The Durango Telegraph, March 4, 2021

More hands-on than Andrew Cuomo

­elegraph the­­­­durango

FREE March 4, 2021

Vol. XX, No. 9 durangotelegraph.com

inside

T H E

O R I G I N A L

I N D I E

W E E K L Y

L I N E

O N

D U R A N G O

&

B E Y O N D

Final words

A year in COVID

Hashing it out

After 20 years, the Telegraph‘s doodler in chief signs off p8

The Yocal looks back ... and looks ahead p9

Why it’s called corned beef and other St. Patty’s mysteries p14

Back in the flow Issue 15 of The Gulch is here!

Wherever you find the Telegraph or at www.gulchmag.com.

To find out about advertising opportunities or to get a subscription, email: steve@gulchmag.com

2 n March 4, 2021

telegraph

lineup

4

4 La Vida Local

Two revolutions One of love, one of hate – can America find its way back?

4 Thumbin’ It

by john van becay

5 Word on the Street

9-12

6-7 Soapbox

In the swing

9-12 the Yocal

A local’s guide to moving on from a year of COVID

by Local First

13 State News

13

14 Flash in the Pan

Ferret faucet

by Michael Elizabeth Sakas/ Colorado Public Radio

17 Ask Rachel 18 Free Will Astrology

Hashing it out Why it’s called corned beef and other St. Patty’s mysteries solved

19 Classifieds

by Ari LeVaux

19 Haiku Movie Review

15

On the cover: Morgan Sjogren races against blowing sand and incoming snow, typical early-spring conditions in the Glen Canyon backcountry./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Ides of March The latest from the author of the IQ series

by Jeffrey Mannix

boilerplate

THE GUY WITH THE CAMERA: Stephen Eginoire steve@gulchmag.com

T

he Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, beckoning singletrack or monster powder days. We are wholly owned and operated independently by the Durango Telegraph LLC and

On a roll

E-bikes may be great for commuting and saving the planet and all, but the price for most of us is an uphill battle. But that all soon could change.

Last month, Reps. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., drafted the Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment (E-BIKE) Act. The legislation would give tax credits of 30 percent, up to $1,500, toward the price of a new e-bike of $8,000 or less. Best of all, it could be used once per every three years.

Of course, tax credits for electric and hybrid cars have been around for years now and have proven effective in motivating people to buy greener vehicles while saving millions of tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

16 Stuff to Do

14

ADVERTISING AFICIONADO: Lainie Maxson (lainie@durangotelegraph.com)

“Durango is pretty much summer camp for adults.”

– A group of local 30-somethings discussing River Days and other Durango shenanigans.

15 Murder Ink

Can cloning be the latest tool in saving endangered species?

EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel (missy@durangotelegraph.com)

Ear to the ground:

thepole

RegularOccurrences

STAR-STUDDED CAST: Lainie Maxson, Clint Reid, Jesse Anderson, john van becay, Shan Wells, Jeffrey Mannix and Ari LeVaux

LITERAL ADDRESS: 679 E. 2nd Ave., Ste. E2 Durango, CO 81301 PHONE: 970-259-0133

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distributed in the finest and most discerning locations throughout the greater Durango area.

We’re only human. If, by chance, we defame someone’s good name or that of their family, neighbor, best

friend or dog, we will accept full responsibility in a public flogging in the following week’s issue.

Although “free but not easy,” we can be plied with schwag, booze and flattery.

telegraph

Likewise, a recent study from Portland State University, in Oregon, found that if just 15 percent of car trips were replaced with e-bike trips, carbon emissions would drop by 12 percent.

Although the e-bike craze is catching on – imports have surged in recent years, and last year, the U.S. imported roughly 600,000 e-bikes, up from 270,000 in 2019 – quality e-bikes, costing between $1,500 -$4,000, are not within reach for many consumers. The bill would allow millions more Americans to access the e-bike market, said Ken Cook, of the nonprofit Energy Working Group.

“Americans are just beginning to discover the thrill of riding the new generation of electricpowered bicycles,” said Cook. “The boom in sales during the pandemic has made clear the enormous potential of e-bikes for recreation, commuting and errands. For many uses they can replace a car, no sweat – literally.”

He also added that e-bike technology is only getting better and costs are dropping by the month.

With Democrats in control of the House, Senate and White House, Oregon’s Blumenauer expects the bill will gain enough traction to pass.

Plus, Biden is an avid cyclist himself.

“When is the last time you saw Donald Trump on a bike,” Blumenauer laughed.

One way to ensure a hearing may be to wrap the E-BIKE bill in with President Biden’s “Build Back Better” infrastructure proposal, which the president hopes to address after the approval of a new COVID-19 rescue package.

And while you try to get the image of Donald Trump on a bicycle out of your head, write your legislator to get on board with the E-BIKE Act at: action.peopleforbikes.org/e-bike-act n

March 4, 2021 n

3

opinion

LaVidaLocal Two revolutions My life has been bookended by two revolutions. The first was the ’60s, which I still don’t fully grok even though I lived through it. The ’60s echo through our culture like a plucked guitar string reverberating thru the decades: civil rights; Vietnam; women’s rights; birth control; the environment; gay rights; and drugs, sex and rock ’n’ roll, just to name a few. While these movements were planted in the ’50s and even before, they blossomed in the ’60s, and their continued growth still impacts our world nearly 60 years later. Social turmoil rooted in the ’60s has changed us in countless ways and, for the most part, it’s been a change for the better.

The second revolution we are living in now: namely, the anti-government protests that have rocked our nation. A dizzying array of groups have coalesced to form this witch’s brew. They include: white supremacists (and all their subsets, neo Nazis, Proud Boys etc.); white Christian nationalists; anti-immigration xenophobes; anti-Muslims; anti-Semites; the gun lobby; rural Americans; and the list goes on. What draws them together is fear – and their biggest fear is change.

President Trump, while being the worst president ever, may be the best con man the world has ever seen. He convinced these disparate groups that he had their interests at heart. He rode them and a caving G.O.P. to an election in which he lost the popular vote. Of course, Trump’s real agenda was to aggrandize power and wealth and promote his bigotry. Any good he may have done his base along the way was purely incidental. Trump is gone, but under his watch hate bloomed like some malignant flower. Hate’s agenda is to replace conservatism. Hate’s name: QAnon, with a tent big enough to contain all the Right Wing fear in America.

The ’60s confronted an entrenched, privileged, chauvinistic, consumer-based society. The status quo in the middle of the 20th century excluded many and ignored pressing social issues. Anti-establishment protesters envisioned a world that embraced the fringes of society. Their demands were often confrontational, even hotheaded. But they were not made at gun point. The ’60s demanded change that was inclusive, that raised people up, that embraced a family of man. The ’60s were a call for a brighter future.

Today’s revolution demands violent armed insurrection against our democracy.

QAnon wants to exclude minorities, immigrants and liberals by any means necessary. QAnon’s goal is to deprive others of the very things they demand for themselves: freedom of speech, of assembly, of belief. The ’60s were not always The Summer of Love (1967, in case you’ve lost track.) There was much violence around Vietnam and civil rights. But at the decade’s core was the unassailable belief that a better future was a fundamental right of everyone. The ’60s revolution rejected injustice, intolerance and bigotry. QAnon embraces them. The ’60s envisioned a world that extended its privileges to all. QAnon would deny those privileges. The ’60s

wanted to empower; QAnon to disenfranchise. The ’60s may not have been based on love, but it was based on hope. QAnon is based in fear and hate. QAnon’s biggest fear is not that change won’t happen. It is that change is happening What does QAnon’s unholy alliance believe? For starters: the election was stolen; there is a deep state cabal of liberals controlling the world; the pandemic is a leftist conspiracy. These baseless claims are their more moderate beliefs. They also espouse that Trump is the Messiah, and that Democrats practice pedophilia, cannibalism and Satan worship. And, most disturbingly, that some golden past age was stolen from them and they have the right and duty to take it back by force.

The underlying principle here is the First Amendment. QAnon insists its views are guaranteed under free speech. Invoking this fundamental right of democracy while simultaneously trying to destroy it is perfectly reasonable in the QAnon world of disconnects. Spouting inanities about stolen elections and deep state conspiracies is permitted as free speech. Under the First Amendment, opinions are protected. However, hate speech, death threats and advocating the overthrow of the government are not protected as free speech. Saying “Biden stole the election!” – though a lie – is protected. Saying “…shoot (Pelosi) in the friggin’ brain!” is not protected.

For months, Facebook and Twitter had been pressured to pull the accounts of those advocating violence and hate, notably Trump and QAnon. They resisted because they did not want to be seen as platforms catering to moderates or the Left. But on Jan. 6, when Trump incited his followers to attack the White House, they did ban his accounts. The violence and unrest collapsed. This is not to say the hate mongers have gone away. But it is a powerful demonstration of how much traction their viciousness gained through social media.

The ’60s relied on radio, TV and print to disseminate information. These establishment-owned outlets were often biased. Alternative papers and radio broadcasts sprang up. But their reach was limited. As the unpopularity of the Vietnam war and the fundamental righteousness of the Civil Rights Movement spread, mainstream media began giving the “hippies” more favorable coverage. Vietnam and civil rights soon grew to encompass down-ticket issues like the environment and women’s rights.

What if the ’60s had had the internet? Demand for so much change at such a fundamental level would likely have splintered into self-involved groups promoting their own agendas. Information would have been biased and scattered just as today.

The traditional media, undermined by disinformation everywhere, would not have had the power to sway Middle America. Had the internet existed 60 years ago, America would not be what it is today, it might not even have made it to 2021.

The culture of violence is silenced for now. It has not gone away. Do we allow fear and hate to destroy us? Or do we stand and say no? This is a road America must not go down.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It President Biden announcing this week that there should be enough vaccines for all U.S. adults by this May

The recent introduction of the E-BIKE Act, federal legislation that would offer up to a $1,500 tax credit for the purchase of an e-bike, putting more butts in the saddle and out of the driver’s seat

Animas High School securing a $1.8 million donation through the Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado toward the school’s new campus at Fort Lewis College

4 n March 4, 2021

– john van becay

The more easily contracted COVID-19 variants making the dreaded arrival in Southwest Colorado, with cases reported in La Plata and Archuleta counties and Southern Ute tribal lands

An recently launched opposition campaign against Colorado’s public healthcare option backed by the insurance industry and corporate hospitals

The possibility of another violent insurrection this week, with Capitol police bolstering security in advance of a possible militia and QAnon plot

telegraph

Precipitation Award So… now that Biden is president and Q imploded because Oprah doesn’t actually eat babies, conspiracy theorists have moved on to the real threat facing America: fake Texas snowstorms made by Bill Gates. For real. Tons of Texans took to social media recently claiming that their recent snowstorm was “fake weather” created by the government/Gates/China because it didn’t drip when burnt (thanks to sublimation), and because the flame made it black (thanks to hydrocarbons).

Good job trying to protect us, Texas, I really hope you secede!

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“The downtown bump outs full of happy locals and tourists.”

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“A job.”

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Sophie

“Blue Oyster Cult’s cow bell.”

Nate

“Some more of those short carts at City Market. For chrissakes I’m not shopping for a family of 12. I don’t need a huge ass cart.”

Patrick

“Civility and normalcy.” telegraph

March 4, 2021 n 5

SoapBox Getting put to the test To the editor, My last few weeks have been filled with Zooms, phone calls and research concerning a legislative game combining “Mother May I” with the high hurdles.

It’s been grueling and challenging.

Sens. Rachel Zenzinger and Don Coram, and Rep. Emily Sirota and I are running a bill directing the State Board of Education to seek a federal government waiver to pause Colorado Measure of Academic Success (CMAS) testing for the 2020/21 school year. Since most Board Members do not want that pause, the Legislature needs to officially request it.

CMAS assesses language arts, math, science and social studies for students in grades between 3rd and 11th. Students in higher grades will still take the SAT and PSAT tests to be eligible for college entrance and scholarships.

That’s the “Mother May I” part.

We crafted a bill with a large group, including school district leaders, school boards, parents, educators, students and community members, then planned to present the bill last Thursday. It had signatures of support from a bipartisan majority of both the House and Senate.

And that’s when the high hurdles began.

President Biden’s cabinet notified all states, a couple of days before we were scheduled to present, that it would accept testing waivers, with a few caveats. So back to the drawing board we went.

Here’s the conundrum: Our team believes CMAS will add undue stress to students who may just be coming back to school, and to educators, who must navigate losing even more learning time. We also believe the data gained will not necessarily be valid.

In a regular testing season, data is considered valid if 95 percent of students take the test. This year, experts predict a

much lower number, considering the number of parents who have already opted out and the number of students who will not return to school during a pandemic.

Colorado law does not permit students to take the test at home.

The collected data will not be available until August, when many schools have already started; the data will not guide any tutoring, summer school curriculum or course planning for the fall.

We suggest using standardized tests that have been given in school this year, maximizing the available statewide data. Between that information and what the teachers record, most anticipated learning loss can be assessed and remedied before fall classes start.

Opponents of the bill believe CMAS tests are the only way to determine students’ learning loss, and that “bad data is better than no data.” The exams are given during the same time across the state under strict conditions and provide specific, aggregated data. Opponents do not advocate for using the results for high-stakes educator, student, school or district accountability.

The federal government will not give blanket waivers but said states could administer shortened CMAS, offer remote test taking or extend the testing window.

The differences are high hurdles. So we negotiate. We are trying, together, to find a path forward, one that gives us reliable data, that doesn’t affect the mental health of educators and students, and that follows federal guidelines.

Suggestions include moving testing into late summer, when students have had an extra month of learning, or shortening assessments to one day of math and one of English, acting as a dipstick of knowledge. We also discussed emulating an innovative Oregon survey, which considers adding the barriers students have faced at home during the pandemic into the results, or asking for waivers to not include science or to exempt remote learners from testing.

Whatever compromise we find, and wherever we land, we have limited time to get the bill through the House and Senate, obtain the Governor’s signature, have the Department of Education draft the waiver, then offer it for public comment. So much is riding on the decision.

– Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango

Stopping the real steal To the editor, Republican legislators in several states are responding to 2020 election results by making it harder for the “wrong” sort of people to vote – generally meaning residents in urban counties that turn out for Democrats. Especially people of color.

Hey, if you can keep them from voting in the first place, you don’t have to try to get their votes thrown out later.

Now, according to the Colorado Sun online newspaper (coloradosun.com), some Republicans are trying to muck with Colorado’s excellent and secure vote-by-mail system, considered a model for the rest of the nation. Republicans don’t want that!

Sen. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, wants to require voters to request a mail ballot instead of getting one automatically as they do now. His Senate Bill 7 also would reduce the number of days for in-person voting from two weeks as is now, to election day and the six days before, even though last fall Republicans in other states pressed policies to make people vote in person.

SB 7 also would require county clerks to finish vote counting by midnight on election day. So if your vote isn’t counted by then, it gets thrown out?

This was one of the schemes Republicans used in some battleground states last November where processing of the avalanche of mail-in votes (which take longer to count) couldn’t legally start until election day – and 4

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telegraph

those ballots were likely for Democrats.

All during Donald Trump’s chaotic tenure, Congressional Repos looked the other way or actively assisted as Trump shredded the Constitution for his own benefit. Then most of them supported his effort to sabotage our election system, again for his personal benefit. Throw out 80 million votes for Biden to favor the 74 million votes for Trump. We saw the result Jan. 6.

All these efforts to disenfranchise voters are evidence that the GOP is antidemocracy and anti-Constitution. And they’re still at it.

– Carole McWilliams, Bayfield

Take the money out of politics To the editor, For generations, we’ve been told that money is power. It’s an axiom that continues to drive our politics. Despite being able to vote for our elected officials, once they reach public office, they’re all too often swayed by lobbyists and big money interests. Instead of representing the people, lawmakers spend the majority of their time fundraising, relying on large donors and holding court with corporations.

That can change, but only if Congress passes the For the People Act. The For the People Act is a bold anticorruption and democracy reform bill that would strengthen our democracy by reducing the influence of big money in our politics. It would enact limits on donations from lobbyists and increase the power of campaign contributions from

everyday Americans by creating a smalldollar donor matching program.

These changes would open up new opportunities for different kinds of candidates to run for office – candidates that come directly from our communities and understand the problems we face. Instead of being beholden to the donors and lobbyists with the fattest wallets, our elected officials will be working for the people.

Without this type of bold reform, our political system will never be truly democratic or fully representative and our government will continue to work only for the privileged few. It’s past time to build a better system for all Americans – which is why I’m urging Congress to pass the For the People Act. – Matt Cornell, Durango

Stop desecration of Tongass N.F. To the editor, Please contact Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper to request that Congress and the Biden Administration stop the logging of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

Trump removed protection of the Tongass, an old growth green ecosystem of giant spruce, cedar and Doug fir draped with mosses and ferns. It is also home to a wealth of wildlife including elk, cougar and the white spirit bear – the only one like it in the world. The forest is also sacred to First Nations. Please ask your senators and the Forest Service to work to protect this magical place.

– Margaret Mayer, Durango

LearningtheRopes: At just 2 years old, August Hoytenbach knows when the getting is good at Chapman Hill./Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Free Tenant Rights Clinic Presented by Colorado Legal Services

Tues., March 16, 5:30 - 7 p.m. via Zoom Topics include best rental practices, evictions, security deposits, etc.

Please call 970-247-0266 for details on how to attend

telegraph

March 4, 2021 n 7

8 n March 4, 2021

telegraph

yocal

presented by Reviewing a Year of COVID-19 Like a Local A LOCAL’S GUIDE FOR A BETTER YEAR

It’s been one year this week since COVID-19 entered Colorado. Here is a recap: March 2020: It was bleak. We were all becoming more aware of covid and its dangers. The implications to our lives were just starting to sink in. Many jobs were lost and the infamous PPP was introduced. Megan Markle and Prince Harry left Europe for North America. Toilet paper was starting to gain popularity. Elected officials were golfing.

December: Thank goodness 2020 was over. Everyone expected smooth sailing from there.

April: Face masks became the new “must have” fashion piece. People with sewing machines became very popular. We were all learning about this thing called “Zoom” and dog adoptions were on the rise. The Tiger King entered our homes and Carol Baskin broke our hearts. Llamas became the year’s mascot and we started to learn how far six feet was.

February: The COVID-19 vaccine is becoming available to frontline workers and people at high risk. The clouds feel like they might start to part soon.

May: Quarantine turned into “Quarantini” while alcohol consumption was the new favorite past time. People started cutting their own bangs and contacting their ex’s with, “what’s ups?” texts. Hobbies that were once mocked became cool again: knitting, gardening, puzzling and crafting. Homemade baked bread was everywhere. Zoom happy hours were on the rise. Toilet paper became the country’s new currency. Our leaders were still golfing.

June: Countries’ borders and state lines were closed. Most of us were asked to stay home.

Many people took that as a green light for domestic travel and small towns were flooded with tourists. Hospitals became overwhelmed. Toilet paper had all but completely disappeared.

Couples were breaking up everywhere.

Screens went black. We were all reeling from a very public death of a black man in Minneapolis. A revolution was reignited. Large protests took place in many cities. The air was thick and heavy. National leaders were still golfing.

July: With businesses closed down, outdoor recreation became very popular with everyone.

Trails were packed and fragile landscapes were trampled. 4th of July was canceled and Taylor Swift surprised us with a new album. Pajama pants were selling out, people still kept cutting their own bangs, and TikTok videos kept people busy.

August: Conspiracy theorists started making waves and the hoax stories started showing up on popular news media. Most of us had gained, lost, and gained back again the quarantine 15.

Peloton sales skyrocketed.

September: Everyone lost the ability to properly interact with each other. Most of us went into an existential crisis. Working from home and Zoom fatigue set in and we changed our computer screen backgrounds into tropical scenery to make ourselves feel better.

October: The presidential election had taken center stage. Halloween was seen as a “get out of jail free” pass and of all the holidays, it was the one that was “worth the risk.” Covid cases skyrocketed. Taylor Swift helped us grieve.

November: Dolly Parton helped fund the COVID-19 vaccine and Megan Markle and Prince Harry’s British Exit became the Collins English Dictionary’s top ten words of 2020 as “Megxit.”

Election day had us all glued to our screens watching the results (not) come in. Arizona played with our hearts and tested our patience. Sharpies were questioned for validity. Conspiracy theorists took the spotlight and declared voter fraud. What felt like years later, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were declared winners.

January 2021: Insurrection at the Nation’s Capitol. Democracy is hanging on by a thin thread.

Biden and Harris are sworn into office behind locked doors.

March 2021: Breath is held and fingers are firmly crossed.

How to do year two of COVID-19 like a local: Put your scissors down and put a mask on. Have a professional cut your bangs: Bella Vie Hair Studio Because you’re (probably) not a leader in our nation, you can golf at Hillcrest Golf Club or Dalton Ranch Golf Club and Resort whenever you want (Save for the times your work or family need you, and probably after the snow melts).

Did you end up with a covid pet? Pet Haus, Healthy Hounds & Fat Cats, Creature Comfort for supplies. Or didn’t get the memo and (responsibly) want one? La Plata County Humane Society Continue nurturing your covid hobbies such as baking bread: Nature’s Oasis, Durango Natural Foods Co-op, PJ’s Gourmet Market for ingredients. Or gardening: Botanical Concepts, Kroegers Ace Hardware for supplies. No one expects you to be that productive though so you can just buy some bread at Serious Delights Bakehouse, James Ranch Market and hire professionals to do your gardening for you: Columbine Landscapes.

Escaping to Cancun probably shouldn’t be on the agenda--even if you’re freezing--but local staycations are totally up for grabs: Get some vacation advice from Visit Durango and some tacos at Los Amigos Del Sur and pretend you’re in Cancun.

Catch some real sun rays close to home by renting an adventure van from Vango Durango and hang out in the nearby desert.

Take advantage of the shoulder season and make it a two-parter. Head up to Purgatory Resort and live it up as a snow bunny; rent a room, ski, drink, eat and be merry.

Stay in town and treat yo’self. Get driven around by Buck Horn Limousine and have a getaway night at The Strater Hotel or The Rochester Hotel and Leland House.

Hopefully by this time next year we’ll all be safely and happily away from the Zoom and safely enjoying our time with each other again.

-JENNAYE DERGE

9

Upcoming Local First happenings: MEET THE CANDIDATES! March 8 @ 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Join Local First and Durango’s independent business community for our Durango City Councile Candidate Forum, a facilitated panel discussion with Durango’s City Council Candidates.

Visit our website to learn more and register for this online event!

Visit: www.local-first.org/events/

Almost Time to Harvest Rainwater!

It's back!

4CORE brings back the Rain Barrel Group Buy this Spring. If you're interested in saving water, rainwater harvesting is for you. Contact us for pricing and to get on the list for purchase.

Delivery by 1st week in May. $78-$82 per barrel depending on the quantity in the bulk purchase.

970.259.1916 4CORE

Find more Local First events: www.local-first.org/events

www.fourcore.org Honey House Distillery is bottling their first batch of 96 proof straight bourbon whiskey on March 4.

Handcrafted and made with Colorado grain and resources, then aged over four years in American Oak barrels. Sold only at Honey House Distillery $49.95 for a 750 ml bottle.

Come to 11th Street Station to check out our heated outdoor dining and firepits. Enjoy different cuisines from our food truck collective accompanied by your favorite drink from the full bar! Now offering free live music every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5pm 8pm! Thank you for your continued support!

11th STREET STATION

www.11thStreetStation.com Live Creative Announces the New Durango Sustainable Business Guide Shop 24+ local sustainable businesses all in one place--from architects and builders, beauty, home goods to outdoor gear, paint, solar, restaurants, yoga and more.

Bookmark the Guide and shop your values every time.

Live Creative is a local sustainable marketing, business, and shopping hub | 970.903.3241

10 miles N on Hwy 550. Open 9 am – 5 pm HONEY HOUSE DISTILLERY

Want to share your local business story?

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Email: jennaye@local-first.org

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Los Amigos serving authentic southern Mexican food since 2017.

Fresh squeezed cocktails with a wide variety of dishes to invigorate your Mexican food cravings!

Order online, www.

DurangoAmigos.com. Dine-in - Tues thru Saturday 11AM to 8PM, Sundays 10AM to 3PM. Inside the Main Mall on Main Street between 8th and 9th Street. A family friendly hidden gem in Durango, Colorado.

At Pediatric Associates of Durango our mission is to provide excellent healthcare and wellness education for the infants, children, and adolescents in the four corners. As a medical home PAOD provides comprehensive case management to address the child as a whole. Our clinical staff partners with specialists, our in-house behavioral health team, and local agencies to provide excellent follow up. PAOD is passionate about setting a new standard for health that empowers children to reach their full potential. Happy, Healthy, and Thriving patients and families is our business!

LOS AMIGOS DEL SUR

www.durangoamigos.com Southwest Midwives provides individualized care for women during pregnancy and beyond. All the births take place at Mercy Regional Medical Center and you choose your birth plan. Our goal is to support women to feel respected and well cared for during all stages of life. Call our office to set up a free consultation and find out if midwifery care is right for you.

970-247-5543 SOUTHWEST MIDWIVES

www.southwestmidwives.com

12

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS GUIDE

www.honeyhousedistillery.com

PEDIATRIC ASSOCIATES OF DURANGO

www.paofdurango.com

ONLINE MUSIC LESSONS From piano to euphonium.

Keep up your chops or start something new! www.stillwatermusic.org (970) 247-5095 STILLWATER MUSIC

www.stillwatermusic.org

StateNews

A ferret is born Can a cloned baby black-footed ferret save her species?

by Michael Elizabeth Sakas Colorado Public Radio

A

small face pokes its nose through the bars of a metal cage, curious about the two women who’ve entered the room at the National BlackFooted Ferret Conservation Center outside of Fort Collins.

Captive breeding manager Robyn Bortner opens the cage door.

“This is mama,” Bortner said. “Normally if this was a black-footed ferret, we could not do anything like what we’re doing now, which is handling her. It’s very different for us to work with ferrets that don’t want to bite you.”

The friendly, domestic ferret she’s holding is a surrogate mom to the first cloned endangered species native to North America, a black footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann, who is hidden in the nest box.

To get the baby ferret out of hiding, U.S. Fish and Wildlife veterinarian Della Garelle uses a small handling cage and places her on the scale. She weighs in at 816 grams.

“Very good weight for a female blackfooted ferret,” Bortner said. “She has all the usual characteristics of her species which are the classic black feet, a black tip tail.

And she’s got her black mask.”

Elizabeth Ann might look like all the other black-footed ferrets at the center, but she is unique. She’s the clone of a ferret who died in the 1980s.

“It’s pretty inspiring that people 30 years ago saved those tissues, in case this could happen someday. So dreams do come true,” Garelle said.

The bigger dream is to get the blackfooted ferret off the endangered species list, Garelle said. To help save this little mammal – one of the most endangered animals in North America – found in Colorado and several other states, scientists brought Elizabeth Ann into the world.

Biotechnology nonprofit Revive & Restore collaborated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to bring this clone to life.

“Elizabeth Ann stands to bring in this huge boost of diversity for the species,” Ben Novak, the nonprofit’s lead scientist, said.

“Today every black-footed ferret is related to each other, somewhere between a sibling and a first cousin.”

The black-footed ferret was once thought to be extinct. In the early 1980s, a ranch dog in Wyoming dropped a carcass off on its owner’s porch. Biologists tracked down where it came from, and eventually captured the last known group of wild black-footed ferrets. Only seven of those passed down their DNA. “Elizabeth Ann was cloned from the tissue of a ferret named Willa, who actually has no living descendants,” Novak said. “By cloning her, Elizabeth Ann is actually a potential eighth founder for this population.”

Newly cloned black-footed ferret Elizabeth Ann sticks her head out of a tube at the National Black-Footed Conservation Center near Fort Collins./U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP Habitat loss, disease and the decimation of prairie dog populations – a black-footed ferret’s primary source of food – drove these animals close to extinction. There are now around 500 in the wild. Novak believes Elizabeth Ann embodies a paradigm shift for conservation efforts.

“We’re being proactive. A lot of times in conservation, we are reacting to a crisis that’s urgent in the moment,” Novak said.

“So we cloned Elizabeth Ann to bring in new genetic diversity and get ahead of those problems so that hopefully they’ll never happen.”

Wild black-footed ferrets need human intervention to stay healthy, like vaccines and insecticides to control flea populations that spread disease. Increased genetic diversity from Elizabeth Ann could help protect these animals from some of these issues.

Novak said the group is looking at different “genetic rescue” solutions to all of the threats the animals face, so that one day they no longer need the help of humans to survive.

Revive & Restore is still working on what Novak calls its moonshot projects, like bringing back the woolly mammoth. A project like that could take decades. In the meantime, their new technology could work on other conservation challenges faster.

“We are at the dawn I believe, not at a culmination of our understanding about how these kinds of samples can be used,” Oliver Ryder, the director of conservation genetics at San Diego Zoo Global, said.

Ryder was the one who asked for the samples of Willa in the 1980s from the veterinarian who was working with the cap-

tured black-footed ferrets.

“I told him how important I thought it might be, to get a small skin biopsy and that we could grow cells form it,” Ryder said. “I went home, and then later some samples arrived in the lab.”

Ryder said he didn’t know those samples would one day result in a clone. For more than 30 years, the black-footed ferret cells were kept at the Frozen Zoo in San Diego, a collection of cryopreserved animal tissue samples. Last year, they were turned into embryos by the commercial cloning company ViaGen Pets in New York, where they were implanted into the domestic ferret.

Ryder thinks Elizabeth Ann’s birth demonstrates how cloning could help prevent extinctions. He’d like to see more samples collected and banked, even if animals aren’t endangered, especially given threats like climate change.

“The combination of these technologies can really provide a basis for ensuring that we have wildlife populations in the future,” Ryder said.

Elizabeth Ann will live at the conservation center, along with her identical-cloned sisters who are on the way. There are hopes of cloning a male ferret who died around the same time as Willa, who could “make the optimal husband for Elizabeth Ann,” Novak said.

“If everything goes really well, we could end up seeing some children or grandchildren of Elizabeth actually going into the wild and bringing that genetic boost to the ferrets across the Great Plains,” Novak said.

For more from Colorado Public Radio, go to www.cpr.org. n

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March 4, 2021 n 13

FlashinthePan

Hashing it out

by Ari Levaux

I

have always lived among the Irish. I grew up in Boston, a legendary Celtic hub, and settled in Missoula, Mont., 100 miles downstream from America’s most Irish city per capita: Butte. I used to credit my affinity for that feisty tribe to this coincidental geographic overlap, but now I see a deeper connection. And you can see it by looking no farther than the nearest bowl of corned beef and cabbage.

For a time, Ireland exported some of the world’s finest corned beef. It was a pricey treat, and it never caught on with the frugal Irish, who preferred lamb and pork to beef anyway.

Corned beef and cabbage became an American Irish delicacy in Boston and New York, where immigrants from the Emerald Isle found themselves in Jewish neighborhoods. With the means to bring home a corned brisket from the local delicatessen once in a while, they would cook it Irish style: in a pot with cabbage and potatoes. As such, it resembled a meaty version of a cabbage-based borscht my Jewish ancestors made in Ukraine.

Leopold Bloom, the co-hero in James Joyce’s Ulysses, was a lot like a bowl of corned beef on St. Paddy’s Day. Like the dish, Mr. Bloom was the product of Jewish and Irish parentage, which Joyce used to illuminate the parallels he saw in the struggles of the Irish under British rule and the Jews trying to escape Egypt. In the U.S., the Irish Americans and Jews shared a sense of exile from their respective homelands.

And with their North American countrymen, those same Irish Americans shared a resentment of British rule, which helps explain their apparent enthusiasm for American Revolutionary history. How else can we explain the obsession, among the Irish of Boston, with Evacuation Day, which was signed into law in green ink in 1941. Evacuation Day commemorates the end of the 11-month siege of Boston by the British, when Gen. George Washington fortified Dorchester Heights and sent the Continental Army packing to Nova Scotia. The official date of this evacuation was March 17, an extremely fortuitous coincidence for anyone wishing to skip work for St. Patrick’s Day but stymied because it’s not a federal holiday.

The Irish of Montana, meanwhile, are a bit more “Wild West.” Rather than organize to lobby for legal holidays, they simply skip work and walk around with their beers.

The gold rush of 1862 had brought them to Butte, which

14 n March 4, 2021

sits on the Continental Divide and was once America’s largest city west of the Mississippi. As a young reporter in Missoula, I felt like I’d struck gold myself when I was assigned a story on Butte’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

After the parade, revelers raised their pints in massive beer halls and howled in festive crescendos, like “the wave” going around a stadium. It was there that I sidled up to the bar and ate my first bowl of corned beef and cabbage.

Corning was traditionally a way to preserve meat before refrigeration. Tough cuts were cured in sugar and salt, the grains of which were the size of corn kernels. It was a delicacy in England, but since Ireland had lower salt taxes for a time, it became corn central.

Today, corned beef comes in a special can with a key on the outside, which you turn until the can opens. Inside a typical can, you’ll find what would be considered cat food in any other context. Amazingly, it can be made palatable when heated, for better or for worse. But once you try the salty, stringy taste and texture of homecorned brisket, you’ll no sooner go back to tinned than the British went back to Boston.

telegraph

Like most contemporary corning recipes, this one calls for a nitrate salt to help tenderize the meat and give it a bright red hue.

Corned Beef Brisket 1 brisket, about 4 pounds, preferably marbled with fat 3 quarts distilled or spring water ½ cup canning/pickling salt ½ cup tenderizing salt (it has nitrate in it) 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons pickling spices 2 bay leaves 8 whole peppercorns 2 minced garlic cloves Add everything but the brisket to a gallon pot and heat to a boil. Turn it off and let cool to room temperature. Place the meat in the pot with a weight on top to keep the meat submerged. Let it brine, refrigerated, for about a week.

Irish Borscht (corned beef with roots and cabbage) 1 corned beef, prepared as above 2 pounds medium-sized potatoes, uncut, unpeeled 1 large onion, sliced in half end to end 1 pound carrots, cut into ½-inch-thick rounds 1 whole green cabbage, cut into eight wedges Drain the corned beef and replace the water. Bring to a simmer and replace the water again, to remove the salt.

Bring to a simmer again and cook, covered, until tender, about three hours. Add the potatoes and onion and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add the carrots and keep cooking until the carrots are tender. Add the cabbage wedges and simmer for another 15 minutes. Slice the meat and serve in a bowl with vegetables and broth.

In Missoula, my favorite breakfast joint serves corned beef hash, aka chopped corned beef and potatoes, fried until brown and tossed with scrambled eggs. That, I realized, is the final destination when first we dunk a brisket in that sweet and salty brine.

To make, scramble some eggs and set aside. Fish out some meat and potatoes from the pot an cut into 1/2inch cubes. Heat a pan on medium and add the beef cubes first, along with some oil if there’s not enough fat in the beef. When you smell the beef starting to brown, add the potatoes, and fry for about 10 minutes. Toss in the scrambled eggs, and serve garnished with a four-leaf sprig of parsley. n

MurderInk

Still smokin’ Joe Ide’s IQ series’ counterculture superhero picks up where he left off in Smoke

by Jeffrey Mannix

J

oe Ide (EE-day) may just be the luckiest person who ever put pencil to paper with the hope of becoming an author someday – a pursuit bizarrely shared by more people in the U.S. than any other recreational activity.

Ide was 58 years old when, out of frustration from teaching school (turns out he didn’t like kids) and cranking out going-nowhere screen plays, he threw the dice one last time in 2016 and walked away from the table rich and famous. His first attempt at long-form fiction, three years in the making, produced IQ, a book about a young black man, Isaiah Quintabe, in South Central Los Angeles (East Long Beach). Isaiah swam against the riptide of drugs, gangs and guns to help people in the hood who couldn’t afford to call the cops, hire a lawyer or risk an eye for an eye in a guerrilla theater carved up by quotidian urban warfare.

Joe Ide is a journeyman writer and a superb storyteller, a combination that portends to clang the gong, which he made resound with IQ. In 2017, he collected nominations for every literary award offered to crime fiction, winning the prestigious Anthony, Macavity and Shamus awards.

Ide has since moved from South Central L.A. to Santa Monica and written three IQ sequels that staggered along until he came up with this February 2021 release, Smoke.

And Ide is back to telling a brilliant story with his Elmore Leonard-like playful dialogue and the humor in the posturing denizens of the hood.

Coming of age in the ’60s and ’70s in South Central L.A. in an Asian-American family made Ide a cultural outlier to the mainly Black and Hispanic community, which permeated his structured life at home. He read books, was devoted to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, and studied the behavior and hip language of the streets through Holmes’ eye for detail. It took a long time and some dismal career experiences before Ide found the courage along with a touch of midlife depression to do what he wanted to do – to write a book about life in the hood through his countercultural superman, Isaiah Quintabe.

Although Smoke still features Isaiah, it differs from Ide’s previous meanderings.

With Isaiah on the run after meddling in the corrupt affairs of criminal elements higher and more poisonous on the food chain than the usual hood goons, the starring role turns over to his sidekick of the four previous IQ dramas, Juanell Dodson. Juanell may be the most fully formed and fascinating character in Ide’s fully formed and fascinating stories. In Smoke, Ide puts the big light on this uneducated, larcenous, funny, tough guy. He delivers an Academy Award performance in his attempt to mollify his wife, Cherise, by cleaning up, buying a suit and getting

a job in the mailroom of an advertising agency. There, his arrogance enables the creation of breathtaking ads for a worn-out account executive who is promoted instead of being fired.

Isaiah left behind his girlfriend, his dog, Juanell, and the people in the hood in order to avoid what his meddling in gangsters’ villainy was sure to eventually bring. And while Ide was smart to send Isaiah offstage in most of the scenes, his disappearance is as clever as his heroics of past books. We see him peeking from behind the backdrop, poised and resourceful as ever, just waiting for the right time to rescue his mates or surrender to the inevitable.

Smoke is a rollicking fun read packed with nuance and imaginativeness that comes from a guy who had nothing to lose when he wrote IQ and now has nothing but fun creating quirky people in situations so uncompromising they’re funny. Quintabe and his repertory company of guttersnipes make for some of the most refreshing crime fiction in the genre, and Smoke is a good place to begin reading Joe Ide. Then you’ll want to go to the March 2, 2017 “Murder Ink” archives to read my review of Ide’s first book, IQ, which you’ll be quick to buy. And don’t forget to ask Maria’s Bookshop for your “Murder Ink” 15 percent discount. n

Looking to get back out there?

The Telegraph can help you let potential customers know you’re back in business.

For more information, email: lainie@durangotelegraph.com or call 970-259-0133

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March 4, 2021 n

15

StufftoDo Deadline for “Stuff to Do” submissions is Monday at noon. To submit an item, email: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

Thursday04

Monday08

Last Day to Register for the 2nd annual “Hollywood Huckfest,” a hybrid slopestyle/freeride event and fundraiser for the Durango Winter Sports Club that takes place March 6 at Purgatory. Open to all skiers and riders ages 10 and up., athletes will be judged on air, tricks, cleanness of landings and riding ability. Register by today at: www.purgatoryskiteam.org

Meditation and Dharma Talk with Pamela Weiss, 5:30-7 p.m. Online at www.durangodharmacenter.org/ Durango City Council Candidate Forum, 5-6:30 p.m.

Hosted by Local First. Register at: tinyurl.com/y3prv4p8

Tuesday09

“Return to House of Rain” with Craig Childs, part 2, zoom talk, 4 p.m. Part of Crow Canyon’s Discover Archaeology series.

Register at www.crowcanyon.org

7 Rivers Farmers Market, winter farmers market, 12-3 p.m. featuring local farmers, food vendors and artisans, La Plata County Fairgrounds. Masks and social distancing required.

“Future Garden Favorites: Native Plants,” 6:30-7:30 p.m., zoom talk featuring Jennifer Bousselot, PH.D, Colorado State University. Sponsored by the Old Fort’s Southwest ag webinar series.

Preregistration required at: tinyurl.com/11fmb35s

“Brexit and the European Union,” a virtual talk Tues., 11:45 a.m. with moderator Paul DeBell.

Presented by the 2021 Great Decisions International Affairs Discussion Program. For link, visit www.lwvpaplata.org.

Recognizing Opportunities Around Resilience, or “ROAR,” The Durango Independent Film Festival continues online through March 12, featuring and substance-abuse prevention, 6 some 99 films including “Cholitas,” the story of five Bolivian women who set out to conp.m., a zoom talk featuring Paige quer Mount Aconcagua in the name of female empowerment. For ticket info. or to learn Wagner (San Juan Basin Public more about the films, go to: www.durangofilm.org.

Health) and Della Turque (Celebrating Healthy Communities). Presented the for Carol’s stem cell transplant and to send her off, Union Rotary Club of Durango. For log-in, email: Social House, 3062 Main Ave. Tickets: $25 and available Mtnman16@gmail.com. at: tinyurl.com/4n74sdsm Friday Grit Gatherings, 4-7 p.m., downtown on 10th Street, between Narrow Gauge and Main avenues.

Animas High School Online Information Session 2nd annual “Hollywood Huckfest” 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Featuring live music and food from local restaurants. for prospective families, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Please join us via hybrid slopestyle/freeride event and fundraiser for the Tables and chairs will be set up to encourage socially Google Meet: meet.google.com/iod-tzkm-scx Durango Winter Sports Club, upper Catharsis, Purgatory. distanced takeout dining and shopping. Also takes place www.purgatoryskiteam.org March 12. Sponsored by BID and Local First.

Henry Stoy plays piano, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Jean-Pierre “Powering Up with Peppers: An Intro to Hot Meet the Artist: silversmith Chayse Romero of Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave. and Sweet Peppers,” 6:30-7:30 p.m., zoom talk Frontera Designs jewelry, 4-7 p.m., Create Art and Tea, featuring Dan Hobbs, southern Colorado chile grower. inside the DAC, 802 E. 2nd Ave. Wolf Creek Local Appreciation Day, lift tickets are $58 adults; $40 seniors; and $31 children. Tickets must be Sponsored by the Old Fort’s Southwest ag webinar series.

Zoom link: tinyurl.com/a6ss356v password: peppers.

Jack Ellis & Dustin Burley play 5:30-8:30 p.m., bought in advance: wolfcreekski.com.

Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. The San Juan Basin Archaeological Society “The Joys of Bach and Bologne,” Sat., March 6, presents “The Archaeological Conservancy’s Preservation Creede Repertory Theatre presents “To the 7:30 p.m. virtual concert presented by the San Juan Efforts in the East: from the Paleolithic through 19thMoon,” 6 p.m. and 2 p.m. March 6, a livestreaming Symphony from the Community Concert Hall at Fort Century Industrial Sites,” 6:30 p.m., a free Zoom talk by docu-drama based on surveys and interviews with Lewis College. Hosted by music director Thomas Heuser.

Kelley Berliner, director of the Archaeological survivors of domestic violence. Facilitated talk back to www.sanjuansymphony.org Conservancy. For login, see sjbas.org. follow both live performances. Production will also be streamed March 15 - April 11. Tickets are free but must be reserved via www.creederep.org or at 719-658-2540.

Uncle Clyde’s Run & Slide, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

The Durango Public Library is open, Tuesdays Purgatory tubing hill. Run up … tube down, most laps Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Curbside pick-up available 9-10 wins. Team relay with divisions for men, women, co-ed, a.m. www.durangogov.org/library kids and parent/child. Registration limited. Sign up at: World Telemark Day www.purgatoryresort.com/events Durango Independent Film Festival runs online thru March 12, featuring 99 films from around the globe, plus “Reprieve” Carol Clark fundraiser, 2-11 p.m., Henry Stoy plays piano, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Jean-Pierre coffee talk with filmmakers, Q&As, and quarantinis4 outdoor live music, food and libations to help raise funds Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave. “Coping With Loss,” 7-8:30 p.m., zoominar presented by FLC Lifelong Learning Lecture Series featuring local counselors Julie Madden and Norm Gottlieb. tinyurl.com/2o6ltmsq

Friday05

Wednesday10

Sunday07

Ongoing

Saturday06

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16 n March 4, 2021

REAL radio, REAL people / $#( # ) +

DURANGO COMMUNITY RADIO AT FORT LEWIS COLLEGE

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KDUR.ORG

AskRachel

Sweet revenge, sticks & stones, and the big blow off Interesting fact: I wanted an interesting fact about reality TV and learned that all such facts contain an irrefutable truth: there are no interesting facts about reality TV. Dear Rachel, I have become absolutely addicted to revenge porn. Not the kind that’s immoral and illegal – the kind that involves stories of people getting innocent enough but well-deserved revenge on coworkers who steal food from the fridge, roommates who never clean the bathroom, in-laws who ruin weddings. It’s a genre I’ve lovingly come to call “A-holes getting theirs.” My own roommate thinks this is an addiction. So I must know: how can I take out my revenge on him?

– Righting Wrong Dear Wronging Right, Well, the cool thing about this kind of addiction is it is a lot less likely to trip the censor-sensors at your place of employment. It’s also not unique. I’m pretty sure you just described the entire genre known to scholars and philosophers alike as “reality television.” And like all things on television, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, KIDS. I sincerely hope your roommate is reading this, so he can GET OUT NOW RUN RUN RUN FAST AND NEVER LOOK BACK. – Always scripted, Rachel Dear Rachel, I have worked my butt off for years trying to improve my craft (I’m an artisan jeweler) and (virtual happy hour). For schedule, passes and more info., go to: durangofilm.org.

Powder Hounds Online Art Auction runs thru March 14, featuring snowboard art to benefit the La Plata County Humane Society. To bid or “buy now,” go to powderhoundsarts.com.

“Spring’s Promise” art show, runs thru March 31, watercolors and digital designs by Nadya/Tron. Durango Rec Center Gallery Wall. Sign up at gallery for five prizes to be drawn March 27.

“Dinosaur Discoveries: Ancient Fossils, New Ideas,” a traveling exhibit from the American Museum of Natural History, Powerhouse Science Center. For gallery hours, go to: www.powsci.org.

PIVOT: Skateboard Deck Art exhibit, over 100 skateboard decks painted by 30 different Native American artists, on view by appointment through spring 2021, Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College. swcenter.fortlewis.edu/

Upcoming: Crow Canyon Discover Archaeology Series, March 11, 4 p.m., free Zoom talk on “Beyond Maize, Beans, and Squash: Identifying the Source and Nature of Mesoamerican Influence on U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexican Dynamics after the Origin of Agriculture with Dr. Michael Mathiowetz.” Register at www.crowcanyon.org

while I know I’m not some genius savant, I can guarantee you’re getting quality. But I suck at social media, and I don’t know how anyone builds an Etsy following. My neighbor, on the other hand, started picking up sticks on her walks, gluing rocks to them, and is going gangbusters selling them for like $75 a pop. Should I drop my own standards, or just give up now?

– Rock Bottom Dear Starving Artist, I imagine this is how professional models feel about Instagram celebrities, or Sir Ian McKellen feels about TikTok stars. Hell, it’s how I feel about Dear Abby, that hussie. Someone will always come along to undercut all your hard work with the plebeians who just don’t get what you do. Persevere, my friend. No matter how many newspapers pick up your mortal enemy for syndication, you can sleep easy knowing that only your readers can read things like “revenge porn” in the newspaper.

– Stick it to them, Rachel Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Rachel, I get it. We’re in a pandemic. Everyone is stressed, and everything is taking longer. But I have had it with people who don’t follow through on the most basic promises. My vet said on Thursday, “I’ll call you tomorrow,” and I didn’t hear from him until Wednesday. My roof needs repaired, and my roofer hasn’t returned my call in two weeks. I can sympathize with falling behind, but how hard is it to call and say so?

– Left Hanging

Dear In the Breeze, Sounds like someone needs to enact some revenge.

Dish out a taste of their own medicine. Call your vet and the roofer and leave them voicemails. Tell them you need to talk immediately. Then hire a camera crew, a director who thinks cinema is “beneath” them, and a knock-off Ashton Kutcher. Have them film the drama when your vet and roofer call back but – get this – you don’t answer the phone. Antics ensue. Justice is yours.

– Cheap is better than good, Rachel

“Fruit Tree Pruning,” March 11, 6-7 p.m., zoom talk sponsored by the Old Fort’s Southwest ag webinar series. Zoom link: tinyurl.com/txwkvhv2 password: apples “The Facility,” March 11, 7 p.m., webinar documentary screening on the lived experiences of immigrants at the GEO detention facility in Aurora followed by Q&A. Presented by Indivisible Durango and the ACLU. Reigster at: tinyurl.com/4uurdayv Montezuma County Forest Fridays, March 12 & 26, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, ice skating snow science, free to Montezuma County youth, grades 7-12.

Presented by San Juan Mountain Association, to register: sjma.org/learn/forest-fridays Free Legal Clinic, March 12, 4-5 p.m.

Sign up by calling the Ignacio Library at 970563-9287.

The 38th annual virtual Monte Vista Crane Festival, special web presentation, Fri., March 12, 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available at mvcranefest.org. Folks can also watch the presentation at their leisure from March 13-17.

Deadline to submit items for “Stuff to Do” is Monday at noon.

E-mail your stuff to: calendar@durango telegraph.com

telegraph

Telegraph classified ads can be placed online at www.durangotelegraph.com and cost a mere 10 cents a character.

(We don’t know how to say this, but it’s kind of a big deal.)

To place them the 1990s way: classifieds@durangotelegraph.com To place them the 1970s way: call 970-259-0133

March 4, 2021n 17

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): In late April 1969, Cambridhgeshire, U.K., hosted the first-ever Thriplow Daffodil Weekend: a flower show highlighting 80 varieties of narcissus. In the intervening years, climate change has raised the average temperature 3.24 degrees Fahrenheit. So the flowers have been blooming progressively earlier each year, which has necessitated moving the festival back. The last pre-Covid show in 2019 was on March 23-24, a month earlier than the original. Let’s use this as a metaphor for shifting conditions in your world. I invite you to take an inventory of how your environment has been changing, and what you could do to ensure you’re adapting to new conditions.

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Leo Buscaglia told us that among ancient Egyptians, two specific questions were key in evaluating whether a human life was well-lived.

They were “Did you bring joy?” and “Did you find joy?” In accordance with your current astrological potentials, I’m inviting you to meditate on those queries.

And if you discover there’s anything lacking in the joy you bring and the joy you find, now is a very favorable time to make corrections.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): At age 11, the future first President of the United States George Washington became the “owner” of 10 slaves. A few years later he “bought” 15 more. By the time he was president, 123 men, women and children were struggling in miserable bondage under his control. Finally, in his will, he authorized them to be freed after he and his wife died. Magnanimous? Hell, no. He should have freed those people decades earlier – or better yet, never “owned” them in the first place. Another Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, not only freed his slaves but became an abolitionist. By my count, at least 11 of the other Founding Fathers never owned slaves. Now here’s the lesson I’d like us to apply to your life right now: Don’t procrastinate in doing the right thing. Do it now.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): During World War II, the Japanese island of Ōkunoshima housed a factory that manufactured poison gas for use in chemical warfare against China. These days it is a tourist attraction famous for its thousands of feral but friendly bunnies. I’d love to see you initiate a comparable transmutation in the coming months, dear Cancerian: changing bad news into good news, twisted darkness into interesting light, soullessness into soulfulness. Now is a good time to ramp up your efforts.

18 n March 4, 2021

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Scars speak for you,” author Gena Showalter writes. “They say you’re strong, and you’ve survived something that might have killed others.” In that spirit, dear Leo, and in accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to authorize your scars to express interesting truths about you in the coming weeks. Allow them to demonstrate how resilient you’ve been, and how well you’ve mastered the lessons that your past suffering has made available. Give your scars permission to be wildly eloquent about the transformations you’ve been so courageous in achieving.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): According to novelist Doris Lessing, “Everybody in the world is thinking: I wish there was just one other person I could really talk to, who could really understand me, who’d be kind to me.” She implied that hardly anyone ever gets such an experience – or that it’s so rare as to be always tugging on our minds, forever a source of unquenched longing. But I’m more optimistic than Lessing. In my view, the treasured exchange she describes is not so impossible. And I think it will be especially possible for you in coming weeks. I suspect you’re entering a grace period of being listened to, understood, and treated kindly. Here’s the catch: For best results, you should be forthright in seeking it out.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling,” composer Claude Debussy wrote. In the coming weeks, I hope you’ll regard his words as an incitement to do everything you can to reach the naked flesh of your feelings. Your ideas are fine.

Your rational mind is a blessing. But for the foreseeable future, what you need most is to deepen your relationship with your emotions. Study them, please. Encourage them to express themselves. Respect their messages as gifts, even if you don’t necessarily act upon them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You may never wander out alone into a dark forest or camp all night on a remote beach or encounter a mountain lion as you climb to a glacier near the peak of a rugged mountain. But there will always be a primeval wilderness within you – uncivilized lands and untamed creatures and elemental forces that are beyond your rational understanding. That’s mostly a good thing!

To be healthy and wise, you need to be in regular contact with raw nature, even if it’s just the kind that’s inside you. The only time it may be a hindrance is if you try to deny its existence, whereupon it may turn unruly and inimical. So don’t deny it! Especially now. (PS: To help carry out this assignment, try to remember the dreams you have at night. Keep a recorder or notebook and pen near your bed.)

telegraph

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): “What damages a person most,” philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “is to work, think and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure – as a mere automaton of duty.” Once a year, I think every one of us, including me, should meditate on that quote. Once a year, we should evaluate whether we are living according to our soul’s code; whether we’re following the path with heart; whether we’re doing what we came to earth to accomplish. In my astrological opinion, the next two weeks will be your special time to engage in this exploration.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What are your edges, Capricorn? What aspects of your identity straddle two different categories? Which of your beliefs embrace seemingly opposed positions? In your relations with other people, what are the taboo subjects?

Where are the boundaries that you can sometimes cross and other times can’t cross? I hope you’ll meditate on these questions in the coming weeks. In my astrological opinion, you’re primed to explore edges, deepen your relationship with your edges, and use your edges for healing and education and cultivating intimacy with your allies. As author Ali Smith says, “Edges are magic; there’s a kind of forbidden magic on the borders of things, always a ceremony of crossing over, even if we ignore it or are unaware of it.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): According to artist Sidney Pink, “The idea of divine inspiration and an aha moment is largely a fantasy.” What the hell?! That’s fake news, in my view. In the course of my creative career, I’ve been blessed with thousands of divine inspirations and aha moments. But I do acknowledge that my breakthroughs have been made possible by “hard work and unwavering dedication,” which Pink extols. Now here’s the climax of your oracle: You Aquarians are in a phase when you should be doing the hard work and unwavering dedication that will pave the way for divine inspirations and aha moments later this year.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): For you Pisceans, March is Love Yourself Bigger and Better and Bolder Month. To prepare you for this festival, I’m providing two inspirational quotes. 1. “If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.” – Barbara De Angelis 2. “Loving yourself does not mean being self-absorbed or narcissistic, or disregarding others. Rather it means welcoming yourself as the most honored guest in your own heart, a guest worthy of respect, a lovable companion.” – Margo Anand.

classifieds

Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon. Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum. Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com.

Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.

(Sorry, no refunds.)

Ads can be submitted via: n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133 n 679 E. 2nd Ave., #E2 Approximate office hours: Mon: 9ish - 5ish Tues: 9ish - 5ish Wed: 9ish - 3ish Thurs: Out on delivery Fri: Gone fishing

The Green House Durango is looking for happy, enthusiastic people to join our budding business. We are willing to train the right candidate if you’re committed to being a part of this continually growing industry. Please send a copy of your resume to employment@jandjinc.net along with a copy of your Colorado M.E.D. Badge.

Wanted Announcements Durango’s Newest Crystal Shop!

Crystal Boutique, 1053 Main Ave. Local artisan owned. A unique assortment of minerals, fossils and hand-made jewelry!

Open Tues. – Sun. Got Seeds?

Animas Valley Grange is planning a seed exchange for later this month. If you have extra viable vegetable or flower seeds please contact Susan at svidal65@gmail.com or Ann at amibauer29@gmail.com ASAP please.

“Spring’s Promise” Show Nadya/Tron Durango Rec Center Gallery Wall, March 1-31. Watercolors and digital designs. Sign up at gallery for 5 prizes to be drawn March 27.

The Perfect Gift for your favorite dirtbag. Literature from Durango’s own Benighted Publications. The Desert, The Climbing Zine, The Great American Dirtbags, American Climber, Climbing Out of Bed and Graduating From College Me are available at: Maria’s Bookshop, Pine Needle Mountaineering, the Sky Store, or on the interweb at www.climbingzine.com.

HelpWanted Farm Manager 16-24 hrs/week thru Oct 7. 2yrs experience + Ag/horticulture education required. $20-$25 hr DOE info at mtberrymedicine@gmail.com PT Help Wanted Looking for a kind-hearted soul who loves people and art. Sales exp. required. No phone calls please. Bring resume Thurs. or Fri. 1-5 to Karyn Gabaldon Arts, 680 Main.

Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-259-3494.

Classes/Workshops Come to the Horses To reset your mind, refresh your body and rejuvenate your soul. Trish @ Joy Rides Coaching, 970-946-7835, joyrides.dgo@ gmail.com

ForSale

CommunityService

Womens DPS Skis Time to cull the quiver: two pairs for sale. 1st pair: DPS Zelda Alchemist, 169cm, 106 underfoot. Bought in 2018, skied for 1.5 seasons, great shape, some cosmetic scuffing. Avail. with or w/o brand new Atomic Shift bindings - $400 skis alone (retail $1299) or $900 w/bindings. 2nd pair: DPS Uschi Foundation, 171 cm, 87 underfoot, great all-around frontside rippers, only skied two days, mounted with Look Pivot 14 bindings - $399 skis alone: $675 skis + bindings. Text 970-749-2595 for pictures or more dets.

The Juniper School Seeks Donations for Bike Program All Kids Bike, a national program on a mission to teach every child in America how to ride a bike, is currently working to bring the All Kids Bike Kindergarten PE Program to The Juniper School. The program equips schools with teacher training, curriculum, a fleet of Strider bikes, pedal conversion kits, helmets and a five-year support plan. To learn more about the program or make a donation, go to: support.allkidsbike.org/the-juniper-school

Reruns Home Furnishings New, fun furniture and furnishings to brighten up your space. Metal bistros, retro kitchen cart, retro kitchen table with two chairs. Vintage wicker set. Lots of fine framed art, vintage plant stands. Awesome sales on winter clothing and shoes. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

HaikuMovieReview ‘Nomadland’ Agonizingly slow film about vagabond Libertarians – Lainie Maxson

NewspaperOrigami

Services RSE Handyman Service Home repair-yard work-odd jobs 970903-0449.

Tutoring All subjects, grades 5th – 9th. Classroom and homework support, masks will be worn at all times. 3:30-5:30 p.m., Mon. – Thurs., Crossroads Building, 11th & Main. For info, call Jessie Hamilton, 970-903-9051.

Lowest Prices on Storage!

Inside/outside storage near Durango and Bayfield. 10-x-20, $130. Outside spots: $65, with discounts available. RJ Mini Storage.

970-259-3494 Marketing Small and Local Businesses Media, social media, website content, SEO, etc. for small, local, independent or startup businesses. Email jnderge@ gmail.com

BodyWork massageintervention.life Voted best massage in Durango 2020.

Couples, cupping, local CBD. Reviews on FB + Yelp. 970-903-2984

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