The Durango Telegraph July 14, 2022

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July 14, 2022 Vol. XXI, No. 28 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

Lights out

Microplastic mountain

Equal rides

N.M. power plant to close despite recent SCOTUS move p7

Yep, it’s everywhere ... including the San Juan Mountains p9

It only took 119 years, but ladies now have their own Tour p11

2 n July 14, 2022

telegraph

lineup

4 La Vida Local

Lights out Amid all the bad news comes a glimmer of hope for the environment

4 Thumbin’ It

by Jonathan Thompson

5 Word on the Street 6 Soap Box

8

7 Land Desk

Plastic passion 8 Local News

Yep, microplastics are everywhere – including the San Juan Mountains

by Jonathan Romeo

10 Between the Beats 11 Gossip of the Cyclers

10

12-13 Stuff to Do

Guitar guru

13 Ask Rachel

Guillaume Metz dishes on mastering your own sound

by Stephen Sellers

14 Free Will Astrology 15 Classifieds

11

15 Haiku Movie Review

Equal rides

On the Cover Low water presents the perfect time for anglers to test their luck on SW Colorado’s iconic Gunnison Gorge./ Photo

by Alex Krebs

It only took 119 years, but women finally have thier own official Tour

by Jennaye Derge

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EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel missy@durangotelegraph.com ADVERTISING SALES: ads@durangotelegraph.com STAFF REPORTER: Jonathan Romeo jonathan@durangotelegraph.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

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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

Ear to the ground: “In college, I got air hockey arm.”

– Local Gen Xer and golf elbow sufferer discussing the pitfalls of a sporting life at any age

Lost in the sauce

thepole

7

RegularOccurrences

What’s a Salamander Festival?

Well, Google would have you believe it’s a yearly celebration in the hamlet of Belfountain, Ontario, which features “real live salamanders” and “birds of prey,” hopefully not in the same area.

Here in Southwest Colorado, however, Salamander Fest is a new, three-day music and arts festival that’s scheduled to kick off July 15. The event, located on a property near Hesperus called “Talking Rocks,” will feature live bands, open jams and DJs, as well as workshops such as yoga, breath work, and yes, a 24/7 drum circle.

“The whole thing is the spirit of collaboration,” Cy Fontenot, a member of the band Salamander Collective and festival organizer, said. “It’s a celebration of divine flows, and hopefully, we’ll get lost in the sauce together – jamming, dancing, painting, interactive art spaces, fire spinning.”

Years ago, the Talking Rocks property regularly hosted live music and festivals, like “Roots, Rocks, Equinox,” but those events waned the past couple years.

In 2021, however, Fontenot and others threw together the first, albeit last-minute, Salamander Fest. Despite the lack of planning time, the event worked out, Fontenot said, with bands playing for free and about 100 people attending.

This year, Salamander Fest is way more dialed in, Fontenot said. “We have a solid team, everyone knows what they are doing, and it feels really good to be on top of everything,” he said.

Salamander Fest will have three stages, with more than 50 bands and DJs playing from the afternoon to early morning hours (seriously, there are really too many to name here, so for the lineup, check out the event’s Facebook page at bit.ly/3yZrhKKr or at EventBrite, where you can also buy tickets: bit.ly/3IHMhZF. “All the bands are absolutely top-notch,” Fontenot said. “Good musical flow’s gonna happen. We’re just going to jam super hard every night.”

Fontenot’s own Salamander Collective is scheduled to close out each night (the live band portion), though you won’t see the same musicians, or songs, for that matter.

“Salamander Collective is an improvisational music-artist collective, with different musicians every time, so you never know who the band is going to be,” he said. “We don’t even have any songs. We just play music. And when everyone is playing what they feel in that moment, it coalesces into a magical experience of interconnected flow.”

On top of music, there’ll be yoga classes, a tree lounge, interactive art spaces, a fairy forest, circus acts and activities for kids during the day.

The three-day festival pass costs about $100 and includes free camping on the property.

There’ll be a few food vendors, so it’s recommended people bring cash, as well as water, sunscreen and an instrument, and carpool if possible.

July 14, 2022 n

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opinion

LaVidaLocal Breaking the glass wall By day, this neighborhood in one of our nearby metropolisisyses is clearly on the verge of the brink of becoming revitalized. Or, at the very least, having construction finished. But by night, it skips the inevitable stage of decay and jumps straight to being a crack den for disturbed ghosts.

I parked there in the daytime, when all seemed well with the world. I returned to my car in the nighttime, and there, through the darkened windows, shone my glovebox light.

This was strange. I wasn’t even certain I HAD a glovebox, much less interior illumination for one. Which made me all the more certain I had not left it on.

I opened the door to investigate the glow and found napkins – another mystery. True, I had eaten a breakfast burrito in the car that morning, but my mess had not warranted this mess. Napkins on the seat, napkins on the floor, napkins on the console, napkins in the sun visors, napkins in the ignition. I never realized I had so many napkins. It was clearly time, my brain reasoned, to evaluate my burrito routine.

Yet some other part of my brain suggested, in a small voice from far away, that it was instead time to evaluate what had happened in my car.

For if I had not made this whole mess by myself, and my car (to the best of my knowledge) is not sentient enough to make this whole mess by itself, then … someone else made this whole mess.

A moment later, another deduction: that same someone else had been inside my car.

Then, as if on tape delay, a third breakthrough: to get inside my car, that very same someone else must have gained entry to my car.

But how? The lock was not busted. The window was not shattered. The car had not been left unlocked – I obsess over locking the car multiple times, often to the detriment of personal relationships. By this time, all my little hairs were standing on end like little poison darts. I circled the car in the dark shadow laid down by the open and abandoned construction zone, where living and non-living car burglars alike lurked over my every move.

On my third pass, I found the shattered dream: the rear quarter window. Later, my friends would say the burglars were at least considerate enough to break the

smallest window. Totally. I agree. It’s like the gentle mobsters, with names like Johnny Minnows, who make you swim with just the little fishes.

I called my best friend, who told me to quit standing outside the car like bait and to call the police. So I did. Then I waited an hour, under the eye of the future haunted mansion, when finally the cops still didn’t show.

The nice dispatch woman told me the officers were all on higher-priority calls, but they could come to my house in the middle of the night, so I didn’t have to wait, except I was driving home that night, and I didn’t figure they would want to leave the county to come take my statement for insurance purposes. And I was right, so I kept waiting right there. None of their calls were a higher priority to ME, so I called dispatch every few seconds to check on the status. Between calls, I contemplated committing insurance fraud, but I decided karmically I better keep an honest tally of what was missing: a tailored three-piece suit, custom leather shoes, an heirloom watch, a MacBook in an Osprey bag, Bluetooth speakers, wireless headphones, a month’s groceries, the only existing manuscript of the next Great American Novel, some spare golden ingots, my dogs’ collapsible car stairs and my chewing gum.

I also was developing another high-priority call after three hours waiting for the police: I had to pee.

Perhaps public urination would be a higher-priority call for the PD too.

But I played it straight. I called dispatch again and told them about my pressing situation.

The nice woman tried to guess which convenience stores might still be open at that hour, to which I asked what if the police finally arrived right after I left, to which she said they could call me later to take my statement over the phone, to which I made a facial expression that was most likely audible.

This story has an ending, if not strictly a happy one. An officer called 10 minutes later and demanded I email her a written statement, complete with photos, even though it was the dead of night, at that very moment. So I found a place with enough light to make out the car on my phone camera, and an hour later I was on the road in time to return home just before sunup. All my missing items put together didn’t quite match my deductible, and neither did the window replacement.

But hey, at least the culprits are still free, and I feel like I gained a glovebox light.

SignoftheDownfall:

Thumbin’It A pregnant Texas woman who was ticketed for driving in the HOV lane arguing her unborn baby counts as a second passenger, in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Welcome to the Thumbs Up, Texas.

Lauren Boebert’s gun-toting Shooters Grill closing down after the landlord of the building refused to renew the lease. Poor Bo Bo. And we never even got a chance to try the infamous pork sliders!

A coalition of groups, including with the City of Durango and BLM, conducting much-needed work on the popular X Rock Trail.

Smallmouth bass, a fierce non-native predator, slipping through Glen Canyon Dam’s turbines, spelling doom for native fish on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

NASA releasing the clearest-ever photo of galaxies in deep space. Ah, how peaceful it looks up there, with no fears of inflation, deepening culture wars or having to deal with people who chew gum with their mouths open.

4 n July 14, 2022

– Zach Hively

Amazon being sued by the NYPD for misleading investors and hiding losses spurred by the company’s “excessive” expansion during the coronavirus pandemic. Happy Amazon Prime Day!

telegraph

Hypotrisy Isn’t it weird that everyone wants to get Brittney Griner out of Russian jail for marijuana, even though there are people incarcerated in America for marijuana? Anyway, on a lighter note, despite the fact that people are serving life sentences in Mississippi for weed, there’s a super-fun new dating site for stoners called SmokeAndPoke.com. Isn’t that just adorable? It’s a safe and fun site for weed smokers who like to get high and hook up, even though doing so is illegal in more than half of our “free” country. Anyway, in other news, I mari-wanna move to Canada.

Q

WordontheStreet In response to Amazon Prime Days, The Telegraph asked: “Where’s your favorite local place to shop?”

Rachel

“I like to go to Gardenswartz for my outdoor gear.”

Barb

“Gazpacho Restaurant. I love their El Bandid margarita and tacos on Saturday.”

Morgan

“The Sweaty Buddha is where I buy everything I need for yoga.”

McKinley

“Durango Outdoor Exchange. I’m pretty outdoorsy, and they have everything I need for snowboarding and biking.”

Joe

“Vape Durango – they have the best vape products for really low prices.”

telegraph

July 14, 2022

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5

D-Tooned/by Rob Pudim

SoapBox (Background) check, please The current disregard for the safety of ordinary Americans, including school children and their teachers, brings to mind my personal experience with background checks. I’m a family physician who has been required to have one prior to being hired at two different Caribbean medical schools. I was also required to have a background check and to purchase medical malpractice insurance in order to volunteer last fall in Mexican border clinics sponsored by a U.S. nonprofit humanitarian medical organization. I am currently awaiting a faculty position at a U.S. medical school – pending the results of another background check.

I am also a gun owner. No background check required.

– Lauri Costello, Durango

Life or death decision The U.S. Supreme Court’s rule that it is illegal for the federal government to regulate carbon emissions from power plants is a death sentence not only to the U.S. but our planet. Climate change is real and the biggest threat to the U.S. and the planet.

The U.S. accounts for 1/6 of the world’s population yet produces 1/4 of the carbon emissions from fossil fuels, which science shows are the main cause of climate change. We must greatly reduce our emissions and make a steady change to renewable energy, and ultimately phase out fossil fuel use.

The Supreme Court’s ruling also spells death to the coral reefs and all their life, already 90% degraded or dead; death to species already weakened by extreme heat and drought; death to polar bears; death to native communities who must hunt on the ice for seals, which will continue to disappear; death to the forests as fires and diseases continue in intensity; and death to humans from extreme heat, floods or storms. The ruling will result in

increased violent storms in the plains, and epidemics and world hunger as we unravel nature’s web in which we are intertwined.

We must have Supreme Court justices, as well as politicians, who are educated on the issue of climate change

and its effect on our entire planet. Protest this ruling of the Supreme Court to your senators, representatives and all elected officials. The life of the U.S. and the planet depends on it.

– Margaret Mayer, Durango

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LandDesk

Hey, good environmental news Despite SCOTUS ruling, San Juan Generating Station plans to shut down

by Jonathan Thompson

B

y now I suspect most of you are aware of the bad news of the day when it comes to the federal government’s power to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. That power has been taken away by the conservative majority of the Supreme Court, which is on a rampage lately.

The case, West Virginia v. EPA, concerned the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which limited carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in a manner that aimed to phase out coal-fired power plants altogether – albeit not immediately and, some might say, not quickly enough.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that only Congress can limit carbon dioxide emissions to a level that forces a nationwide transition away from coal, which is to say: Given that most of Congress is owned by corporations and will do nothing, this ruling essentially gives corporations free rein to spew climate-changing pollutants into the atmosphere.

“The Court appoints itself – instead of Congress or the expert agency – the decision-maker on climate policy,” Justice Elena Kagan noted in her dissent. “I cannot think of many things more frightening.”

Yeah, same here. I haven’t delved too deeply into the decision and all of its intricacies yet. But, from what I can tell, we aren’t doomed entirely by this decision, alone. That’s because it leaves a lot of tools intact that can be used to limit other pollutants, aside from carbon dioxide, from coal power plant stacks. And because in most places coal is being phased out anyway, thanks to economics, years of tenacious environmentalists’ efforts, state-level regulations and, in some cases, corporate shareholders actually pushing companies to clean up their act.

This is where we get to the good news. On June 30, Public Service Co. of New Mexico shut down one of two remaining units on the coal-burning San Juan Generating Station in Shiprock. In three months, PNM will abandon the entire plant and, if all goes according to plan, it will be demolished. The accompanying mine will be shut down and reclaimed, and a major solar array will be constructed nearby to utilize the capacity on the high-voltage transmission lines that spoke out across the West from the substation.

The smokestacks will cease emitting thousands of pounds of sulfur dioxide, mercury, arsenic, nitrogen oxides and other harmful pollutants along with millions of tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide each year. The plant will stop gulping up more than 5 billion gallons of San Juan River water annually, leaving that water for other uses or to stay in the

river for the fishes’ sake. And it will no longer dump millions of tons of toxic coal combustion waste in the mine and in settling ponds nearby (The Four Corners Power Plant, a dozen miles away, will continue to burn coal and emit pollution).

And, to help offset the economic pain from losing one of the region’s biggest employers and tax-payers, PNM will pay the affected communities tens of millions of dollars to develop their economies and help and retrain workers.

Yes, there is a hitch or two standing in the way of cleaner air and a diversified economy.

For starters, an obscure company called Enchant Energy has teamed up with the City of Farmington in a long-shot bid to take over ownership of the plant and keep it running as is until it can scrape up $1.4 billion or more to install carbon capture equipment on the plant. It’s a long shot for a number of reasons. But to sum up the obstacles: • Enchant has not lined up investors or financing for the project, in part because the only thing making the project remotely economically feasible are federal tax credits for capturing carbon.

• Enchant has not secured water rights, transmission capacity, a coal contract or any of the permits it would need to continue running the plant, let alone con-

struct carbon capture and sequestration infrastructure.

• PNM doesn’t want to buy electricity from the plant, and even if it did, New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act wouldn’t allow it to due to emissions limits.

• New Mexico’s Environment Department is about to implement a rule that would prohibit the plant from running without carbon capture starting Jan. 1 of next year.

• While Enchant might be able to sell power from the plant in the near-term, because many utilities are facing generation crunches this summer and next summer, it’s unlikely many utilities are going to be willing to purchase dirty coal power in the future.

• The idea of installing carbon capture on aging coal plants in order to keep them running is insane. If you’re really concerned about preserving jobs and tax revenues, why not invest that $1.4 billion into the affected communities? Why spend so much damned money just to keep polluting? And yes, even if the carbon capture equipment were installed, the plant would continue to spew out other pollutants at the current rate. Carbon capture may have a place on cement plants, for example, or even natural gas plants.

Not on coal plants.

Most environmentalists I’ve spoken to

telegraph

are optimistic about Enchant, which is to say they are pretty confident that their attempt to keep the plant running after PNM leaves is not going to fly.

I hope they’re right. However, I can imagine a scenario in which Enchant and city leaders leverage the region’s deep ties to and reliance upon fossil fuels, along with the Biden administration’s apparent zeal for carbon capture, to lure federal subsidies to the project. The company might even get some exemptions from state or federal agencies and so forth, if only to keep dragging this scheme out for years.

Maybe they’ll even switch gears and team up with the governor to create some sort of blue hydrogen production plant.

But I’m not going to let those unlikely scenarios get me down. I’m going to celebrate. I’ll wait a few days for the air to clear, then I’ll go up to a favorite high spot of mine atop the McElmo Dome and look out onto the landscape. And so long as there’s no wildfire smoke blowing through, I should be able to see it more clearly than I ever have before. And it should only get better.

The Land Desk is a newsletter from Jonathan P. Thompson, author of “River of Lost Souls,” “Behind the Slickrock Curtain,” and “Sagebrush Empire.” To subscribe, go to: www.landdesk.org

July 14, 2022 n 7

TopStory

Microplastic mountain With plastics found in Colorado’s snowpack, researchers ask: ‘Is no place sacred?’

by Jonathan Romeo

A

ccording to a new study, dust that settles on Colorado’s mountain snowpack, including in the San Juans, contains widespread levels of microplastics, raising questions about impacts to human health and the environment.

In the early 2000s, the Colorado Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies (CSAS) and other partners began tracking the “dust-onsnow” phenomenon, in which dust whips up from other parts of the country in massive windstorm events and lands in Colorado. As a consequence, the dust-laden snow absorbs more heat, melting earlier and faster than normal.

In 2011, however, samples from these dust events from 14 monitoring sites across the state began to show traces of unknown materials. Over the ensuing years, better sampling methods led researchers to confirm the dreaded truth: microplastics (tiny pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters in dimension). And the problem? Plastic does not biodegrade; it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.

In June, the U.S. Geological Survey, in partnership with CSAS, released its revelatory findings.

“In a way, it wasn’t surprising we found microplastics in the samples, because microplastics are everywhere,” Jeff Derry, executive director of CSAS, said. “But at the same time, once you see it under the microscope, it’s a visceral hit, because that’s our snowpack. Is no place sacred?”

Indeed, microplastics have been found almost everywhere on Earth, from the deepest depths of the ocean to the highest mountain peaks. In the past few years, microplastics have even been discovered in human blood and lungs.

Yet, as Derry noted, it is significant to find the widespread presence of microplastics in Colorado, including the San Juan Mountains. And many questions remain unanswered on the impact to the ecosystem, as well as humans.

“We started this research because of the dust-on-snow issue, and who would have thought this would have found microplastics?” Derry said. “Now, we’re asking what this means for our ecosystem. Really, what are the impacts on everything?”

Stranger things Throughout winter and spring, windstorms bring clouds of dust from all over the Southwest to the San Juan high country. When dust lands on snow, it accelerates snowmelt, typically 25 to 50 days earlier than normal.

Obviously, this is a huge problem for water users in the drought-stricken West and the diminishing water supply of the Colorado River, which supports more than 40 million people. As a result, researchers

8

n July 14, 2022

A dust-on-snow testing site on Red Mountain Pass shows the stark contrast between virgin snow (foreground) and snow that’s been dust affected. The dust not only heats up the snowpack, causing it to melt faster, but it also contains microplastics which pose unknown impacts./ Courtesy photo began looking into the problem in the early 2000s, setting up monitoring sites around the state to take samples after dust events.

In the process of this work, however, “strange things” began to show up in the samples around 2011, according to Richard Reynolds, a scientist emeritus with the USGS. Clear, translucent filaments of all colors could be seen under the microscope, but sampling methods couldn’t determine exactly what they were.

“We had ideas,” Reynolds said, “but they turned out to be all wrong.”

It’s raining plastic At the same time in the early 2010s, microplastics started to appear in nearly every corner of the world – Arctic ice, the Pyrenees and the European Alps, to name a few.

Just as concerning, studies over the past decade revealed traces of plastic within humans. In 2022, microplastics were found in human lungs for the first time ever.

As the science on microplastics in the ecosystem dominated headlines in the

past few years, USGS and CSAS researchers took note.

“We realized that’s exactly what we were seeing in our samples,” Reynolds said.

In the new study, the USGS examined 38 samples collected in late spring from 14 high elevation sites throughout Colorado, including Red Mountain Pass. From 201316 – the focus of the study – every single sample contained microplastics, and, equally troubling, the concentration of microplastics have increased each year.

Although the scope of this new USGS study was limited to 2013-16, Derry said samples taken every year since show signs of contamination.

“It’s safe to assume there are microplastics in those samples, even though we haven’t gotten that far (analyzing) yet,” he said.

Which way the wind blows One major question, of course, is the source of the plastic. Historically, land disturbances, such as livestock grazing, were the primary cause of dust ending up in the

telegraph

Rockies as early as the 1800s. But now, a host of factors – climate change, overpopulation, overgrazing, agriculture and drought – complicate the identification of the exact source of microplastics.

“Our study didn’t look into where the plastics are coming from, but there are clues in what we see to guide us toward sources,” Reynolds said.

A 2021 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) examined ways microplastics could be emitted into the atmosphere. By sifting through data, the study estimated roads emitted 84% of atmospheric microplastics, the ocean 11% and agricultural dust 4%.

Cities, oddly enough, were not a major contributor. But ultimately, the study concluded there was still much work to do to pinpoint sources.

“I think everyone on the planet should be concerned, because if (microplastics) are moving through the atmosphere, there’s no surface of the Earth that’s untouched,” Natalie Mahowald, an Earth

and atmospheric scientist at Cornell University, told the environmental science news outlet Mongabay. “That’s the big thing, and we’re right at the beginning of seeing this problem.”

Attempts to reach Janice Brahney, an associate professor of watershed sciences from Utah State University, who co-authored the study, were unsuccessful.

How bad is it?

While there are concerns with how microplastics affect dust-on-snow melt-off, there also are unsettling health implications of microplastics in the air we breathe and the snowpack, which runs off into streams and lakes.

Despite the prevalence of microplastics in our ecosystem, there remains a lot to be learned about their risks. In 2019, for example, the World Health Organization told NPR, “We urgently need to know more about the health impact of microplastics, because they are everywhere – including in our drinking water.”

The City of Durango said it does not test its drinking water for microplastics.

Some studies have found additional implications for mountain ecosystems and aquatic life. In January 2022, researchers with Northwestern University and the University of Birmingham in England found it takes years for microplastics to flush out of the headwaters of streams and lakes, by far the longest of any of the terrains examined.

As a result, organisms in these areas are more likely to ingest microplastics, potentially degrading ecosystem health.

“There’s definitely an ecological impact and most likely on smaller organisms,”

Northwestern’s Aaron Packman, one of the study’s senior authors, said. “But we really don’t know the long-term effects.”

With humans ingesting, inhaling and drinking plastics, there’s also a larger concern that microplastics can carry organic contaminants, viruses and bacteria. “Microplastics can act as a vector to increase exposure to other, more harmful particulates,” Packman said. “But as far as health effects in the long term, it’s hard to get exact answers on how bad it is.”

Plastic with a side of plastic Solutions won’t be easy to come by. According to the 2021 PNAS study, 10 billion tons of plastic exist in the world, with about 20% ending up in the environment.

Further, 10 million metric tons of microplastics are emitted into the atmosphere each year.

Erica Cirino, spokeswoman for the Plastic Pollution Coalition and author of “Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis,” said plastic production has been largely unregulated. But now, the issue is pressing, as the science community understands the true pervasiveness and hazards of plastic pollution.

“It’s part of our diet now, and we’re breathing it in through the air,” Cirino said.

“The ultimate solution is to stop producing plastic, but what are we going to do in lieu of our plastic lifestyle? It’s possible but would require sacrifice.”

USGS’s Reynolds said the discovery of microplastics throughout Colorado’s snowpack is a microcosm of a worldwide issue.

So far, USGS’s research into microplastics carried by dust has been rudimentary. Plans

Various sizes of microplastics from the study. Researchers have yet to pinpoint the source, but grazing, roads, agriculture and the ocean are all potential culprits./ Courtesy photo include finding out specific kinds of plastics, concentrations and fluctuations from year to year.

As far as the ubiquity of microplastics in Colorado’s snowpack – the state’s main water source – and its impacts to human

health and the environment, that’s an ongoing question.

“We’re just opening the book for others to look at the very important potential to ecosystem effects,” Reynolds said. “There are still a lot of questions unanswered.”

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July 14, 2022 n

9

BetweentheBeats

A man of all genres

Guillaume Metz dishes on mastering your own sound

by Stephen Sellers

G

reetings, readers! Can we just take a hot July minute to acknowledge the musical magic of Lyle Lovett crooning his heart out at sunset on July 4?

Never have I felt more proud of my Texas roots than watching my state-brother execute this selfless act of interstate diplomacy. It could have just been my row, but it felt like a worship service from back home, just a little sexier. Truly, we can live and love and sway together, Durango and Texas. Who do we petition to get more concerts on those softball fields? Who’s with me? Thanks to y’all over at the Fort Lewis Community Concert Hall for creating so many magical memories to help sustain us as the world continues to overdose on late-stage capitalism.

For this month’s installment of Between the Beats, I sat down with the Nile Rodgers of Durango – Guillaume Metz.

Raised in a first-ring suburb of Paris, with family roots in Durango, anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Metz knows that the man is a polymath. Pilot, writer, boxer, web developer, chef and one hell of a guitar player.

If you haven’t met Metz, you will recognize him as the humble shredder who plays lead guitar in J-Calvin, Hello Dollface, Nu Bass Theory and Elder Grown. If I was going to book a funky session guitar player or recommend a master instructor for private guitar lessons, he’d be le mec.

Since moving full time to Durango about 10 years ago, he is musically aging like a fine pinot noir – versatile, medium-bodied, complex and with a fresh, velvety finish.

Metz is celebrating the second volume release of his book “Music Theory for the Self Taught Musician.” Both volumes are essential reading for anyone with an interest in learning, as Metz says, “how music works under the hood.” Get your copy at Amazon, eBay or Target!

How did you discover your passion and love for music?

My dad was very musically inclined. He taught me the piano when I was 5 or 6.

But the way I really discovered my love of music was because of my mom. She had great, varied musical tastes. AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Chick Corea, even Alanis Morissette. That’s what she listened to every morning, mostly on CDs. I feel lucky that I was the last part of a generation that didn’t have YouTube and the internet. The only way I had to figure something out was by listening, guitar lessons or buying a book for that specific album.

How did you learn to play music?

Mostly by ear, because I didn’t have a lot of tablature books. So, that was my first introduction to music. And that’s how languages are learned, and I think that’s the most important thing about music. I write

10 n July 14, 2022

Guillaume Metz books about music theory, because I think it’s super important, but anything before that should be like language – all by ear.

When you learn how to speak, you listen to your parents. You can learn how to speak without any grammar lessons and still speak well.

What advice do you have for musicians?

Forget everything you think you know about music. Most likely, what you think you know about music is preventing you from moving forward, because you’re not seeing the picture clearly.

Listen to lots of music, and that’s what’s going to feed your musical tank of ideas. Your ears are going to naturally hear those licks and little grooves and use that to create. It’s like a well. Anything you hear, feel, have heard/think of that as this giant tank of ideas. If you’re singing it, humming it and no one is helping you, that means it’s in you. Most people have that well underneath, but they don’t have the tools to go grab it. I think my books

telegraph

can help with that.

The best musicians are people who have a range of passions and can bring them into their music. It’s good to be able to not feel dependent on music for your happiness. Go out in the world, do things, be interested, be passionate, and when you come back to music, you’re gonna do great.

What are your thoughts on playing in Durango?

I’m shocked by the amount of art and music here. The fact that I’m able to be in four different projects that feel amazing and creative in so many ways, and build friendships and earn a little bit of income, that’s amazing.

Durango is a really cool town to test the waters on what your passion is, because it creates this environment where you can easily get some exposure and try things out, and there’s really big support for that … Really, it’s about where you can be where there’s a lot of big cities nearby.

And Durango is actually great for that. It’s hard, but it’s possible.

GossipoftheCyclers

It’s about time

2022 ushers in first official Tour de France Femmes

by Jennaye Derge

I

often watch sports at bars where I sit and drink beer with my friends. The TVs are usually turned on overhead, and I will inadvertently, quickly glance at the screens above my friends’ shoulders while we catch up on life. Teams do stuff and score points, and while I’m on a bad date or my companion has gone to the bathroom, I will pay better attention to what is going on and silently cheer on the sports teams. That’s how I first started watching the Tour de France.

Le Tour de France started in le year 1903, but I started watching it over my friends’ shoulders at le local brewpub probably sometime around 2010. To the true-blue Tour fans, this pegs me as a newbie or a poser, but I don’t le care. Suck it up. Let’s move on.

The Tour de France is a fascinating event if only because the scenery is beautiful, and the event itself is super confusing.

The race course goes through France but also sometimes other countries. (This year, it goes through four). It is around 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) and has 21 stages, each lasting one day for 23 days.

The 21 daily stages that last for 23 days are battled out between 22 teams, with eight riders on each team. To my understanding, each rider has a strength, such as flat roads, hilly terrain, climbing up mountains, or having a doping scandal and getting pee thrown in their faces.

None of which are my strengths, which are riding to the grocery store and sometimes getting caught in a rainstorm in the high country.

Each team member of the Tour rides the stages, gets the time points (they’re not actually points, but it’s not sports without points), and whoever gets the least amount of time points is the winner of each stage. The one with the least time points in the end gets to stand tallest on a podium, receive medals, gets champagne sprayed in their faces (instead of pee) and wins a bunch of money.

And also there is a yellow jersey for the stage winners, and that’s cool.

It took me a while to learn even these basic premises because, while simple and admittedly practical, it’s still a lot. It’s more than just riding fast and crossing the finish line, and I’m super into that, because sometimes you just want to watch guys in tight Lycra ride their bikes through some neat terrain in some pretty scenery.

I say “guys,” because Le Tour is for le men only, and while the 2022 race is already really exciting – i.e. locals Sepp Kuss and Quinn Simmons competing – we can also be stoked, because it is the inaugural year of the Tour de France Femmes, an official women’s stage race.

This year’s historic ladies’ race is an eight-day event taking place the same day Tour de France hommes ends. While it’s still a mini version, it has been a long time in the making and hopefully brings the promise of more.

There have been attempted piggy-backdTour De France female races in the past: the Leulliot race; Tour de France Féminin; Tour de la C.E.E. féminin; and the longestrunning and most recent, Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale. But these races were not officially operated by the TourdDe France organizers (the Amaury Sport Organization, or ASO), and so there were obvious inequality battles over, well, pretty much everything: pay, media coverage, marketing, organization, routes, etc.

So this year, after (only) 119 years, the ASO finally agreed to make the Tour de France Féminin an official part of the Tour de France. This means the ladies will get similar media coverage, the same event sponsor and, I assume, besides pay and cash prizes, they will have all the other advantages the men have as an official ASO race. Including, hopefully, the amount of champagne sprayed in their faces.

The ladies ride takes place July 24 – 31

and will span 1,029km (about 640 miles) over a mixture of gravel, unpaved sections and mountain passes. There will be 24 teams starting where the men end in Paris,

Need space to run free?

and while they ride east to Lure, I will be sitting at my local brewpub, watching over my friend’s shoulder, cheering the women on.

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72 Suttle St. Unit B

Mon - Sat 9am - 6pm

July 14, 2022 n 11

StufftoDo

Thursday14 Conservation Conversation with ultrarunners Kilian Jornet, Dakota Jones and SJMA’s Alex Miller, 3-5 p.m., the Coffee Bear, Silverton.

Ska-B-Q with Eryn Bent, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St. Bingo Night, 5 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Fantastic Cat plays the free Concerts in the Park series, 5:30 p.m., Buckley Park.

Live music, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music, 5:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Maddy & Kev play, 6 p.m., James Ranch Grill, 33846 Highway 550.

Dustin Burley plays, 6 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse and Bar, 701 E. 2nd Ave. Jeff Solon Jazz Duo plays, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave. PJ Moon & Alex Blocker play, 6-9 p.m., Durango Hot Springs.

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

Powerhouse Trivia Night, 6:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio. Bob Hemenger plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th Street Station.

“Heathers the Musical,” 7:30 p.m., Fort Lewis College’s Mainstage Theatre. durangoconcerts.com The Mysto Really Big Magic Show, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Live music, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music, 5:30 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Authors in the Parklet: Richard Vargas, 6 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. Dragondeer & Lacey Black play, 6 p.m., Memorial Park, Silverton, 1800 Greene St. Part of Silverton Summer Sounds concert series.

Pete Guiliani plays, 6-9 p.m., Weminuche Woodfire Grill, Vallecito Jack Ellis & Larry Carver play, 6 p.m., Derailed Pour House.

Alison Dance plays, 6-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave. Ru Paul’s Drag Race Watch Party, every Friday, 68 p.m., Father’s Daughters Pizza, 640 Main Ave. La La Bones play, 6 p.m., Fox Fire Farms, Ignacio.

Ben Gibson plays, 6 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse and Bar, 701 E. 2nd Ave. Joseph Lamar plays, 6 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

“Wish You Were Here,” 7 p.m., a collection of short plays based on vintage postcards, presented by The Durango Arts Repertory Theatre (DART). durangoarts.org.

Movies in the Park Series: “Sing 2”, 7 p.m., Durango Recreation Lawn Center.

Horseshirt plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th Street Station.

artist Cyrina, noon – 6 p.m., Nomad, 919 HWY 3.

PJ Moon plays, 1-4 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Authors in the Parklet: Don Paulson, 4 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. The One Stan Band plays, 5 p.m., Mancos Brewing. iAM Music Fest, 5-9 p.m., Buckley Park, featuring Magic Beans, Shamarr Allen, Noodle, Gracie Jay & performances by Secret Circus Society. Late night stage, 9:30-11 p.m., iNDIGO Room, 1315 Main Ave, featuring Joseph Lamar.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Black Velvet Duo plays, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place.

Jack Ellis Band plays, 6 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse and Bar, 701 E. 2nd Ave. Dustin Burley plays, 6-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave. Community Yoga, 6-7 p.m., Yoga Durango, 1485 Florida Rd., C-201. Donations accepted.

Birds of Play plays, July 27, 6:30 p.m., Rochester Hotel, 726 E. 2nd Ave. “Wish You Were Here,” 7 p.m., a collection of short plays based on vintage postcards, presented by The Durango Arts Repertory Theatre (DART). durangoarts.org.

Clear Spring Jazz Trio plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Geeks Who Drink Trivia, 8 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr.

“Heathers the Musical,” 7:30 p.m., Fort Lewis College’s Mainstage Theatre. durangoconcerts.com

“Heathers the Musical,” 7:30 p.m., Fort Lewis College’s Mainstage Theatre. durangoconcerts.com

Comedy Show, 9 p.m., Olde Tymers Café, 1000 Main Ave.

The Mysto Really Big Magic Show, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

The Mysto Really Big Magic Show, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Friday15 San Juan Nature Hike, 9 a.m., meet at Andrews Lake upper parking, hosted by San Juan Mountains Association.

Friends of the Library Summer Book Sale, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave. Gary Walker plays, 10 a.m.-12 noon, Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave. Celebrate Frida Kahlo’s Birthday with collage artist Cyrina, noon – 6 p.m., the studio at Nomad, 919 HWY 3.

Say Hello to a Horse, 11 a.m. – noon, on National I Love Horses Day. Pine River Library, Bayfield.

Bentley Monk plays, 5 p.m., Mancos Brewing Co.

Saturday16 Durango Farmers Market, 8 a.m.–12 noon, featuring music from Under the Radar, TBK Bank parking lot, across from the Transit Center.

Bayfield Farmers Market, 8 a.m., 1328 County Road 501.

Animas Valley Grange Yard Sale, 8 a.m.-2 p.m., 7271 CR 203.

American Indian Cultural Arts Festival, 10 a.m., Aztec Ruins National Monument.

Kitten Yoga, noon – 1 p.m., Pine River Library, Bayfield.

Celebrate Frida Kahlo’s Birthday with collage

S ummer S pe e cial!

Easy Care Tablecloths Buy one - second one Half Price 970-259-5811 • 26345 HWY 160/550

1 mile SE of Durango Mall • www.dietzmarket.com

12 n July 14, 2022

telegraph

Silent Disco, 10 p.m.-1 a.m., 11th Street Station.

Sunday17 Durango Flea Market, 8 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave. Veterans Benefit Breakfast, 9 a.m., VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave. History Tour of the Historic Powerhouse, 12 noon, 1333 Camino del Rio. Rob Webster plays, 1-4 p.m., 11th Street Station.

“Heathers the Musical,” 2 p.m., Fort Lewis College’s Mainstage Theatre. durangoconcerts.com “Wish You Were Here,” 2 p.m., a collection of

AskRachel

Monday blackouts, soy boy and getting clean Interesting fact: Soy lecithin is an emulsifier, sure, but it’s a food lubricant? Not two words I usually put together outside the ol’ love shack.

Dear Rachel, Have you ever, like, forgotten that it was Monday and showed up to work on a Tuesday thinking it was Monday and never realized the difference until you got chastised for not calling in and missing some itty bitty deadline? How did you handle it, and did you ever show your face again? Or if you haven’t, any ideas for this idiot with two thumbs and no internal calendar?

– Leap Day Dear Bloody Monday, Weirdly enough, I had my own near scrape with Monday. You see, I used to have this pen pal. He wrote me like clockwork each week, so that Monday morning his letter would greet me. Only he wasn’t really a pen pal, per se. More like, a customer, I suppose you’d say?

And they weren’t so much letters as kaleidoscopic glimpses into a strange and eccentric mind, with optional spaces between words and random-ass periods?

But when he up and stopped writing, I realized how much I had come to rely on him. Like Garfield relied on the MONDAY voice in his cartoons.

– A pie to the face, Rachel Dear Rachel, I recently decided to join the dietary needs community. I don’t have any actual food allergies or moral compass, but an alternative healer short plays based on vintage postcards, presented by The Durango Arts Repertory Theatre (DART). durangoarts.org.

Dustin Burley plays, 2 p.m., Weminuche Woodfire Grill, Vallecito.

Open Mic, 5 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Jazz/Funk/Soul Jam, 6 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Joseph Lamar plays, 6-9 p.m., Durango Hot Springs.

Devin Scott plays, 6:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Comedy Show, 6:30 p.m., Olde Tymers Café.

Monday18 Death Cafe, 1-2:30 p.m., Pine River Library, Bayfield.

friend of a friend told me soy would harm my testosterone levels, so I cut out soy. Easy! I really only eat soy sauce a couple times a year. But I made this boast out loud to a lot of people whose opinions I care about, BEFORE looking at ingredient labels. So what is soy lecithin, and why is it in literally everything? More important, how can I back out of this vow?

– Soy Cabrón Dear Tofurkey, The way you’re concerned about your ’rone, I wonder if you’re of the “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” crowd. If so, nut up and eat your soy lecithin.

Slurp it right from the bottle that you must be able to get at the Unpronounceable Food Additives store. Your friends questioning you won’t kill you, so you’ll be stronger. You’ll end up all alone, sure, and probably bent over with stomach cramps. But stronger!

– Soy útil, Rachel Dear Rachel, I recently hired dogsitters for the first time.

Just one overnight. Sweet young couple. I cleaned the house for them and everything.

Well, I come home, and the house is even cleaner than I left it. I’m talking the tracks of the windows are dusted out. The wood stove is immaculate (on the inside!) Crap like that. This can’t be normal. Is it? Is this a judgment on my own standards of cleanliness? Do I owe them extra money now?

– Cleaned Out

Tuesday19 Twin Buttes Farm Stand, every Tuesday, 3-5:30 p.m., 165 Tipple Ave. Half Ridge Trail Opening Celebration, 5 p.m. Meet at Horse Gulch trailhead for a ride or run up to Half Ridge with a celebration afterwards. Sign up at durangotrails.org.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon& Office Spiritorium, 699 Main.

Maddy & Kev play, 6 p.m., James Ranch Grill.

Concerts in the Plaza: Black Velvet plays, 6-8 p.m., Three Springs Plaza, 151 Heritage Lane.

Dustin Burley play, 6-9 p.m., Durango Hot Springs.

Email questions to telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Dog Wash, You just hit the friggin’ jackpot. They might just be people who l-o-v-e love to clean. And last I heard, dogsitting is cheaper than housecleaning. Plus, housecleaners don’t usually feed your pets. So ride this wave, hold this couple close and never let them go. Not even if they forget to use punctuation marks in their letters to you. ESPECIALLY not then.

– Spick and span, Rachel Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon & Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Dusty Grannis plays, 7-10 p.m., 11th Street Station.

The Mysto Really Big Magic Show, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Ongoing

Music in the Mountains, thru July 31, info and event listings at musicinthemountains.com.

Women’s Resource Center’s Scavenger Hunt Fundraiser, info at wrcdurango.org/events/scavenger-hunt.

Shock Wave Drag Night, first and third Friday of every month, 9 p.m., Father’s Daughters Pizza, 640 Main Ave. 18+ The Hive Indoor Skate Park open skate and skate lessons. For schedule, go to www.thehivedgo.org

Open Mic Night, weekly 7:30-9:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave. Comedy Open Mic, weekly, 9 p.m., 11th St. Station.

Upcoming

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon & Office Spiritorium, 699 Main.

Wednesday20

Ska-B-Q with Farmington Hill, July 21, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

Boss’ Daughter & the Batteries play, 8 p.m., The Hive, 1150 Main Ave.

Kirk James Blues Band plays Community Concert Series, 5-7 p.m., Rochester Hotel, 726 E. 2nd Ave. Benefit for La Plata Open Space Conservancy.

Carter Sampson & the Jackalopes play the free Concerts in the Park series, July 21, 5:30 p.m., Buckley Park.

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July 14, 2022 n 13

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): With a fanciful flourish, Aries poet Seamus Heaney wrote, “I ate the day / Deliberately, that its tang / Might quicken me all into verb, pure verb.” I’d love for you to be a pure verb for a while, Aries. Doing so would put you in robust rapport with astrological rhythms. As a pure verb, you’ll never be static. Flowing and transformation will be your specialties. A steady stream of fresh inspiration and new meanings will come your way. You already have an abundance of raw potential for living like a verb – more than all the other signs of the zodiac. And in the coming weeks, your aptitude for that fluidic state will be even stronger than usual.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to Arthurian myth, the Holy Grail is a cup that confers magical powers.

Among them are eternal youth, miraculous healing, the restoration of hope, the resurrection of the dead, and an unending supply of healthy and delicious food and drink. Did the Grail ever exist as a material object?

Some believe so. After 34 years of research, historian David Adkins thinks he’s close to finding it. He says it’s buried beneath an old house in Burton-onTrent, a town in central England. I propose we make this tantalizing prospect your metaphor of power during the coming weeks. Why? I suspect there’s a chance you will discover a treasure or precious source of vitality. It may be partially hidden in plain sight or barely disguised in a mundane setting.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I’m pleased to authorize you to be extra vast and extensive in the coming weeks. Like Gemini poet Walt Whitman, you should never apologize and always be proud of the fact that you contain multitudes. Your multivalent, wide-ranging outlook will be an asset, not a liability. We should all thank you for being a grand compendium of different selves. Your versatility and elasticity will enhance the well-being of all of us whose lives you touch.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your memory is SUBSTANTIAL. Your sensitivity is MONUMENTAL. Your urge to nurture is DEEP. Your complexity is EPIC. Your feelings are BOTTOMLESS. Your imagination is PRODIGIOUS. Because of all these aptitudes and capacities, you are TOO MUCH for some people. Not everyone can handle your intricate and sometimes puzzling BEAUTY. But there are enough folks out there who do appreciate and thrive on your gifts. In the coming weeks and months, make it your quest to focus your urge to merge on them.

14 n July 14, 2022

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I love these lines by Leo poet Conrad Aiken: “Remember (when time comes) how chaos died to shape the shining leaf.” I hope this lyrical thought will help you understand the transformation you’re going through. The time has come for some of your chaos to expire – and in doing so, generate your personal equivalent of shining leaves. Can you imagine what the process would look and feel like?

How might it unfold? Your homework is to ponder these wonders.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): A British woman named Andie Holman calls herself the Scar Queen. She says, “Tight scar tissue creates pain, impacts mobility, affects your posture and usually looks bad.” Her specialty is to diminish the limiting effects of scars, restoring flexibility and decreasing aches. Of course, she works with actual physical wounds, not the psychological kind. I wish I could refer you to healers who would help you with the latter, Virgo. Do you know any? If not, seek one out. The good news is that you now have more personal power than usual to recover from your old traumas and diminish your scars. I urge you to make such work a priority in the coming weeks.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Ancient Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” But a Spanish proverb suggests a different element may be necessary: “Good luck comes by elbowing.” (Elbowing refers to the gesture you use as you push your way through a crowd, nudging people away from the path you want to take.) A Danish proverb says preparation and elbowing aren’t enough: “Luck will carry someone across the brook if they are not too lazy to leap.” Modern author Wendy Walker has the last word: “Fortune adores audacity.” I hope I’ve inspired you to be alert to the possibility that extra luck is now available to you. And I hope I’ve convinced you to be audacious, energetic, well-prepared and willing to engage in elbowing. Take maximum advantage of this opportunity.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Many Scorpios imagine sex to be a magnificent devotion, a quintessential mode of worship, an unparalleled celebration of sacred earthiness. I endorse and admire this perspective. If our culture had more of it, the art and entertainment industries would offer far less of the demeaning, superficial versions of sexuality that are so rampant.

Here’s another thing I love about Scorpios: So many of you grasp the value of sublimating lust into other fun and constructive accomplishments. You’re skilled at channeling your high-powered libido into practical actions that may have no apparent erotic element. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to do a lot of that.

telegraph

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): A Sagittarius reader named Jenny-Sue asked, “What are actions I could take to make my life more magical?” I’m glad she asked. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to raise your delight and enchantment levels, to bask in the blessed glories of alluring mysteries and uncanny synchronicities. Here are a few tips: 1. Learn the moon’s phases and keep track of them. 2. Acquire a new sacred treasure and keep it under your pillow or in your bed. 3. Before sleep, ask your deep mind to provide you with dreams that help generate creative answers to a specific question. 4. Go on walks at night or at dawn. 5. Compose a wild or funny prayer and shout it aloud as you run through a field. 6. Sing a soulful song to yourself as you gaze into a mirror.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Being able to receive love doesn’t come easy for some Capricorns. You may also not be adept at making yourself fully available for gifts and blessings. But you can learn these things. You can practice. With enough mindful attention, you might eventually become skilled at the art of getting a lot of what you need and knowing what to do with it. And I believe the coming weeks will be a marvelous time to increase your mastery.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “If I don’t practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.” This quote is variously attributed to violinist Jascha Heifetz, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, and violinist Isaac Stern. It’s a fundamental principle for everyone who wants to get skilled at any task, not just for musicians.

To become a master of what you love to do, you must work on it with extreme regularity. This is always true, of course. But according to my astrological analysis, it will be even more intensely true and desirable for you during the coming months.

Life is inviting you to raise your expertise to a higher level. I hope you’ll respond!

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In May 2021, Jessica and Ben Laws got married on their dairy farm. The ceremony unfolded smoothly, but an unforeseen event interrupted the reception party. A friend who had been monitoring their herd came to tell the happy couple that their pregnant cow had gone into labor and was experiencing difficulties.

Jessica ran to the barn and plunged into active assistance, still clad in her lovely floor-length bridal gown and silver tiara.

The dress got muddy and trashed, but the birth was successful. The new bride had no regrets. I propose making her your role model for now. Put practicality over idealism. Opt for raw and gritty necessities instead of neat formalities. Serve what’s soulful, even if it’s messy.

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 or substitutions.)

Ads can be submitted via: n www.durangotelegraph.com 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: On delivery Fri: Gone fishing; call first

Announcements Make America Great Again Jail Donald Trump and abort the Supreme Court.

Lost/Found Lost Cell Phone at Lyle Lovett event. Outside the venue near road in front of rodeo grounds. If found please call 970-382-1313.

Classes/Workshops Free Advanced Medical Directives Free presentation on Advance Medical Directives presented by Colorado Legal Services Tuesday, July 19th from 5:30 pm – 7 pm at the Durango Public Library or via Zoom. Topics include: Living Will, Medical Power of Attorney. Please call 385-7378 ext 251 for details on how to attend or visit www.durangovap.com/ events/

Editor’s note: Tele cartoonist Clint Reid was sick this week and kinda sorta forgot about this cartoon. As a result, this week we bring you a special “fill in the blank” version of “Chech it Out.” Enjoy.

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ForSale Sondors E-bike 350 watt motor, newer battery, 4.25” tires, singlespeed, rear rack, low miles. $600 928-273-2598. Text preferred.

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

Services RSE Handyman Service Home repair - yard work - odd jobs 970-903-0449

HaikuMovieReview ‘Take Me’ Need to get away from it all for the weekend?

Try being kidnapped – Lainie Maxson

BodyWork Lotus Path Healing Arts Now accepting new clients. Offering a unique, intuitive fusion of Esalen massage, deep tissue & Acutonics, 24 years of experience. To schedule call Kathryn, 970-201-3373.

Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.

Harmony Cleaning and Organizing Residential, offices, commercial and vacation rentals, 970-403-6192.

CommunityService 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.

“Empty the Shelter” The Farmington Regional Animal Shelter is having $10 adoptions through July 31. For info: fmtn.org/173/Animal-Shelter.

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A frog

Orgain protein powder Three containers chocolate, unopened, $15 each. 970-903-5636.

West Coast Swing Dance 6-week class starts July 27. Learn the basics of West Coast Swing. Registration is required at www.westslopewesties.com.

16” Truck / Van tires Continental Van Contact A/S 235/65 R 16 C. Like new < 1500 miles on them set of 5 $90 ea. or $400 for set. 970-749-9037

HelpWanted

Local Tempeh Factory for Sale Do you love fungus? Local, Profitable established fresh tempeh factory for sale with even more room to expand. Sale comes with training and equipment. Serious inquiries only please. info@luvbox foods.com

Team UP AmeriCorps Positions Open!

AmeriCorps: Do something big! Recruiting multiple f/t & p/t positions serving SW Colorado’s children and communities. Start 9/8. Living allowance, health insurance, and the opportunity to make a difference. Visit teamup-swco.org/ open-positions/ or email Program Coordinator at Mikek@unitedway-swco.org for more information.

since 2015 (hey, one of us is a writer for this fair publication), but decided now was the perfect time to start looking to buy a home because we’re idiots. But, if you are selling your home and would rather sell to people who have been here long enough to know what the Arc of History is, contact us at san.juaner1122 @gmail.com

Reruns Home Furnishings New inventory including patio sets, bistros, garden pots, nightstands, lamps, bookcases and lots more … Come in today! 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat.

Wanted We are in hell!

We’re a young couple who has lived and been gainfully employed in Durango

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