DGO: The gospel of Wake Self by Ballantine Communications

art entertainment food drink music nightlife November 5-18, 2020

DGO

The gospel of Wake Self After his passing, the lyrics and activism of Andrew Martinez are felt in N.M. and beyond

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DGO Magazine

STAFF

What’s inside Volume 5 Number 23 Thursday, November 5, 2020

Editor

When Wake Self died, New Mexico lost a visionary and a force for good

Angelica Leicht aleicht@bcimedia.com 375-4551 Staff writer Nick Gonzales ngonzales@durangoherald.com

Before emerging onto the New Mexico scene, Wake Self and Def-I bonded over a love of hip-hop and rap.

Sales Chandler Sommerfeldt csommerfeldt@bcimedia.com 375-4553 Contributors Erin Brandt

From the blog

Eat & drink

J. Fargos

EsoTerra Cider 6

Aquasol

Art & music

American Indian Film Fest 7 Dave Mensch shows 8

True crime

Unsolved Mysteries updates 9

Megan Bianco Amanda Push

10 Travel

Laraina Hailey

Skinwalkers on TikTok 10

Giant pistachio monument 11

Reader Services 375-4570

Courtesy of Def-I

Chief Executive Officer

16 Weed

Douglas Bennett V.P. of Advertising Jamie Opalenik

5 J.Fargo’s in Cortez has its own little microbrewery During our most recent trip to Cortez, it occurred to us that we had been to every brewery in Montezuma County ... except one. To an outside observer, J.Fargo’s Family Dining & Micro Brewery looks like a restaurant, but it is indeed a microbrewery.

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

6 Sippin’ on some syrup ... er, EsoTerra cider The first cider sampled hit our palate like a ton of bricks. This is probably why they named this particular cider “Ton of Brix.” We detected notes of honeydew and strawberry, but they didn’t prepare us for the flavor. 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

18 Check out of this planet with Green Dot Labs vapes Ever been so stoned that, try as you might, your brain acts as a repellent to any information? Well, stoner friends, that was exactly our experience with a Green Dot Labs Black Label Live Resin cartridge and we came out a lot dumber for it (in a good way).

/dgomag

Reviews

Weed news 19, 22

16-18

23 Puzzles/ horoscopes

/dgomag @dgo_mag

ON THE COVER The gospel, New Mexico hip-hop style Nick Gonzales for DGO Mag

Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 3

@dgo_mag dgomag

[news]

From the blog

News from our site on the interwebs you may have missed You need more masks in your life — for art this time

pageant contestant who fears life might actually be worse once she returns home from the competition; and Jennifer Hosten (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the lovely Miss Grenada contestant who might be the right amount of naïve to make it far into the pageant. Rhys Ifans and Keeley Hawes play married pageant showrunners Eric & Julia Morley, and Bob Hope and his wife Dolores even appear in the cast portrayed by Greg Kinnear and Lesley Manville.

Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that we’re sick of wearing masks everywhere. But as far as we can tell, they’re still very necessary and not going anywhere anytime soon. So we might as well have fun with them and use them as vehicles for self-expression. That’s the idea, at least, behind the “Mask” exhibition at the Vicki Myrhen Gallery at the University of Denver. The exhibit features the work of 41 artists representing a range of disciplines — all of whom are putting their messages where their mouth is, so to speak. When it comes to pieces that are simple but chock full of meaning, our favorite is probably Michael Espinoza’s “How to Survive a Plague.” The mask is made from condom wrappers, drawing a direct comparison between the current epidemic and the HIV/AIDS epidemic (which, come to think of it, is also still a current epidemic). On a purely playful aesthetic level, we love Christina Rodo’s “Covidus,” which takes the form of a wool octopus that has attached itself to the wearer’s face. Combine it with Felicia’s Murray’s “Our Dying Reefs,” a felt mask depicting coral that covers not just the lower face but also the left shoulder, and you’ve got a whole aquatic theme going on. Liz Sexton’s “Porcupinefish” also represents the sea — this exhibition in Denver sure does showcase a lot of oceanic art — but the giant papier-mache puffer might strain the definition of what makes something a “mask,” covering the entire head like a helmet. (We’re also just a tiny bit weirded out by the fact that “Octomask,” by Heather Cox, also takes the form of a mouth-bound octopus wrapped around a head. Y’all have some tentacle-based issues to deal with.)

All of their story arcs intersect as Sally, Jo and their fellow Women’s Liberation supporters secretly show up at the televised pageant to make their own live demonstration.

Courtesy of the Vicki Myhren Gallery

»» Tracy Tomko’s “BYOO (Bring Your Own Courtesy of the Vicki Myhren Gallery

»» Christina Rodo’s “Covidus” is made

Oxygen)” is made from plastic, foam, elastic, and glue.

from wet and needle-felted wool.

inside descend from the mouth-covering. Perhaps the simplest, though, is “Mouthpiece” by Tobias Fike. Beyond the mouth part of the mask, it is just an unadorned, megaphone-shaped cone. We’re pretty sure everyone can hear the message the artist is trying to convey with it loud and clear.

of film feminism

The term ‘girl power’ has always done more for news sound bites and the pop culture zeitgeist than for any actual history of feminism. That’s because it’s a lot easier to market off the Spice Girls and Buffy Summers for press than it is feminist celebrities like Gloria Steinem or Kathleen Hanna. Phillipa Lowthorpe’s If you find yourself in Denver on a new ensemble biopic “Misbehaviour” weekend afternoon in the next month, that’s the time to visit the exhibition. Af- tries to mesh both the fun of girl power ter all, that’s the only time you can. Add- with the seriousness of feminism to mixed results. The British produced ing an extra degree of synchronicity to the exhibit is the fact that during the rest feature was originally released in the UK theaters way back in March (the very of the week, the gallery is being used as same week the pandemic broke through extra socially-distanced classroom space interestingly enough) but is just now for the university. making its way to the US via VOD. The “Mask” exhibition continues Some of the masks are deadly serious The comedy-drama follows the events — “Incalculable Loss” is made from hospi- through Dec. 1. Admission is free, but leading up to the 1970 Miss World beautal tags bearing the names and locations advance appointments are required to ty pageant in London, England through facilitate COVID safety practices. If you of Americans killed by COVID-19. Oththe eyes of many real-life based charers force levity as blatantly as possible — can’t make it to Denver but you’re still acters. There’s Sally Alexander (Keira interested, the gallery is hosting a virtual Scott Burgees’ “For the Unseen Smiles” Knightley), the no-nonsense divorced artist panel discussion at 5 p.m. on Nov. is adorned with a bunch of plastic cresmother trying to get back into univer5. cents representing the smiles we can’t sity for her career; Jo Robinson (Jessie see on our masked neighbors these days. —— Nick Gonzales Buckley), the radical former art school “BYOO (Bring Your Own Oxygen)” by student who thinks being loud is the only Tracy Tomko has a sci-fi aspect to it, as way to send a message; Pearl Jansen The somber, necessary tenets (Loreece Harrison), the South African two vaguely bong-like tubes with plants 4 | Thursday, November 5, 2020

“Misbehaviour” was scripted by Rebecca Frayn and Gaby Chiappe, but with how their names are listed in the credits, I have to wonder if the original screenplay was written solely by Frayn and Chiappe or was brought in later for rewrites. Though the reception for the movie has been mostly decent, there have been some reservations about a few things. One is that the story is too serious and important for the lighter tone Lowthorpe set up with “Misbehaviour”. It’s appropriately somber as the film dives into sexism and racism as themes, but then for the rest of the runtime, we get an uplifting, feel-good atmosphere along the lines of a Penny Marshall hit. For the most part, I personally was fine with the mood Lowthorpe set up, though I can see why some viewers would want a more straight forward piece. The performances are fairly good, especially Mbatha-Raw who practically carries all of the film’s heart on her own. Kinnear’s prosthetics to resemble Hope are a little distracting, though it really looks like he’s putting effort into his portrayal. All in all, I would say “Misbehaviour” probably could have said a little more about intersectionality in feminism, but it’s alright for an enjoyable 105 minutes on screen. —— Megan Bianco

[eat & drink]

J.Fargo’s in Cortez has its own little microbrewery Pair the Coyote J Brewing IPA with a chili if you can

Nick Gonzales/DGO

»» From left: the red ale, nut brown, IPA and white Belgium wheat from Coyote J. Brewing at

»» A white chili at J.Fargo’s.

J.Fargo’s in Cortez.

During our most recent trip to Cortez, it occurred to us that we had been to every brewery in Montezuma County ... except one. To an outside observer, J.Fargo’s Family Dining & Micro Brewery looks like a restaurant. But as its full name states, it is indeed a microbrewery. So we stopped in for a meal and beers.

is, but based solely on the name of the

Coyote J. Brewing, as the restaurant’s microbrewery is called, has four beers on tap at any given time. And they’ll do a tasting flight with four beers, so we tried all of them. At present, there’s a red ale, a nut brown, a white Belgium wheat, and an IPA.

first thing we noticed was that the bun

We started off with the wheat beer and were immediately surprised by its bitterness — for an instant, we thought perhaps it was actually the IPA, but mislabeled. On subsequent sips, however, we realized that it was indeed the Belgian one. The bitterness, we suspect, is the result of the Curacao orange peel with which it is infused (and probably the hops, obviously). Whatever the case, the flavor mellows out quickly and opens up to the beer’s spices — in this case, coriander. Once you get into it, this beer actually becomes citrusy and slightly sweet, but that initial bite is a shocker.

er, it was not especially spicy — certainly

Naturally, we wanted to see how this compared to the IPA, so we sampled that next. Surprisingly, it was the opposite — it wasn’t very bitter at all. The beer was quite hoppy, but in a more citrus-heavy American-beer way. The soup of the day when we stopped by was a white chili, and it paired beautifully with the IPA. We’re not sure if it was this combination that did it for us, but this one ended up

restaurant and the microbrewery, we assume he’s the “J.”) The burger was a grilled brisket/beef burger with blackened seasoning, ghost pepper cheese, tomato, cilantro, red onions, and pico de gallo on a toasted Kaiser bun. The looked, smelled, felt, and tasted nice. The patty was also pretty tasty, especially alongside the other ingredients. Despite the ghost pepper in the cheese and the presence of a salsa on the burgnot the rattlesnake bite we were expecting — but the flavor of the burger more Nick Gonzales/DGO

than made up for that.

»» The Rattlesnake “Jake” Burger at J.Fargo’s in Cortez.

All around, our trip to J. Fargos was a

being our favorite of the beers.

after all — we ordered the Rattlesnake

We then sampled the red ale. This was the first beer that tasted how we thought it would: a little bit hoppy and a little bit malty. In the distant reaches of our palate, it may even have been a little bit buttery. When we tried it against our meal, we noticed that its bitterness, while not intense, lingered quite a while.

“Jake” Burger. (We’re not sure who Jake

Finally, the nut brown was the maltiest of the beers we had. It had a bit of caramel heaviness to it. Like the red ale, it had a medium hop aroma and medium hop bitterness. It tasted darker than the other beers, but not like a real dark beer such as a stout or a porter. For dinner — we were there for a meal

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pleasant burger-and-beer experience. —— Nick Gonzales

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[eat & drink]

Sipping cider at EsoTerra Ciderworks, Dolores’ newest tasting room Cidery has a number of beverages on tap When it comes to local libations, we’ll drink pretty much anything you throw at us. So when we found out that a second cidery had opened in Montezuma County, we knew we’d have to pay it a visit.

flavor. Sommeliers we are not, but if we had to compare it to a wine, we’d probably have to go with a Moscato. Come to think of it, the name of the cider may also refer to its noticeably high gravity — it comes in at a higher-than-average-fora-cider 9% ABV.

EsoTerra Ciderworks opened on Sept. 25 in Dolores in what used to be the old Mountain Sun Juice factory. We imagine that much of the property is used for the production of the ciders themselves, which are made from local apples and other fruit, but it still has a pretty large tasting room and patio. The tasting room’s drink menu had 12 items on it, including wines and guest ciders, but we decided to try what appeared to be the four flagship ciders on tap. The first one we sampled hit our palate like a ton of bricks. This is probably why they named this particular cider “Ton of Brix.” We detected notes of honeydew and a distant strawberry, but they didn’t prepare us for the flavor. We knew that the cidery was mod-

»» Nick Gonzales/DGO »» Ton of Brix, one of EsoTerra’s flagship ciders.

eling is ciders after wines, so we were prepared for some dry drinks. Instead, this one was a little bit sweet, noticeably effervescent, and carried a bold apple

The folks at DGO miss leaving our homes for concerts, drinks and dinners out. We don’t like cooking or cleaning the kitchen — and we certainly don’t like mixing our own drinks, all things we’ve had to do since the start of this pandemic. PLEASE wear your masks and practice social distancing so we can get back to our regularly scheduled (fun) programming.

6 | Thursday, November 5, 2020

a bit more apple-y, on the other hand, stick with one of the other ones.

Finally, we concluded with EsoTerra’s Chokecherry cider. If you’re looking for something tart, choose this. Whoa, Nelly, it was easily the most astringent cider we drank. Like with the apricot cider, the Our next sample was of the Crimson Gold. This one didn’t surprise us as much. brewers very much captured the flavor Its flavor was bright, crisp, and a little bit of the fruit. We liked this one a bit more floral. But it was also significantly more than the Apre All Day, but only for very tart than the Brix, with a citrus flavor subjective flavor-preference reasons. It that lingered on the tongue. If there is a may even last you longer than the other Platonic ideal form of what cider is, this ciders, as sipping it makes you want to was the one at EsoTerra that probably pucker up a bit. most closely approaches it. We have a bit of a sweet tooth, so For the third one, we went with the Ton of Brix ended up being our favorApre All Day, a cider flavored with wild ite. We’re looking forward to the next apricots found around the region. It was easily the driest cider we tried that day, chance we have to visit EsoTerra. Next but boy did it taste like apricots. Dried time we’ll have to try Zoe the Tail, the apricots in particular. The carbonation food truck stationed at the cidery which even brought across a bit of fuzziness is apparently named after the cook’s that reminded us of the fruit. We feel short-tailed poodle. like if you love apricots, you’ll love this cider. If you’re in the mood for something —— Nick Gonzales

PLEASE WEAR A MASK! [correctly!]

[eat & drink]

Pagosa Springs’ Aqua Sol combines the best bits of a bar and a juice bar The eatery’s cocktails remind us a lot of more healthful beverages What do you get if you combine a most like an homage to the bar’s previjuice bar with a real bar and then add in ous life. The margarita is a combination some Mediterranean food? The answer, of cold-pressed juice and tequila, with it turns out, is Aqua Sol, one of Pagosa lime, jalapeño, cucumber, pineapple, Springs’ newest eateries. cilantro, and ginger, garnished with Tajin and a lime. Pagosa beverage connoisseurs might be familiar with The Juice Goddess, a The juice ingredients were delicious juice bar that served smoothies, acai and seemed very much like something bowls, matcha green tea, vegan snacks, you’d get at a healthful juice bar, and and the like. Well, it’s gone now. Sorta. surprisingly, the addition of the tequila certainly didn’t alter that much. The The Green Goddess has evolved into Aqua Sol Waterfront Eatery + Bar, which cucumber and cilantro were the two most prominent flavors, which, assuming opened on Labor Day on the far eastern you’re one of the people who perceive end of town. In addition to the interior and the bar, the restaurant has two tiers cilantro positively (rather than as soapy of outdoor seating: a patio immediately and rotten), is quite refreshing. The jalaNick Gonzales/DGO adjacent to the building and overlooking peño-ginger combo carries a bit of a bite, »» The Juice*d Goddess Margarita at Aqua the San Juan River, and a lower area next and if you combine that with the agave Sol Waterfront Eatery + Bar showcases the to the river itself. holding the Tajin to the rim as you sip it, restaurant’s previous existence as a juice it adds an interesting secondary flavor. We dropped by on a warm but partly bar. cloudy day in late September to check After that, we tried “The PB-OB” — they’re drinking whiskey that tastes like out the part of the restaurant that pineapple juice, orange juice, coconut peanut butter.) intrigued us the most: the booze-inmilk, dark rum, and Skrewball Peanut fused juice-based cocktails. (We weren’t Butter Whiskey. (If you’re looking for a Anyway, the cocktail had an unusual hungry at the time, but the savory and quick chuckle, head to Skrewball’s webbut pleasant taste — our server insisted spicy smell we got as a gyro passed by site, where the marketing photos feature on sticking around to watch our faces as our table pretty much ensured that we’ll a bunch of young Californians having we took our first sip. It reminded us of a head back for food sometime soon.) the time of their lives sitting on roofs smoothie you’d order at a spa. The only We started with the “Juice*d Goddess and cliff diving on a hot summer day. You reminder that you’re drinking a cocktail Margarita,” the drink that seemed the know, like everyone totally does when is the flavor of the rum.

As our final cocktail, we decided to get a frozen drink — The White Walker Slush (“because winter is always coming” says the menu) — a frozen piña colada. It intrigued us largely because of the “A Song of Ice and Fire”/”Game of Thrones” connection. The White Walkers and House Stark, from whom the motto is lifted, are both from the cold, northern part of Westeros, whereas a piña colada seems like something you’d drink somewhere tropical, such as Dorne. It turned out, though, that Aqua Sol didn’t have all the White Walker ingredients quite yet, so we ordered the “Daydream Slush,” the frozen margarita. Made with lemon, lime, and orange juice, it tasted a bit fresher than your average frozen margarita — but not as fresh as the Juice*d Goddess. After a few sips, we began to notice that it does that thing where the liquid part of the beverage was easy to sip away from the drink, leaving a bunch of ice behind. We had to wait a while for the ice to melt and become drinkable again, but we enjoyed both the margarita and the bar where we were drinking it. —— Nick Gonzales

Looking for new movies? The American Indian Film Fest is online this November The virtual festival features 102 films It’s getting cold outside again, and the number of outdoor events we can participate in while safely socially distancing ourselves is drying up. As such, we’re back to looking for things we can do indoors. The only problem is, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, there aren’t a ton of those either.

ago) back in March.

After struggling for a while to stay open playing old movies and whatever dreck Hollywood was willing to part with during the summer, most, if not all, of the local theaters have closed until further notice. And as of Halloween, the last of the temporary drive-ins has gone away. So ... we’re back on the couch.

• “Monkey Beach,” directed by Loretta Todd, follows a woman, Lisa, who returns to her home village from Vancouver when visions warn her that her younger brother is going to be in danger. This sets Lisa on a quest to rescue her brother as she journeys by boat to the Land of the Dead.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t watch new movies. There may not be theaters to watch them in, but film festivals may be able to carry us through the winter.

Access to each program and feature of the festival is selling at $10, but there’s also a sliding scale that drops it down to $8. Of particular interest to us are the three narrative features the festival has nominated for best film:

Courtesy of Mama-oo Productions

»» “Monkey Beach” is one of the three features nominated for Best Film in this year’s American Indian Film Festival.

in San Francisco but has gone virtual. It

will last from Nov. 6 to 14 and has 102 The 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival, for instance, usually takes place films, 55 of which are world premiers. As

far as we can tell, only one film overlaps with the Durango Independent Film Festival that happened (a thousand years

• “Parallel Minds,” directed by Benjamin Ross Hayden, is a sci-fi flick in which a researcher and an old-fashioned police detective have to team up to stop an artificial intelligence as it uses Red-Eye, a Continued on page 10

Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 7

[art & music]

Local country-rocker Dave Mensch spreads humor and music around the region You may also have seen him in a musical or two

Courtesy of Dave Mensch

»» Dave Mensch is often on the road touring Colorado and the Four Corners with his brand of country rock.

For as long as we can remember, Dave Mensch has shown up in regional events calendars, playing his brand of rock/ country fusion in bars and other venues across the Four Corners and Colorado. We figured it was time to sit down with him and find out what makes him tick.

Mensch’s repertoire of covers and originals largely grew out of the music he listened to growing up — John Denver, AC/DC, Def Leppard — but his musical career began in, well ... musicals. Up until the age of 17, he performed in shows like “Grease,” “Fame,” and “Aladdin.” In

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Courtesy of Dave Mensch

»» Dave Mensch, front, plays with Scott Wilson, bass player for Saving Abel. fact, over the last five years, you may have caught him as Roger Davis in “Rent” or Stacee Jaxx in “Rock of Ages” at the Durango Arts Center. Upon first arriving in Durango at the age of 19, his dorm friends invited him to join a band and he bought his first guitar. He quit his last job to play music full-time on June 5, 2006. If you ask us, his experience treading the boards led directly to his theatricality on other stages. Mensch is known for his theatricality on any stage he’s on. “In I’d say the last three years, I added more comedy stuff and improvisation and things like that to my shows. And it seems to be that those comedy songs tend to 1) be more attractive and fun to listen to in a bar setting, and 2) they also are a little bit more adult as far as the content that are in them,” he said. Two of his more recent hits, at least in the right setting where the humor is appreciated, are “Leia,” a Star Wars reference-infused story about a woman who has had enough, and “Motorboatin’ My Sunshine (Boobs).” That latter one is “obviously about what you think it is,” he said, in case you thought he was trying to slip something especially profound past you.

“I drive that road probably more often than any other road, going back and forth to Durango and the Front Range and stuff. So I might be on that road a lot, or that road just tends to be where I write a ton,” he said. Speaking of being on the road, you can catch Mensch at 6 p.m. Nov. 7 at No Worries Sports Bar and Grill in Farmington or at 8 p.m. Nov. 13 at The Break Room in Pagosa Springs. If you can’t make it to either of those, just wait – he’ll be back at a gig in the area sooner rather than later. Even during the onset of the pandemic, he found opportunities to play outside eateries serving to-go orders and online (a place he said he’s ready to return if need be, as we head back into winter with no end to COVID-19 in sight). For the time being, though, he’s still lining up shows with conscious and careful coronavirus protocols around the region.

You can also find his albums on Spotify, iTunes ... basically wherever you get your music. He released both his fifth album, “Solo Chronicles, Vol. 1” (in his first five albums he’s got a band) Mensch was previously a member and a remastered version of his second of Durango-based bands Prima Facia album, “Yesterday’s Tomorrow” (origand Formula 151, but now tours solo. inally released in 2007) this year. And He writes many of his songs while he’s he’s in pre-production on his sixth album, driving around the state, and as any though details on it are somewhat up decent country-rocker should, he’s got in the air at the moment thanks to that one particular highway where everything whole pathogen thing going around. just comes together — in his case, U.S. Route 285. —— Nick Gonzales

[true crime]

Show creator gives an Unsolved Mysteries, season one update on cold cases Alonzo Brooks

It was a spring night on April 3, 2004, when Alonzo Brooks, 23, went to a party with three friends in La Cygne, Kansas. He was one of three Black men at the party of about 100 people. Later that night, his friends left the party without Brooks. The next day, however, Brooks was still not home and was reported missing. A month later, family members found his body on the banks of a creek near the house where the party took place. A cause of death could not be determined and, to this day, we still don’t have any answers as to what happened to Brooks. Some believe his death was a hate crime.

The mysterious death of 32-year-old Rey Rivera is perhaps one of the strangest cases to come out of season one. Rivera was a Baltimore finance writer who was found dead after he rushed out of his home one evening after receiving a phone call. His body was found inside the roof of the Belvedere Hotel with no clues as to how he got there, how he fell, or why he was there. “In Ray Rivera’s case, there are journalists who are very active. They have a really strong theory that Ray did not come off that roof, that he wasn’t pushed or jumped or anything, that he might have ended up in that lower level conference room by other means. They’re working on that,” Meurer told Newsweek. “When these tips come in, they all will run through me, and I get so engaged in them. I got a tip in where somebody says, “Oh, yeah. I know that money clip. My uncle has that money clip.” And I just got on the phone and called them and said, “Tell me about the money clip.” So, I do jump in a little bit. And some of these cases are personal because I get so excited when these leads are coming in.”

The FBI is also offering a reward of up to $100,000 to anyone who has information about Brooks’ death and is investigating the case as a potentially racially motivated crime.

2005 that her remains were found in a wooded area 10 miles from where she disappeared. Authorities believe Endres was taken from her Georgia salon in a span of about 13 minutes. Money was also taken from the salon cash register. “With Patrice Endres’ case, the law enforcement, we give them a tip. But they are not going to really let us know what is going on and we suspect that they need to do their job to put the case together. We will all know probably at the same time if any of them get solved.” Dupont de Ligonnès family The Dupont de Ligonnès family murders is one of the most bone-chilling murders of season one - an entire family murdered by the patriarch, Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès. A descendant of an old, French aristocratic family, Xavier is believed to have murdered his entire family in April 2011 - his wife, Agnès, and his children Arthur, 20, Thomas, 18, Anne, 16, and Benoît, 13. Xavier’s whereabouts are currently unknown.

Patrice Endres

“That case had the most tips come in from all over the world. Every continent, I think, except Antarctica. We got tips about sightings of him, but what was interesting is that there was a cluster of tips that came in from Chicago. And you always look for a cluster because it means more than one person is seeing this person, and these are all unrelated people,” Meurer said.

When Patrice Endres disappeared in April 2004, she left behind her car keys, purse, and uneaten lunch at her salon business. It wasn’t until December

“We had clusters in countries like Italy, and Great Britain, and France, but they did not have anything as narrowed down as Chicago and we’ve learned that

there’s a large ex-pat French community in Chicago. Somebody even sent us a photo of someone who looked very much like Xavier. I actually looked at this photo and I was doing my own little “what do I think comparison.”

“The FBI exhumed Alonzo’s body to do some additional forensic testing to see if they can find any more evidence. And I know they are interviewing people every single day. They are very active trying to solve that case,” Meurer said. “It takes a long time to put together a prosecutable case and they do not want to make an arrest and then find out that they do not have a solid case.” —— Amanda Push

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Brooks’ grave was exhumed at the Topeka cemetery where he is buried in July “as part of an ongoing investigation,” FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton told CNN.

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Brooks’ death was just one of six strange cases presented on season one of “Unsolved Murders.” It’s been four months since the first season aired on Netflix and while none of them have been solved yet, show creator Terry Dunn Meurer gave updates to Newsweek on where these cases stand.

Sixteen years after Brooks’ body was found in a creek in Kansas, the FBI exhumed his body and are reopening the case.

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Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 9

[art & music]

What’s the newest creepy trend on TikTok? Skinwalkers In October, the Navajo witches became quite popular on the video-sharing app Halloween has come and gone, but spooky stories about things that go bump in the night linger on ... especially on TikTok. One of the most recent hashtags to pick up steam on the video-sharing social network is #skinwalker.

attention-starved Gen Z-ers. (We’re going to take a shot in the dark and suggest that if you see something weird in a cornfield in Nebraska, it’s not a skinwalker.) Soto, on the other hand, seems pretty

In Navajo culture, skinwalkers are a kind of witch-like people who can turn into or disguise themselves as animals. Yee naaldlooshii, which directly translates to “with it, he goes on all fours,” are said to travel in secret and harm the innocent. Traditionally, Navajos don’t discuss them or other types of witchcraft with non-Navajos. Nevertheless, when John Soto — @ that1cowboy on TikTok – posted a video of a supposed encounter with one on Oct. 3, it went viral. (As of our writing, it had been viewed 7.7 million times.) In the video, Soto is riding a horse down a dirt road at sunset. Birds perch on some nearby trees and Soto looks around. As he approaches an intersection, someone (or something) off-camera

convinced that a mysterious force is haunting him. He had a Navajo and Apache upbringing, and his ranch looks to be somewhere in New Mexico or Arizona – he definitely has javelinas on his property. But he told Dazed magazine that the noises he has heard could with the voice of a woman or child says, “Hey.” This spooks the heck out of the horse which spins around as if to get out of there. And the video ends. Soto posted a number of videos in which he talks about his suspicion that there is a skinwalker on his property, but the Oct. 3 video is the first one in which it makes an appearance, so to speak, and that seems to have made all the differ-

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ence. Since then, hundreds of videos have been posted with the hashtag, by both Navajo and non-Navajo users, accounting for over 39 million views of videos with the hashtag.

not be, as commenters have suggested,

That latter group is pretty far-ranging, and their videos are usually just vaguely eerie. They describe random sounds at night; shadowy, barely-seen things behind rocks and trees in the wilderness; and finding dubious evidence of creatures outdoors. If you switched out #skinwalker with #bigfoot, #skunkape, #werewolf, #ghost, or #thealienfromSignsbyMNightShyamalan, the videos would be otherwise completely unchanged.

things retreating to the outskirts of his

It seems pretty plausible that many of the video-makers are just clout-chasing, From page 7

contact lens that records human sight to replicate memories, to do something nefarious. • “Ruthless Souls,” directed by Madison Thomas, follows Jackie as she grieves the death of her partner, Toni, resulting from a complication during gender-affirming surgery. This process is complicated, however, as her pillars of support break up at the worst time possible. We’re also interested in “Rez Dogs,” directed by Steven Tallas, which takes place on the Navajo Nation. In it, a group of friends tries to find a better life for themselves but encounters adversity along the way. Speaking of the Durango Independent Film Festival and indigenous films, by the way, DIFF has teamed up with the Du-

goats or mountain lions because they don’t live anywhere near him. He also said that he had a medicine man bless his home, which resulted in the creepy property. The evil presence still has it in for him, though, and may be after his newborn baby. Will the rise in skinwalker videos on TikTok lead to incontrovertible evidence that they exist, or will the trend amount to little more than a mild form of cultural appropriation among ghost-story loving teens? Only time — and social media — will tell. —— Nick Gonzales rango Farmers Market to provide a free online screening of the documentary “Gather” from Nov. 1 through 15. It takes viewers to tribal communities where members are actively working on Native food sovereignty issues, and a link and password can be found on the festival’s website at durangofilm.org/native-american-heritage-month-celebration. Oh ... and if you’re dead set on attending a film festival in person this November, you’re in luck. Head to Florida, where temperatures are still in the 80s (or at least the high 70s). The Key West Film Festival is having all of its screenings at outdoor venues where people can socially distance across the island. —— Nick Gonzales

[travel]

Get Outta Town: In southern New Mexico, a giant pistachio beckons Sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes it’s actually a drupe Since the dawn of history, people have loved snacks. One snack in particular was a favorite of both the biblical Queen of Sheba and the ancient Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who had it planted in the kingdom’s hanging gardens. It became a favorite in Greece after Alexander the Great sent it back from Persia, where it was known as the “smiling nut” (in China, it is the “happy nut”). It made its way to the rest of Europe under the Roman emperor Tiberius — it’s featured throughout the 5th-century Roman cookbook “Apicius.” That snack is ... the pistachio. If you’re now thinking that, given its long and storied history and importance to human civilization, you need to bow down before a pistachio and praise it, we know just the place.

Courtesy of Amy Meredith/flickr

Standing just north of Alamogordo, »» Love pistachios? Want to take a photo New Mexico, on U.S. Route 54, the with a 30-foot tall one? Head to Alamogordo. World’s Largest Pistachio belongs to the giant-object genre of roadside attraced seeds. They’re more closely related tions. The monument is 30-feet tall, and to cherries and nectarines than they are was made with 5 yards of concrete and to real nuts. If peanuts are famously le35 gallons of paint. gumes and these drupes aren’t nuts, we The giant pistachio was created and can hear you asking, what the heck even unveiled in 2008 by Tim McGinn as a are true nuts? Are nuts a lie?! Hazelnuts, memorial to his father, Tom McGinn, chestnuts, and acorns, it turns out, are who had died the previous year. Tom the real ones — you know, the types of was the founder of PistachioLand, aka things you’re almost certainly not going McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch and to snack on during a road trip through Winery, where the monument stands the Land of Enchantment because you today. have to crack them open using brute Naturally, there’s a gift shop to force or roast them or something. (It capitalize on the tourists the pistachio turns out “nuts,” at least botanically attracts off the road. It sells the kinds of speaking, suck as an easy-to-eat snack snacks — including homemade pistachio food.) milkshakes and chili-chocolate pistaIn case you were wondering (and we chio brittle that ancient monarchs and know you were) how pistachios can emperors would have killed for (and also help you through our current troubling wine). times, early in the COVID-19 pandemic Speaking of pistachio-based snacking, the city of Alamogordo translated social a 2011 study showed that people who distancing guidelines into figures locals shelled their own pistachios consumed would recognize and understand. If 41 % fewer calories than people who you’re trying to keep 6 feet of distance ate pre-shelled pistachios. Some food from people to avoid spreading the for thought, just in case you decide to virus, it may be helpful to picture 72 pisgrab some to go at the colossal New tachios between you and them (because Mexican fruit. the nuts are about an inch long). That’s Oh yeah, and even though you’ll find about four roadrunners or 12 green it labeled as such in the grocery store, chiles, by the way. pistachios, like cashews and almonds, aren’t nuts — they’re drupes, or elongat-

—— Nick Gonzales Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 11

Mindfulness and hip-hop

was about 13 or 14 years old, Eric said. Andrew wanted to get his voice out there and found the opportunity to do so at Gallup’s Foundations of Freedom dance studio. In addition to breakdancing classes, the studio was a spot to form cyphers, informal circles where rappers, beatboxers, and breakdancers can jam together. “That’s kind of where he honed his craft, and where he made his bones in the community is just in these communities, with other people who were seeking other things like him. He learned to dance, he learned to rap, he learned to paint,” Eric said.

When Wake Self died in 2019, New Mexico lost a visionary and a force for compassion

It was also where Andrew met Christopher Mike-Bidtah, who would end up performing as internationally-touring emcee Def-I. After hearing Bidtah rap, Andrew approached him and asked him if he’d like to cypher after the jam. He was too shy to take the mic at the time, but he was inspired by Eric’s on-mic rapping, and exchanged verses with Bidtah, who was a few years older than him. Bidtah recognized a kindred spirit in Andrew because of how seriously he was interested in rapping, and they became very good friends.

By Nick Gonzales DGO STAFF WRITER

On Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, Andrew Martinez was scheduled to headline a release party at Santa Fe’s Meow Wolf for “Ready to Live,” his sophomore album as hip-hop artist Wake Self. The Sunday night prior to the show, however, Martinez was driving with mural artist Kevin Allende when his car was struck by a truck. According to police reports, the driver of the truck, Diego Pichardo, was impaired and driving at a speed up to 60 mph on the wrong side of the road. All three men were hospitalized.

Andrew’s parents let Bidtah take him to places like Tuscon, Arizona. As they got to know each other, they became effectively nomadic, constantly seeking out hip-hop communities and opportunities to rap around the region.

That Tuesday, Martinez died. The hip-hop community — and the state of New Mexico as a whole — experienced an incredible loss that night. Wake Self was not just a skillful emcee but also a community activist whose influence will ripple through the community indefinitely. And the messages contained in his posthumously-released work have only increased in relevance as the world has changed in the year since his death. Origins As he points out in the opening verses of his song, “New Mexico,” Andrew Martinez was born at the Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell. His family then moved to Fort Wingate, a town just west of Gallup that his brother, Eric Martinez, describes as a border town on the Navajo

12 | Thursday, November 5, 2020

“They were the ones that kind of kicked it off for themselves. They would go out and tour wherever there was a hip hop show — Gallup, Albuquerque, Farmington, Shiprock, everywhere in the Four Corners area. And that’s kind of where they gained their popularity and kind of the base of their other fan base,” Eric said.

Courtesy of Def-I

»» As Wake Self, Andrew Martinez rapped about his personal philosophy and way of life, in addition to other subjects.

Nation. “That’s kind of like where our roots came from — being around a lot of Native Americans as we were younger and as we grew up,” he said. Their father, Alfred Martinez, is a principal and basketball coach, and, as a result, the family was involved in the community. He’s also at least partially responsible for his sons’ love of hip-hop and rap, exposing them to his generation’s soul, rock, and blues. Despite having problems with the public school system, Andrew became a student of music at a young age, finding his skill as a lyricist and writer when he

Definition Rare Courtesy of Def-I

»» Andrew Martinez and Christopher Mike-Bidtah, aka Wake Self and Def-I respectively, were best friends since they met as teenagers.

At some point in there, Def-I and CloudFace, a fellow New Mexican musical and visual artist, formed the group Definition Rare. As Andrew became

Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 13

Wake Self, they absorbed him into the crew as well. By the time Andrew was 18, he had dropped out of school and moved with Def-I to Albuquerque to immerse himself in the lifestyle at the core of the New Mexican hip-hop scene. They were limited by the fact that they were both minors at first, but as Def-I got old enough to get into 21+ venues, Wake would stand outside, watching and listening until people would come outside. After hearing him outside on the street on several occasions, bar managers drafted waivers for Wake to sign so he could come inside and rap, Bidtah said. “By the time (Andrew) was in his early 20s, he wasn’t actually allowed to do rap battles anymore because he would win them so often that it was discouraging to the other emcees that were trying to come up and do their thing,” Eric said. “That evolved into him throwing his own shows. So he would host rap battles and he would host beat battles, and they would get emcees from all over the place and producers from all over the place to come out and be able to show off their skills in the venue in front of a packed crowd.” Despite coming of age while performing in bars and the like, Wake chose to live a sober lifestyle in his early 20s. The sphere of Wake’s influence grew to the point, Def-I said, that when he died, people reached out from around the world. Wake and Def-I’s careers took them different places, but it seemed like they still worked together as much as they worked apart. In addition to highlights such as performing with rap legend Masta Ace and being part of the line up at the Meow Wolf Taos Vortex in 2019, one of Def-I’s fondest memories of Wake Self was their first time performing under the San Juan River Bridge in Shiprock. DJ Cedro (“the Kool Herc on the rez for us,” said Def-I) organized the first Under the Bridge show and asked Wake and Def-I to perform. He was the first DJ to hand them a mic, Def-I said.

Courtesy of Def-I

»» Wake Self and Def-I joined together as two members of the group Definition Rare. In “Love Myself,” he raps: “If your skin is different (love)/if your bank account insufficient (love)/made mistakes, made wrong decisions and if you’re insecure about your body image (love)/when I got nobody and I don’t know where to go/hurtin’ and I really need someone to help/if it all fall apart, if it all falls down/till the Sun comes out imma love myself.”

“We’d helped him set up — kind of cleaned up down underneath and started putting an event on — we just freestyled the whole day because we didn’t have a lot of emcees come out to fulfill a full festival time. So it was mostly just us rapping and freestyling a lot, but I was like damn, Andrew was really killing it right then and there, and I was amazed by how much skills he had built back then,” he said.

His activism took a variety of forms and encompassed a variety of issues — he’s traveled as far as Hawaii to attend demonstrations for women’s rights, and to Washington, D.C., with Def-I, to rally for native water rights. Regardless of what this issue was, however, Wake was only in if it was positive, inclusive, and nonviolent.

The Under the Bridge jam became a part of the annual Northern Navajo Nation Fair and a tradition for Wake Self and Def-I. The 2019 jam was the last time they performed together.

These values are perhaps most readily on display in his 2017 album “Malala,” which he was inspired to create after reading Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai’s memoir, “I am Malala.” The album’s titular song takes on the portrayal of women in American culture, particularly the world of hip-hop. He raps:

Conscious rap If Wake Self’s love of music came from his father, his activism is rooted in his mother. Barbara Martinez was diagnosed with breast cancer when Andrew was in his teens, Eric Martinez said, and it weighed heavily on him. His mother survived the disease, but the experience forced Andrew to gain a lot of perspective on mortality, spirituality, and the human condition at a very young age. And it stuck with him — his mother is mentioned in almost every album. He formed a set of beliefs, which he preached frequently in his lyrics, centered around taking care of oneself so one can practice altruism. 14 | Thursday, November 5, 2020

Courtesy of Eric Martinez

»» Wake Self took up a number of causes and traveled around the country to attend demonstrations.

“He had a model at the end that he was trying to market to everybody: ‘Self care, self love, self worth,’” Eric said. “He would say, ‘If you can’t take care of yourself first, you can’t take care of the people around you.’”

“Dear world, it’s so upsetting to me/that our economy has turned misogyny to a revenue stream/let us see through the lies discover/why the entertainment industry taught us how to dehumanize each other/and all these rappers are scared to explore the topic/of how our human nature is exploited for corporate profit.” Andrew’s partner, filmmaker Noor-un-nisa Touchon, said during the time she knew him, he prioritized community, especially investing in the youth, while giving everything he could to his music.

er — just to constantly be elevating. It’s really, really, really great to be around that scene,” Ahmad said. When it comes to individual artists who are carrying on Wake’s legacy, Eric Martinez mentions Dahhm Life, an emcee who formed a group called Zoology and released an album with Wake. His work carries messages similar to those of Wake, and he practices a similarly mindful way of life. But Eric even more emphatically points toward Def-I himself. “I can’t stress enough, he’s probably the hardest-working, do-it-yourself independent artist in the world right now. I can’t think of anybody else,” Eric said. “He carries on that legacy because he has the same type of mindset and demeanor, the same type of positive message. And it makes sense because they were best friends.” Continued work Wake Self’s album “Ready to Live” was released posthumously alongside the music video for his single “No Vacancy,” which was conceptualized by Touchon and directed by Alec Brown. In it, Wake portrays a gangster seeking New Mexico chiles and he won’t be duped by inferior Colorado chiles.

Courtesy of Noor-un-nisa Touchon

»» Filmmaker Noor-un-nisa Touchon and Andrew Martinez were partners toward the end of his life. “Holy Water,” the last Wake Self video she directed will be released this month.

A second posthumous music video that Touchon worked on, “Holy Water,” is currently screening as part of the American Indian Film Festival and has been nominated for Best Music Video. It has already won Best Music Video and Best New Mexico Short at the Mindfield Film Festival in Albuquerque and received an honorable mention at the Independent Shorts Film Festival. Touchon said it wasn’t necessarily a song that Wake wanted to do a music video for, but when she came up with a strong idea for one, they began filming it in March of 2019. She directed it, and it features animations by Alec Brown. She said it will be released to the public by the end of November.

“Through his music, his sole purpose was to just uplift and inspire everyone around him, specifically the young people in his community,” she said. “He went to like a detention center pretty regularly and spoke to the kids there, and he spent a lot of time at Warehouse Five O’eight (a youth arts center in Albuquerque), working with kids there as well.”

lence or anger or anything like that. He wanted to advocate more for change, more for a better culture than what it’s become today. ... He believed that humans are inherently good, and that vision of having a society that was positive and inclusive was very real to him.” Wake’s spirit lives on, however, both in the work he created and the people he touched.

Touchon said she has a bunch of material featuring Wake Self and wants to work on a nonfiction project about him. She is currently considering ways to tell Andrew’s story, such as a documentary or podcast.

The year it’s been

Raashan Ahmad, emcee and member of the Crown City Rockers, befriended Wake Self and Def-I after moving to Santa Fe — especially after they took him on a tour of the state. Now, he passes the location where the crash happened and remembers Wake.

Similarly, Def-I said he is working on rounding up songs that he and Wake had recorded for an unreleased EP they had worked on. If and when he gets them all together, he plans to revisit them and see where he can go from there.

“Sometimes I’ll stop there and just kind of parlay. When the album came out, I remember listening to it on repeat and just driving by there laughing because you could hear him,” he said. “You can simultaneously be in this zone listening to his music where you’re just gonna be here and vibe out, or just dance or just turn up. But if you’re in another space in your day, that same song could make you really think about your life and how you’re living it, and what you possibly can contribute, and how you can think a little bit different.”

Def-I recorded an album called “Deserted Oceans” with hip-hop artist Ariano and released it in March, almost immediately before the pandemic hit. As events dried up, they released a bonus track called “American Quarantine,” and Ariano also remixed and re-released the album as “Oceans Deserted.”

The cruel irony that Wake Self, who cared deeply about activism and social justice, did not live to see the movements that have occurred in 2020 is not lost on those close to him. “I feel like this was kind of the year that he was waiting for, like a really huge turning point,” Touchon said. “He would have seen this as a very pivotal moment for everything, for everyone. I feel like his lyrics and everything he’s been pointing towards and everything he’s been preaching about is really related to this moment. I think he would have seen this is a year that he would have wanted everyone to reevaluate themselves and reevaluate the world around them.” Wake would almost certainly be at the forefront of a local movement, his brother said. “He would have been the loudest voice in the room, I can tell you that much. He would have been out in the streets, I’m pretty sure he would have been organizing demonstrations, probably from Santa Fe to Albuquerque,” Eric said. “But his message would remain the same — it would have been very positive, very inclusive of everybody. It wouldn’t have been something of vio-

Most hip-hop heads in New Mexico have been touched by Wake, Ahmad said, and he’s influenced groups such as the Outstanding Citizens Collective, a group of artists inspired by the collaborative and communal principles of hip-hop culture to combine artistic expression with public service. “He was always pushing to just be better and better, to be a better emcee and be a better community work-

As part of DDAT, a fusion project with the jazz-playing Delbert Anderson Trio, Def-I is working on a musical based on a concept album titled “Naat’áanii.” It tells the story of a character who is a talented traditional dancer, but who wants to leave the reservation, travel the world, and seek out the hip-hop scene. Def-I is also set to release a new solo album called “DRZLTN” on Nov. 20. (Eric Martinez was not kidding when he said Def-I is hardworking). As 2020 starts to conclude and — hopefully — begins to improve, people can still draw inspiration from the rhythmic catalog of Wake Self. Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 15

[weed]

Did you drink away your quarantine blues last night? This Dixie Topicals Synergy Soak will help with what ails ya food, I smoked a bowl of weed, and I went to bed early.

I overdid it on Halloween. Like, way overdid it. My body ached, my brain ached, my ... I don’t know. Everything freaking ached, OK?

a trail or something. Whatever source your pain originates from, I guess.

My source of pain just happened to be alcohol, because I’m a glutton for punishment. I don’t drink much these I recognize that part of getting old is days — despite it being a more common feeling like actual ass after drinking, but pastime for most of America during the my brain doesn’t always take this inforpandemic. My stomach, what with its mation into account when I’m bored. Sometimes it just lets me be me, booze in picky-bitch churning and fighting, can’t handle it. And neither can my body, hand, and then my body pays the price. It’s like my brain is trying to sabotage me which aches and creaks — whether I’ve had one beer or 15. or something.

When I woke up on November 1, though? Well, you know what happened. I was dying. My mouth was dry, my stomach was a mess, and I was really freaking achy. I was hungover and wishing for a flux capacitor to take me back in time so I could make better decisions.

Why am I telling you this, you ask? Nobody cares how much canned wine I drank while socially distant on Halloween? Well, I care! I care and I found something that helped — which may help YOU the next time your brain sabotages your body.

And I, unfortunately, went with the latter amount on Halloween. I was bored, annoyed with the pandemic, and really wishing I was at a bar — where I could laugh at peoples’ stupid costumes to my heart’s content. I was not at a bar, though. I was in a yard, drink or 7 in hand.

I did not have a flux capacitor, though. I only had a bottle of Dixie Topicals Synergy Soak 100:100 — which I grabbed in desperation. I was hopeful that this CBD-THC bath soak would help alleviate SOME of my day-after flu symptoms. I figured it might be useful since the whole point of this soak is to help alleviate inflammation, anxiety, and stress — which I had in spades thanks to the booze.

And that something is Dixie Topicals Synergy Soak 100:100, which is a bottle of bath salts that will fix you right up when you’re hungover... or when you’re sore from working out and/or insane on

I knew what was coming, though, so other than drinking too much, I did all of the things that I should to temper the storm the next morning. I ate greasy

I hadn’t used this soak before, but I have tried other Details THC-CBD bath soaks. Not Where to find Dixie SYNERGY Soak gonna lie — I haven’t been 100:100: Prohibition Herb, 1185 Camino del Rio, that impressed with some of prohibitionherb.com the other products out there. They’re ... fine, but I don’t get the soak. That may be what helped with much use out of the THC bath bombs. the ol’ noggin. Not sure though, and it This stuff seemed a little different doesn’t really matter to me. I don’t care when I flipped open the lid, though. It what cures my raging hangovers, as long smelled like a hippie shop, not a bottle of they’re gone. lotion, which was promising. I tossed a This one stayed gone long after I liberal amount into the tub and dumped emerged from my bathtub, too. I felt myself in. better well into the evening — especially What happened, you ask? Well, I didn’t after I ate a bunch of carbs to help soak get high (that came later via some weed, up the stomach acids that were destroyfriends) — but I did feel a hell of a lot bet- ing my esophagus. ter after 10 or 15 minutes. I don’t know So, while I don’t recommend getting what did it, whether it was the bath or drink-drank-drunk and then dumping the soak or the combo, but something this bath soak into a hot tub to fix your helped ease that ache in my soul a bit. ailments, I DO recommend this for My limbs, which had been on freaking a bath soak. It’s the perfect cure for FIRE prior to the soak, were suddenly whatever hell you put your body through useful again. I could lift the glass of on your misadventures — whether that’s water by the tub without sweating or hiking up Hogsback, mountain biking swearing, anyway. down cliffs, skiing down deadly peaks, or And, oddly enough, my headache was whatever trouble you find yourself in. alleviated quite a bit, too. I still can’t And I do mean trouble. Y’all Colorasmell much post-COVID (despite it being dans are crazy. MONTHS since my recovery), but I could —— DGO Pufnstuf smell some of the pine and lavender in 16 | Thursday, November 5, 2020

[weed]

Need a good belly laugh? Grab some of this Mac & Cheese strain. It makes EVERYTHING a riot. gross Laffy Taffy, Gobstoppers, Sprees, and other junk, and I also inexplicably grabbed a pack of Zombie Skittles, too. I’m blaming the bleary eyes from the weed.

I spent the night before the 2020 presidential election laughing, and laughing, and laughing some more. No, I wasn’t losing my mind over the stress and uncertainty of the election — which is stressing out tons of Americans on both sides of the fence. I was high. Well, I was high on hybrid strain of weed called Mac & Cheese, to be exact. And I wasn’t laughing out of some strange fear response — I was laughing because I’d inadvertently eaten a Zombie Skittle while stoned.

I loaded up on all those dumb Laffy Taffy while laughing at stupid posts on Reddit, and when I’d exhausted my supply of miniatures, I absentmindedly ripped into the Zombie Skittles and tossed a few into my gullet.

Let me explain. This all started a few weeks ago, when I decided that it would be a high-larious move to buy a huge ass pack of king size Zombie Skittles on Amazon. Now, you may not be familiar with Zombie Skittles — I sure wasn’t — but here’s what they are. These Skittles are a special edition release for Halloween, and the bags each contain a special surprise: Skittles that look like normal, delicious, fruity Skittles, but taste like zombie flesh and death. I’m not kidding. These things are freaking RANK. My plan was to pass them out to a few unsuspecting friends, and maybe even some good-natured teenagers who stopped by on Halloween. But, since 2020 is the year of garbage and COVID cases have skyrocketed in recent weeks, Halloween rolled around and I had nary a trick-or-treater. There was no one to surprise with my nasty Skittles! There was no one to hand out the regular candy to, either — so I ended the night with, I shit you not, 425 pieces of gross mixed candy (via the Walgreens run on Halloween) and a huge box of king size Zombie Skittles. Not surprising, but still annoying. I knew to avoid the rancid Skittles packages when I was sober. When I was high, though? That was another story entirely. I found this out after I smoked some Mac & Cheese from the Green House for this review. Things started off tame enough. I popped open the lid to the Mac & Cheese container and was not surprised to see a long, orange bud waiting for me. This strain is named Mac & Cheese, after all — and to me, the weed looked kind of like an old Cheeto. I’m sure it smells like an old Cheeto too, but I can’t smell the cheesy strains in normal times. And now that I’ve had COVID and can’t use my nose? Well, there’s no chance in hell I’ll identify that

Details Where to find Mac & Cheese: The Green House, 730 S. Camino del Rio, thegreenhousecolorado.com funky smell. But between the name and the look of this strain, I can tell you it’s cheesy. I can also tell you that it’s hella potent — which makes sense when you consider this strain’s origins. This strain’s parents are The Mac and Alien Cheese, two potent ass strains. And the container notes that there’s a whopping 26.8% THC in this batch of Mac & Cheese, which is a lot of freaking THC. I knew what I was getting into, I guess. Anyway, I tossed some of this bud into a dry herb vape and was immediately stoned after a few hits. I was also coughing up a storm, to the point where my house mate asked if I was OK ... repeatedly. An obnoxious amount of times. I was fine, but I’m not sure my lungs will ever be the same. One of them is sitting in the chair next to me as I type this, and he looks haggard as hell. So, you should know that not only is this strain strong, it packs a gotdang punch to the lungs. Smoker beware, I suppose. Don’t smoke this one if you’re trying to be discreet with your pothead habits.

The first round was fine. No funk-ass Zombie Skittles to be seen. That second handful, though? That’s when it hit me: rotting garlic, smelly feet, dirty cheese, onions, and

some other awful combo of trash and bad breath. Zombie Skittles SUCK. I was so stoned, though, that I didn’t gag. I just laughed. And laughed. And then cry-laughed as I tried to explain to the ol’ house mate what had happened. I’m not sure I got through the full explanation, though. I couldn’t stop belly-laughing long enough to talk in full sentences. And then, after laughing nearly half to death, I passed out and slept like a baby. Woke up this morning feeling like a damn champ. Listen. Don’t buy Zombie Skittles. Ever. They’re nasty as hell, they aren’t kidding, and frankly, they should be illegal. But I did it to myself by trying to be funny with my Halloween candy. I won’t be buying those filthy things again, but I will be investing in a lifetime supply of this Mac & Cheese strain. If it managed to make the world’s grossest candy tolerable during the world’s most stressful time, it can do anything. Mac & Cheese can do it all. —— DGO Pufnstuf

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And that’s where things got sticky. I was super stoned, super quick — which led to a ripe old case of the munchies. I ran to the kitchen to grab some snacks, and what caught my eye? You guessed it. All that stupid Halloween candy. I grabbed what felt like an armload of Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 17

[weed]

Want to check out of this planet? Get yourself a Green Dot Labs Black Label Live Resin cartridge Including all natural face & body creams, lip balms, & sports stick.

Ever been so stoned that, try as you might, your brain acts as a repellent to any information someone tries to relay to you? Well, stoner friends, that was exactly my experience with a Green Dot Labs Black Label Live Resin cartridge and I came out a lot dumber for it (in a good way).

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high was mighty fine. I thought I was stoned before? HA. I knew nothing, as the old “Game of Thrones” saying goes. Turned out, that was even more true than I realized. I was dumb stoned, wandering around my home and organizing piles and trinkets with no real intentions. I kept thinking I saw things move out of the corner of my eye and convinced myself that my house was haunted, though it didn’t bother me much. True to its indica roots, this strain gave me a calm, heavy body high. After

Aside from the cartridge (we’ll get to that momentarily), the Green Dot Labs vape itself is a fantastic tool. With a sleek and clean build, it’s user friendly (just make sure to read the instructions first, unlike me) and fires a mean dose. You can even customize what mode you want to smoke on — a low temperature, less intense session, a medium temp that offers a balance between flavor and impact, and a high setting that, true to its name, will get you really high really fast but won’t provide a lot of flavor.

a while, moving too much became out of the question and I entered couch-lock mode. I was pleasantly stupefied, you might say. That is until a friend of mine convinced me to play “Paper Dolls.” If you’re not familiar with this video game, count your lucky stars. I’m still not entirely sure what the plot is, but basically, you wander around an abandoned structure

Best of all, this vape is great if you want to be discreet at a social gathering and step into a bathroom for a few tokes.

medium modes, the flavor pulled actually tasted like a Starburst, sweet and citrusy. Interestingly enough, the smoke itself smelled earthy and musky.

filled with ghosts while looking for your

I went with Green Dot Labs’s indica-leaning strain Purple Ztarburst, the spawn of Purple Punch, Zkittles, and Starburst OG. To get the full feel of this live resin cartridge, I tried out all the temperature settings. To my delight, when the vape was set on low and

It only took but a few tokes on the medium setting and I was pretty stoned. Like, hallucinating stoned. So, naturally, I decided to take it up another notch and smoke a bit on the high-temperature setting. Like Green Dot Labs warned, the cartridge lost its sweet flavor but the

controller out of pure terror should have

lost daughter. The number of times I threw my signaled that I was in no state of mind to be playing any kind of video game, much less a horror one. I’ve no idea when or how, but at some point, I completely passed out with no awareness of how or when. All I know is that, at some point, I threw on some

FF e O % od 25

trash TV while I got my fill on munchies and went out like a light amidst a pile of

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wrappers and crumbs. If you want my opinion, which I’m assuming you do, you won’t want to pass up on a Black Label Live Resin cartridge. If you’re a stoner newb you might want to steer clear of this one, but if you’re a

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Times are tough but the cannabis industry is tougher, and Grow-Off founders Sam Taylor and Jake Browne are proving it. Based in Colorado, Grow-Off is a competition between states’ best cannabis growers, and, despite COVID-19, Taylor and Browne are pushing forward with it. This year’s winners were announced October 24 via a virtual livestream awards show. Not only was the public invited to watch for the first time, but the event included performances by Rachel Wolfson, David Gborie, and Doug Benson. “Real cannabis OGs are a group of highly adaptable problem-solvers, so I think a pandemic was just another day at the grow,” Taylor told Westword. “In many cases, we’re hearing that retailers can’t keep product on shelves and business is booming.” The two founders test each competitor’s submission for yield, cannabinoid profile, and terpene count. Teams are judged based on their growing skills. Each contestant begins with the same strain genetics. The winners (which are kept secret until the event) are then chosen based on third-party lab tests. This year, with a quality score of 247, Hummingbird Cannabis came in first

place and third place, with a score of 188. Grow Life came in second place with a score of 225. For the commercial potency competition, Fat Face Farms came in first with a 30.8% cannabinoid score. GrowLytics and Hummingbird Cannabis came in second and third consecutively. Grow-Off did not award yield this year. Next year, Taylor and Browne plan to extend the competition to Oklahoma, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Michigan. The contest currently includes Colorado, California, and Oregon. “Oregon is quietly growing some of the best cannabis in the country, and you’re seeing defectors from NorCal that are fed up with the legalization infrastructure there heading north. You’ve got Yoopers in Michigan that have indoor down to a science and will be making waves once that market is fully opened,” Jake Browne said. “But our buddy Dane says it best: “Growers are the phenotype.” The reason that cannabis doesn’t go away is because it can be grown anywhere; who grows it is what really matters.”

Thank You Durango

for voting us Best Dispensary!

—— Amanda Push Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 19

s e u s s i t o eg

v ’ We

DGOMAG.COM Editor: Angelica Leicht – aleicht@bcimedia.com Staff WritEr: Nick Gonzales – ngonzales@bcimedia.com SalES: Chandler Sommerfeldt – csommerfeldt@bcimedia.com

Missed Connections

Four Corners Expos is having a Coat/ Winter Items Drive During the month of November. Donate new or gently used coats, hats, scarves, and gloves, in all sizes. Items can be dropped off at Durango Herald or The Journal in Cortez. All items will be donated to local nonprofits in La Plata and Montezuma Counties. For more information call or email Cindy Fisher 970-375-4599 or CFisher@bcimedia. com

Help Wanted/Full Time

Ballantine Communications Inc. (BCI) is seeking a Social Media Manager in Durango, CO. This position is responsible for planning, implementing, managing and monitoring clients’ Social Media strategy in order to increase brand awareness, improve marketing efforts and increase sales. The Social Media Manager analyzes data to determine which initiatives work best and capitalize on this information to continue scaling the client’s business. The likely candidate will be a self-driven individual with the ability to conceptualize digital content, research and strategize social campaigns and deliverables, from start to distribution. This is a supervisory position requiring the ability to manage a diverse group of employees and simultaneously work toward many company initiatives. Detailed responsibilities and requirements can be found on our website.

Ballantine Communications Inc. (BCI) is seeking a Web Designer and Front End Developer to join our team! This person will be a member of a team responsible for design and development of all BCI digital properties as well as external client products. Detailed responsibilities and requirements can be found on our website.

Ballantine Communications Inc. (BCI) is seeking a Client Engagement Specialist to join our team! This position will act as a liaison between clients and cross-functional internal teams to ensure timely and successful delivery of our solutions according to client needs. Detailed responsibilities and requirements can be found on our website.

Please provide a cover letter including links to your previous work and/or a list of active URLs to a minimum of 5 websites representative of your abilities and a description of your responsibilities on each website.

BCI offers an excellent benefits plan including medical, dental vision, and life insurance, as well as paid vacation/sick/holidays, and an opportunity to participate in our matching 401(k) plan. BCI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you! Click this link to apply: https://ballantinecommunicationsinc.com/careers

Trucks/Pickups & Vans

If this sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you! Click this link to apply: https://ballantinecommunicationsinc.com/careers

Where should we BCI is seeking an Administrative Assistant to support the sales team. This position is part of the advertising department and will act as the point of contact for sales representatives, creative teams and finance teams. The likely candidate will be an organized, self-starter, with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment. Must have excellent communication and time management skills, as well as 1-2 years of experience and/or Associates Degree in Business. Full time position with excellent benefits! Please apply online at: https://ballantinecommunicationsinc.com/careers

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[weed]

Gov. Polis politely asks Texas not to legalize marijuana cuz it’s making ol’ Colorado rich

Please don’t legalize recreational marijuana, Texas. We really appreciate all the cannabis tourism money Texans bring us. (But really, for the love of Zuul, let the people smoke their weed, Texas!).

do set a record (again), exceeding $200 million. If you break that down, it looks a little something like this, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue:

This is Colorado Governor Jared Polis’s message to Texas in October after Marijuana Moment reported on an economic analysis done on the benefits the Lone Star State stands to gain by legalizing cannabis. According to the report, Texas could see $2.7 billion in annual cannabis sales, absorb $1.1 billion in tax revenue, and create 20,000-40,000 jobs in the industry.

— $43,268,565 in medical marijuana sold

“Yes BUT it would reduce tourism to Colorado, so make sure to consider Colorado first in any Texas decisions,” Polis tweeted.

As far as 2020 alone goes, Colorado stoners have purchased more than $1.2 billion worth of cannabis at dispensaries. Thus, the Centennial State has collected $203 million in taxes this year so far.

— $183,106,003 in recreational marijuana sold

— Recreational and medical sales combined created $226,374,568 in revenue These numbers were even up quite a bit from June - 13.8 percent to be exact which was another record-setting month after dispensaries made nearly $199 million in revenue.

Saying that Colorado has benefited from other states’ lack of legality and access would be an understatement.

This isn’t the first time Polis has been known to joke about Colorado’s green Continued on page 23

In July, sales for cannabis in Colora-

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22 | Thursday, November 5, 2020

Horoscope

ARIES (March 21 to April 19) At home right now you might not be willing to accept the same old situation. This is why you might try to change the circumstances or stir up a bit of excitement! TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) Right now you want to meet someone who has a new way of thinking so you’re stimulated or interested. You might be attracted to technical subjects because you want to learn something new. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) Something to do with your possessions, money or cash flow is unpredictable at the moment. Assume nothing. Count your change. Check your bills. Stay in touch with your bank account. CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Right now you feel like shaking up people around you to jolt them out

of their lethargy. (Are you being naughty?) Ironically, you might attract someone who does this to you! LEO (July 23 to Aug. 22) Right now you have a pleasant feeling of restlessness because, basically, you want something different to happen. You’re tired of a predictable routine. VIRGO (Aug. 23 to Sept. 22) Right now a friend or a member of a group might do something that surprises you. If so, you’ll feel relieved because this is what you really want, isn’t it? LIBRA (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22) Don’t overreact if bosses, parents, teachers or the police do something you least expect right now. Be cool. And whatever you do, do not wake the sleeping giant. SCORPIO (Oct. 23 to Nov. 21) Travel plans will be canceled, delayed or changed right now. Alternatively,

you might suddenly have to travel somewhere when you didn’t expect to do so. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22 to Dec. 21) Double-check details about inheritances, banking or anything to do with shared property right now, because something unexpected could impact these areas. Make sure you know what’s happening. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22 to Jan. 19) A partner or close friend might do something that you least expect right now. Stay on your toes, because something will surprise you. (Perhaps you are the surprise.) AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) Technological glitches might cause delays at work right now. Staff shortages and other unexpected surprises might occur. Pet owners should stay on top of issues with their pet. PISCES (Feb. 19 to March 20)

Parents, please be vigilant right now, because this is an accident-prone time for your kids. Meanwhile, a social event might be canceled. Or, in turn, a surprise invitation might drop in your lap. BORN DURING THESE TWO WEEKS You are adaptable and quietly ambitious. You are also an introspective extrovert. You follow your intuition and are not worried about conforming. This year will be a more easygoing year. The smart choice will be to cooperate with others because your relations with others will benefit you, even business and personal relationships. Grab every chance to practice kindness and be helpful. (c) 2020 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

revenue. “We get a lot of extra business from people coming into our state,” Polis said after he was sworn in in 2019. “From the economic perspective in Colorado, I’d love other states to go slowly so that we can continue to see all these benefits for Colorado.” “For years, I’d been sort of countering this sort of dire picture of Colorado. But again, if they think that it’s bad, it’s better for us to have less competition at this point. So I mean, if I’m looking at it as governor, I would hope they halt their efforts and send all their business here.” So, Texas, if you’re reading this,

Bizarro

From page 22

please, please, please don’t legalize quite yet (but seriously - please do, it could save lives). We’re having a good ol’ high time out here in Colorado.

—— Amanda Push

Thursday, November 5, 2020 | 23

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