chills: “There is beauty in what we are; shouldn’t we too try to survive?” Now, I am in no way condoning a tactic like the hosts’ violent revolution, but I wouldn’t be miffed if I saw more Jackson locals show a little backbone.

Because if we truly are a tight-knit community, we would aim for progress on the daily. We would speak out. We would vote against the status quo and explore radical new ideas. We would actually mourn for the girl who died by suicide on the Elk Refuge Road rather than gossip about it. And we would finally make moves to curb our drastic economic divide and promote the voices around us that need to be heard. PJH

DON’T MISS

XXXXX

| WELLNESS | DINING | A & E | NEWS | OPINION |

Marie-France Roy in ‘Right to Roam.’

Out West Goes Multimedia Annual festival is anchored in local and regional films, music and a mission

A

BY KELSEY DAYTON |

EARLY RISER? Planet Jackson Hole is looking for a Wednesday morning delivery driver to start immediately!

CONTACT PETE@PLANETJH.COM | (307) 732-0299

MAY 16, 2018 | 15

incarnations, happening at different times and different locations. This is the first year it will feature music and a film festival combined, Quinn said.

The film lineup also includes Far From Home, which tells the story of an Iranian woman becoming an Olympic downhill skier. The film was created by a team from Jackson and Salt Lake City.

“It’s such a cool story about a woman breaking stereotypes,” Quinn said.

Mothered by Mountains, a film from Camp 4 Collective, follows the story of female Nepali mountaineers on a quest for a first ascent. “It’s an inside look at these women who are at the forefront of the sport and industry in Nepal,” Quinn said.

The Shape of a River, meanwhile, explores the Yellowstone River through the eyes of those whose lives intersect with it. It is the story of a fierce yet vulnerable river that shapes the landscape and people’s lives. Quinn described it as “a slow, meditative piece.”

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

lana Nichols is a multi-sport gold medalist who has risen through the ranks of some of the most accomplished athletes in the world.

Never heard of her? Not for long.

Nichols is the subject of the short film One Track Mind produced by Orijin Media. The film looks at talented athletes, but also skiing and access to the sport, said Christie Quinn, operations director at Jackson Hole Wild.

It is one of eight films that will screen as part of Out West Fest, a music and film festival presented by Jackson Hole Wild and Orijin Media.

“There’s a definite twist to this film and it’s incredibly moving,” Quinn said.

The films featured in the revamped festival are made by Jackson and regional filmmakers and tackle topics from immigrant populaces and Olympic athletes to public lands and mountain lions.

Out West Fest began a few years ago as a music festival. It’s undergone a few

@Kelsey_Dayton

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

16 | MAY 16, 2018

MAKE REAL NEWS

The award-winning Planet Jackson Hole is looking for writers to help cover the valley’s must-know stories. email inquiries to editor@planetjh.com

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Two episodes from Casey Anderson’s “Wild Tracks” will screen. One is on mountain lions, among the most elusive predators in the Rocky Mountains.

Anderson documents a female with kits with an InfraRed camera. In the episode on wolves, Anderson follows a mysterious pack on an elk hunt in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

In Right to Roam, WRKSHRT productions follows Marie-France Roy and Alex Yoder as they travel Scotland’s countryside. The film looks at the country’s policy that allows exploration on private land, Quinn said. “I think the spirit of it is an interesting topic for Jackson. It’s a really beautiful and interesting look at the country and their different public land laws.”

Jackson filmmakers Hilary Byrne and Sophie Danison will also show an extended trailer of their film, A Quiet Force, about Latinos that work in American ski towns like Jackson. It’s the story of how these workers keep tourist-driven towns running and integrate into the community through activities like skiing.

Many of the films, like A Quiet Force, were made by Jackson residents, or those with ties to the community. It was also important to festival organizers to focus on highlighting and incorporating films with women directors and women’s stories.

That decision, while deliberate, felt natural, Quinn said. Both groups work to promote gender equality.

“It really just felt like, that for both our organizations, this is practicing what we preach,” Quinn said. “We feel strongly that we want to support and showcase women in the film industry and through that, hopefully encourage more women to join and feel that they can participate.” PJH

Out West Fest begins with film screenings at 7 p.m., Friday in the Pink Garter Theatre and will likely run about 2.5 hours. Filmmakers from each production will be at the event. Whippoorwill and the Canyon Kids will play in The Rose immediately following the screenings. $10 advance tickets can be purchased at The Rose; $12 at the door.

EAT IT!

Cultivation and Connection

BY HELEN GOELET

“I

One such example is at Huidekoper Ranch. You will recognize this family-owned and operated ranch at the base of Teton Pass from several menus around town.

“We can’t keep up with demand,” said Alex Feher, farming partner to Brent Tyc. “We have to pick and choose who we sell to.”

For a three-year-old operation, this is a good problem to have. And with just over a quarter of land to farm between two people, there’s plenty of work to be done.

Based on a bio-intensive method of growing, in which they optimize space, soil and a limited growing season, the pair is devoted to cultivating delicious, organic lettuces, roots

and micro-greens for their chef-based clients.

Between 30 to 40 days per rotation and two rotations per crop, their rows are packed with various lettuce greens and roots including radish, beets and turnips. Though the earth is worked hard, it is nothing short of pampered.

“The basis of our production is happy, healthy, fertile soil. If you treat it well, it will treat you well,” Feher said.

Soil, he said, can help thwart climate change and any serious climate-based disaster, too. “When things are photosynthesizing, they’re putting carbon back in the soil through the roots. In our climate, perennial grass will sequester more carbon than trees,” he said.

Once carbon is in the soil, it not only

fertilizes, but also lives within the soil for hundreds of years. It’s a natural bank.

One method they use to keep their soil happy and healthy is being till-free, using a broad fork to aerate the soil, breaking apart the dirt to keep organic activity intact. Covering their rows with white tarp also helps to strengthen biological activity early and late season, allowing for worms, nematodes and other necessary creepy crawlera to continue to work with the earth as nature intended.

Another essential piece to the well-being of their crops comes from their compost. This creates a synergy between growers and chefs, who despise food waste.

®

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

was looking for taste, and I couldn’t find taste until I found the local organic farmers who were growing vegetables for flavor. It’s when I met them and realized that I was dependent on them for the success of the restaurant that I put those things (local, organic, seasonal) together.”

A quintessential pioneer in the American culinary revolution, Alice Waters’ words ring true for any good chef, restaurateur or food-enthusiast.

It is no secret that in farm-rich lands like California, New York, France and Italy, restaurants thrive because their chefs are connected to growers, ranchers. Now, these relationships are slowly being cultivated between organic farmers and chefs in our landlocked town.

| WELLNESS | DINING | A & E | NEWS | OPINION |

Huidekoper Ranch is sowing deep and delicious relationships with valley chefs

FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT PIZZAS, PASTAS & MORE HOUSEMADE BREAD & DESSERTS 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

Open nightly 5:30pm

733-3912 160 N. Millward • Reservations recommended Reserve online at bluelionrestaurant.com

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

MAY 16, 2018 | 17

FRESH, LOCALLY SOURCED OFFERINGS

ASIAN

TETON THAI Serving the world’s most exciting cuisine. Teton Thai offers a splendid array of flavors: sweet, hot, sour, salt and bitter. All balanced and blended perfectly, satisfying the most discriminating palate. Open daily. Located at 7432 Granite Loop Road in Teton Village, (307) 733-0022 and in Driggs, (208) 787-8424, tetonthai.com.

THAI ME UP Home of Melvin Brewing Co. Freshly remodeled offering modern Thai cuisine in a relaxed setting.

New tap system with 20 craft beers. New $8 wine list and extensive bottled beer menu. View our tap list at thaijh.com/brews. Open daily for dinner at 5 p.m. Located downtown at 75 East Pearl Street, (307) 733-0005, melvinbrewing.com.

CONTINENTAL ALPENHOF

Serving authentic Swiss cuisine, the Alpenhof features European style breakfast entrées and alpine lunch fare. Dine in the Bistro for a casual meal or join us in the Alpenrose dining room for a relaxed dinner experience. Breakfast 7:30 a.m.-10 a.m. Coffee & pastry 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Aprés 3 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Dinner 6 p.m.-9 p.m. For reservations at the Bistro or Alpenrose, call (307) 733-3242.

THE BLUE LION A Jackson Hole favorite for 39 years. Join us in the charming atmosphere of a historic home. Serving fresh fish, elk, poultry, steaks, and vegetarian entrées. Ask a local about our rack of lamb. Live acoustic guitar music most nights. Open nightly at 5:30 p.m. Reservations recommended, walk-ins welcome. 160 N. Millward, (307) 733-3912, bluelionrestaurant.com

18 | MAY 16, 2018

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

Featuring dining destinations from breweries to bakeries, and continental fare to foreign flavor, this is a sampling of our dining critic’s local favorites.

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

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 Mon-Sat 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 gluten-free choices. Offering super smoothies, fresh extracted juices, espresso and tea. Full bar and houseinfused botanical spirits. Serving breakfast, lunch & dinner starting at 8am daily. Located at 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 through its awardwinning Alabama-style pulled pork, ribs, wings, turkey and chicken smoked over hardwood served with two unique sauces in addition to Catfish and

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

Walk into a commercial kitchen, you will find two separate systems for waste management: trash bins and a container at each work station for compost— the natural decomposition of vegetable and fruit scraps that are converted to nutrient-rich soil.

The compost is collected by farmers who transfer the waste to their composting bin where the goods are broken down through natural processes, becoming soil fit to cultivate their crops.

Feher and Tyc now collect compost waste from local restaurants, eliminating an enormous amount of daily garbage from food production, and putting it back to work.

Though the organic farm is in its

early stages, it’s not exactly new to the scene. Virginia Huidekoper, grandmother to Nate and Claire Huidekoper who now own and manage the property along with Claire’s husband Brent, started Jackson’s first commercial garden on the same plot of land in the 1970s.

Nate manages the ranch, caring for the needs of a large piece of property.

Meanwhile, Brent, along with Feher, care for the plants, the land, their micro-greens and greenhouse while also managing their accounts, and most importantly, delivering goods to their patrons just in time for service.

PJH

a Shrimp Moe-Boy sandwich. A daily rotation of traditional Southern sides and tasty desserts are served fresh daily. Moe’s BBQ stays open late and features a menu for any budget. While the setting is family-friendly, a full premium bar offers a lively scene with HDTVs for sports fans, music, shuffle board and other games upstairs. Large party takeout orders and full service catering with delivery is also available.

OLLOW US

VIRGINIAN SALOON

Come down to the historic Virginian Saloon and check out our grill menu! Everything from 1/2 pound burgers to wings at a great price!

The grill is open in the Saloon from 4 p.m.10p.m. daily. Located at 750 West Broadway, (307) 739-9891.

ELY U Q I N U PEAN EURO

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 runs from 4 - 6 p.m., including tasty hot wings.

The freshest beer in the valley, right from the source! Free WiFi. Open 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Loacted at 265 S. Millward. (307) 739-2337, snakeriverbrewing.com.

ON FACEBOOK FOR THE LATEST PLANET HAPPENINGS!

ITALIAN 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. Located at 2560 Moose Wilson Rd., (307) 733-2460.

@

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

AT TH

AT THE

307.733.3242

HAPPY HOUR Daily 4-6:00pm

307.201.1717 | LOCALJH.COM ON THE TOWN SQUARE

MEXICAN

EL ABUELITO

PIZZA

DOMINO’S PIZZA

THE LOCALS

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.

FAVORITE PIZZA 2012-2016 •••••••••

$7

PINKY G’S

$5 Shot & Tall Boy

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

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.

Located at 385 W. Broadway, (307) 733-1207.

LUNCH

SPECIAL Slice, salad & soda

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

TV Sports Packages and 7 Screens

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

MAY 16, 2018 | 19

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 takeout. Open daily 11a.m. - 2 a.m. Located at 50 W. Broadway, (307) 734-PINK.

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

| WELLNESS | DINING | A & E | NEWS | OPINION |

CALICO

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.

F O H ‘ E TH

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

20 | MAY 16, 2018

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.

tclib.org

L.A.TIMES “SHIFTING” BY C.C. BURNIKEL

SUNDAY, MAY 20, 2018

ACROSS 1 6 11 14 17 18 19

Fatah party chairman Battle souvenirs Vanilla extract meas.

Super Bowl stats Fairy tale villain Saintly glows “Desperate Housewives” character 20 __ & Chandon Champagne 21 Steepin’ oats in water?

23 Take, as advice 24 A few 25 Provider of a big lift 26 Bush and Nixon: Abbr.

27 Marathoner’s lookin’-happy flush?

29 Whale group 30 Lack of trouble 32 “See ya later” 34 Processed food?

35 Hopkins’ role in “Thor” 37 Johnson Space Center humanoid project 39 Put faith in 41 Dunham and Horne 43 Disallow 44 “Cool it!”

46 Great Lakes natives 47 Beaufort scale word 49 Pol. neighbor 51 __ wait: lurk 53 Result of tossin’ an old mitt on the fire?

56 Chinese ethnic group that’s the world’s largest 57 Org. seeking far-out life 60 Physicians’ org.

61 50% of MIV 62 Fledgling 64 Goat sound?

66 2007 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee 68 1995 Stallone title role 70 Stand for a canvas

733-2164

72 Base information?

73 Energize 75 Split into thirds 77 Gym exercise unit 79 “__ the Senate!”: Darth Sidious 80 Snippy retort 81 Occurrence 82 Layin’ off football legend Red? 85 Unrefined 87 Custardy pastry 88 Voice-activated iPad app 89 Blink, say 91 Sign word beckoning a Canadian driver 94 Waze lines: Abbr.

96 Surprise in a bottle 99 In an edgy way 101 Pigs with four tusks 104 Petri dish gelatin 105 Blur in a tabloid pic 106 “Cheers” actress Bebe 108 Escalator handle?

110 Cape Town locale: Abbr.

111 Takin’ first place at the Olympics?

113 Phase out 115 First king of Crete 117 Mushroomed 118 Brownie, maybe 119 Muttered complaint about a toe woe that’s really hurtin’?

122 Yale’s Ingalls Rink designer Saarinen 123 Males who meow 124 “Nothing for me” 125 Cause for a pause 126 “L.A. Law” actress 127 CDC overseer 128 Sounds shocked 129 Big Bertha’s birthplace

DOWN 1 2 3

Apt. coolers Etiquette on frat row Lettin’ the family elder onto the

plane?

4 “My Way” lyricist 5 It flows below the Pont Neuf 6 Droop 7 Slider option 8 “I don’t give __!”

9 Granola morsel 10 Job application no.

11 Former Senator Lott 12 Witnessed visiting 13 Purebred family tree 14 “You missed it” 15 Reduces in rank 16 __ prunes 19 Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir 20 Chinese sauce additive 22 In the area 27 Beat soundly 28 Keep healthy 29 D.C. dealmaker 31 One may be choked back 33 Deep cuts 36 Chapati alternative 38 Chip topper 40 “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer O’Connor 42 Dove into home, say 45 Prepares (for) 48 Geraint’s beloved 50 Show stoppers 52 Trainee 53 Island band The __ Men 54 Fish sauce taste 55 Saddle bands 56 Summer itch cause 58 Preparin’ husbandsto-be?

59 Luggage tie-on 63 Director DeMille 65 Up for it 67 Mideast capital 69 Wipe clean 71 Centipede’s many

74 Popular soup mushroom 76 Diligence 78 Fuddy-duddy 83 Unable to back out 84 58.4 square miles, for Minneapolis 86 Verbosely 89 Foul caller 90 Arcane stuff 92 Gulps down 93 Reddish-brown chalcedony 95 SFPD rank 97 Postulate starter 98 Nolan Ryan’s 1.69 in 1981: Abbr.

99 Pulled 100 Manga series about gaming 102 Louise’s pal 103 __ Valley 107 They often get hooked 109 From that time 112 Quantity in a brace 114 Capone adversary 116 Oxfam and PETA, for two 119 Trending 120 Hoops stat: Abbr.

121 What a Hawaii vacationer may come home with

W

COSMIC CAFE

Big Earthly Changes Examining recent events in Hawaii and beyond elucidates an evolving planet to us, Mother Earth births new parts of herself. It is a similar blend of creation and destruction, ease and pain.

Birthing a child is a miracle, which is also painful and messy. Earth changes are the same. The end results in both cases are wonderful.

Stunning Connections and Cracks

Evolving with Grace, Awareness Once, long ago, the continents were joined and then split into the land masses we now recognize. We’ve read about Ice Ages, and how the Sahara Desert was once fertile, and that there have been life changing pole shifts on Earth. That’s all on such a large scale and occurred so long ago, that it is mind boggling to contemplate that we could actually be bearing witness to and being part of another phase of big planetary changes.

We are also being supported to see and to release what no longer works to make room for the new in our human potential. This upgrade occurs naturally by replacing outdated fear-based beliefs and behaviors with inclusive, collaborative, loving states of being and actions.

Sadly, people, property and wildlife suffer losses in the wake of planetary shifts. At the same time, for the Earth and for us to evolve, this must happen.

We are totally capable of holding multiple truths at the same time. We can be aware of the big picture perspective and feel our feelings. That means paying attention to what’s going on, taking constructive actions, practicing resilience and choosing to evolve in partnership with the planet.

Keep in mind that everything is interconnected. Stepping into our higher potential is precisely how we are designed to add grace and ease to the Earth as she evolves. PJH

Carol Mann is a longtime Jackson resident, radio personality, former Grand Targhee Resort owner, author, and clairvoyant.

Got a Cosmic Question? Email carol@yourcosmiccafe.com

St. John’s Family Health & Urgent Care

Berit Amundson, MD*

Open 7 days a week Appointments and walk-ins welcome

Layne Lash, FNP-C

Christian Dean, DO* Jim Little Jr., MD* Jenny Fritch, PA-C Kim Mellick, FNP-C

MAY 16, 2018 | 21

Cecelia Tramburg, FNP-C *Board certified in family medicine

Monday–Friday: 9 am–7 pm | Saturday & Sunday: 10 am–4 pm 307.739.8999 | 1415 South Hwy 89, Jackson, WY tetonhospital.org/urgentcare

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Science reveals that all the life processes of the living planet are interconnected. And everything affects everything from the macro to the micro and vise versa. What’s happening in Hawaii is part of an interconnected global process.

If we could catch a glimpse of the planet a hundred miles up, the world right now might look like a huge egg beginning to crack open to reveal something new. There are literally big cracks appearing on the surface of the Earth accompanied by the volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and climate shifts.

In Africa, a recent crack in Kenya is 50 feet deep and 65 feet wide; scientists say

this portends the long-term eventuality that Africa will split apart. New Zealand is cracking too; on the North Island there is a new fissure 656 feet long, 98 feet wide and growing. Meanwhile, one region of Peru has 53 new cracks.

South Africa, Russia, China have giant cracks, too. The USA has some, as well. Last month a new crack was found right here in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming…it is currently 750 yards long and 50 feet wide.

| WELLNESS | DINING | A & E | NEWS | OPINION |

alking on the beach with my daughter between rain showers on Maui a week ago, I commented that it felt like something in the islands was going to erupt. That same evening, we flew back to Jackson and the next day we woke up to the news that Kilauea was erupting on the Big Island. Friends who are aware that I just got back from Maui have been asking me if I would share a big picture perspective on all the Earth’s activity—eruptions, earthquakes, floods, torrential rains—happening now in the Hawaiian Islands.

The big picture perspective is bigger than Hawaii. The Earth is a living, sentient, always evolving being. She births new energies for her own evolution with geologic events that are both internally activated and catalyzed by interstellar activity. Right now, Earth is creating new land and bringing in new energy frequencies in response to signals from within and from the greater cosmos.

Akin to how our mothers give birth

BY CAROL MANN

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

22 | MAY 16, 2018

WELLNESS COMMUNITY

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) A chemist named Marcellus Gilmore Edson got a patent on peanut butter in 1894. A businessperson named George Bayle started selling peanut butter as a snack in 1894. In 1901, a genius named Julia David Chandler published the first recipe for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. In 1922, another pioneer came up with a new process for producing peanut butter that made it taste better and last longer. In 1928, two trailblazers invented loaves of sliced bread, setting the stage for the ascension of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich to its full glory.

According to my analysis, Taurus, you’re partway through your own process of generating a very practical marvel. I suspect you’re now at a phase equivalent to Julia David Chandler’s original recipe. Onward! Keep going!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) One of the most popular brands of candy in North America is Milk Duds. They’re irregularly shaped globs of chocolate caramel. When they were first invented in 1926, the manufacturer’s plan was to make them perfect little spheres. But with the rather primitive technology available at that time, this proved impossible. The finished products were blobs, not globes. They tasted good, though. Workers jokingly suggested that the new confection’s name include “dud,” a word meaning “failure” or “flop.” Having sold well now for more than 90 years, Milk Duds have proved that success doesn’t necessarily require perfection. Who knows? Maybe their dud-ness has been an essential part of their charm. I suspect there’s a metaphorical version of Milk Duds in your future, Gemini.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) The etymological dictionary says that the English slang word “cool” meant “calmly audacious” as far back as 1825.

The term “groovy” was first used by jazz musicians in the 1930s to signify “performing well without grandstanding.”

“Hip,” which was originally “hep,” was also popularized by the jazz community. It meant, “informed, aware, up-todate.” I’m bringing these words to your attention because I regard them as your words of power in the coming weeks.

You can be and should be as hip, cool, and groovy as you have been in a long time.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Here’s the operative metaphor for you these days: You’re like a painter who has had a vision of an interesting work of art you could create—but who lacks some of the paint colors you would require to actualize this art. You may also need new types of brushes you haven’t used before.

So here’s how I suggest you proceed: Be aggressive in tracking down the missing ingredients or tools that will enable you to accomplish your as-yet imaginary masterpiece.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Useful revelations and provocative epiphanies are headed your way. But they probably won’t arrive sheathed in sweetness and light, accompanied by tinkling swells of celestial music. It’s more likely they’ll come barging in with a clatter, bringing bristly marvels and rough hope.

In a related matter: At least one breakthrough is in your imminent future. But this blessing is more likely to resemble a wrestle in the mud than a dance on a mountaintop.

None of this should be a problem, however! I suggest you enjoy the rugged but interesting fun.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) One of the saddest aspects of our lives as humans is the disparity between love and romance. Real love is hard work. It’s unselfish, unwavering, and rooted in generous empathy. Romance, on the other hand, tends to be capricious and inconstant, often dependent on the fluctuations of mood and chemistry. Is there anything you could do about this crazy-making problem, Aquarius? Like could you maybe arrange for your romantic experiences to be more thoroughly suffused with the primal power of unconditional love? I think this is a realistic request, especially in the coming weeks. You will have exceptional potential to bring more compassion and spiritual affection into your practice of intimacy.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to dream up new rituals. The traditional observances and ceremonies bequeathed to you by your family and culture may satisfy your need for comfort and nostalgia, but not your need for renewal and reinvention. Imagine celebrating homemade rites of passage designed not for who you once were but for the new person you’ve become.

You may be delighted to discover how much power they provide you to shape your life’s long-term cycles. Ready to conjure up a new ritual right now? Take a piece of paper and write down two fears that inhibit your drive to create a totally interesting kind of success for yourself. Then burn that paper and those fears in the kitchen sink while chanting “I am a swashbuckling incinerator of fears!”

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MAY 16, 2018 | 23

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) The Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski once performed for England’s Queen Victoria. Since she pos- ARIES (March 21-April 19) sessed that bygone era’s equivalent of a backstage pass, According to my assessment of the astrological omens, she was able to converse with him after the show. “You’re your duty right now is to be a brave observer and a genius,” she told him, having been impressed with his fair-minded intermediary and honest storyteller. Your artistry. “Perhaps, Your Majesty,” Paderewski said. “But people need you to help them do the right thing. They before that I was a drudge.” He meant that he had labored require your influence in order to make good decisions. long and hard before reaching the mastery the Queen So if you encounter lazy communication, dispel it with attributed to him. According to my analysis of the astro- your clear and concise speech. If you find that foggy logical omens, you Libras are currently in an extended thinking has started to infect important discussions, inject “drudge” phase of your own. That’s a good thing! Take your clear and concise insights. maximum advantage of this opportunity to slowly and 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.

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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) I hope you will seek out influences that give you grinning power over your worries. I hope you’ll be daring enough to risk a breakthrough in service to your most demanding dream. I hope you will make an effort to understand yourself as your best teacher might understand you. I hope you will find out how to summon more faith in yourself—a faith not rooted in lazy wishes but in a rigorous self-assessment. Now here’s my prediction: You will fulfill at least one of my hopes, and probably more.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) The ancient Greek poet Simonides was among the first of his profession to charge a fee for his services. He made money by composing verses on demand. On one occasion, he was asked to write a stirring tribute to the victor of a mule race. He declined, declaring that his sensibilities were too fine to create art for such a vulgar activity. In response, his potential patron dramatically boosted the proposed price. Soon thereafter, Simonides produced a rousing ode that included the phrase “wind-swift steeds.”

I offer the poet as a role model for you in the coming weeks, Scorpio. Be more flexible than usual about what you’ll do to get the reward you’d like.

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CANCER (June 21-July 22) In my vision of your life in the coming weeks, you’re hunting for the intimate power that you lost a while back. After many twists and trials, you find it almost by accident in a seemingly unimportant location, a place you have paid little attention to for a long time. When you recognize it, and realize you can reclaim it, your demeanor transforms.

Your eyes brighten, your skin glows, your body language galvanizes. A vivid hope arises in your imagination: how to make that once-lost, now-rediscovered power come alive again and be of use to you in the present time.

surely improve your skills.

24 | MAY 16, 2018

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE | | OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |