If You Grow It, They Will Come

art entertainment food drink music nightlife Thursday, November 10, 2016

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IF YOU GROW IT, THEY WILL COME A look at the effect marijuana has had on tourism in Durango and in Colorado at large

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Also: Sarah Vowell speaks, Lawn Chair Kings are 17 years strong, a style prayer for America, and how we can find empathy through art

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DGO Magazine

STAFF

What’s inside Volume 2 Number 3

November 10, 2016

Chief Executive Officer

4

From the Editor

4

Love it or Hate it

6

Sound

Douglas Bennett V.P. of Finance and Operations Bob Ganley V.P. of Advertising

Downtown Lowdown

David Habrat V.P. of Marketing Kricket Lewis Founding Editors

8 After 52 First Draughts columns, these are my favorite lines

Amy Maestas

Robert Alan Wendeborn looks at a year’s worth of beer columns.

David Holub Editor/ creative director David Holub

5 Get Smart about craftsmanship

dholub@bcimedia.com

In a world of versions and built-in obsolescence, Jay Flanagan of Bare Hands Woodworking discusses the satisfaction that comes from building something tangible from start to finish.

375-4551 Staff writer Anya Jaremko-Greenwold anya@bcimedia.com 375-4546 Contributors Katie Cahill Christopher Gallagher Dan Groth Bryant Liggett Jon E. Lynch Heather Narwid Nathan Schmidt Cooper Stapleton Cyle Talley Robert Alan Wendeborn

9

A style prayer for America Oh, America, what will become of us?

By now we are settling in to four years of what? Glee, complacency, horror?

This week in Style Fetish, we offer a ludicrous pre-election prayer, for the post-election world.

Advertising 247-3504 Reader Services 375-4570

DGO is a free weekly publication distributed by Ballantine Communications Inc., and is available for one copy per person. Taking more than five copies of an edition from a distribution location is illegal and is punishable by law according to Colorado Revised Statute 18-9-314.

10 Irritable Vowell syndrome We spoke with big-time author Sarah Vowell about her cranky Republican readers, how voting has changed in our country and how (comparatively) good we Americans have it.

Tell us what you think!

Got something on your mind? Have a joke or a story idea or just something that the world needs to know?

Send everything to editor@dgomag.com

6

Album Reviews 7 8

Beer

16 Movies 17 Pages

11 Exploring art and empathy

18 Weed

The 2016 election has elicited vitriol, frustration and suspicion from just about every American citizen; and those feelings aren’t only directed at our government, but also toward each other. So what can help? In one word: Art.

Seeing Through the Smoke 18

Netflix and chill ‑ 420 edition 19

20 Savage Love 21 Happening 23 Horoscope/ puzzles/ Bizarro

17 Ornate Feelings Durango artist Dan Groth explores the book of Leviticus in his latest odd installment.

/dgomag

/dgomag @dgo_mag

ON THE COVER Coloradoans are not alone when it comes to cannabis consumption. Out-ofstaters do plenty of the toking.

Illustration by David Holub/DGO

DGO Magazine is published by Ballantine Communications Inc., P.O. Drawer A, Durango, CO 81302

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[CTRL-A] [ love it or hate it ] David Holub |DGO editor

Ranch Love it

Fascinating and unnerving, doppelgängers cast a spell

Y

ou may have seen the pictures of longtime Cubs fan Bill Murray joyfully celebrating his team’s World Series victory in the stands field-side last week. But if you could look behind the lovably jubilant Murray, there was another guy in the pictures, a guy who looked oddly like ... me.

I got thinking about doppelgängers after a friend posted the photo of Murray and “me” on my Facebook page, and I had to wonder: Why is it so fascinating, so amusing and unsettling, this concept of doubles that has inspired the likes of Freud and Nietzsche? I’ve wrestled with this and can’t quite figure it out.

But that fascination is why Mini Me in the “Austin Powers” movies is so funny. It’s why we find identical twins so intriguing. (Do they share special powers we non-twins can only fathom?)

It’s why my friend Kate sent me a picture of her and a doll a co-worker had made to look like her. (Kate was wearing the same outfit she’d worn in the photo her colleague used to fashion the doll ... it’s not as creepy as it sounds ... said colleague makes the dolls for many others ... and go to dgomag.com to see the photo and be amused yourself).

Doppelgängers have long been a point of anxiety for me. A week before the Murray photo, I was hanging with a friend of a friend in from Denver who at one point said, “Do you know who you look like?” I just thought, “Oh God, who’s it going to be this time?”

When people say I look like someone famous, it’s consistently been the same handful of actors for the last 15 years.

And the comparison is never good. The person they say I look like is never the cool, good looking guy, always the goofy weirdo, the unsettling creep. My celebrity doppelgängers tend be disturbing uncles and variations of hunchbacks, never the handsome hero or the charming aristocrat, but actors who play bumblers and carny-barking shysters.

Here’s the rundown: Chris Elliot, known for his ’90s sitcom “Get a Life,”

but even better known for playing the guy with the sore-covered face in “Something About Mary.” Or Mike White, who I first saw in the film “Chuck and Buck,” about two friends who must confront their shared sexual history of performing activities with one another as kids, words that rhyme with Chuck and Buck. Or the tall, nonJoe Pesci burglar in “Home Alone,” also know as Daniel Stern. (I would much rather sound similar to Stern, who provided the uncredited voice of the narrator on TV’s “The Wonder Years.”)

I used to get Al Gore, back when he was a thing and I was a bit heavier myself. One time on a cruise, I walked onstage for some karaoke wearing a black suit – it was formal night – and someone yelled, “Welcome, Satan.” Again, never flattering.

While celebrity doppelgängers are fine and amusing, it’s the real-life doppelgängers who are so intriguing and unnerving. Because you have to wonder where the resemblance ends. I imagine Bill Murray’s photo bomber goes home to a similar one-bedroom apartment with sparsely-hung pictures on the wall in the same spots I do, the subject matter oddly similar (I have a picture of a buffalo on a prairie; he has a framed CU Buffs football jersey). And maybe he also sits on the ottoman to put his shoes on in the morning and has a hard time putting used coffee mugs in the dishwasher, too.

Perhaps our fascination with doppelgängers is about our eternal quest to achieve immortality, whether through look-alike dolls, or simply the fantasy that if someone who looks, acts, sounds and thinks like us exists now, perhaps one always will.

Psychologists have argued that our fascination with our own doppelgängers is a version of narcissism, akin to admiring that mirror in your hand. I can see that, but it can also do the opposite, making us realize that we are one of many, that we’re not as unique as we’ve been led to believe, that we’re more similar to our fellow humans than we are different.

Ranch dressing is that person everyone wants around all the time, the guy who is invited to every party, who lights up the room the moment he walks in, the guy who laughs at all your jokes and is quite witty himself. Ranch dressing is the colleague you go to to make sure the wording of a proposal is just right or the one person in the building who knows how to un-jam the copier or where the paper is kept. Ranch dressing is that character actor who is somehow in six of your top 10 movies.

Ranch dressing is that thing that makes everything it touches better.

There is a long list of vegetables I’d never eat if ranch didn’t exist: Raw broccoli, raw carrots, cherry tomatoes, raw mushrooms, snap peas, to name a few. Ranch is the only reason the words “salad bar” light up pleasure centers in my brain. Salad is merely a vehicle for me to eat as much ranch as is socially acceptable.

Ranch and its spiced-up creaminess with a cool kick of tang can make otherwise discarded food items utterly enjoyable, like pizza crusts or Corn Nuts. It can make the ordinary extraordinary: Throw a sliver of red onion and dollop of ranch on any sandwich and hear me moan in delight.

Frankly, a world without ranch is not a world I want to live in.

— David Holub

Hate it Ranch dressing is the greatest ruse perpetrated on 3-year-olds and their chicken nuggets and carrot sticks.

Some foodie writer recently set off an internet firestorm when he said as much. Which is why we are holding court on it today.

People have been told from the time their wee taste buds were developing that throwing bland spices in with milk – the very thing that sustains them from their moment of birth – that has curdled is the best way to eat your vegetables. Have you ever skipped the spices and given buttermilk straight to a 3-year-old and watched her expression?

No, you haven’t. That’s because children won’t eat something that smells like they do.

Instead, you make them think this gussied-up, thinned-out white sauce that our 1970s mothers bought in the form of powder in a packet and threw directly into a plastic tub of lame-brand sour cream is worthy of cult-like status because it makes you eat what you really don’t want to eat. And you keep giving it to them until they turn into adults who never developed a palate beyond the kids table. They become adults who order ranch at a restaurant, basically saying, “Please, chef, slather my iceberg lettuce in a tasteless glop of fat and help me decrease my chances of getting laid tonight.”

Buttermilk deserves better than chicken nuggets and carrot sticks.

And so does your date.

— Amy Maestas

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[Expert Advice on Trivial Affairs]

Get Smart | Cyle Talley

On craftsmanship In a world of versions and built-in obsolescence, let Jay Flanagan of Bare Hands Woodworking tell you about the satisfaction that comes from building something tangible from start to finish.

How did you start?

When I was younger, I was cheap, and instead of buying furniture, I would build stuff out of two-byfours. I moved around a bunch and was such a tightwad that I’d give all of the furniture I’d built away and start over wherever I ended up. I’d be building a bed in the new bedroom. Dresser, nightstands, whatever. My roommates didn’t really care for that. [laughs] Eventually, I couldn’t justify power tools in my bedroom, so I bought a handsaw, some chisels, a hand drill, and in the process, realized how much I like it. It’s obviously not fast, but it’s a lot more fun.

You’re making something with a tool that you control. It’s like playing an instrument.

come a beautiful piece of furniture that goes into someone’s home.

Tell us about the tools.

I use a pre-Civil War wood plane made by Stanley in probably the 1850s that belonged to my great-grandfather, and a Diston brand handsaw, which was the premier brand of the late 1800s.

It’s an amazingly designed tool made for professionals who would use it every day. It works as well as it did the day it was made. I’m a history buff, and I appreciate that tangible connection to the past.

Romanticism aside, this is hard work.

The physical effort makes the results that much more valuable. It takes effort to run a table saw or a router, but it doesn’t take muscle Why handmade furniand grit to use it all day long– and ture? you really feel it by the end of the Handmade furniture has human day sawing lumber to dimension.

Courtesy of Jay Flanagan curves in it. My arm can make an There are days I can’t lift up my » » Jay Flanagan of Bare Hands Woodworking. arc that a compass can’t because arm, but it’s that good hurt, that that compass makes an exact good tired. So I guess this is my arc whereas mine is slightly off athletic pursuit! But it’s also sort their dislikes, what the furniture is going to be used because of my arm and the way of like playing an instrument.

Using a hand plane, you for. One of my favorites is a huge white oak table that my muscles move. The furniture I make couldn’t be get into a rhythm.

There’s a certain nobility to having I built for this young couple. They have three young made on a machine because it’s not perfectly square worked in such a way that affects you physically. It’s kids and they told me that they wanted a really sturdy or straight or round. It’s like handwriting. A computer cool to have a job where people can identify what table that would withstand some rambunctious kids. doesn’t make good handwriting because it produces you are based on how you look.

I take pride in having It hit me halfway through building it that this would straight fonts. But when you write by hand, everyone calluses on my hands and having strong forearms bebe the table those kids would grow up around. They’ll has their own unique style. My furniture is me. cause they represent what I do and what I work hard have their meals on it, they’ll do their homework at Does the wood dictate what it’s made at. I have that look about me that a lot of craftsmen it. It hit me that I built something that is going to be into? get. a part of their life for a long time. That I was trusted So much of making fine furniture is using the right to build something for their family that would be so Do you have a guiding philosophy? piece of wood in the right spot – getting the grain to central to their lives is a real honor.

I love the work of John Ruskin, this mid-1800s British match and things like that. In commercial construcDescribe the satisfaction of building author, who said “When we build, let us think that tion, it matters less. If it fits, put it in there and you’re something from start to finish. we build forever.” That really affected me and guides done. I lay everything out like a mosaic. The curve of what I do. My biggest pet peeve is when I see things A lot of people can’t say what they did to earn their an arm follows the grain of the wood, or the grain of that aren’t built to last. I work really hard to make paycheck.

You make a spreadsheet, you yell at a guy. the legs is following the same direction. I have an idea sure that the things I make are built to outlast me.

At the end of the day, my knuckles are bleeding, my when I start, but the board dictates where it goes. back hurts, I’m covered in sawdust and I’m just tired.

What’s your relationship with customCyle Talley is No-Shave Novembering, so if you see him, But I know that something exists today that didn’t ers like? try not to laugh too hard. If there’s something you’d like to yesterday – and it’s entirely because of me. I get the I get to know everyone that I build for, their likes, satisfaction of seeing a load of wet, dirty lumber beGET SMART about, email him at: cyle@cyletalley.com. �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Thursday, November 10, 2016 | 5

[sound]

Downtown Lowdown | Bryant Liggett

17 years later, Lawn Chair Kings still among the greats

T

hey’ve been a great band since Day 1.

It was late 2000 or thereabouts when a long-haired teacher at Durango High School approached the then KDUR-Radio music director about his rock band. The band had an upcoming show at the now defunct venue Storyville, which occupied the same space as the now defunct Lost Dog Bar & Lounge, and said teacher was handing out fliers for the show. The KDUR music director, which was me, went to the show. The teacher was Erik Nordstrom, and the band on stage was the Lawn Chair Kings, churning out what was a perfect marriage of punk and country music via a mix of hooky originals and covers, anything from Commander Cody to The Velvet Underground.

I’ve been a friend and a fan ever since.

As they move toward their 17th year, they are celebrating the release of their latest album “Virtually Acoustic,” with a performance Saturday at El Rancho.

A short history: Lawn Chair Kings formed around 2000, a rock band showcasing Nordstrom originals and tasty covers.

Drummers came and went; additional guitar players came and went, while Nordstrom and bass player Dan Leek played on.

Drummer Pat Dressen joined in 2012, Hap Purcell joined on banjo and guitar soon after, then left, then came back when fiddle player Alissa Wolf joined; they’re now a five-piece that can do an on-stage dance between an electric rock ’n’ roll band and acoustic twang. The latest record leans toward bluegrass or hearty folk, yet remains signature Lawn Chair Kings that feature

Nordstrom’s lyrical take on trailer parks, and his Rockwellian world of punk rock shows, parties with outlawed lawn darts and cheap, canned beer.

Nordstrom and Leek have dabbled in the acoustic world before; they played a few duo shows as the Sub-bourbon Boys, but the addition of Dressen, who local bluegrass fans may know from The Badly Bent, adds a Levon Helm element as he moves be-

GO! Saturday: Rock music with Lawn Chair Kings and The Outskirts, 8 p.m. No cover. El Rancho Tavern, 975 Main Ave. Information: 259-8111.

tween drums and mandolin.

“What’s neat for me is to have the versatility to be able to play at the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown; when I write songs it’s on acoustic, and it’s natural for me to expand some of my songs into the acoustic format,” said Nordstrom. “I also love to rock ’n’ roll, and I think there are some shows where we’re mainly electric, others times we’re mainly acoustic, and the times we have, like at The Ranch, we’ll do an acoustic set, and we’ll come back with electric.

I’ve always liked Neil Young, Uncle Tupelo and those bands that do that hybrid acoustic and electric.”

The five-piece is a new venture. Nordstrom is a music fan, and a good friend to have if you are in pursuit of punk-rock, country or yacht-rock. His and the rest of the band’s knowledge of music, along with their talent, lends itself to their vision. They’re not a half-assed jam band wanking around; they’re not a shitty cover band; I’ll put them right alongside some of the great roots rock bands that write originals and dig into the American indie canon from any genre. It’s a great time to be a fan.

“We’ve been at this for about a year as a five-piece, and having Hap back and Alissa in the band, there’s a lot of rich textures that we’re able to conjure with the band,” said Nordstrom. “It’s exciting for me because I think we’re just on the tip of really getting everything to work.”

Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.

Courtesy of Lawn Chair Kings

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[sound] What’s new The Men,“Devil Music”

reverb-pedal surf soaked in country-proto- and post-punk, and the best parts of ’90s-era indie/alt-rock.

Available: Friday, Nov. 11, at your local independent record store via Sacred Bones/ We Are The Men Records, digitally and a current run of 2,000 hand silk-screened versions on vinyl.

Four years back, the Brooklyn, New York-based rock band The Men made what I considered at the time to be the best album of 2012. “Open Your Heart” (their third record) was, and is, a tremendous album that ran the gamut stylistically of rock ’n’ roll: Heavy-handed

This past September, the blogosphere informed me of a forthcoming record. As I usually do with releases that I am anticipating, I purposely ignored early singles so as to hear them within the context of the full album. It might be considered an antiquated approach by today’s standards, but I’m all right with it. The opener, “Dreamer,” is

a blistering, echo-heavy, pacesetter that you can’t quite seem to turn up loud enough. The skronk and squelch of the sax-ah-maphone welcomingly assaults you on “Lion’s Den” and twists your insides until relenting, briefly, at album midway point, “Patterns.” For those of us who NEED music made loud with cymbals crashing and guitars screeching, enjoy one of the year’s finest in “Devils Music”.

Recommended for fans of The Replacements, Buzzcocks, The Gun Club, MC5, Pere Ubu or Television.

—— Jon E. Lynch KDUR_PD@fortlewis.edu

New at Southwest Sound Nov. 11

and wonderful, and I adore it.

5. In Flames,“Battles”

1. A Tribe Called Quest,“We Got It From Here, Thank You For Your Service”

3. Sleigh Bells,“Jessica Rabbit”

Oh In Flames, what happened to you?

Originally the basis for the “Gothenburg” sound of melodic death metal, over the years the band has slowly lost what made them special. A lot of fans cite the end of the “good era” with the album “Come Clarity.” I disagree; I love that record. What followed, though, was watered down nu metal, a mixture of Korn and At The Gates. Just typing

2. Enigma,“Fall of a Rebel Angel” Oh man, I don’t even know where to start with Enigma. If you know me casually, you would probably be surprised that I even know them. If you know me well (as all my readers here do), you will know that I love to belt out “Return to Innocence” vocals out of nowhere to no one in particular.

Enigma was started in the early ’90s by Michael Cretu, a worldbeat composer with a love of classical music and opera.

Enigma albums became a way for him to fuse those two loves. He created broad, sweeping orchestrations based on classical music and infused them with ethereal electronic atmospheres reminiscent of Tangerine Dream or Jean-Michel Jarre. It is super-cheesy

4. Animals As Leaders,“Madness of Many” Animals As Leaders is an instrumental three-piece metal band, and they make sounds unlike anything you have ever heard. When I first saw them live in 2009, the drummer broke his snare head less than 30 seconds into their set because he was hitting it so hard and so fast. To call these guys technical is an understatement. If you are a music theory nerd, they employ the practice of polymeter to an astounding degree, playing three different time signatures all at the same time and it doesn’t sound like absolute trash. It’s hard to describe AAL’s sound cleanly, but here goes: Jazz guitar with distortion, Frank Zappa with less pretention, bass played by a 15-fingered frog from the future.

—— Cooper Stapleton

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Earlier this year, and seemingly out of nowhere, ATCQ announced their return to the music industry, and their first album in 18 years. As they were putting the finishing touches on their glorious return, tragedy struck. Phife Dawg died suddenly due to complications from diabetes. His presence is felt throughout “We Got it From Here.” The album features all four original members of the group, as well as frequent collaborator Busta Rhymes, along with other guests including Andre 3000, Elton John, Kendrick Lamar and Jack White. I feel like this is a perfect time for a new Tribe album, a band so focused on both positivity and Afrocentrism. The world needs it and the people need it. RIP, Phife Dawg.

“It’s Just Us Now,” the lead single off “Jessica Rabbit” scared me the first time I heard it. It’s jarring in a way that pop music isn’t supposed to be. It reminded me of weird parties where your friends convince you to wear makeup and you end up in fishnets and a feather boa and, hours later, eating fast food in a parking lot with strangers. Just me? “Jessica Rabbit” strikes me as fairly crucial weird pop, easily likened to classics of the genre like Grimes’ “Visions,” the first Die Antwoord album or Ke$ha when she wasn’t sad. There are distorted kicks and time changes out of nowhere. It’s delightfully bubbly and almost horrifying in ways that only this new subset of pop music can be.

that made me gag a little bit. If you like modern popular hard rock and radio metal, you will probably like In Flames.

“The End” has some cool moments, including a killer guitar solo in the latter half of the track. I wouldn’t call this a return to form, but it is head and shoulders above whatever “Sounds of a Playground Fading” was doing.

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[beer]

First Draughts | Robert Alan Wendeborn

After 52 First Draughts columns, these are my favorite lines

L

ast week was my 52nd column – more than 60 pages and 36,000 words, some better than others. Though DGO celebrated its one-year anniversary just a bit ago, I’ve missed a few columns. I’ve relished every week, even if I was late to my deadline, even if it was hard to get the piece written.

Because in the end, I’m writing about something I love, for people who are generous and complimentary. Even when disagreements happen, the conversations are engaging and lively. These are some of my favorite lines, from some of my favorite stories so far.

Against the #drainpour:

I want to punch everyone of these pretzel-necklace-wearing, beard-growing, man-baby beer nerds in the face, then push them into a locker or give them a swirly in shitty, domestic light beer until they say uncle.

On beer flaws: I was not prepared emotionally or spiritually to drink a beer of such flavor or potency and hated the beer. I even made jokes about how it smelled like the bathroom of one of those Halloween stores that stays open all year. On another day, and had I known what I was actually drinking, I would have loved Rumpkin. In the end, I still drank the Rumpkin after I got a straight answer from the server about what I was drinking.

On beer surprises: In fact, I hate anything and everything from Indi-

ana except 3 Floyds Brewing, Peyton Manning and Michael Jackson (this applies to the hole of the Midwest, and no that’s not a typo, the Midwest is a hole).

So my expectations for the state and the region are super low, but a wonderful series of events led me to drink some awesome beers from rural Indiana.

On the blackout: You can have a good morning banter with your roommates in the morning over brunch discussing exactly what happened. But, no matter what you do, it will still just be pieces, you’ll never get the whole.

You’ll only be able to observe the effects, the detritus, the ruin, the wake of what actually happened.

On the proposed Colorado grocery store beer Law: These are some of the unwritten rules by which Coloradans abide: The right lane is for slowpokes and scaredy cats, a max limit of two puffs before a pass, there are no friends on powder days, bring your own PFD and don’t buy beer at the grocery store.

On how to taste beer: If a beer tastes like Strawberry Shortcake took a dump in a creamsicle factory and wiped with a banana peel, say that. You don’t need any fancy words, you need words that express your feelings about the beer and words that will connect you to the person you’re describing the beer to.

On the origin of beer: Mesopotamian Bro #1: I’m so hungry I could eat a

whole turtle. (Yes, the Mesopotamians ate turtles.)

Mesopotamian Bro #2: Dude, all I’ve got is this jar of nasty old bread. It smells funky and it got real wet. Actually, (shakes jar of decaying sludge) it’s just slimy ooze. I dare you to drink it.

Mesopotamian Bro #1: What do I get if I do?

Mesopotamian Bro #2: You get to keep the jar, but only if you drink the whole thing.

Mesopotamian Bro #1: Deal!

20 minutes later ...

Mesopotamian Bro #1: Dude, I’m so messed up, I think the gods are talking to me!

On Durango’s signature shots: I have a love/hate relationship with Joel’s. The reason I love it is because I rarely pay for anything when I go, and the reason I hate it is because I rarely pay for anything when I go ([my friends are] all very generous with rounds of shots, not because the bartenders are giving away the house). This leads me to make terrible decisions or become very forgetful about the rest of the night.

On opening a brewery: Some mistakes you will only make once, like going on salary or drinking too much the night before an early shift, but other mistakes or failures or issues are best avoided and prevented. That only comes from experience or having that experience around when the inevitable shit does hit the fan.

Robert Alan Wendeborn is a former cellar operator at Ska Brewing and current lead cellar operator at Tin Roof Brewing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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[Sartorial over-enthusiasm with Heather of Sideshow]

Style Fetish | Heather Narwid

The Polit-Apocalypse is upon us: A style prayer for America

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s I write this column, the election is still a week away ... Oh, America, what will become of us on the Eighth of November? I suppose by the publication date of this column we will be settling in to four years of what? Glee, complacency, horror? A combination of these and more, most likely. So, this week in Style Fetish we offer a ludicrous pre-election prayer, for the post-election world, of course. Politics feels, sounds, acts and looks like hell these days; can the Gods of Style help the ’Merican political system when decency, logic and social-emotional health all appear to be failing? Prob-

ably not. But brothers and sisters, let us witness and testify regardless.

Wrap yourself in a flag, get on your knees and let us pray ...

May the politician’s stereotypical power-colors of power-ties and pussybows have positive meaning now and infuse their wearers with the vivacity of red, the dignity of blue and the bipartisan unisexuality of yellow; instead of red’s guilty bloodstain, blue’s dictator uniform and yellow’s wussy ambivalence.

Style Gods, please give us a prez who will dress the U.S. in an excellent and flattering outfit like Hillary’s green tweed suit-dress (worn in her cameo on “Broad City”). May it tighten up the

nervous, flabby jiggling of our psyches and tailor us into confidence given by thick, high-quality, emerald green wool that’s hemmed to the perfect length for each and every one of us. Let that color green and the party of Green, too, keep spreading brightness over the land, literally and figuratively.

May America elect a president who is comfortable in their own skin, who is as unpretentious and unashamed as Noam Chomsky in his obviously self-styled rumpled sweaters and comfortably-wrinkled collars. Give us politicians, pundits and activists who are too busy improving the world to iron, and too authentic to hire someone to.

Style Gods, give us pundits whose insights and logic are so compelling that even I can easily look past a dire need for cleaning and pressing.

We can thank you, Political Style Gods, for gracing and inspiring us with Michele Obama’s realistic and fabulous first lady style of the last eight years. She wore the clothing of up-and-coming American fashion designers, communicated great style and easily commanded well-deserved

respect and admiration. If only she were first lady for another four years, I know her sleeveless biceps alone would have saved the entire planet.

It is all in the dubiously-existing hands of the Gods of Political Style.

“What about us, the voters?!” you ask, but I am predicting we all just got too confused by the bullshit, lost focus and started putting on post-apocalyptic Mad Max-style outfits, Snuggies or straightjackets in preparation for The Day After (Nov. 9). Style Gods, were you benevolent or vindictive this time? Did you finally punish Americans for how we dress while vacationing in Europe?

Hopefully at the very, very least, whomever is elected will follow the best-practices of fashion if they are unable to manage best-practices as president. The red, white and blue needs all the help it can get on both fronts. Amen.

Heather Narwid owns and operates Sideshow, a vintage and modern clothing store for men and women, where bureaucratic absurdity is kept to a minimum but *gratuitous Ramones mentions are at a maximum.

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[pages]

Writer Sarah Vowell brings her quirkiness to Durango

»» ‘I think that’s the beauty of this country, the fact that

it’s basically our right to get on each other’s nerves’

Next Thursday at the Fort Lewis Community Concert Hall, New York Times bestselling author, “This American Life” editor and commentator and frequent “Daily Show” guest Sarah Vowell will be making her Durango debut. She has written essays, columns and six nonfiction books about American history and culture, providing personal and amusing details about everything from U.S. presidents to the Puritans, Native Americans and Tom Cruise. Her most recent book is titled “Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.” We spoke with Vowell about her cranky Republican readers, how voting has changed in our country and how (comparatively) good we Americans have it.

What will you be doing in Durango?

I read and chit-chat. I’ll probably be reading something from my latest book about Lafayette. And then I take questions for quite a long time. It doesn’t sound exciting. [Laughs] That’s kind of my favorite part, talking with the audience; I can interact with locals and think on my feet and improvise. It’s also informative for me, because based on what questions people ask, I find out more about where I am. In some places, like New Orleans, they just want to talk about New Orleans. They don’t care who you are or where you’re from. They want to talk about how much they love their town.

Do you research a city beforehand and try to cater to what they might be interested in?

A little bit. I never decide what I’m going to read until the day of. Sometimes something happens in the news and I feel like something I’ve written pertains to that.

Sometimes the local context. I’ve been to Durango, but gosh, I was a little kid. My family went to Mesa Verde. I don’t have a ton to say about it, other than it’s just one of those memorable places that probably helped make me interested in history and architecture.

You did an interview on Conan where you said you “write about stuff that Republican dads are interested in, in a way that their lesbian daughters might be interested in reading.” What did you mean by that?

I write history books, but I don’t write the kind of history books that Republican dads get for Christmas.

Those are about one subject, they’re four inches tall, they stay on topic, very serious. Not that my books aren’t serious; they’re very serious, except when they’re not. My books kind of swerve back and forth between comedy and tragedy. They are informal, personal at times. My last book was on Lafayette, the teenage French aristocrat who volunteered in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The one before

that was about New England missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands, and how their descendants took over those islands and handed them over to the United States. The one before that was about the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Generally speaking, people who are already interested in my subjects are cranky old guys.

I’m very interested in my subject matter, but I don’t like how segregated the population is in terms of political affiliation or race or gender. So I like bringing people together; my favorite thing when I’m signing books is it’s usually some old guy in a Feed Store cap next to his kid wearing a “Keep Austin Weird” T-shirt, and they come together. Usually the old crank says, ‘I like your books but I hate everything you stand for.’ This is, to me, the greatest compliment that can be given to an author in this Republic. I have an old Republican crank for a dad, and grew up in a family where things were fairly divided. My mom talks about one time when there was a knock on the door and this woman said, ‘I just hurt my foot because I tripped walking by your house.’ There was my father’s Ronald Reagan poster in the downstairs window – it was an election year – and then there was the Mondale poster in the upstairs window that my sister and I had put there. She said, ‘I just want to know what’s going on in here.’ And my mom said, ‘Well, my daughters have differing opinions than their father, and it’s America, and that’s OK.’ So I feel like I grew up in a family with disagreements, but we all lived together and could go out for tacos ... even though the discord in this country, especially in this election, has gotten ugly and dispiriting and soul-crushing, in general I think that’s the beauty of this country, the fact that it’s basically our right to get on each other’s nerves.

You’ve stated your mantra as “It could be worse.” Are general conditions much better now than in previous points of American history?

The Civil War is kind of the nadir. That’s when we were actually shooting at one another. So things are better than that. But I was just talking about this with

»» Sarah Vowell

GO! What: Sarah Vowell at Fort Lewis College When: 7:30 - 9:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 17 Where: Fort Lewis Community Concert Hall, 1000 Rim Dr. Tickets: $29-$39; can be purchased in advance at www.durangoconcerts.com

my mom this morning; I’m 46 years old, and when I was a little kid, except for a few weirdos, most people didn’t even discuss who they voted for. That was considered private. There was something sacrosanct about the anonymity of the voting booth. People weren’t as open about it, and in some ways that was good. I miss that, in a way.

I’ve traveled to a lot of other countries, I think more than 40, and in some of them, things are pretty grim, especially for women. I’ve been to places where you have to speak quietly in front of some sort of military guard so you don’t get your tour guide thrown in prison. Or places where me being a woman traveling alone is looked upon as this freak-of-nature, aberration, because things are so traditional for the women.

I love Thailand, but you can’t say anything about the king ... people get thrown in jail there for making disparaging remarks about the king on Facebook. So, it could definitely be worse. There are places all over this globe of ours where things are way worse.

That’s a nice positive note to end on.

My motto is, while I reserve the right to be a drag, I like to think I’m not a total drag.

—— Anya Jaremko-Greenwold DGO Staff Writer

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[Command-Z]

Anya Jaremko-Greenwold | DGO

How art incurs empathy and why we need that right now mental, unaccepting community. Cinematic cancer stories like “50/50” and “The Fault in Our Stars” render us more knowledgeable about living with disease. Movies such as “Gummo,” “Winter’s Bone” and “Monster” show the hopelessness many white, impoverished people in our country feel.

And “American Sniper” and “Saving Private Ryan” explore the brutality of war and the post-traumatic effects violence has on even the toughest soldiers.

It need not be a work of labor or artistic excellence in order to make a difference. A video recently posted on Twitter, recorded on the phone of a black man, captures a white supremacist screaming at him in Memphis.

His crime? Pulling ahead of the angry

fellow in traffic. (Maybe it was bad driving, but that doesn’t justify this response). The white man calls the videographer the n-word, tells him black lives don’t matter, that HIS life doesn’t matter. Yet the black driver remains calm and polite, having dealt with this type of outburst before. I’ve never been spoken to by a stranger in such a fashion – so it’s essential and valuable for me to see how viciously a person of another race is treated in the same country I call home. It’s hard to consider the predicaments of others when you have an entirely divergent experience. But no one is less human or real than you simply because they are different. Art is the most accessible method we have of walking a mile in another’s shoes.

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quently we become dismissive or contemptuous, refusing to entertain what “the other side” believes. The more you try to comprehend the incentives and fears of others, the stronger your theoretical empathy muscle will grow.

A 2014 study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that after reading “Harry Potter,” participants showed greater empathetic responses to people in LGBT communities, immigrants and other outsider groups. J.K. Rowling’s books are filled with characters battling fantastical prejudice – squibs, werewolves, half-bloods – and readers were better able to understand real-life marginalization post-Potter.

Nameless statistics don’t affect us much, though specific ones do.

Hearing about thousands of people killed in Syria means nothing; seeing the now-infamous photo of a little boy covered in dust and blood after being hit by an airstrike in Aleppo is heart-wrenching. When we identify with a precise character, we bring ourselves to care (the ability to stay numb to vaguer tragedies is probably a human defense mechanism). Actors who go “method” are often praised (Daniel Day-Lewis, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger) because they purposefully blur the line between their real selves and a role. We’re more affected, watching these obviously empathetic performances on-screen.

Art is what we all have in common.

People of every political leaning, disposition and geographic locale are seduced by movies, television, music.

Films like “12 Years a Slave” and “American History X” or TV series like “The Wire” and “Orange is the New Black” shed light on the discrimination people of color face in America, both historically and currently.

“Brokeback Mountain” and “Milk” allow audience members a peek inside the pain of sexual oppression. A double whammy like “Moonlight” (in city theaters now, following a debut at Telluride) illustrates a black teenager wrestling with his sexuality in a judg-

E. 8th St.

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mpathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” But this is a particularly divided point in American history, one during which empathy often feels scarce. The 2016 election has elicited vitriol, frustration and suspicion from just about every American citizen; and those feelings aren’t only directed at our government, but also toward each other.

So what can help? Art, that great arouser of empathy. Movies, paintings, poems or books forcing you inside the heads of people you’ll never be; people who cheat on their spouses or travel to Antarctica, who are braver or surer than you, of a different gender or religion. When we immerse ourselves in the perspectives of others, their viewpoints blossom inside our brains and germinate there. Even if the perspective seems foolish or impossible – if the art is moving, we cannot help but be a tiny bit convinced.

Art is people trying to make sense of the world. We compose, write, draw or choreograph in order to work out human motivations, desperate to discover meaning and purpose in our numbered days. In life, everything feels random and messy, but in art, life is as it should be. There is closure.

There is control. Characters say what they need to. They do the things we wish we could. We cannot get inside others’ heads in actuality; we can talk to each other and try to connect, but there are always barriers. One person might hold back, afraid of another’s judgment. Maybe we speak different languages. Maybe we don’t ask the right questions. Stories and dramas do wonders for effortless human interiority.

It’s harder, of course, to feel empathy for people who are different from us. Friends, family and even relatable celebrities are easy, but Trump supporters, Clinton enthusiasts, Bernie bros, anyone who we don’t recognize in ourselves? Much trickier. Too fre-

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[weed]

Cannabis tourists take Colorado

»» A

look inside who is coming to Durango for the weed and how local businesses are meeting the need

By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold | DGO STAFF WRITER

T

his January will mark three years since Colorado’s recreational cannabis legalization. Our town’s locals imbibe on the regular, and many out-of-towners seem enthusiastic about combining the area’s natural beauty with natural, plant-based highs. But what effect has the drug had on tourism in Durango and in Colorado at large?

Lorraine Taylor, an assistant professor at Fort Lewis College’s School of Business Administration, has conducted considerable research on Southwest Colorado’s tourism industry as influenced by the introduction of marijuana. So-called “marijuana tourists” don’t live in Colorado, but purchase marijuana while they’re visiting. The term accounts for a wide spectrum, including those whose primary motivation in coming to the state is the weed and people who didn’t plan on consuming originally or who didn’t consider the substance a factor in choosing to visit Colorado (but ended up moseying into a shop all the same). Taylor has concluded where these tourists hail from, when they come and what they buy here, helped along by insight from Southwest dispensaries and anonymous survey answers from hundreds of bud customers. She and others note an increase in Colorado tourism over the past several years, but Taylor is aware of the difficulties Coloradoans still face in adjusting to legalization, and remains curious as to how the possibly imminent legalization in other states could affect us.

Upon moving to Colorado in fall 2013, Taylor attended the Colorado Governor’s Tourism Conference and noticed the industry was in a panic. The literature was scarce on the burgeoning trade. “We didn’t have any answers, and nobody really knew how legalization would affect tourism, whether it’d be positive in terms of bringing in new visitors, or if there would be too many visitors,” Taylor said.

The Colorado Tourism Office, mothership for promotion and tourism management in Colorado, is responsible for developing marketing campaigns (like Come to Life). According to Taylor, they originally took a hands-off approach to marijuana tourism, concerned with using public dollars to be supportive of cannabis since most of their target markets are kid-friendly and family-oriented. Families who come to ski are the state’s highest spenders, “so [the Colorado Tourism Office] need to invest in their most lucrative market,” Taylor said. It’s illegal to advertise marijuana outside Colorado, and the entire “Come to

Life” campaign is devoted to places like California, Texas and Chicago. “They also invested a bunch of money into marketing Colorado during this period since legalization, so it’s hard to say where the tourism increase comes from,” Taylor added.

Tim Walsworth, executive director of the Durango Business Improvement District, agrees it can be difficult to tell where the upward ticks come from. “We’ve seen a long history of increases in the tourism counts around here, probably going back to 2010 when we came out of the recession,” Walsworth said. “The first [cannabis] stores didn’t open in Durango until late 2014. So all those upward trends in tourism predate the legalization of marijuana.” Walsworth also suggests regional attractions (like the train, Mesa Verde and Purgatory) have all seen tourism increases, but he can’t necessarily correlate that to legalization.

In her research, Taylor has anonymously surveyed five Durango dispensaries (not everyone had time to participate), several other dispensaries across the Southwest and hundreds of cannabis customers,

including both tourists and residents. She eventually hopes to apply her studies to Oregon and Washington (two more states in which recreational cannabis is legal) to see whether similar conclusions about tourist numbers and their cannabis usage can be reached.

The tourist numbers In phase one of Taylor’s research back in 2014, she conducted interviews with marijuana shop owners and general managers in La Plata County. At the time, Durango had just started opening dispensaries, about one year after shops had begun sprouting up around the state. Employees said the majority of people visiting weren’t coming to Colorado specifically for marijuana, but rather for the plethora of recreational outdoors activities. Cannabis legality was simply icing on the cake. Taylor made her first public statement concerning the research in December 2015, stating that marijuana was not a major driver of tourism, but Continued on Page 14

Mapping marijuana A look at pot laws by state, and which may soon encroach on Colorado’s stronghold on the recreational market.

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Illustration by Alexi Grojean

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[weed] From Page 12

that it did give the state a slight competitive edge.

Since then, Taylor has seen “a positive and increasing trend in terms of the likelihood of people visiting Colorado because of marijuana.” In the latest wave of research (the winter 2016 survey from Strategic Marketing Research Insights, the firm hired by the Colorado Tourism Office), 7 percent of visitors said it’s a motivator to travel here, and 12 percent said they’ve actually visited a shop while in-state (even if they don’t necessarily make a purchase).

Who are the tourists and where do they come from?

In spring 2016, Taylor surveyed 250 tourists in La Plata County marijuana shops, findings that 20 percent of customers were coming to town on day trips from northern New Mexico (80 percent were visiting for other reasons, from other locales). One survey question asked, ‘How long are you staying?’ and many answered “20 minutes,” Tay-

lor recalls. “Here in Durango, we see a lot of day trips where people just cross to make a purchase, then leave.”

But what about families who holiday in Colorado to ski, hike or cavort innocently, devoid of herbal indulgences?

Will some families stop coming? No, according to Taylor. This September, at the Colorado Governor’s Tourism conference, market research company SMARI revealed that most potential tourists who were surveyed said legalization didn’t affect their possible Colorado visitation, either positively or negatively. The number of those who WERE disinclined to visit has gone down over time. Taylor notes that the people surveyed back in 2013 might not have felt comfortable being truthful, as legalization was so new. Maybe they are more inclined to answer truthfully now, since cannabis has become less taboo. Walsworth agrees: “Studies seem to show it hasn’t helped or hurt tourism; it’s kind of a wash,” he said.

“Some people don’t want to come to Colorado because of it, some do, and they kind of cancel each other out.”

Taylor’s data suggests the majority of marijuana tourists are in their 20s

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Here in Durango we see a lot of day “trips where people just cross to make a purchase, then leave. ” (though the full age range goes up to 70s). Maggie Gallagher, who does compliancy and training at Santé on Main Ave., has observed most of her tourist customers as above the age of 50, and Vanessa Brown, general manager at Animas Herbal, had similar but more mixed observations; “We definitely have the ‘blue hair’ season here, when a lot of retired older folks come out,” Brown said. “But we see lots of younger folks in the peak of summer.” Like Durango’s regular tourist season, Taylor agrees cannabis tourism flourishes in summer and slows down in spring and fall.

It’s not just local dispensaries that are cashing in on legalization. Durango Artisanal Tours helps eager marijuana tourists navigate dispensaries around town, learn the laws of cannabis and provides them with a lunch, a sober driver, guides and legal places to partake. This is their second season in business, but they’ve tripled what they achieved in their first season. Tour groups are usually six people or fewer. “Our guests prefer to be in smaller company and are not normally here to get high as a kite,” said owner Regina Wells.

Wells’ company tours tend to attract retired professionals who are coming off years of hard work and are ready to enjoy themselves. “The redder the state, the more they come from that state,” Wells said. “They are especially coming from the states where it looks like they will never legalize, because they want to find out if it’s worth it or not to move out of their state. This is sad, because they are established there with family, jobs and roots, but feel like the punitive laws are reason enough to look for a place that might be friendlier to their cannabis use.” A large percentage of her tourists are particularly interested in the medicinal side of things, either knowing someone with a serious medical problem or suffering from one themselves, and curious as to whether cannabis could afford relief.

What and how much do tourists buy?

facebook.com/durangoorganics 245170

Taylor’s studies reveal

that tourists purchased far more edibles than any other cannabis product.

“Anecdotally, my feeling is it may be less intimidating, because you don’t need to purchase additional paraphernalia,” Taylor said. Additionally, if you’re feeling dangerous, you can drive edibles back across state lines without much risk; you can’t tell the difference between weed cookies and regular sweets if packaged discreetly, and there aren’t many car checks at state borders (at least not as far as Taylor has heard).

According to Gallagher, flower (marijuana in plant form) is the biggest seller for tourists at Santé, plus pre-rolls (pre-rolled joints) and edibles. She says about 60 percent of their sales go to tourists, 40 percent to locals. Brown doesn’t have exact tourist sales figures for Animas Herbal, but she has been surprised at how strong the shop’s local base remains.

“I definitely expected it to be far more out-of-town traffic than we currently have,” she said. It should be noted that Animas Herbal is located across from Town Plaza and next to the Rock Lounge, not on Main Avenue like Santé or in the path of much tourist circulation. Taylor’s data indicates that the location of a dispensary matters far more to tourists than the quality of products or customer service; so if you are conveniently located downtown, congrats on the advantage.

By this logic, you might expect Durango Organics, in Bodo Park, to see practically no tourist foot traffic; but budtender Rhea Gillespi says they actually get a lot because their website is the first one that pops up on a Google search, and plenty of tourists Google where to go once in Durango. “I really like dealing with tourists!” Gillespi said. “They’re usually more excited. It’s new to them, and they tend to listen to what you say.” Anecdotally, She thinks most tourist customers at Durango Organics purchase edibles, seeing as that’s a product you can’t buy off the streets in non-legalized states. “You can’t get gummy candies back in Texas,” Continued on Page 15

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[weed] From Page 14

Gillespi pointed out.

As far as tourists behaving inappropriately or over-imbibing, Gallagher and Brown have few complaints.

“When there’s other functions around town that involve alcohol, we tend to get some customers a little bit inebriated,” said Gallagher. “And a lot of customers are very unsure about the rules and regulations; but the majority are wonderful, and ask ahead of time where it’s OK to consume. Occasionally, you get a tourist who tries to light up or eat a gummy in our lobby.”

At Animas Herbal, customer sailing is even smoother. “If anything, they tend to ask more questions to be sure they do it right!” said Brown.

The challenges of legalization There is a definite learning curve for everyone in a state after legalization. Many tourists don’t know what to do with their leftover products if they’ve over-purchased before heading home. “They leave them as tips for bartenders or housekeepers, or leave

unwrapped edibles in a room and housekeepers don’t know what it is,” said Taylor. “Then they might bring it home to their kids.”

Durango is also severely lacking in spaces where people can consume their purchases legally. Tourists are allowed to buy products, but many hotels and lodging accommodations restrict smoking in their rooms but they’re not allowed to smoke in public, either. Tourists don’t own private property here, so what choice does that leave them? “That’s the new wave in tourism; figuring out how we can provide positive experiences without putting them in the threat of legal issues,” said Taylor.

Vaporizers are improving the issue; a company called My 420 Tours in Denver has contracts with lodging facilities, and if you book a hotel room with them, they bring a clean vaporizer to your hotel on the day of your check-in.

Durango Artisanal Tours also offers private land where tourists can legally consume. “We feel this is part of the public service we are providing for our community,” Wells said. “We have a beautiful private residence

downtown, in the Animas Valley and several other areas – but not everyone can afford a tour.” Wells laments the lack of coffee shops or clubs in town (Amsterdam is full of those, but they’ve had legal bud for much longer than Colorado). Wells adds that Denver is voting on Initiative 300 this November, a four-year pilot program to allow spaces for the public to consume. If this passes, it will be a big win for Denver cannabis tourism.

The 2016 ballot and what’s at stake for Colorado

This article was written before the 2016 election results, but ballot initiatives for full legalization in five states (Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada) are being voted on. Regardless if any of the measures pass, further legalization across the country appears imminent. But how will this affect Colorado’s marijuana tourism? Will vacationers still flock to climb mountains, bike and toke – or just stay in their own state and save their dough?

“Most of our tourists in Durango

are from Texas, but for the state of Colorado, the biggest target market is California,” said Taylor. “If all the states eventually legalize it, marijuana tourism won’t be a thing anymore.

Right now we have an advantage; it will take the other states a few years to get their footing.”

Wells isn’t overly concerned legalization in other states will affect Durango Artisanal Tours. “We put a focus on the region by offering tours that are unique to this area,” Wells said. “Think permaculture, farm to table, health and wellness, snowshoeing, bees, mountains or snow sports.

A tour in the Rocky Mountains will feel different from a tour in Nevada.

Just like a wine tour or a brewery tour, each one has their own flavor.”

“I don’t think it will make a huge difference, especially not initially,” said Brown of Animas Herbal. “Anything like this takes a lot of ‘bureaucratic time,’ as I call it. They have to go through all the formalities. I feel pretty confident Colorado is the model state for legal cannabis; we have a lot of great products. I don’t feel too threatened.”

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Why aren’t Marvel villains more memorable?

By Michael Cavna and David Betancour t THE WASHINGTON POST/WP BLOOMBERG

Why don’t most of Marvel Studios’ villains make much of an impression?

It really is quite striking: Besides Thor’s brother, Loki, most of the studio’s cinematic baddies don’t rise to the memorable epic levels of those from DC (Joker, Bane, Lex 1.0 or Zod) or Sony (Doc Ock or Green Goblin) or Fox (Magneto, most gloriously).

Hugo Weaving makes an early strong impression as the Red Skull in “Captain America: The First Avenger,” and Robert Redford has a certain gravitas in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” and yet neither elevates to the top tier of film villains.

Still, we had high hopes last week for Mads Mikkelsen in the new “Doctor Strange.” He has shined as Hannibal Lecter, after all, as well as Le Chiffre in “Casino Royale.” The man can do intelligent menace with the best of them.

Yet though “Doctor Strange” is a visually arresting film that has several strong performances, Mikkelsen’s gifts go untapped. He plays Kaecilius, a rogue disciple with Dark Dimension dreams and glam-rock eyes – yet except for one scene, the villain gets too little chance to grandstand through dialogue.

That applies to so many Marvel Studios movies, where on some occasions, the nominative “villain” is even just a mind-controlled good guy, such as Bucky Barnes in the Captain America films, and Hawkeye in “The Avengers.”

Just what is going on here? It’s not as if the Marvel comic books can’t rival DC with a rich catalogue of sociopaths, sickos and evil masterminds.

Well, going back through the past eight years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we find one constant: Besides Loki, Marvel films under guiding executive Kevin Feige rarely let their villains chew scenery.

Sure, an Ultron (from the second Avengers film) can go broad, and yes,

Jay Maidment/Marvel

»» Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his Zealots take a page out of the Marvel playbook, in “Doctor Strange.”

a Whiplash (“Iron Man 2”) can get a bit silly. But Marvel villains typically aren’t cinematically bad, either; they are generally safe, and middle of the road. They frequently seem to be there foremost as narrative functionaries, which works fine because Marvel’s heroes are so often so brilliant.

Scenery chewing, after all, can backfire big-time. For every memorable villain, other studios risk producing a Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Batman & Robin”) or a highly uneven Lex the Younger (“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice”), a Bullseye (“Daredevil”) or Two-Face (“Batman Forever”). Such performances distract to the point of becoming major drawbacks.

Marvel, by contrast, often bets heavy on top actors to carry the heroism – with charisma and chemistry to spare. The heavies need not do the heavy lifting.

Still, we hold out hope for a great Marvel Studios villain – and put our promise in Thanos. The Jim Starlin-created Mad Titan has been seen, in a scaled-back role, in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” of course, and glimpsed in the “Avengers: Age of Ultron” mid-credit moment.

Come 2018, Josh Brolin’s Thanos should take center stage in “Avengers: Infinity War,” followed by its sequel a year later.

And if the Russo brothers decide to let Thanos chew scenery with a Galactus-like appetite, the results could prove memorable. Because sometimes we want more than by-the-book from our comic-book bad guys.

[poetry] Ornate Feelings, by Dan Groth

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[ weed ] Seeing Through the Smoke Christopher Gallagher

One constant in the homo sapien timeline: Cannabis

P

were being created. It was during this time period that Neanderthals went extinct and homo sapiens left the cradle of Africa to populate Australia, Europe and the Americas.

Since then, let’s see ... Venus figurines, climate change, technical advances like the fishhook, lamp oil, extinction events, the creation of the bow and arrow. We hunted and ate and shit and bred and millennia rolled by; then came the Mesolithic, the extinction of the wooly rhinoceros; the Neolithic, founding of Mesopotamian society, the root of accepted human civilization; and the Bronze Age (the rate at which I’m fast forwarding through all of this is ridiculous); Abraham, Moses, the Persian Empire, Greece, Rome, Jesus, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance. And cannabis traveled with us the whole time in the medicine stashes of shamans and doctors; as an anointing oil for Middle Eastern

kings, the Biblical preparation known as kaneh bosm; as an intoxicant in sweat lodges and pipes; as food; as fiber; until some of us finally arrived, around 1600, on the western shore of the Atlantic.

When the colonization of North America by the English began, the cultivation of hemp was required in the Virginia Colony, a practice enforced by fines levied on those who refused, and for the two centuries that followed, it was actually exchanged as legal currency in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland. It was one of the most beloved of all human companion plants.

Then came the 20th centuIllustration by Alexi Grojean ry – Henry Aslinger, Reefer Madness and Cannabis Prohibition in 1937 and its affirmation by Richard Nixon in the early ’70s – and here’s the funny part: In the 79 years (barely a drop in the bucket on this timeline) since this country’s government criminalized a plant, that plant has flourished in direct opposition to a rising empire.

I’ve had many conversations with friends over the past couple months in the run-up to this insane election that included ballot measures on cannabis voted on in American states with a combined population of over 82 million citizens; the confusion and division are palpable; as this interesting (difficult, troubling) time passes, a constant remains: Cannabis is our friend – a toke or two and the change of perspective it provides proves it.

Christopher Gallagher lives with his wife and their four dogs and two horses. Life is pretty darn good. Contact him at chrstphrgallagher@gmail.com

244411

erspective – it affects everything.

The world feels heavy for many of us right now. Between the election and, frankly, the astounding shenanigans that have surrounded it for well over a year at this point, the war for water being played out at Standing Rock in the Dakotas, and each of our individual battles to make it through each of our day-todays, it’s easy enough to feel overwhelmed. We are blessed to have an ally in relieving all this stress: Cannabis.

Cannabis’ symbiosis with humankind is nothing new; on the contrary, the earliest known usage of cannabis by humans, a hemp rope discovered in 1997 in the Czech Republic, dates back to 26900 B.C. Slow down and reread that. It does not say 2700 B.C., the time of Minoan Culture in Greece and the beginning of the Old Kingdom in Egypt, both events that predate the oldest known surviving texts created by humanity, in the Sumerian city of Abu Salabikh by about a century; this rope dates back nearly 30,000 years.

When we discuss the symbiosis between humans and cannabis, decades and centuries fall by the wayside and we must measure time in millennia.

Thirty thousand years ago, according to most sources, falls in the period known as “human prehistory,” the Upper Paleolithic Era to be precise, a time period that predates most timelines for human civilization. The geological record shows an increase in the diversity of toolmaking and the earliest examples of art, in the form of cave paintings,

18 | Thursday, November 10, 2016 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[Netflix and chill — 420 edition]

‘Brazil’ I’m recommending Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” for election week because it’s a political satire that remains oddly prescient, but it’s also a surreal sci-fi noir presenting a dystopian future way bleaker than our own. It’s also (technically) a Christmas film, and it is universally acknowledged that starting the day after Halloween, the holiday season ramps up in full force, panting and champing at the bit, eager to be released upon unsuspecting American consumers.

Loosely based on George Orwell’s “1984,” “Brazil” depicts life in an unnamed city (presumably in England, as everyone has a British accent and Gilliam is a Brit himself, a member of the Monty Python troupe) ruled over by a bureaucratic, totalitarian government.

Unlike “1984,” the tone here is whimsical and darkly comedic. The main character is Sam Lowry, a man with a meaningless government job, a tiny apartment and vivid daydreams in which he is flying high above it all as a silvery winged superhero. Sam also has romantic visions about a mysterious woman whom he

eventually meets in person; but in real life, Jill is a rebel terrorist, intent on defying the system, and drags poor Sam into a heap of trouble.

In this world, everyone is dependent on machines (though they never work properly) and trapped behind endless layers of red rape. The silliest and most relatable scenes depict characters being sent back and forth fruitlessly between officials, trying to get their needs met.

One official needs a signature from another department; that department needs a form from the previous official; and nothing is ever resolved. There is the illusion of efficiency – as when an innocent man is arrested in front of his family, his wife is graciously handed a receipt for his confiscation. But it turns out the man was wrongly charged, and no one bothered to check before brutalizing him.

The plot is thin, as the film relies most meaningfully on visual gags and elaborately dreamy set design. The comic aesthetics include heating ducts inex-

plicably sprouting from the walls of every office and home; devices on the street from which citizens can inhale “fresh air”; signs suggesting “Don’t support a friend – report them”; and Sam’s office, where he must share a desk with someone on the other side of a wall, desperately pulling it back to his side like a couple fighting over a blanket.

Despite the story’s absurdist atmosphere, there are moments brimming with somber terror.

The most memorable involves a person being tortured by a fellow in a baby-face mask; but I won’t give away any more surprises. Watch this with a mellow indica, or you run the risk of ending up paranoid, sweating in your bed and peering out your windows. After all, our government isn’t TOO far off from the power structure of this oppressive fantasy, and the NSA is probably watching you right now.

—— Anya Jaremko-Greenwold

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[love and sex]

Savage Love | Dan Savage

Is it fair to dictate the name of your lover’s lover?

I am a bi man in my late 20s in a poly relationship. My primary partner’s name is Erin. One of the rules she mandated is that I cannot date anyone else named Aaron or Erin.

She thinks it would be confusing and awkward. Since those are fairly common names, I have had to reject other Aarons/Erins several times over the last couple of years. My name is very uncommon, so she doesn’t have to worry about this on her side.

Overall, it seems like a superficial reason to have to reject someone. Is there any sort of compromise here?

We haven’t been able to think of any work-arounds.

Not Allowed Multiple Erins I can’t count the number of gay couples I’ve met over the years where both men or both women had the same first name. OK, OK, it’s not a parallel circumstance, I realize. But having a hard-andfast/deal-breaky rule about names – “I can’t date someone named Dan, you can’t date someone named Erin, my ideal has always been to love someone of the name of Ernest” – strikes me as silly and reductive. We are not our names, and our names are not ours. (I am not the only Dan Savage out there, nor am I the only Dan Savage capable of giving decent sex advice, as my substitute Dan Savages ably demonstrated this summer.) So here’s my suggested workaround, NAME: Your primary partner stops being a ridiculous control queen.

But just in case you want a second opinion ...

“This poor woman wants to make sure that when her lover cries out her name, he really means her,” said Dossie Easton, coauthor of “The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships & Other Adventures.” “I can understand this, but I’m wondering if there could be a work-around with nicknames – actually, that could get kind of sexy. ‘Hey, Bear!

Gimme a hug.’ ‘Ooh, Tiger, you are so fierce tonight!’ In all seriousness, many lovers have very personal nicknames for each other, and perhaps that would

make the ‘Aaron/Erin’ problem manageable.”

Would you like a third opinion?

“It sounds like Erin has that most common of polyamorous fears: the fear of being lost in the crowd,” said Franklin Veaux, coauthor of “More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory.”

“Some folks deal with this by passing rules against taking a date to a favorite restaurant or forbidding certain pet names. It sounds like Erin is dealing with her fear by saying, ‘Don’t date any more Erins.’ The problem is that names don’t make you unique. Erin isn’t special in NAME’s eyes because of her name.

But sometimes putting words on a fear is the first step toward eliminating it.

She says dating another Erin would be ‘confusing and awkward.’ What does that mean? What are Erin’s concerns? If it’s only feeling awkward, well, being an adult means feeling awkward sometimes!”

To recap: Your primary partner needs to get over it (Dan’s advice), your primary partner might be mollified if you swore to use only pet names for other Aarons/Erins (Dossie’s advice), keep talking and maybe your primary partner will get over it (Franklin’s advice). All in all, our expert panel doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for your primary partner’s position. So in the interest of fairness, I’m going to offer a defense of Erin’s position.

It’s not uncommon for people in open relationships to insist on a rule that seems arbitrary, even capricious, to their partners. I call these rules “Brown M&Ms,” a reference to 1980s hair rock band Van Halen. The band’s touring contract stipulated that bowls of M&Ms be set out backstage with all the brown M&Ms removed. To see if their contract had been followed to the letter – a contract that included a lot of technical requirements for their elaborate and potentially dangerous stage shows – all the band had to do was glance at those bowls of M&Ms. If a local promoter couldn’t be trusted to get something simple and seemingly arbitrary right, they couldn’t be trusted to get the big-

ger stuff right. And if the promoter didn’t get the big stuff right, it wasn’t safe for the band to perform.

Arbitrary rules in open relationships are like Van Halen’s brown M&Ms: a quick way to check if you’re safe. If your partner can’t be trusted to not sleep with someone else in your bed, not take someone else to a favorite restaurant, not use your favorite/special/beloved sex toys with someone else, etc., perhaps they can’t be trusted to get the big things right – like ensuring your physical and emotional safety and/or primacy. So, NAME, if obeying a rule that seems silly and arbitrary makes your partner feel safe to “perform,” i.e., secure enough to be in an open/poly relationship with you, then obeying their seemingly silly rule is the price of admission.

I, like many hetero, monogamously-inclined single women in their 20s, have had a difficult time finding love in the Tinder age. I’ve been single for two years, peppered with some mundanely heartbreaking flings throughout.

Recently, I met someone at work, and we’ve been dating for a few months.

We’re emotionally and politically compatible, and he is solid and kind.

The only issue is that I don’t feel the level of sexual chemistry that I’ve felt with others. Part of me feels like, at 26, I’m too young to settle in the passion department. The other part of me feels like it’s a dating hellscape out there and I’d be an idiot to walk away. Please advise.

Seeking Hot And Lasting Love Or Whining?

Dating is a hellscape, SHALLOW, but it has always been thus. Before Tinder and OkCupid and FetLife came along, women (and men) complained about singles bars, blind dates, moms who gave their phone numbers to dentists and aunts who invited the mysteriously-single/obviously-gay sons of their best friends to Thanksgiving. It wasn’t unheard of for people to be single for a couple of years, and mundanely heart-

breaking flings have always been a feature, never a bug.

As for the guy you’ve been seeing, SHALLOW, if the spark isn’t there – no strong physical attraction – you should bail. You say you’re “monogamously-inclined,” and that’s wonderful, and I support your lifestyle choice. But monogamy would preclude entering into a companionate marriage with Mr. SolidAndKind while Messrs. ComeAndGo meet your needs in the passion department. The monogamously-inclined need to prioritize strong sexual connections (chemistry) and sexual compatibility (similar interests/kinks/libidos) right along with kindness, solidity and emotional and political compatibility.

Gay trans boy here, into bondage but a nervous novice. I joined a gay kink site and got two serious offers. One was from a guy with almost no gear (a pair of handcuffs) and the other was from a guy with tons of hardcore bondage gear. I thought about something you said on your podcast (longtime listener!) about hardcore bondage gear – it looks intimidating and dangerous, but it’s safer than shitty handcuffs – and wound up having a great first bondage experience in some hardcore gear.

Thanks!

Newby Bondage Boy P.S. A note to other kinky gay trans boys: I got a few nasty messages from transphobic assholes, but I also got genuine offers from guys who were into me along with messages of support from some other guys. Go wherever you want and ignore the haters!

“Go wherever you want and ignore the haters” is good advice for everyone, NBB, not just kinky gay trans boys.

Thanks for sharing!

Dan Savage is a nationally syndicated sex advice columnist writing for The Stranger in Seattle. Contact him at mail@savagelove.net or @fakedansavage on Twitter and listen to his podcast every week at savagelovecast.com.

20 | Thursday, November 10, 2016 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[happening] Dirtwire brings eclectic eletronica to the Balcony In an age of bands describing their genre with ever-expanding combinations of nouns and adjectives, the duo of Dirtwire might have everyone beat: swamptronic space cowboy.

The group, made up by David Satori (violin, banjo, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, slide banjo, jimbush, kone, guimbri, samples, piano, ilimba, percussion, drums and production and Evan Fraser (kamale n’goni, megaphone, harmonica, lap steel slide guitars, jaw harps, kaen, ilimba, piano, melodica, berimbau, pandeiro, mouthbow, bones, beatbox, zabumba, calabash and percussion) put on a show that is part electronica, world beat and all around mysterious Americana and is wholly and irresistibly dance-able.

They’ll be at the Balcony Backstage at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 13. The show is 21-and-up and the cover is $15. Tickets are available at Southwest Sound & www.

Durangomassive.com

Thursday

Friday

Hane Gathering, stories read in Diné Bizaad (Navajo language) and English, 5:155:45 p.m., Delaney Library, Center of Southwest Studies, FLC, Lara Aase, 247-7135.

The Annual Veterans Day Parade, 11 a.m., Main Avenue and College Drive continuing north on Main to 11th Street.

20th Honor Choir, featuring the Fort

2:22 p.m., Turtle Lake Refuge, 848 East Third Ave., 247-8395, turtlelakerefuge.org.

Lewis choirs and area high school singers, 5:30 p.m., free, Community Concert Hall, FLC. Tim Sullivan, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle, 699

Main Ave.

Free lunch at Turtle Cafe, 11:11 a.m.-

Andy Janowsky, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle

Saloon, 699 Main Ave. “Picture Perfect: Contrarian Voices in Photography,” artist talk with Chip

www.durangoconcerts.com.

The San Juan Symphony presents Brahms German Requiem, 7:30 p.m.,

Community Concert Hall, www.durangoconcerts.com.

Karaoke, 8 p.m., 8th Avenue Tavern, 509

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

DJ Link, 9:30 p.m., Balcony Backstage, 600

Main Ave., Suite 210, 422-8008.

Saturday What a Girl Wants Expo, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.,

6-10 p.m., Carver’s, 1022 Main Ave., 247-9182, www.vallecitonordic.org.

Thomas, 6 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave., http://www.chipthomasphotography.com/.

“Beauty and the Beast,” presented by

“Beauty and the Beast,” presented by

Durango High School Troupe 1096, 7 p.m., DHS Auditorium, 259-1630, ext. 2141, 1096boxoffice@gmail.com.

Durango High School Troupe 1096, 7 p.m., DHS Auditorium, 259-1630, ext. 2141, 1096boxoffice@gmail.com.

Henry Stoy, piano, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-

Life-Long Learning:“Confronting Climate Change-Then and Now,” 7

Black Velvet Trio, 7 p.m., Derailed Pour

p.m., Noble Hall, Room 130, FLC, www.fortlewis.edu/professionalassociates.

Open mic, 7-11 p.m., Steaming Bean, locat-

Durango High School Troupe 1096, 2 p.m./7 p.m., DHS Auditorium, 259-1630, ext. 2141, 1096boxoffice@gmail.com.

Vallecito Nordic Fall Fundraiser,

House, 725 Main Ave., 247-5440.

$3 adults, kids 12 and under free, La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave., 3754599, email CFisher@bcimedia.com.

Pierre Bakery, 601 Main Ave., 385-0122.

“Beauty and the Beast,” presented by

EGi, 9:30 p.m., Balcony Backstage, 600 Main Ave., Suite 210, 422-8008.

Sunday Henry Stoy, piano, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-

Pierre Bakery, 601 Main Ave., 385-0122.

Irish music jam session, 12:30 p.m.,

Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, www.theirishembassypub.com.

“Beauty and the Beast,” presented by

Durango High School Troupe 1096, 2 p.m., DHS Auditorium, 259-1630, ext. 2141, 1096boxoffice@gmail.com.

Bluemoon Ramblers, 5:30 p.m., Dia-

mond Belle, 699 Main Ave. Jazz church (experienced musician drop-in session), 6 p.m., Derailed Pour

House, 725 Main Ave., 247-5440, www.derailedpourhouse.com.

Dirtwire, 7 p.m., $15, Balcony Backstage,

600 Main Ave., Suite 210, 422-8008.

ed downstairs at the Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, theirishembassypub. com.

Robin Davis, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle, 699

Joel Racheff, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.

Main Ave.

Karaoke, 8 p.m., 8th Avenue Tavern, 509

Pete Giuliani, solo acoustic, 6-10 p.m., The

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

Friday Frolic Social Dance, featuring

Lake House Bar and Grill, Vallecito Lake.

Ave.

Karaoke, 9 p.m., 8th Avenue Tavern, 509

Lisa Blue and Her Dance Band, 7-10 p.m., veterans get in free, $20/$10, VFW Dance Hall, 1550 Main Ave.

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

Robby Overfield, 7 p.m., The Office, 699

Jack Ellis, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main

Ave. FLC Theatre presents “The Tempest,” 7:30 p.m., FLC Mainstage Theatre,

www.durangoconcerts.com.

Greg Ryder, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main FLC Theatre presents “The Tempest,” 7:30 p.m., FLC Mainstage Theatre,

Karaoke with DJ Crazy Charlie, 9 p.m.,

Main Ave.

www.durangoconcerts.com.

Wild Horse Saloon, 601 East Second Ave., 3752568.

FLC Theatre presents “The Tempest,” 7:30 p.m., FLC Mainstage Theatre,

Karaoke, 8 p.m., 8th Avenue Tavern, 509

East Eighth Ave., 259-8801.

Monday Four Corners Arts Forum, 9 a.m., KDUR

91.9/93.9 FM, www.kdur.org.

Joel Racheff, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Sa-

loon, 699 Main Ave. Continued on Page 22

������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ Thursday, November 10, 2016 | 21

[happening] From Page 21

sypub.com.

Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Ska

Two-step and cha-cha dance lessons, 6:30-7:30 p.m., $10, Wild Horse Saloon,

Brewing Co., 225 Girard St., yoga and a pint of beer for $10, www.skabrewing.com.

Geeks Who Drink trivia, 6:30 p.m.,

Spoken Word, 7-9 p.m., Steaming Bean, lo-

cated downstairs at the Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, theirishembassypub.com.

Rob Webster, 7 p.m. The Office, 699 Main

Ave.

Tuesday Terry Rickard, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle,

699 Main Ave. Tango Milonga, 7-9 p.m., free, Four Leaves

Winery, 528 Main Ave., 769-7053, www.tangodurango.info.

Tim Sullivan, 7 p.m., The Office, 699 Main

Ave. Salsa Dance Night, 8 p.m., Balcony Back-

stage, 600 Main Ave., 422-8008.

Open Mic Night, 8 p.m., Moe’s, 937 Main

Ave., 259-9018.

Super Ted’s Super Trivia, 6:12 p.m., Ska

Brewing Co., 225 Girard St., 247-5792, www. facebook.com/SuperTedsTriviaAtSkaBrewing.

Wednesday Greg Ryder, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Bluegrass Jam, 6-9 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200, theirishembas-

601 East Second Ave., 799-8832.

BREW Pub & Kitchen, 117 W. College Drive, 259-5959.

Pub quiz, 6:30 p.m., Irish Embassy Pub, 900 Main Ave., 403-1200.

Terry Rickard, 7 p.m., The Office, 699

Main Ave. Open Mic Night, 8 p.m., Balcony Back-

stage, 600 Main Ave., Suite 210, 4228008.

Pingpong and poker tournament, 8 p.m., Moe’s, 937 Main Ave.,

259-9018.

Karaoke with DJ Crazy Charlie, 9 p.m., Wild Horse Saloon, 601

East Second Ave., 375-2568.

Submissions To submit listings for publication in DGO and dgomag.com, go to www. swscene.com and click “Add Your Event,” fill out the form with all your event info and submit. Listings at swscene.com will appear both at dgomag.com and in our weekly print edition. Posting events at swscene.com is free and takes about one business day to process.

Two cool 18+ shows on the way This weekend offers at least two options for the 18-and-over crowd, something Durango has lacked in recent memory.

On Friday, Animas City Theatre will host a dance party showing and blasting hip-hop videos from the ’80s and ’90s, so maybe you’ll hear some LL Cool J or some Will Smith or maybe some Beastie Boys.

The show starts at 9 p.m., doors open at 8:30. Cover is $5 for 18 to 20, because you won’t be drankin,’ of course. There is no cover for 21-and-up.

On Saturday, the DIY collective Sweet 101 (858 Main Ave., door is in the alley) will host its first punk show, featuring bands Long Con, DirtyFaces, Sober as Hell, RAD and God Awful.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and has a suggested donation of $5, all which goes to keeping the venue afloat (so, you know give as much as you can).

Marcus Garcia hard at work in the Ouray Ice Park

JOIN THE ADVENTURE

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Horoscope ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Please remember that partnerships and close friendships are where your good fortune lies during the next 12 months. The year ahead is a great time for Aries to get married.

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) During the next 12 months, you can improve your job or get a better job. (It’s your best chance in over a decade!)

Believe this and make the most of this opportunity!

GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Grab every opportunity in the year ahead to enjoy a vacation. Your theme for the next 12 months is about pleasure, romance and socializing with others!

your real-estate situation in the next 12 months. Figure out how you can have a better, happier home.

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VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19)

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LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22)

CANCER (June 21 to July 22)

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Explore every opportunity to enhance

SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21)

Bizarro

This is a strong month for you because the Sun is in your sign. However, the entire year is a very spiritual time for you because of Jupiter.

It’s important to know that in the next 12 months, your interactions with others will benefit you. Make friends. Join clubs and associations. Others will help you!

Look for ways to make a name for yourself in the next 12 months because you can do this. You have a chance to impress people in power like never before.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) Take every chance to travel in the next 12 months because this is what you really want to do. You want adventure

and a chance to broaden your horizons!

PISCES (Feb. 19 to March 20) You can benefit from the wealth and resources of others in the next 12 months. This also is an excellent time to get a loan or mortgage.

BORN THIS WEEK You are goal-oriented and competitive.

You also are compassionate and caring.

For the rest of this year and the first half of 2017, you might not see major changes. However, 2017 will be a year of growth, construction and building.

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[humor]

A

DON’T TALK TO ME

IRRITABLE VOWEL SYNDROME

DON’T LOOK AT ME

IRRITABLE VOWELL SYNDROME —— David Holub ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ Thursday, November 10, 2016 | 23

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