Barring It All in The Era of #METOO by Ballantine Communications

art entertainment food drink music nightlife Thursday, March 15, 2018

DGO

FREE!

BARING IT ALL IN THE ERA OF

#METOO With burlesque, some women are embracing their sexuality onstage and in stilettos

Also: Author Willy Vlautin live at Mariaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, a cultural history of the blunt, and the one beer American brewers havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t conquered

dgomag.com

DGO Magazine

STAFF

What’s inside Volume 3 Number 21 Thursday, March 15, 2018

Editor Angelica Leicht aleicht@bcimedia.com 375-4551

March madness DGO photo contributor stalked the town in search of the cool, the weird, and the savory last weekend, including some feasting at Turtle Lake Cafe and yard fun on East Fourth Ave.

Staff writer Jessie O’Brien jobrien@bcimedia.com Sales Liz Demko 375-4553 Contributors Katie Cahill Christopher Gallagher Bryant Liggett

Check out the photos on Page 23 and many more at dgomag.com

Jon E. Lynch Brett Massé Lindsay Mattison Sean Moriarty Lucy Schaefer

Lucy Schaefer/Special to DGO

Cooper Stapleton

Design/layout

Extra life In a world full of vast lands, dense lore, and seemingly infinite spaces, “IMG_20180226_233555” is a poem. It is a superb little portrayal of a moment of intimacy. It’s sweet and sincere.

Colossal Sanders Reader Services 375-4570 Chief Executive Officer Douglas Bennett V.P. of Advertising David Habrat Amy Maestas David Holub

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.

Love it or Hate it

Gaming

Street Style

7/9 Sound Album Reviews 7 Downtown Lowdown

8/17 Pages 10 Beer 11 Travel

Get Outta Town 1 1

18 Life Hax

Editor-at-Large

Founding Editors

From the Editor

16 Weed

Robert Alan Wendeborn David Holub

19 Happening

8-9 Willie Vlautin Author and musician Willy Vlautin writes about ordinary people battling everyday shitstorms with (sometimes) broken umbrellas. His worlds are filled with deeply-flawed folks struggling to love themselves and connect to others.

Street style Mera Debenham has been bartending in Durango for the past 10 years, and a mom for less than a year. Working at the speakeasy-style bar The Bookcase & Barber allows Debenham to dress in era-themed costumes, simply because it’s fun.

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

/dgomag

20 DGO Deals 22 Horoscope/ puzzles 23 Pics

/dgomag @dgo_mag

ON THE COVER A pole dancer tests the strength of Rosie the Riveter. Colossal Sanders for DGO

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

A SAVVY MAGAZINE FOR A SAVVY CUSTOMER.

Call 375-4570 375-4570 or or email email info@dgomag.com info@dgomag.com Call

CARRY DGO IN YOUR BUSINESS �� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 3

@dg

[From the editor]

[ love it or hate it ]

Mountain driving is for the birds (and daredevils)

Chicken pot pie

Angelica Leicht DGO EDITOR

o, I made an interesting discovery recently. What I discovered is that I’m borderline terrified of driving over the mountains ... or near the mountains ... or on basically any elevated surface made of rock. When I first moved here, I only brought with me a carload full of clothes, shoes, and other mostly useless stuff. As you might have guessed, I realized very quickly that things like pans and spatulas are essential if you’re going to live somewhere for more than a week. Problem is, all of my practical stuff is in Nebraska (don’t ask), so if I planned to stay here (I do), I would have to drive over a few passes, including Wolf Creek and Kenosha Pass, to retrieve it. It’s bad enough when I have to drive on the mesa just above Durango. My hands tingle, I’m hyper-aware of the road’s edge, and I contemplate closing my eyes to climb it. (Don’t worry, fellow mesa drivers; I won’t actually do it.) As you can imagine, that fear further snowballs on high mountain passes with steep grades. I dread crossing Wolf Creek Pass, and when I finally convince myself to do it for the sake of kitchen utensils, the process generally looks like is this: Me, wide-eyed and white-knuckled, gripping the steering wheel like a 90-year-old woman as I, well, drive like a 90-year-old woman. I do not care that the speed limit is not 6 miles per hour. That is the speed I am going until I’m no longer at death’s door. There is nothing more harrowing to me than the idea of driving straight off a mountain. I know that the chances of doing so are slim; most people manage to drive over mountain passes without adding a “Thelma and Louise”-style flight off the edge straight to their deaths. Still, rationality does not enter the equation when I’m staring at a 7 -percent grade decline in a road. I just do not want to go out that way. I do not want to car-fly to my death.

Until this mountain pass debacle, I hadn’t really been afraid of much. I fall asleep to tales of gruesome murders on Discovery ID and my bookshelves are lined with true crime novels. I guess I don’t like spiders, but it’s a dislike more than it is a fear. Otherwise, and until this mountain-panic business, I felt pretty invincible. You’re probably asking yourself why I’m telling you this. Well, to be honest, I’m not sure. It feels odd to be fighting a previously unknown fear of mountain roads – especially the ones with no guard rails (y’all are nuts, by the way) – at 36 years old. Perhaps there’s some sort of subconscious solace I’m seeking by professing my irrational fear of mountains to you. Or, maybe it’s simply that saying it out loud (well, via printed words) makes the fear seem less gripping and more silly. Who knows. What I do know is I will eventually have to force myself to get over this fear. One cannot drive over mountain passes at a turtle’s pace to retrieve the spare silverware from central Nebraska while fearing death; it is not a good use of time. More importantly, though, the gripping fear of driving off the ledge is also robbing me of the awe I feel when I’m looking at the mountains, in all of their eerily bent tree and palatial rock crevice glory. I’d like to be in awe of them again. I guess life is kind of like that, though. We have to get past the fear of failing – or in this case driving straight off the mountain – to find our appreciation for the experience. But, you know, I’m not there yet. So, for now, I’ll take it at my own pace, even if that’s white-knuckled and panicked on the sharp turns. I won’t even side-eye you as you pass. aleicht@bcimedia.com

Love it My fear of chicken pot pie began in kindergarten. Mrs. Nelson had brought an incubator into the classroom and all of the p.m. class couldn’t wait for the cozy little eggs inside to hatch. It was around this same time I went to my neighbors Annie and Johnny’s house for dinner. Their twisted, sick suburban mother had made chicken and dumplings. I thought dumplings were little baby chicks, like the unborn angels in Mrs. Nelson’s classroom were soon to be. Eating balled-up baby chickens was truly disturbing to me. My brain then associated chicken and dumplings to chicken pot pie since they smelled so similar. Pot pie was even more demented. Imagining fluffy yellow chickies being baked alive, trapped under the crust kept me up at night. My 5-year-old consciousness only accepted eating adult animals. I remember the shock when I found out dumplings were in fact not cute baby chicks. Was the whole world a lie? It was an inside job! It took a moment for me to get over the psychological hangups with the dishes, but when I had chicken pot pie for the first time, all my emotional inhibitions dissolved. The flaky crust with warm gravy and veggies tasted like nothing I ever tasted before: like guiltlessness, like shamelessness. I was an enlightened being. — Jessie O’Brien

Hate it There are some things that remind us of our childhood in a good way. For me, that’s the sound of acoustic Cat Stevens songs – he’s Yusuf Islam these days – the bright colors of blooming cacti, and the joy of riding lawnmowers, like the one I used to hop on when my grandpa was behind the wheel. He’d putter up and down the large south Texas lots adjacent to our house, cropping the weeds and patches of carpet grass as I balanced on the foot rest. Then there are those things that remind us of the bogus parts of our childhood ... things like chicken pot pie, especially the ones the Schwan man used to deliver. They are soup-turned-pie-filling abominations, and I cannot bring myself to conjure up any fond memories of them. In fact, they’ve been banned from my house now that I’m an adult because I’m a jerk and everyone else must suffer with me. If I wanted chicken soup, I’d make chicken soup. It’s fine. It’s soup. If I wanted a pie, I’d make a pie. Pies are delicious, what with their flaky, buttery crusts and sugar-laden insides. But you know what I would never, ever do? I would never combine a can of soup and a pie, and then dump in a bag of frozen, perfectly-squared vegetables, because, well, I’m not a monster. To do so would be absurdity at its finest. In closing, I would like to point out that chicken pot pie is not a real pie. It’s also not in a pot. It’s a lie and I will not stand for it. — Angelica Leicht

4 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[gaming]

Extra Life | Brett Massé

‘IMG_20180226_233555’ is a pixelated game full of wonder

hat wakes you up at 3 in the morning? What do you notice first? The quiet dark, the warm covers, the moonbeam cast across the floor? I’ve read there are plenty of reasons for waking up in the middle of the night; hypoglycemia, high stress, spiritual upset, and ghosts. Maybe all of the above. Type in “waking up at” into any predictive search bar and often it’ll try to finish the search with “... 3 a.m.” A quick scroll through the results will offer up any answer you are most comfortable with. Whatever the case may be for middle-of-the-night rises, maybe you have woken up with someone else at the witching hour? “IMG_20180226_233555” by Crawlspace Studio is a tiny vignette of a game I stumbled across recently. Text from the game’s webpage only offered the words, “Late night, moonlight, »» A scene from “IMG_20180226_233555” by Crawlspace Studio. photo bright, sleep tight.” Intrigued by the graphic style of the game, I downloaded it. The visuals are nearly too pixelated to fully recognize around half asleep, or moving through a waking until you start moving around. The game is operatdream. ed from the first-person perspective, and you can reCaptions of dialogue appear in the air, pixelated ally only make out the details of the world when you and distorted like the rest of the world, another have your face pressed as closely as possible to any design choice that forces the player to read slowly and intently. Small visual cues guide the player given surface. The entirety of the game takes place to click through the dialogue, a back and forth bein a small bedroom. There’s a bed, a table, a chair, and a window through which the moon and stars tween someone who is still lying in the dark bed, are brightly shining. and you, the player. Eventually you are drawn to Curious by what the little world had to offer, pick up your phone from the nightstand and snap I wandered around the room to get a feel for the a photo of the beautiful moon and stars. After a boundaries and control limitations. I like to think few tries without much success, it becomes a little of this process as “putting the costume on.” Most more clear to take photos of other things in the games will have a variety of designs and methods room. It was here the game caught me by surprise of getting the player comfortable with the character when I took a photo of the dark bed in the corner; controls. Smaller, simpler games like this one have the game slowly faded and cut to an actual photo no such tutorials because there isn’t much to teach, of someone lying in bed in the dark. Though there save for what a few keys do. “IMG_20180226_233555” is a stark contrast in detail when compared to the uses some sort of pixelating filter that renders the game, you still can’t fully make out who they are, entire world in a fuzzy, dark, low resolution manwhat gender they may be, or really any color, but you can see the curves of their face, softly lit in ner that forces you to move closer to things to see moonlight. It’s a real photo taken in a dark room, much like you would actually behave in a them, complete with the hot pixels and low-light noise small room lit only by the moon at night, stumbling

that comes with trying to take a photo in such darkness. It’s intimate. The game’s world fades back just to wrap up the little tale as the player is asked to come back to bed. In a world full of vast lands, dense lore, and seemingly infinite spaces, “IMG_20180226_233555” is a poem. It is a superb little portrayal of a moment of intimacy. It’s sweet and sincere. I sat in my chair quietly for a few moments after, giving the game room to breathe like I would an uncorked bottle of wine. Even the title of the game is a sweet detail to the story; a naming format that puts a date on the picture taken, a time stamp that solidifies a moment in not just the designer’s history, but our own. I wonder who the person is in the photo of the game? I wonder what woke them up so early in the morning on February 26th? I wonder what they noticed first, the quiet dark, the warm covers, or the moonbeam cast across the floor? Brett Massé is currently playing “Petrichor” by Sundae Month.

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 5

[Durango street style]

Find us at: 72 Suttle St. Unit B Bodo Park Durango 7 Days a Week

SOUTHWEST VAPOR

»» Mera Debenham at The Bookcase and Barber

EVERETT STREET

OFFICE DEPOT

LIGHT

(BODO PARK)

Tinctures Edibles Lotions Concentrates info@swvapor.com

Courtesy of Mera Debenham

SUTTLE STREET

~ And Many CBD Products~ 970-247-1261

72 SHUTTLE STREET UNIT B

FRONTAGE ROAD

Premium e-liquids, e-cigs, local glass, water pipes, dab rigs & accessories

HWY 550 (CAMINO DEL RIO)

The area’s best selection of vaping products

Costumes as clothes Mera Debenham has been bartending in Durango for the past 10 years, and a mom for less than a year. She embraces her work life as “me time,” and uses it as the chance to express herself through her clothes, since she dresses more casually at home. Working at the speakeasy-style bar The Bookcase & Barber allows Debenham to dress in era-themed costumes, something she said she likes to do simply because it’s fun. Her look shows that sometimes dressing up for work isn’t so bad. “I like to wear a bowtie, sometimes suspenders, and a nice shirt to give my [outfit] an old-fashioned feel [at work]. Although sometimes I do like to dress up 1920s-style and wear a flapper outfit to add some flair. [Dressing up] isn’t required, but everyone who works there has that passion, and we like to look the part. There is a dress code, but it’s our choice to flair it up. I’m outgoing and I like to present myself in a professional way, but also an approachable, unique way. I enjoy dressing up. I like to say costumes are my real clothes. I love dressing to an era. I love putting flowers in my hair. It’s my trademark. Most people, when asking for me they say, ‘Oh Mera? Was she wearing a flower in her hair? In the summertime, I’ll wear a real one. I started wearing flowers when I was in Costa Rica and Panama. It made me feel really islandy, but also close to nature. I think flowers are a sign of happiness. [I’ve been] wearing them for 8 or 9 years. [My favorite flower] is this small, little white one. I don’t know what kind it is. It fits with a lot of things. I like to wear a sparkly headband that is flapper era for work. The white one blends in perfectly. It’s one I feel like I can wear with a lot of different things, and accessorize with a lot of different accessories. I always have some sort of sparkle on my face or in my hair because I was born to sparkle. Dressing up for work is always fun... It creates that environment and the ambiance. I think guests enjoy that.” Interview edited and condensed for clarity. —— Jessie O’Brien

6 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[sound] What’s new Hot Snakes,“Jericho Sirens” Available Friday, March 16, via Sub Pop Records in various digital formats – 320K, MP3, ALAC, FLAC – as well as cassette tape, compact disc, and on very limited Loser Edition black colored vinyl, while supplies last. Once the limited-edition black vinyl runs out, the LP will be available in clear vinyl. Yes, you read that correctly. To reiterate directly from the folks at Sub Pop: “... in keeping with the band’s desire to BLAZE THEIR OWN TRAIL AND LAUGH IN THE FACE OF TIME-HONORED TRADITIONS. The black version is, in this case, the LIMITED LOSER EDI-

New at

March 16 The Decemberists,“I’ll Be Your Girl” Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, waking up from their three-year slumber, Portland hipster mellow-rockers The Decemberists have returned with their new album, “I’ll Be Your Girl.” The majority of this record lands on the sweetly saccharine and upbeat side, which is somewhat odd for these moody boys. The first track, “Once in My Life,” will be a familiar-sounding one for fans of the band, with the addition of synths the only large departure from their typical sound. This occurs throughout the record, as with the majority of new indie rock records. There is a synth obsession happening here that, while not entirely unwelcome, is certainly a little strange. The first single off the record, “Severed,” has some 16-bit Atari-esque sounds as its backbone, and it is a little weird. At times, it clashes majestically with the traditional folk passages, but for the most part, it is just kind of odd. Stone Temple Pilots,“Self Titled” Following the unfortunate passing of both Scott Weiland and his replacement Chester Bennington, no one would blame Stone Temple Pilots for hanging up their hats and calling

TION, since the regular edition available at other outlets will be CLEAR vinyl. That clear version will only be available for sale here once the LIMITED EDITION BLACK LOSER VINYL runs out.”

True to form, the “Sirens” album is ripped through at breakneck speed and precision. It clocks in at 31 minutes and spans 11 tracks, and the record seems to be over far too quickly. Old and new fans alike will find plenty to take away from repeated listens, whether it’s the subtle melodica flitted within the title track, or the wry lyrical cynicism layered throughout.

This move is both hilarious and fantastic, and gives listeners a glimpse into the attitude and aesthetic of the band. Hot Snakes’ desire to buck trend and throw a wrench into the gears of the status quo is part of who they are and how they approach their music. Swami (also known as John Reis) and Rick Froberg have been playing in bands together since high school, and that youthful exuberance and attitude hasn’t waned a bit. Back in mid-January, I reviewed the three Hot

it a day. But, it seems they still have something to offer the rock ’n’ roll world, and that offering is a second self-titled album with new singer Jeff Gutt. He has quite the shoes to fill, but seems to have the chops to pull it off. The lead single, “Meadows,” lacks the snarl of the “Core” era, but still has a lot to offer, with searing guitars and Gutt’s vocals, which show off a lot of his strengths. In this era of reunions, it can sometimes take a lot for bands like STP to justify themselves, but I think this second self-titled record will be something worth remembering.

Snakes reissues that were set to precede “Jericho Sirens,” their first album in 14 years under this particular moniker.

that, while overwhelming, is chockfull of excellent instrumentation and solid songwriting. It then leads into a wonderful saxophone section, and background vocals by the singer from Black Crown Initiate, another band that carries the torch of bands like

Recommended for current and new fans of Hot Snakes and their many offshoot projects and bands, including Obits, OFF!, Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, and The Delta 72. —— Jon E. Lynch KDUR_PD@fortlewis.edu

Obscura, Opeth, and Cynic. Other releases include new albums from Hot Snakes, Earthless, The Crown, Scotty McCreery, Snoop Dogg, Murs, and more. —— Cooper Stapleton

Rivers of Nihil,“Where Owls Know My Name” Progressive metal is a genre that simultaneously has staples and tenets that must be embraced, and at the same time, needs something to progress the genre. Sometimes that is done by merging disparate genres, or including lyrics of a transcendental or insightful nature. And sometimes, as is the case with “Where Owls Know My Name,” it entails taking all of the go-to hits for the genre, cranking them up, and then polishing them to be the very best they can be. This record does a truly brilliant job of having no real filler tracks, and every second of it furthers the goal of producing something excellent. “The Silent Life” is an easy track to highlight for me. Death metal is not a genre that typically has quiet or contemplative moments, but this track opens with some light guitars and pleasant vocal work, which leads into a crescendo of violence

Wax Wednesday and Shatterday Saturday! Buy One Get One Half Off on Dabble and Craft Concentrates* *While supplies last

GREAT STRAIN SELECTION • HASH & CONCENTRATE • EDIBLES • SEEDS • CLONES PIPES • SMOKING ACCESSORIES • APPAREL • MJ LITERATURE & CONSULTING • ATM ON-SITE RECREATIONAL 9am-8pm • MEDICAL 9am-6:45pm • 72 SUTTLE ST. UNITS F & G 970.259.3674 • 7 DAYS A WEEK

The Alternative Resource durangoorganics.com

facebook.com/durangoorganics

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 7

[pages]

An interview with author Willy Vlautin

Searching for self and ke Author Willy Vlautin writes about ordinary people battling everyday shitstorms with (sometimes) broken umbrellas. His wide-open, Western-toned worlds are filled with deeply-flawed folks struggling to love themselves and connect to others. Vlautin’s newest novel, “Don’t Skip Out on Me,” follows Horace Hopper, a young man who wants something more than the Nevada sheep ranch his mama abandoned him on at age 8. Horace’s search includes becoming the lightweight Mexican boxer Hector Hildago. Only problem is Horace/Hector isn’t Mexican. He’s half-Paiute and half-Irish. Through Horace, Vlautin examines the lives we can create and the hard facts we can’t outrun. Vlautin will be at Maria’s Bookshop at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 18. DGO talked to the author about writing characters that kicked his ass outta bed each day, and how his characters aren’t the rough-and-tumble drifters reviewers peg them for. Horace’s gramma loves her half-Paiute grandson but hates Native Americans. Can you talk about that? It makes perfect sense to me how someone can love you and dislike who you are. In my own case, my mother loved me, but she was horrified that I was a musician. It was really something she didn’t like, and she didn’t like that I wrote books. I understand that idea that you love your kid but dislike their life, but in Horace’s case, there’s absolutely nothing he can do about what his grandmother dislikes. He wants to be a good son, and he’s a cool guy who works hard, but the digs that she would give would be so difficult to deal with – it’s like being in an abusive relationship where your partner is sweet to you, and then vicious to you, and then twice as sweet to make up for being vicious, and suddenly you’re exhausted and you don’t know what to do. You’re in a quagmire. I think Horace is in a quagmire from 8 years old. He has grown up disliking himself in a weird, vague way because there was also love there. Your characters are often pointed at as drifters or on the margins, but I think they’re normal folks who get put into a hard, sometimes unusual spots and they don’t give up. Who do you think you write? I never think of my people as on the fringes or hardscrabble, and people always say that. I don’t even think

of them as drifters. Horace is not a drifter. He has money. It’s kind of his own self-destructive tendencies that cause him the most grief. Mr. Reese owns a ranch. He’s not a billionaire but he can get by. He’s put his kids through college and his family loves him. “The Free” was the same. A nurse makes a good living. A guy that works at a paint store? He’s going in debt but he has a job. Throughout the books, I’ve never thought of these people as on the edge or on the fringes. I think of them as normal people. Whether they are or not, hell, I don’t know. I think they’re normal, but I could be crazy. Could your version of normal be skewed because you’ve been a musician leading what everyday workers might consider a not-so-normal life? Until 35, I was a housepainter. I’ve lived a pretty normal life and still hang out with the same people I used to hang out with. Why don’t your characters give up? The idea of the struggle to keep trying, that’s always something I’ve battled with. I’ve always written for myself for comfort first. I wrote for 15 years never thinking about if I was going to publish or anything. I wrote for me. In my second book, [“Northline”], a character, Allison Johnson, she is a young alcoholic woman who has gotten herself in a lot of bad situations

GO! Willy Vlautin live at Maria’s Bookshop Where: Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. When: 6:30 p.m., Sunday, March 18 Cost: free Ages: all ages Info: www.mariasbookshop.com More tour dates: http:// willyvlautin.com

MORE ONLINE! Get ye to DGOmag.com for more chatting with Willy Vlautin. Keywords include: Pedal steel, alcoholism, and “a sliding sale towards f*cking up.”

because she’s weak and has anxiety. The idea of her keeping trying, not giving up, and always working to improve herself a little bit made me want to keep trying and improve myself. Same thing with “Lean on Pete.” The kid, Charley, doesn’t quit, so when I’m living with him for a couple of years, I don’t quit. He drives me to get up every monrning and try. Even now when I am thinking about how lazy I am and haven’t done this or that, I think, well hell, Charley Thompson, he’d already done it. So just get your ass out of bed and start doing it, and then you’ll get it done.

»» Author Willy Vlautin I write to not quit because I don’t want to quit. Quitting is tough. If you quit for good, you’re dead. You get nothing by not trying. You might think it takes the pressure off by not trying, but it always keeps asking stuff of you when you quit trying. If you keep trying, it’s a pain in the ass, but eventually you get gifts for not giving up. You don’t have to be great at something to get gifts every once in a while for staying in the game of whatever you’re doing.” Interview edited and condensed for clarity. — Patty Templeton

8 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[sound]

eeping on

Downtown Lowdown | Bryant Liggett

Willy Vlautin, a great American writer in both song and book

»» “Don’t Skip Out on Me,” an album by Richmond Fontaine

is novels champion regular folk. The same regular folk who get up every day and grind through life in a world that has been, at times, cruel and unfair, serving up a plate of undeserved bad luck and bad fate. They’re also novels of beautiful prose, stories with characters you want to take home, have a beer with, and hug. Characters that are people you know, like a friend from grade school, an older sibling’s degenerate acquaintance, or you. Willy Vlautin has brought these characters to life via five novels – and even more songs – as the songwriter and frontman of Richmond Fontaine, the critically-acclaimed Portland, Oregon-based band, which has been tossed into the alternative country realm by playing songs reflecting the human narrative via a Western noir soundtrack. Vlautin will be at Maria’s Bookshop on Sunday (March 18), reading from his new novel, “Don’t Skip Out on Me,” and playing songs from his catalog. His latest is a tale of a young man growing up and working on a ranch in rural Nevada while struggling with identity. Abandoned by his parents, raised by the Reese family who own the ranch, and following a dream to become a professional boxer, it’s what Vlautin calls a “study in loneliness.” It’s also following the idea that everyone deserves to have their heroic story heard. “Your favorite grocery clerk, why can’t she be a hero, or why can’t your mom? My mom was a secretary, why can’t she be a hero? Yeah, I’ve always been interested in writing stories around people I know. They all deserve stories,” Vlautin said. “To me, that’s always been heroic, and as a fan of books, I’ve always wanted to read about those kind of people because they made me feel less alone. I’ve always sought out those kinds

of books. Then, when I started writing my own, that’s what I wanted to write.” Richmond Fontaine has never made a bad record, and Vlautin hasn’t written a bad paragraph. The characters in the songs of Richmond Fontaine, and the characters in Vlautin’s books, go hand in hand. Absorbing one record, or reading one book, isn’t enough. Vlautin is worthy of recognition as a great American writer in both song and book, as his words in both mediums come across as straightforward and painfully honest, making the truth and reality hurt in a beautiful way. “Don’t Skip Out On Me” was the title of a song on a Richmond Fontaine record from 2016, and is the title of the band’s instrumental album that accompanies the book. “The soundtrack to my stories are my songs. Most times, I finish a song and I don’t think about that idea again, but some just linger around and hang out and won’t leave me alone. Usually those are the ones I end up putting around a novel,” Vlautin said. The beauty of his work is the striking and honest reality that comes across in his novels, along with his past work in Richmond Fontaine. There’s a genuine blue-collar approach to the writing – a straight-forward, clock-in and don’t-clockout-until-the-job-is-done method of serious dedication to the craft. He’s a real artist, and what he’s making is way more than just words on a page. There is real care in the tales and the people he brings to life. He’s also a heck of a nice dude, and his touring behind the book and reading passages to audiences ensures some longevity for the characters. “The books are pals of mine, and I always feel like putting a book out is like sticking your best friend in a rowboat and sending them off in the Pacific Ocean,” Vlautin said. “They’re gonna get swallowed up into nothing, but by touring them I always feel like your helping your pal out, you’re helping him land somewhere safe.” Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 9

[beer]

First Draughts | Robert Alan Wendeborn

American brewers have conquered most beers ... except one

’ve never really been into drinking holidays, but last year I participated in a real-life St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The parade lasted approximately four hours, and the party lasted a good four hours on either side of that. It involved slow-moving floats, switchbacking through several neighborhoods, throwing Mardi Gras-style beads in shades of Irish pride (green, white, and orange), and lots and lots of public consumption of alcohol – even on the floats, which have to be in the parade for the entire four hours. There were port-a-potties on most floats. On the side of the roads where the concentration of people was dense, there were also piles of

garbage and a strong odor of urine. At the underpass, an area where the parade passes five or more bars in a row, you’re greeted by the most intoxicated individuals: shirtless revelers, lines to use the rows of port-a-potties, the impatient people peeing on the side or behind the outdoor toilets, and costumes that ranged from elaborate (think full Pope regalia in Irish green) to the usual “Kiss me, I’m Irish” T-shirt. I don’t really know if this is what St. Patrick was hoping his saint day would look like. I’m not sure what the Irish would think of the American version of their holiday. Americans are really good at taking cultural artifacts and turning them up to 11. Whether it’s pizza, hamburgers, barbecue, tacos, or

sushi, it doesn’t matter what culture created the food. We will take it and make it ours, and then sell it back to you. This is especially true with beer. Lager beer? That was Czech/Bavarian speciality that immigrated to America, and was then exported into the world’s beer by the advancements made by American brewers. The refrigerated distribution and storage allowed lager brewers to claim vast territories with the temperature-sensitive brew. The IPA? An English style of beer that has become so Americanized it has developed regional identities. If you’re a brewery that makes an IPA, it’s very common to differentiate your beer by its coastal preference. Is it a piney, resinous, dank West Coast IPA, à la Pliny the Elder? Or, is it a juicy, hazy, fruity

Northeast IPA, à la The Alchemist’s Heady Topper? All this focus on hops, the ingredient that lends the primary flavor to all varieties of IPA, has opened up the possibility of terroir in hops. Brewers who work closely with their farmers are starting to notice all the small things that wine specialists have been noticing for eons. This hop craze is being exported all over the world. Name a beer style and Americans are brewing it, probably with more vigor and passion than the original culture. Gose, wit, Berliner weisse, Russian imperial stout, Mexican lager, Baltic porter, lambic, saison – these are all styles that American brewers have either conquered or Continued on Page 11

10 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 • • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[travel]

»» Alfred Packer’s victims in an illustration by John A. Randolph for the October 17, 1874 issue of Harper’s Weekly. Wikipedia

Visit cannibal country! GET OUTTA TOWN Quirky & cool spots in the Four Corners and beyond Om, nom, nom, CRUNCH, slurp that’s Alfred Packer sucking out the marrow from your leg bone. Packer was a prospector who, in the winter of 1874, ate FIVE MEN who were traveling with him. If you ever get a time travel machine, it’s probably a good idea not to trek through mountains unprepared for winter in the 1800s after Chief Ouray has told you bad weather was coming in. Packer nearly froze to death, slayed companions, consumed their human flesh in a raw state, somehow was lucky enough to make it back to civilization, and was then sentenced to prison (instead of hanging). He served 17 years of a 40-year sentence and then became a guard at the Denver Post.

From Page 10

have their eyes set on taking. Yes, lambic and saison are still firmly Belgian, but these styles are so foreign to the American brewing tradition that American brewers have only been doing these styles in the States for a decade or two at the most. We are so close to having a regional/ideological feud over spontaneous and wild ale, and I am here for it. But there is still a style of beer that is unconquerable. There is, so far, one kind of beer that no American brewer has successfully emulated or co-opted – not in name or by cultural association. This one style of beer remains entirely identified by its home

You can visit the supposed site where Packer ate his pals. It’s in Lake City, Colorado. There’s a big ol’ wood sign hollerin’ out “ALFRED PACKER MASSACRE SITE,” but not much else besides a marker stone, which is why you should also hit up the Hinsdale County Museum. The museum is only five bucks for adult entry and has the largest collection of Alfred Packer memorabilia in the world, including a victim’s skull fragment. Is it macabre? Hell yes. Is it still compelling AF? Absolutely. Bonus: The museum gives ghost tours, cannibal tours, and all kinds of fun historical lectures. Visit www. lakecitymuseum.com for hours, events, and a more in-depth cannibal-tastic experience. Double bonus: Yes, Packer is the dude who the “South Park” creators based the black comedy horror musical “Cannibal! The Musical” on. —— Patty Templeton

country, even in our world of cultural supremacy by appropriation. Do you know it? On St. Patrick’s Day, there is likely one beer that will be drunk more than any other, and that is Guinness, an Irish stout. This dark, roasty beer typifies Irish beer. It’s a light-drinking beer full of malty goodness. There are very few breweries that can brew dark beer on the same level as Guinness, and it is often the only dark beer on any given tap in the world. And that is sacred. Robbie Wendeborn is the head brewer at Svendæle Brewing in Millerton, New York. He is also a former beer plumber at Ska Brewing.

Jameson 750ml Reg: $24.00 Sale price:

$ 99

Happy st. patrick’s Day! 1485 Florida Road

970-247-2258

HOURS: MON - THURS: 9-10, FRI & SAT: 9-10:30, SUN: 10-7 www.StarLiquorsDurango.com

What day is it? Wines-day! Want this deal? Mention this ad!

$1 Glass of Wine All Day Wednesday!*

Say What?! *Limit 3 per person 1201 Main Ave · (970) 259-5028 · Open: Monday-Saturday 11:30am-9pm

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 11

“I BECOME

[performing]

THIS BEING OF SILVER POLES,

SENSATION. I DON’T FEEL

How the burlesque spotlight is returning power to performers

SAFETY, AND SEXUALITY

HUMAN IN THE “B

EYES OF THE

AUDIENCE. I AM A SHOW.”

Jessie O’Brien | DGO STAFF WRITER

urlesque and performing are one of the few places that I feel safe to be sexy and to feel my curves – to feel whatever I want, really – with my body in movement, and to not fear that someone is going to take that as me asking for them to touch me,” said Sarah Wolf, a pole dancer and member of Pagosa Springs’ Bohemian Burlesque Society.

All eyes are fixed on Wolf, in tight booty shorts and 8-inch platform stilettos, as she wraps her legs around the silver pole. The spotlight is where Wolf feels in control of her sexuality. The stage is her protection. “There is a barrier there where I can be what I want,” Wolf said. “I become this being of sensation. I don’t feel human in the eyes of the audience. I am a show.” Burlesque is vintage entertainment, having first become mainstream in the early 20th century, but the artform has maintained its appeal over the decades. In most metropolitan cities, it’s quite possible to see a burlesque performance every night of the week. And, as artforms are wont to do, burlesque is ever-evolving. It’s taking on nerdy new forms, with themes like Star Wars and zombies finding their way into burlesque routines.

What has remained a staple, though, is that the performances focus on expressing a subtle message with playful tones. Take, for example, a piece performed by Bohemian member Jessica Sugar Wolf. It begins with her being tied up and tortured by her captor before she turns into a werewolf. The captor is then eaten by a pack of werewolf women. “As performers, we remind ourselves [what we do on stage] is not really about the threshold of anybody else, it’s about our own,” said Lindsey Ballyhoo, founder of the Bohemian Burlesque Society. “People really do feel empowered by watching the performers be empowered. That’s the part that feels good to me.” Ballyhoo said that with burlesque, the audience doesn’t just see semi-naked bodies - they are witnessing a person baring their art and soul.

As the #MeToo stories have continued to surface nationwide, prompted by a hashtag that went viral on Twitter in October 2017, more and more women are embracing their sexuality in bolder, more outspoken ways than before, much like Wolf and Ballyhoo. The influx of #MeToo anecdotes have made it clear that women can feel as unsafe and uncomfortable in their workspaces as they can walking down a dark alley. A recent NPR “Marketplace” poll revealed 27 percent of women have been harassed in the workplace. Whether it’s in public, on Hollywood sets, or in the White House, there are few places women have not been subjected to sexual pressure and intimidation. This is why offstage, Wolf is more guarded, Continued on Page 14

— Sarah Wolf (above), a pole dancer and member of Pagosa Springs’ Bohemian Burlesque Society

12 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 13

[performing] From Page 13

she said. “I think I’ve done really well establishing my resting bitch face so that people don’t mess with me as much, but when I was younger that wasn’t so much the case,” the 36-year-old mother said. The first moments Wolf remembers her body being sexualized by an outsider was in elementary school. She was waiting in line for the bus and was called a slut because of her clothes. “I was the same size in fifth grade as I am now, so I was wearing junior clothes while everyone else was in kid-size clothes,” Wolf said. Similar incidents tainted her college years and early 20s. A frat boy at a party tried to trick her into coming home with him by saying her ride had left, she said. She was stalked by an unknown driver, who jumped out of his car as if to grab her before the person he was with persuaded him back inside. Outside a nightclub, after noticing her friend talking to a guy and the

frightened look on her face, Wolf intervened. The man grabbed her breast. She walked away and felt him kick her in her back. She fought back and ended up with five stitches in her face after he punched her. Once, on a date, Wolf got drunk. Her date didn’t. She said no several times before blacking out. “I woke up later and it was obvious,” she said. The rug burn on her neck from the couch was the first clue. “How did you say no? You didn’t really say no,” she remembers the cops telling her. Moments like this led her to find a man in her life she could trust – Leroy Brown, her 12-year-old American bulldog. Like the stage, Leroy offers Wolf some protection. “It’s funny how no one hits on me or scares me walking down the street when I have him,” she said. But Wolf feels differently about the two-legged men of the world. Her life experiences have led her to have bleak opinions of the XY kind. “I blanketly think men desire to own women,” she said. “They think that a woman’s mind is an obstacle to

DURANGO’S LARGEST PREMIUM CANNABIS DISPENSARY

WWW.SANTECOLORADO.COM 970-375-BUDS

742½ Main Ave. Durango (IN THE ALLEY)

be overcome and her body is there for the taking.” That’s why, these days, Wolf chooses to be in open relationships. “I’m sick of any of the ownership involved, because men think if you really love them, then you should just want to have sex with just that one man – that [your body] is just for them,” she said. As an Anthropology of Gender professor at Fort Lewis College and the coordinator of the gender and women’s studies program, Dr. Kathy FineDare has been teaching her students the dizzying complexities of gender dynamics for the last three decades. She isn’t as quick to put the blame solely on men. “I feel a lot of empathy for men,” Fine-Dare said. “We are all in this system together. We are part of the same big culture, and we operate on the basis of the same assumptions.” This is something Wolf recognizes as well. “We’ve all grown up in the same trap. Men have been taught to not share their feelings, that women are meant to be overcome, and that no means maybe or keep trying,” Wolf said. “Women have been taught to be chased and be prudish and virgin-like, and to say no a bunch of times even when she really likes him. Well, what about women who actually don’t want him? What are those women left to say?” Fine-Dare said that these societal assumptions about desire can’t be reduced into black and white, and doing so only polarizes people. “If a conversation doesn’t happen – and by conversation, I mean analysis of political, economic, and historical grounding of how we got here – the result isn’t going to be satisfactory,” Fine-Dare said.

That leaves the question of how to avoid oversimplifying a conversation that at times seems too complicated to put into words. “It’s little by little. It’s individual bravery,” Fine-Dare said. “We have to be valiant; we have to not be afraid to talk or bring it up anymore, but we cannot frame it as if it’s men against women. Men can’t take it that way, even if women are venting and upset.”

WE STOCK OVER 800+ PRODUCTS! (970) 375-2837 2nd Ave

Bank of the San Juans

HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE

E 8th St

Alley

Durango Coffee Co

Main Ave

Mutu’s Italian Kitchen

OUR ADVERTISED PRICES INCLUDE TAX HAPPY HOUR - 10% OFF: 4:20–5:20 PM EARLY BIRD - 10% OFF: RECREATIONAL 9–11 AM, MEDICAL 10 –12 PM VETERAN SPECIALS!

WWW.SANTECOLORADO.COM • 742½ MAIN AVENUE • DURANGO, CO

RECREATIONAL: SUN to WED 9AM-9PM & THUR to SAT 9AM-9:45PM · MEDICAL: SUN to SAT 10AM-6:30PM

14 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 • • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Co mm it To Be ing A

DESIGNATED

DRIVER The Ultimate Friend Take Turns Save your friends, family, community members from accidents. Make our roads safe for all. Save Money on No DUI’s Look for the bars and restaurants offering free non-alcoholic drinks to designated drivers.

ourhealthycommunities.org

Courtesy of Lindsey Ballyhoo

Recently, Wolf did confront someone who was making her uncomfortable in her burlesque world – what she calls her sacred place. Wolf said Bohemian’s stagehand, “Kitten,” touched her on two separate occasions, making her feel uncomfortable. The first time was at an after-show party, where she said he touched her ass while she was twerking. The second time was on her leg at a viewing party. Kitten, who requested DGO use his stage name, sensed the awkwardness, but said he wasn’t entirely sure why. Initially, Wolf hadn’t said anything directly to Kitten, and let Ballyhoo know what happened instead. It wasn’t until Ballyhoo made the decision to tell him that he realized Wolf had an issue with the touching. “That’s part of [the problem], our hiding from each other. It’s like, here, I am going to have this problem, but I don’t want the person to know that I have a problem,” Ballyhoo said. “It just creates this uncertainty.” Kitten said he didn’t remember touching Wolf at the party, and the

second time he touched her, he said it was intended in a friendly and non-sexual way. “My first reaction was defensiveness – it’s not like I really did anything,” he said. “My second reaction was like, well, you know, it’s not about my perception. It’s about hers, and her perception is absolutely valid.” Kitten said he wanted to make it right, and wanted everyone, including himself, to be comfortable. “Leading up to this last show, I was pretty nervous,” he said. A few nights before showtime, Kitten apologized. She accepted the olive branch and they were able to move past it. “I think that men can genuinely wish they haven’t caused the harm that they caused, but I don’t think they always know what they’re doing to cause it,” Wolf said. This simple example exhibits how complicated and confusing gender dynamics can be. “I am not going to give up all of my spaces where I can finally express myself because of fear,” Wolf said.

Red Headed Stranger 28.21% THC $10 a Gram and $35 an Eighth

RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA 21+

Located on College and Main

145 E. College Dr. Durango, Colorado 81301 (970) 764-4087 | durangorecroom@gmail.com

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 15

[ weed ] Seeing Through the Smoke Christopher Gallagher

All you need in life is a blunt, classic bangers, some friends

e are going to keep it dirty this week, DGO. The previous edition of STTS had us out back smoking spliffs. This week, we are going to increase the tobacco content in our cannabis delivery mixture by examining that mighty dirigible of liftedness: the blunt. The fact that I happen to be a huge fan of these bombers lies somewhere in the intersection of the Venn diagram containing the circles of “incredible highness,” the “golden age of hip-hop,” and “my birthplace.” Little known fact (to those of us who are not cigar aficionados or residents of places like Windsor and Suffield, Connecticut): the most prized outer wrappers for the world’s most desirable non-Cuban cigar tobacco is the leaf tobacco grown in the Connecticut River Valley, just a few miles from the area where I and the couple/few generations that preceded me have spent most of our days. It is sought after because its mellow flavor allows the flavor of the filler tobacco to shine through. Our comrades at Wikipedia, on the topic of CT Shade Tobacco describe a history extending back to the colonial days of this American experience – the tobacco trade is one of the oldest we as a nation have to offer. I have watched the workers in these fields, summer after summer, as they sweat under the elevated sheets of fiber – put in place to keep the direct sun off the leaves – next to the two-story barns with vented sides. I have been saddened to watch large swaths of land being sold off, reducing the acreage of the fields from over 20,000 square to around 2,000, to make way for more condos, Amazon redemption centers, strip malls, and other similar drek, which plagues every formerly quaint and distinct corner of this sprawling land. But, the workers will be back out there soon, and those shade-grown wraps will

continue to make their way into my smoking rotation. It would have been hard to have be around in 1993-94 and not end up a big fan of a bunch of $60 an ounce brick weed, spun up inside the gutted carcass of a Phillie, Garcia, or White Owl. That was just how it was. Cypress, Snoop and Dre, Tribe, Wu Tang, B.I.G, Pac – always the educator, Nas, and dozens of other MCs were creating word-worlds that made the hair on this word nerd’s neck stand straight up. It would come at us through speakers and subs cranked up so high that the room, or car, or bar, would buzz to the point of liftoff. They were unapologetic weed psalms. Heads would be bobbing, with everyone getting blunted while we bugged out to classic album dropping after classic album. It was a communal ceremony that opened the circuit between music and listener, making for a fully immersive experience. With my main man NapDog keeping us in back-to-back-to-back honey blunts, days got fuzzy in the best way, and we did our thing, trailing clouds. When you’re blunted, you’re blunted. It’s a fact, a scientific-ish fact. When you commit to filling a fine cigar – meant to be enjoyed over a period of an hour or more by someone who can handle the face fire – with today’s high-test bud, you have committed to an influx of THC not too far south of a fat dab. That means deep space if it’s not your usual thing. There is a beauty about the blunt, though, in that it seems to encourage sharing. There are few things in life finer than to gather about five folks you want to pass a day with, run some bangers through the biggest speakers you can find, and get blunted. I promise. Christopher Gallagher lives with his wife and their four dogs and two horses. Life is pretty darn good. Contact him at chrstphrgallagher@gmail.com.

16 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 • • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[pages]

[Odd Rot, by Patty Templeton]

Sex and philosophy in beat poetry to do. Some people rescue stray dogs, I rescue wayThe work of Ginsward books. You know berg passionately the ones – those lonely reviles militarism, volumes that practimaterialism, and cally whimper amidst sexual repression. their shelf-mates, once His was a spiritual mighty dandelions growquest for truth ing through the cracks, amid the tatters of since flung into a sea of everyday existence. used airport fiction. I reTo delve into this White Rabbit cently rescued “Collectanthology is to dive book review: ed Poems: 1947-1997,” headfirst into 1,188 by Allen Ginsberg. I’m a “Collected Poems: pages of roiling sucker for the beats, but 1947-1997,” by Allen whys and what-ifs. bookstores that stock Ginsberg. That old cat left his those ol’ boys seem to mark on the world. be few and far between. The tales of battle I always look though, scars chocked up along the way sit in and sometimes I get lucky. Off by itself, wait, ready to spring from the page like a ratty, dejected, old Siamese cat with the same exuberance as the day at the pound, sulked my book. Once they were written. sprung from that shelf and back at my house with his kinfolk, it sprang back to —— Keena Kimmel life, howling as only Ginsberg was wont Owner of White Rabbit Books Curiosities

I’m a garbageman Patty Templeton was trespassing on a decaying bridge in the middle of the Arizona desert when she drew this. The Cramps are now solidly in her head. This is an illo for a poet she has a crush on. Note: Templeton gets roughly 17 crushes a day. Visit her at www.instagram.com/pattytempleton or http://pattytempleton.tumblr.com and you may be her latest crush.

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 17

[advice]

Life Hax | Carolyn Hax

My boyfriend went from naked hippie to MBA student. Help! How do you know if someone has “changed”? My boyfriend used to belong to a naked hippie co-op and now he’s an “I [heart] globalization!” MBA student. I don’t mean to generalize (there can be naked business jerks, too!) and it’s not as pat as saying his politics are different, but there are other manifestations – less time and consideration to “old” friends and to me, less caring about issues he used to care about (feminism, environment, etc.). Should I be more openminded? He doesn’t think he’s changed and says I should be more understanding. Naked hippies and businessmen So, overboard liberal goes overboard stiff? I’d say he’s changed ... not at all. Our choices may define us, but that doesn’t mean you can know someone by parsing each little choice. Step back, and what do you see? I see a guy caught up in getting caught up. When the MBA fury fades, expect some other extreme will be next. NASCAR, perhaps, or the lead in a drag cabaret. Look past the surface traits and prevailing breezes, see who he is at his core, and then ask if you’re really in love. Carolyn Hax was away. The following first appeared on Nov. 12, 2003: Why are all nice girls ugly and all the pretty girls not nice? (Though I suppose it’s true of the guys, too, but personally I’m less interested in them.) Someone once explained to me that pretty girls get so much attention because of the way they look that they never needed to be friendly, while the ugly girls know the only way they’ll get attention is to be charming. I hate buying into these kinds of generalities, but I must say, as a 20-something on the front lines of the dating war, there seems to be a certain truth in it. Only ugly girls are charming So, being female, I’m either ugly on the inside or ugly on the outside. Same to you, cowboy. Your theory, at least, is both untrue and ugly throughout – and your disclaimer doesn’t impress me. Does attention come more easily to people who are born beautiful, and does that stunt their character growth? You could argue that. But if there’s a generalization to be made (and then insincerely lamented), maybe it’s that pretty women develop defenses

against relentless attention from guys who judge them solely on looks. Gets sloppy, that there battlefield, doesn’t it?

too afraid to do the one thing they require, which is to say what we really think.

If you want genuine kindness, then show genuine kindness, in venues where that has some value. Otherwise, don’t complain when you go out and get what you get.

Three weeks into dating a guy, how do you know if he is after a relationship or just some bedroom fun?

How do you know what to keep within a relationship and what to tell your friends? I have a habit of going to other people first and then going to my boyfriend when I am frustrated with him. I know this is not constructive, I know that I unjustly fear his rejecting me, but how do I overcome that nagging thought that he will? Therapy, been there, doing that. Rejection fears Go to your boyfriend first.

Relationship romp Oh, oh, I know this one! Decline to be a source of bedroom fun until you’re confident he wants a relationship. If that’s what you want from him. Sound like your granny? Maybe. But only if your granny believed in making choices based on immutable human law instead of fungible social mores. If you want to be treated a certain way, which approach makes more sense: insisting on it and then backing that up with your actions, or putting it entirely in someone else’s hands and hoping fretfully for the best?

That’ll be two dollars, please. You’ve tried the warm-fuzzy solution (talking to friends) and the expensive solution (going to therapy) and the long-shot solution (writing to me), and unless you want to stop passersby on the street to complain about your boyfriend, you’re running out of ways to “solve” your problem without actually facing it. When you are frustrated with your boyfriend, you talk to your boyfriend. When you are afraid he’s going to reject you, you talk to him anyway. Doing this will: kick your blab habit; conquer your fear of rejection (worst case, you get rejected for being yourself, far better than being loved for faking it); and render your what-to-tell question moot. That’s because functioning relationships don’t leave you a whole lot to whine about with other people. This isn’t to be mistaken for biting your tongue around the girls. It is understood between trusting, well-adjusted partners that you both have the right to speak freely, as long as truly private (read: potentially embarrassing) matters remain so. I’m talking about a habit, verging on second nature, of opening yourselves to each other to the extent that unresolved stuff becomes scarce. Have problem; raise problem with partner; discuss problem; fix problem if fixable, or change expectations if not; or break up if you fail at the first two; drop issue. Granted, not a whole lot of relationships – friendships included – actually function this cleanly. I suspect that isn’t because they can’t, but because we’re

I have two friends who often share with me the concerns they have with their girlfriends. However, they do not let their girlfriends know there is even a problem until they have already decided to call it quits. I thought this pattern could have been the “men go into a cave to sort things out” thing, but then I realized they are sharing their concern – just with the wrong person. My question is, why are some people only comfortable communicating with friends about their partners? Need Help Understanding Fear (see above), immaturity (see above), sloth (sorry, above), and, as I suspect in the case of your friends, a fundamentally weak investment in the relationship. If you’re already disinclined to take emotional risks, you’re hardly going to take them for someone you’re not that excited about. It becomes its own little cycle: Be vaguely afraid of real intimacy, choose disposable mates, dispose of mates when need for real intimacy arises with the excuse that the mate isn’t “the one,” repeat. Chances are, when they grow up, or get lonely, or a disposable person dumps them hard, the cycle will break itself. Carolyn Hax is a syndicated advice columnist for The Washington Post. She started her advice column in 1997, after five years as a copy editor and news editor in Style and none as a therapist. Email her at tellme@ washpost.com.

18 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 • • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[happening]

DGO’s picks in and around Durango Furniture PARTAAAY! If you dig the community vibes and musical variety that is KDUR (and you’re a beast if you don’t), then hit up the Furniture as Art Auction, their annual fundraiser. Pick up tickets at KDUR or Maria’s Bookshop. For 30 bucks, you get three drinks, apps, desserts, music by Jeff Solon, and a chance to bid on furniture created by artists such as Mike Brieger, Philip Graveson, and Shannon Cruise.

Thursday

1120 Main Ave.

Adult Coffee Klatch,

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour,

Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave., 2471129.

6 p.m., $15-$25, Fort Lewis College, Community Concert Hall, 1000 Rim Drive.

The Nth Power with Durango Horns and J-Calvin Funk Express,

Robby Overfield, 7 p.m.,

Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave., 375-7260.

7 p.m., $12-$15, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive, 799-2281.

Tim Sullivan, 7 p.m.,

“The Music Man” performance, 7 p.m.,

“Musical Thrones: A Parody of Ice and Fire” performance, 7:30 p.m.,

10 a.m., Ignacio Community Library, 470 Goddard Ave., Ignacio. Durango Bach Festival, noon, $5-$100, St.

Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave., 2471129. “Call Me by Your Name” film screening, noon, $9-$10, Animas

City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive, 799-2281.

Details: $30, all ages, 5:30-9:30 p.m., Thursday, March 15, Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave., https:// kdur.org

KDUR “Furniture as Art” auction, 5:30 p.m.,

Affordable outdoor movie fest

Tim Sullivan, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

A’ight you outdoor geeks, get inside. The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is in Durango. Get your goosebumps and adrenaline going with two evenings of over 15 docs like the zipline canyon surfing of “Surf the Line,” and the high desert cliff BASE jumping of “Where the Wild Things Play.” There are short docs, long docs, sports docs, nature docs, ALL THE DOCS! Details: $15 one day, $25 for a two-day ticket, all ages, 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. movies - both days, Friday, March 1617, FLC Community Concert Hall, 1000 Rim Drive. www. durangoconcerts.com

Soul music at ACT for TWO nights Join the funk soul brotherhood down at the ACT while grooving out to the good vibes of supergroup The Nth Power from New Orleans. Denver “dream rock” band Evanoff opens the show on Friday. Saturday’s opener is hometown hero J-Calvin’s Funk Express. Start stretching your glutes because your ass is shaking at these shows. Details: $12 advance and $15 day of (each show), 18 and over, 9 p.m., Friday, March 16; 21 and over, 7:45 p.m., Saturday, March 16, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive, www.animascitytheatre.com

Indie rock till you drop Little Wilderness, Durango’s eclectic punk-groovesoul band, will rock the walls off of the Balcony this weekend, with the psychedelic desert garage rock The Crags opening the show. Also, FREE SHOW! Details: Free, 21 and over, 8 p.m., Saturday, March 17, Balcony Backstage, 600 Main Ave., www.facebook.com/ BalconyBackstage

Studio &’s anniversary There’s no party like a Studio & party. You never know what you’re gonna get, but it’s guaranteed to be EXTRA. This week, the gallery is turning 8. Ye gods only know what random rad will happen, but there will be art! and booze! and apps! and marvels! So get your ass to Main Ave. for a good time. Details: Free, all ages, 6-10 p.m., Saturday, March 17, Studio &, 1027 Main Ave., www.anddurango.com

$30, Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave.

Nightingale Luminary and Star Awards, 6 p.m.,

$30, Henry Strater Theatre, 699 Main Ave., 375-7160. Open mic night, 6 p.m.,

Eno Cocktail Lounge and Wine Bar, 723 East Second Ave., 385-0105. Mancos Melt kickoff party, 6 p.m., $25, Olio

Mancos, 114 West Grand Ave., Mancos. “How is One’s Moral Compass Set?” conversation, 6:30 p.m., St.

Barnabas Episcopal Church, 110 W. North St., Cortez. Leah Orlikowski, 6:30 p.m., 11th Street Station, 1101 Main Ave. Fred Kosak and Alissa Wolf, 7 p.m., Office

Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave., 375-7260. Flamenco Vivo dance,

7:30 p.m., $39-$49, Fort Lewis College, Community Concert Hall, 1000 Rim Drive.

Black Velvet Trio, 7 p.m.,

St. Patrick’s Day comedy showcase, 8 p.m., Eno

Wednesday

Derailed Pour House, 725 Main Ave., 247-5440. The Nth Power, 8:30 p.m.,

$12-$15, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive, 799-2281. StillHouse Junkies, 9:30

p.m., Balcony Backstage, 600 Main Ave.

Saturday The Friends of the Durango Public Library spring book sale, 9:30

a.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave. Durango Nature Studies “Life Under the Snow” community workshop, 10:30 a.m.,

$0-$10, Haviland Lake Trail, Rapp Corral, 51 Haviland Lake Road. Henry Stoy piano, 11

a.m., Jean Pierre Bakery and Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave. St. Patrick’s Day celebration, 5 p.m., Sunnyside

Elementary School, 75 County Road 218. Student showcase, 5

p.m., $15, Fort Lewis College, Jones Hall, Roshong Recital Hall, 1000 Rim Drive. Callie and Garrett Young, 5:30 p.m., Diamond

Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour,

STEAM Lab, 3:30 p.m.,

Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave., 375-3380. Bonnie Albright Scholarship fundraiser, 5

6 p.m., $15-$25, Fort Lewis College, Community Concert Hall, 1000 Rim Drive.

Cocktail Lounge and Wine Bar, 723 East Second Ave., 385-0105. The Crags with Little Wilderness, 9 p.m., Balco-

ny Backstage, 600 Main Ave.

Sunday

Durango regional job fair, 11 a.m., La Plata Coun-

ty Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave., 749-5582.

Hand-building ceramics with Drea M. Clements, 4 p.m., $200-$225,

Henry Stoy piano, 11

Durango Arts Center, 802 East Second Ave., 259-2606.

a.m., Jean Pierre Bakery and Wine Bar, 601 Main Ave.

SMART Recovery Durango, 5:30 p.m., Suttle

Durango ukulele jam,

4 p.m., Magpies Newsstand Cafe, 707 Main Ave. Bluemoon Ramblers,

7 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Monday Mary Baker Eddy: Christian healer, all-

day event, Christian Science Reading Room, 1166 East Third Ave. Homebuyer Education Class, 8:30 a.m., $15, Mercy

Regional Medical Center, 1010 Three Springs Blvd. Joel Racheff, 5:30 p.m.,

Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431. Introduction and safety class, 6 p.m.,

Street Clinic, 72 Suttle Street, Suite M.

Greg Ryder, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431. Durango Nature Studies spring volunteer naturalist training, 6

p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.

Forest Health 101: Forests, Fire and Smoke, 6 p.m.,

Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio, 2599234.

Pete Neds and Friends, 6 p.m., Durango

Veterans of Foreign Wars, 1550 Main Ave.

Terry Rickard, 7 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave., 375-7260.

Powerhouse Science Center, MakerLab, 1295 Camino del Rio.

Ongoing

Tuesday Oil and acrylics painting class, 10 a.m., $35,

display during gallery hours through March 26 in Art Hall at Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.

Ignacio Community Library, 470 Goddard Ave., Ignacio.

Submissions

“A Celebration of Adventure with Dolph Kuss and Friends” event, 6 p.m., $25, Fort

Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Lewis College, Student Union, Ballroom, 1000 Rim Drive, 247-7010.

Tuesday jam, 6 p.m.,

Steaming Bean, 900 Main Ave.

St Patrick’s Day celebration with Ralph Dinosaur, 6 p.m., $15,

Introduction to leather working, 6 p.m., $20-

Terry Rickard, 5:30 p.m.,

p.m., $20, Ska Brewing Co., 225 Girard St., 247-5792.

Durango Veterans of Foreign Wars, 1550 Main Ave.

$40, Powerhouse Science Center, MakerLab, 1295 Camino del Rio.

StillHouse Junkies, 5:30

Durango Bach Festival, 7 p.m., $5-$100, St.

Super Ted’s Super Trivia, 6 p.m., Animas City The-

p.m., Durango Crafts Spirit,

Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave., 375-7260.

$25-$39, Fort Lewis College, Community Concert Hall, 1000 Rim Drive.

The Friends of the Durango Public Library spring book sale, 9:30

Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave., 2471129.

go Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.

$7-$10, Bayfield High School, Bayfield Performing Arts Center, 800 County Road 501, Bayfield.

Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., 247-4431.

Durango Bach Festival, noon, $5-$100, St.

“Prague Spring 1968” presentation by Frank Fristensky, 6 p.m., Duran-

$7-$10, Bayfield High School, Bayfield Performing Arts Center, 800 County Road 501, Bayfield.

Friday

a.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.

atre, 128 E. College Drive.

57th Juried Student Exhibition, art will be on

To submit listings for publication in DGO and www.dgomag. com, visit www.swscene.

com, click “Add Your Event,” enter the event info into the form and submit. Listings at www.swscene.com will appear on www.dgomag. com and in our weekly print edition. Posting an event on www.swscene.com is free and takes one day to process.

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 19

Horoscope ARIES (March 21 to April 19)

details of future travel.

This is an excellent week to take care of practical matters with bosses or parents. You will choose to be private about your dealings or work behind the scenes.

LEO (July 23 to Aug. 22)

TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Someone older or more experienced might have excellent advice for you this week. Be open to whatever is offered. It never hurts to listen. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) People in authority, including bosses and parents, are impressed by your common sense this week. It looks like you’ve done your homework, and they’re willing to trust your judgment. CANCER (June 21 to July 22)

Bizarro

You’ll find it easy to study this week because you have focus and concentration. You also might work out the

You couldn’t pick a better week to wrap up loose details regarding red-tape issues, such as banking, taxes, debt, inheritances or insurance matters. You’re in the right mindset for this. VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22) A discussion with your partner or a close friend will be practical and productive this week. You’re both on the same page, and you both want solid results. LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) This is a productive week at work for you, especially as the week wears on. You’re willing to roll up your sleeves and get things done. (You won’t overlook details.) SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21)

You will enjoy teaching children or young minds this week. This also is a good week to work out details regarding vacations or something to do with sports – professional or amateur. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) Listen to an older family member this week if you have important discussions about home or a family business. Never underestimate the wisdom of experience. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19) You’re in a serious frame of mind this week, which is why you will be productive in your conversations with others. You won’t mind doing routine, tedious work that you usually might avoid. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) You will be conservative about finan-

cial decisions this week, and that’s how it should be. Check out the facts before you act. This includes buying something. PISCES (Feb. 19 to March 20) You might want to be alone this week just because you want to be calm and have a chance to reflect. You’ll be careful and thorough in whatever you do. BORN THIS WEEK You have a strong sense of right and wrong. Because of this, you are attracted to people who demonstrate values of justice. New beginnings await you this year! Now is the time to take the initiative and clarify your goals. What you begin now will unfold in the future because this is the beginning of a new cycle. Your physical strength will increase this year as well. What a bonus! © 2018 King Features Syndicate Inc.

[Cannibal moments in cinema] Ahhhh, cannibals. Sometimes people eat people out of cultural norms. Sometimes out of violent, psychotic want. Sometimes out of dire need. Movies have long since known that cannibals will always be compelling. Here’s a few of the most horrifying, yet must-see cannibal-centric films out there. “Cannibal! The Musical” This here is a low budget, flesh-eating extravaganza put out by the makers of “South Park” and distributed by Troma Entertainment – yep, the same folks who released “The Toxic Avenger.” “The Silence of the Lambs” OK. Maybe you want your cannibals to be more refined. Here’s Sir Anthony Hopkins as a dapper cannibal possibly helping cop Jodie Foster solve a crime - or is he? “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” We’re talkin’ the 1974 Tobe Hooper original, not that BS 2003 remake. Here’s your tried and true family of cannibals ready to eat teens who stumble onto the property. Gross fact: Hooper directed his film in the summer in Texas, at temperatures of over 100 degrees, with real meat rotting on set. The stench made actors routinely run to windows during the famous dinner scene to vomit.

22 | Thursday, March 15, 2018 • • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

MARCH MADNESS

[pics]

DGO photo contributor Lucy Schaefer stalked the town in search of only the cool, the weird, and the savory last weekend. She happened upon some yard fun on East Fourth Ave., feasting at Turtle Lake Cafe, townies on Main Ave., and some business as usual at Colorado Grow Co. For more photos, go to dgomag. com

�� Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 23