Durango Telegraph Jan. 7, 2021

Stayin’ alive

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Jan. 7, 2021 Vol. XX, No. 1 durangotelegraph.com

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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

Who’s next?

Rock in peace

Plate half-full

State’s vaccination plan creates confusion, competition p8

The voices we lost in the terrible, no-good year that was p9

‘Intermittent feasting’ all in the way you look at it p10

Coming full circle.

Issue 14 of The Gulch is out now!

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 Jan. 7, 2021

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lineup

4

4 La Vida Local

An ode to outdoor refuges and fallen friends

4 Thumbin’ It

Hope on the rocks

Ear to the ground: “It literally bugs the shit out of me when people put the toilet paper on ‘mullet style,’ and I’ve actually fixed it at other people’s homes to show them the error of their ways.”

– Man discussing one of the enduring debates of our time

by Luke Mehall

5 Word on the Street 6 Soapbox

8

7 Retooned

Shot in the dark

8 State News

State’s vaccine roll-out creates confusion, frustration

by Andre Dukakis & Ben Markus / Colorado Public Radio

Warm and fuzzy

thepole

RegularOccurrences

In honor of MLK Day, the city of Durango is hosting a winter clothing drive for clean scarves, hats and socks (new or gently used) and new cloth face coverings. Collection bins will be set up at the Community Recreation Center, Police Department. Durango Public Library and City Hall through Jan. 15.

Clothing items will be distributed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Mon., Jan. 18, from 9 a.m. noon at Manna Soup Kitchen.

9 Top Shelf 10 Flash in the Pan

9

11 Murder Ink

Rock in peace

12-13 Stuff to Do

Goodbye to a horrible no-good year that took way too many heroes

by Chris Aaland

13 Ask Rachel 14 Free Will Astrology 15 Classifieds

11

15 Haiku Movie Review

Plate half-full

On the cover: Taking a break from the mayhem to enjoy the sunrise over Arrow and Vestal peaks from Molas Pass./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Intermittent fasting or feasting all in how you approach it

by Ari LeVaux

boilerplate

EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel (missy@durangotelegraph.com) ADVERTISING AFICIONADO: Lainie Maxson (lainie@durangotelegraph.com) STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: 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

STAR-STUDDED CAST: Lainie Maxson, Ari LeVaux, Chris Aaland, Luke Mehall, Jeffrey Mannix, Shan Wells, Jesse Anderson & Clint Reid

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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

Gotta get up to get down The Bluebird has landed. Colorado’s first “backcountry-only” ski area fired up the, uh, skin tracks Dec. 31, 2020. Located on Bear Mountain, along the Continental Divide between Kremmling and Steamboat, the idea was the brainchild of ski buddies Erik Lambert and Jeff Woodward.

The idea behind Bluebird is a ski area that caters to pretty much everyone, provided they don’t mind slogging for their turns.

“Our hope is to make sure that everyone, no matter their backcountry experience level, feels incredibly welcomed,” said Lambert.

The area offers a backcountry experience with the amenities of a resort (patrol, two warming huts and a base hut) while also providing a safe place for newbs to learn the intricacies of everything from skin application and removal to walk/ski mode and beacon usage.

Bluebird opened for a trial run last season at the nearby Whiteley Peak. However, its new location on Bear Mountain, a few miles up the road, receives around 50 percent more snow on average, according to the ski area. The peak tops out at nearly 10,000 feet and includes 1,200 acres of avalanche-evaluated terrain, from steeps to meandering open meadows. An additional 3,000 acres are also open to those who hire a guide or take an AIARE course at Bluebird.

The area also offers rentals, lessons, guides, avi classes and, for the true dirtbag experience, parking lot camping ($25/night.)

And while not as cheap as the real backcountry experience, Bluebird comes in at a fairly reasonable rate compared to jaw-dropping resort prices, at $50/day (reservations required.) There are also discounts for 10-day and 4-day packages, which can be split among your whole crew. Season passes were also available – they have long since sold out.

The area is open from 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Thurs. - Mon. To book a day at Bluebird (a mere 6.5-hour drive from Durango, in good weather), go to: bluebirdbackcountry.com

Jan. 7, 2021 n

3

opinion

LaVidaLocal Hogsback and fallen friends If you’re like me, getting outside for fresh air and exercise every day is a must.

That’s one of the reasons I’ve felt grateful to live in an area like Durango during this pandemic. I can still get out on the trails and the rocks; a necessity for my mental health and physical fitness. If I were stuck in an apartment in the city for these last 10 months, well, I’d say you could have put a fork in me, cause I’d be done.

My favorite local quick hike is Hogsback. It can be done in less than an hour, car to car, and since it’s quite steep, it really gets the heart rate going. Since we got our dog, Hope, last March my love for this trail and formation has only grown; as has the crazy shit I’ve seen up there.

Over the years, I’ve seen skiers launch off the top in a big storm. I’ve seen mountain bikers fly down the steep ridge. A couple years there during Snowdown, there was the Hogs Gnar, where people ran laps up and down for the fun of it. One year after my 40th birthday, the trail was covered in snow and ice and it felt as serious as an alpine ridge way high up in the mountains; as if a slip might send you careening down into the abyss.

In the past year, I’ve seen more wild happenings than ever. I think it’s because Hogsback is listed on more and more apps as a biking trail, when in reality it’s terrain only a few select mountain bikers would ride. In other words it’s steep AF. One day, I reached the summit with Hope, and looked down to the backside to see a man lying there next to his bike. Is he hurt? was the first thought I had.

“Hey, how’s it going?” I asked the guy.

“I’m OK,” he replied. “I just can’t believe people bike this.”

“They don’t,” I said. “Anyone who bikes this usually hikes up that side, and then bikes down the front side.”

“But, the app said this was a trail… .”

I hiked down and talked to the poor fellow, who by now had stood upright. I got a little bit of his story, that he was new to the area and was learning to mountain bike. I agreed to hike his bike down the trail, and then I asked, “Have you checked out Horse Gulch yet?”

The answer was no, so I gently suggested a Meadow Loop for his next ride. He was more than grateful. A week later I encountered another novice rider heading in that same direction – up the backside, following directions from an app.

Though I didn’t get to linger on the summit that day, I have to say that’s one of my favorite places in Durango. There’s a big flat rock to chill on, the view is so in-

credible, the Twin Buttes off to the west, mountains to the north, and town just below. No matter how bad of a day I’ve had, if I climb up Hogsback, I’ll be in a better mood when I’m done.

Sadly, and surprisingly, there’s been more and more people carving their initials in the rock at the top; something that I didn’t think people did anymore. But the more people that do it, the more others think it’s OK. I think at some point it would be a good idea to install a registry or something, so people can sign their name to it, with some information about protecting the rock by NOT scratching your name into it.

As I’ve climbed up Hogsback hundreds of times now, I’ve also noticed the human-caused erosion; especially up the backside. Perhaps some rock steps are needed, to stabilize the ridge and slow down that erosion.

Some days, at the top, I think of friends that I’ve lost. Fallen friends seem closer in nature, especially up high where the birds soar.

In the spring of last year, we lost Dan Escalante to an avalanche near Crested Butte. Though some of his close friends had a small celebration of life, I grieved alone for Dan; one of the many challenging aspects of grief in the times of COVID. Sadly, 2020 wasn’t going to end without another tragedy. Last month, we lost two more great men to an avalanche: Jeff Paffendorf and Bert Perry. The news felt like a blow to the stomach.

I wasn’t very close with Jeff or Bert, yet I would certainly count them as friends. Both were friendly, energetic and positive. We attended Jeff and his wife, Kristi’s, wedding. In October, they welcomed the birth of twin boys.

The last time I saw Jeff was on the local trails, after a quick lap up Smelter. He was smiling and energetic, as always.

Bert seemed to be a gentle giant. I remember the first time I saw him at the Golf Wall. He looked ridiculously strong, and as I got to know him a little bit over the years, he was as kind as he was strong. Amber and I always remarked how great a couple Bert and Angie were.

I will miss both of them, and I know there are hundreds of people out there who will as well. My hearts go out to their families, and I will carry their spirits in my heart. There’s some information below if you would like to help out their families: • For Jeff Paffendorf: www.gofundme.com/f/jeffpaffendorf-memorial-fund • For Bert Perry: ca.gofundme.com/f/bert-perry-memorial-fund

–Luke Mehall Luke Mehall is the publisher of The Climbing Zine and the host of the Dirtbag State of Mind podcast.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It

Kings Be Lyin’ Raphael Warnock becoming the first Black U.S. Democratic senator from the South, capping a decade-long effort headed by Stacy Abrams to mobilize the black vote in Georgia An easing of COVID restrictions in La Plata County from red to orange, with restaurants, gyms and other businesses being able to operate at 25 percent capacity vs. 10 percent A silver lining to the pandemic, with more people staying at home contributing to 22 percent fewer highway deaths across Southwest Colorado in 2020, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation

4 n Jan. 7, 2021

The Animas River breaking a 109-year-old record for low flow on Christmas Day, trickling at a dismal 79.6 cfs through town The justice system yet again failing an abused woman with the New Year’s Eve murder of Ignacio’s Rachel Reams, whose estranged husband admitted to killing her after being let out on $1,500 bond, despite multiple prior incarcerations for battery and assault Utter insanity on display as a mob of angry Trump supporters, fueled by the president’s delusional rhetoric, stormed the Capitol on Wednesday in what appeared to be a chaotic coup attempt

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Mr. Robert Galinsky from Yonkers, N.Y., filed a class-action lawsuit against King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls this week because the super-tricky packaging led him to believe the rolls were made in Hawaii. In fact, they’re made in Torrance, Cali. Most people probably thought the same thing because it says, “Hilo, Hawaii” right on the bag, but nobody really cares, thanks to “French” fries and “Swiss” cheese. So, thank you, Robert, for wasting no time in proving that people are just as dumb in 2021 as they were last year.

WordontheScreen With the first week of 2021 under our belts, the Telegraph asked, “What resolution have you already broken?”

Q

Tyler

“Not buying car parts weekly.”

Betsy

“I only make resolutions so that I have something to give up for Lent.”

Curtis

“Less screen time.”

Jessie

“Not going skydiving.”

Peter

“All of them.”

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Jan. 7, 2021 n 5

ReTooned/by Shan Wells

SoapBox Aren’t free shots, tests ‘socialism?’

To the editor, Now that Biden won and Trump lost, we have stopped hearing the words that the Biden team are socialists. Well over the last nine months people have been getting FREE COVID tests. And now that the vaccine is being made and sent to states, we are all getting it FREE. So much for the GOP saying socialism is bad or good. Which is it? We pay into Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid with tax dollars. So is this a form of socialism, free shots and tests for all? Your income tax at work. I want us all to get the vaccine and testing for free ... a form of socialism.

Medicare for all?

– Bob Battani, Durango

Pedestrians should cross with care To the editor, Periodically there are local reports on an accident in which a driver hits a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Per the law that a pedestrian always has the right of way, the driver is charged, usually with negligence. But, such charges can be unfair: consider the cars parked on 3rd Avenue obstructing the view of pedestrians who step suddenly into the crosswalk. Or the pedestrian who walks between cars where there is no crosswalk. Or the driver stopped at a stop sign, intending to turn, with his view obstructed by a humongous truck.

To be absolutely fair, all pedestrians must stop, look and listen whenever crossing a street. A driver should slow down and use caution in areas where there are obstructions preventing a clear view of a pedestrian. And there is usually nothing a second approaching driver can or should do (i.e. blinking his lights which can 4

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telegraph

mean almost anything and simply confuses both driver and pedestrian) that can effectively alert either party of a potential accident since there is no universal warning sign issued by the state.

We all are fully aware of the injuries that can be inflicted on pedestrians but we are also aware of the pain and distress of drivers who are not truly at fault in such cases, yet they are the ones who suffer unduly with criminal charges.

Please, everyone – pedestrians and drivers alike – be on guard, be watchful and stay safe. And write to your congressman/woman for a change in an unfair law.

– Jean Schmidt, Durango

Demand coal plant retirement To the editor, In November, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) ruled that several coal and gas plants must be retired no later than Dec. 31, 2028 – earlier than the initially planned date. According to EPA calculations, early retirement of the Craig 3, Nixon and Rawhide coal plants could equal taking 1.3 million cars off the road for an entire year in terms of carbon reduction. If these three units, along with coal plants Hayden 1 & 2, were retired early, Coloradans could save approximately $68 million, and reduce nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide emissions.

While this ruling was a grand success for Colorado communities, public lands and air, coal utilities have already successfully worked to stop it. On Dec. 16, the AQCC voted to reverse its decision to retire three coal plants by 2028; the AQCC also voted to reverse a November request to the Air Pollution Control Division to shutter the Hayden coal units 1 & 2 by 2028. Xcel Energy, Tri-State G&T, Colorado Springs Utilities and Platte River Power Authority are primarily responsible for the AQCC’s reversal.

After a summer of record-breaking wildfires, Coloradoans understand the dire threat of air pollution and

climate change. As a young student concerned deeply for the future, I encourage you to contact the AQCC and let them know your support for retiring coal plants by 2028.

Colorado can no longer lag in its efforts to move away from coal, and utilities only make the transition to clean energy proceed slower.

– Soleil Gaylord, Telluride

Russia is a dangerous adversary To the editor, Even in the midst of a pandemic, which was spread by Trump politicizing wearing masks, and even under a massive cyber security attack by Russia, President Trump continues to try to overturn the election. In a recent White House meeting, Trump asked for input about former National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Flynn’s recommendation for Trump to declare martial law, send in the military to states he lost, and rerun the election. But sane heads prevailed and the recommendation was shot down. It looks like Trump is borrowing from other despots playbooks, like Putin of Russia.

Russia’s undetected cyber attacks of the last six months on our government, including the Treasury, Commerce and State departments and the National Nuclear Security Administration showed the weakness in our cyber security systems. The cyber attacks also impacted many Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft.

I believe President Trump’s very close relationship to President Putin fostered the cyber attacks by allowing Putin to think the U.S. would not respond to the attacks.

Amazingly, Trump refuses to condemn Russia even after presented with input on Russia’s attacks by members of his administration, including Secretary of State Pompeo and Attorney General Barr. Can Trump’s relationship with Putin be attributed to Russia having compromising information on Trump?

In recent years, Russia has been emboldened to in-

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crease military operations around the world. Russia invaded and took control of the Crimea, stationed extensive military forces in Syria in support of President Assad, and provided special operations troops in Venezuela to support President Maduro. Russia continues to upgrade its ballistic missile systems and its naval, air force and army units.

We need to treat Russia as an adversary, not a friend, and evaluate our deterrence capabilities to combat any potential Russian attacks, including cyber attacks.

– Donald Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H.

Bungled roll-out will cost lives To the editor, When the third COVID-19 vaccine phase arrives for my age group, the wait will be longer if our government doesn’t get its act together.

Warp Speed did produce an abundance of approved vaccines, but the management of getting 20 million vaccinated, promised by the end of 2020, did not happen.

The disappointing number was just over 4 million injections, and many of the vials delivered throughout the United States had to be disposed of due to refrigeration requirements and other goof-ups.

Again, management of getting 20 million vaccinated by the end of 2020 did not happen as promised. Please, read again, as all of us are exposed and weary to redundancy, such as the responsibility of wearing masks...

We the Everyday People are entitled to the same pricey medications the extremely rich get in hospitals in order to not die from COVID-19.

We the People, rich or poor, must insist on timely COVID-19 vaccinations.

If 200 million annual flu shots are readily available, there is absolutely no excuse for this deadly pandemic to have more years to foolishly kill us off.

– Sally Florence, Durango

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Jan. 21, 2021 n 7

StateNews

Who’s next?

Colorado’s COVID-19 vaccine plan creates confusion, competition

by Andrea Dukakis and Ben Markus Colorado Public Radio

A

fter months of meetings with an advisory panel, Gov. Jared Polis developed a strategy for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and a gradual rollout to ensure health-care workers and Coloradans living and working in eldercare facilities were the first to be protected.

Then, the vaccine arrived, the plans were upended.

First, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its own guidelines for who should get next dibs on the vaccine. Just as frontline health-care workers were getting vaccinated, Colorado essentially followed the CDC, moving hundreds of thousands of people from certain age or occupational categories up the priority list.

Then, faulty estimates led some counties to get more vaccine than needed. Those counties began vaccinating the next in line well before neighboring counties could do the same.

Eventually, there will be enough vaccine for everyone.

But for now, the result is a system that is distributing some vaccine doses to Coloradans based on who they know, where they live or how fast they can log in.

For example, Summit County began offering vaccines to people 70 and older last week – if they were paying attention and saw where it was being distributed.

Eagle County took reservations online and by phone this week for vaccine clinics that will occur later this week, filling every spot in just five minutes.

Garfield County? Yes. Douglas, Arapahoe or Adams County? Not yet. Denver? Maybe soon.

In La Plata county, San Juan Basin Public Health Department said it was still vaccinating people in the 1A group – high-risk health-care workers who have direct contact with COVID-19 patients, and long-term care facility staff and residents – as of Dec. 31.

Vaccination of 1B recipients in La Plata County will occur based on vaccine availability and once everyone in Phase 1A has an opportunity to receive the two doses required, according to SJBPH. COVID-19 vaccine doses are still limited, though Southwest Colorado leads the state in on-time delivery and administration of the vaccine.

“We fully understand that many individuals, businesses and organizations are eager to receive the vaccine,” Liane Jollon, SJBPH executive director, said in a news release.

“SJBPH is committed to providing timely and important updates regarding the distribution of vaccines, and we will share information on Phase 1B through all available channels as soon as it becomes available.”

Educators, Coloradans over 70 and others got moved up. Then came more questions.

On Tuesday afternoon, the state health department announced that educators should expect to wait until at least the end of February for vaccines, after everyone 70 and older has been inoculated.

It was less than a week after Polis announced teachers were being moved up the priority list. Turns out they weren’t being moved up very far.

“The current supply of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine received by the state of Colorado from mid-January to late February will be allocated to completing vaccinations for moderate-risk health-care workers, first responders and adults 70 and over,” read a news release from the state.

While it appears, for now, that people 70 and older are at the top of the list to get the vaccine next, confusion still reigns even for that group. After Polis’ announcement that seniors 70 and up would be eligible for vaccines and word got out that some were already receiving them, people flooded the phone lines at public health departments

8 n Jan. 7, 2021

Health-care providers were administered doses of COVID-19 vaccine at North Suburban Medical Center in Thornton on Dec. 17. / Hart Van Denburg/CPR News across the state and even showed up in person looking for shots that weren’t ready.

In Pueblo, so many seniors jumped into vaccine lines intended for health-care workers that the local health department had to put out a press release encouraging patience.

“It’s great to see so many Puebloans trust the science and want to get the vaccination quickly but I’m encouraging everyone to have a little bit of patience,” Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar said. “We are working hard to get the vaccination into as many arms, as possible, as fast as we can.”

The scenes are different from place to place, but the anxiety is shared statewide.

Seventy-two-year-old retired bus driver Stephne Keller, of Lakewood, said she regularly calls King Soopers, Walgreens, the state and the county, trying to figure out when she can get vaccinated. “Everyone I talk to, you can just tell they're strained from not having any answers,” Keller said.

“Everyone has a different answer because nobody knows.”

She lives in a community of older people where many of her neighbors are just as uncertain about where to turn.

“My neighbors are in their nineties ... I worry about them. I live in a neighborhood where we're all older, and everyone is just kind of hunkered down,” Keller said.

She was finally able to reach her doctor and he said he was able to get a couple of his patients over 80 vaccinated, but that he thought you had to be over 75.

She had to educate her doctor on the priority order.

“I don't want to die!” Keller said, explaining why she is concerned. “A million years ago I was a nursing student so I've been sterile, but I'm tired of being careful.”

The responsibility for who does the vaccinating is not always clear.

The system was set up for hospitals to inoculate their frontline staff and for local pharmacies, under a federal program, to handle nursing home workers and residents. That would take care of group 1A. But as group 1B of firefighters, police officers and EMS

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workers got to the front of the line, vaccination procedures began to vary from place to place. Then, Polis moved senior citizens, teachers and other essential workers into that same group, adding hundreds of thousands of additional people without providing any immediate guidance.

“Originally local health departments were going to be responsible for (vaccinating residents 70 and older). That would overwhelm most health departments, particularly in large metropolitan areas. So we are working with other providers to see if they can take that over,” Dr. Mark Johnson, president-elect of the Colorado Medical Society, said.

The hodgepodge of approaches has generated anxiety among seniors, teachers and others who were declared eligible, but have quickly learned that eligibility and access are very different things.

One reason some areas have been able to move forward more quickly is due to inaccurate employment information on health-care workers, with some counties getting more of doses than they needed, according to Dr. Anuj Mehta who chairs the group that advises the governor on the vaccine.

“Some places will have a little bit more so they can vaccinate a few extra people,” Mehta said. “Some places will have a little bit less, and they'll have to wait until the next week's allocation.”

Mehta said larger metropolitan areas are likely to be slower in vaccinating because there are more people to vaccinate and a shortage of workers to administer the vaccines.

Through Jan. 5, 120,510 Coloradans had received their first shot – about 2.6 percent of the state's adult population, or 2 percent of the total population. That's good enough to place the state in the upper 25 percent of states for vaccine distribution. The CDC reports Colorado has received just more than 262,000 doses of vaccine so far.

This story was edited to include local information and for length. To read it in its entirety, go to www.cpr.org.n

thesecondsection

TopShelf

Rock in peace Mourning 2020’s lost musical voices and childhood missed chances

by Chris Aaland

B

ackstage at the RockyGrass festival is a surreal place. The St. Vrain River winds through oaks and cottonwoods into a small, short, red rock canyon before dropping into the north Boulder County hamlet of Lyons and moseying out across the high plains.

Aside from a few tour buses, there aren’t many vehicles backstage. Artists typically park on the sides of the festival grounds … unless your name happens to be Tony Rice. If it is, you’re allowed to drive your Mustang to the side of the stage, usually within minutes of your scheduled performance.

The man considered the most influential and talented bluegrass guitarist of all time died on Christmas morning while making coffee. He was 69.

I didn’t know who Tony was until 1998, when he was omnipresent at the 25th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. He performed with Out of the Woodwork, a supergroup of sorts of Southern California bluegrass and folk alumni from the late ‘60s; as a duo with David Grisman; as a guest of Peter Rowan’s; and in the all-star collective known as “Thunder Jam,” which grew into the Telluride House Band in future years. I was impressed with his soul and precision, whether a song called for a ripping solo or a single elegant note that seems to drift away with the wind.

I’d go on to see Rice dozens of times the next 15 years, always at Telluride or RockyGrass and often alongside contemporaries like Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Grisman or Rowan. I never saw Rice sing, as his voice – considered by many to be the best in bluegrass – was stolen by muscle tension dysphonia back in 1994. Then, in 2013, a severe case of tennis elbow forced him to retire from guitar-playing.

What he leaves behind are hundreds of recordEddie Van Halen ings with such groundwent to the big breaking groups as the rock concert in original J.D. Crowe & the the sky Oct. 6 New South (which featured not only a young Rice, but future bluegrass luminaries Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas), the original David Grisman Quintet, the Tony Rice Unit and the Peter Rowan/Tony Rice Quartet.

Rice’s death also was one final bird that 2020 flipped at music fans. Let’s face it – the musicians who entertained us in our youth are old men and women these days. Dozens of them were going to die of the usual causes like heart attacks, strokes and cancer. But COVID-19 hurried dozens more along.

Locally, we lost Cy Scarborough, the 93-year-old founder of the Bar D Wranglers, on May 18, and 83year-old Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Daniels, a part-time La Plata Canyon resident, on July 6. The two were close friends.

Nationally, country music lost legends like Kenny Rogers, Mac Davis, Joe Diffie and Charley Pride, the latter from COVID just weeks after performing at the 2020 Country Music Association awards show in Nashville, where he also received a Lifetime Achieve-

Tony Rice in his heyday. The bluegrass guitar hero died Christmas Day at the age of 69. ment Award. The awards ceremony was reportedly a mostly maskless affair with limited social distancing.

Whether or not Pride was exposed at the event or traveling to and from it is unknown. However, the CMAs could have opted for a virtual event like the Grammys or Oscars … but hey … “muh freedumbs.”

On the outskirts of country in folk and alt-country territory, 2020 saw David Olney die onstage mid-song while gripping his guitar and hanging onto one last note; Austin outlaws Jerry Jeff Walker and Billy Joe Shaver die within a week of each other; and the legendary John Prine battle COVID-19 in the waning days of March. Prine left us with one final tune, the wistful “I Remember Everything.”

One of rock’s founding fathers, Little Richard, died of bone cancer in May at the age of 87. Crossover acts like Johnny Nash (“I Can See Clearly Now”) and Bill Withers (“Lean on Me”) both passed. Nash was among the first nonJamaicans to record reggae music. That genre also lost one of its last elder statesmen, Toots Hibbert, to COVID-19 on Sept. 12, just weeks after the triumphant release of his much-heralded comeback album, “Got to be Tough.”

Many of us kissed our youth goodbye when 1980s hard rock heroes Eddie Van Halen and Neil Peart lost their battles to cancer. Both men were in their sixties. I consider myself lucky to have seen Van Halen on the Monsters of Rock Tour at Mile High Stadium in 1988; and Rush at Big Mac during the Power Windows Tour.

Other rock visionaries to pass on included the Spencer Davis Group’s namesake, Spencer Davis; Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders’ lead singer, Wayne

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Fontana; Molly Hatchet founding lead guitarist, Steve Holland; original Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist Peter Green; and, a little more than a week ago, Mountain lead singer and guitarist Leslie West.

Also lost were: the banjo player who wrote “Dueling Banjos” from the early ’70s epic, “Deliverance,” Eric Weissberg; “Barefootin’” songwriter and New Orleans soul man Robert Parker; and pianist Henry Gray, who virtually invented Chicago blues piano in the 1950s when he backed the likes of Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and Buddy Guy. That dude from Was (Not Was) that also sang in Lyle Lovett’s Large Band, Sweet Pea Atkinson? He died, too.

Helen Reddy stole our hearts in the 1970s as both an actress and singer. She crossed over into the mainstream with “Delta Dawn” after belting out the women’s rights anthem “I Am Woman.” Reddy was my first-ever concert, when I was just 7 years old. My step-dad had access to tickets to the Houston Pro Rodeo at the Astrodome. One night featured some dude who shook his hips named Elvis. The other, that lady who sang “Delta Dawn.” My folks were split on which one they wanted to see. I was the swing vote. I chose Reddy poorly. But I fell in love with Helen, who rewarded children of the ’70s with “Pete’s Dragon” a few years later.

Last year was a bitch for all of us. It isolated us. It infected us. It divided us. It even killed some of us.

But as we worked from home in our sweats and Tshirts, sometimes unbathed for weeks on end, we got tough. We adapted. And most of us survived.

I’ll sing my visions to the sky high mountains? Email me at chris@ksut.org. n

Jan. 7, 2021 n

9

FlashinthePan

Intermittent feasting

by Ari LeVaux

T

he New Year is often a time to contemplate one’s relationship with calories. After months of culturally sanctioned gluttony, we find ourselves suddenly facing a cold empty chasm and a familiar question: will we fill this void with purpose, or leftover eggnog?

The pandemic holidays of 2020 were unique, of course. The usual peer-reviewed parade of excesses moved to Zoom, which didn’t stop the snacking, lounging and binge drinking that in many homes has, in fact, been in full swing since March.

All of which conspired to leave the average American all the more fat and lonely than ever by year’s end.

In the beforetimes, January was always the busiest month of the year for gym signups, with the first being the busiest day. In the duringtimes of 2021, it will be more complicated, but losing weight will remain a top resolution.

Weight loss is a problem that stumps so many people, even while the answer could not be more obvious. What other problem can be solved by doing less?

Less eating, that is. Exercise is important for many, many reasons other than calorie burning. But trying to lose weight with exercise alone is like trying to wipe water off the floor without bothering to turn off the faucet that’s overflowing the sink. We need to consume fewer calories, which means confronting hunger. Most people who can afford the choice will avoid that feeling, when they should probably make friends with it.

Consider the expression to “stay hungry.” It means, basically, to stay motivated. To keep after your goals and shape your dreams, rather than to lazily graze upon an all-you-can-eat pasture of your past achievements.

In the context of weight loss, those hunger pangs are the feelings that come from actual work, like the ache in your thighs after leg day at the gym. And new research appears to suggest, meanwhile, that fasting can improve your workout – including muscle building — while exercise can increase the caloric burn of a fast. Like some magic pill that burns fat and builds muscle, the budding field of fasted training might be the answer to your New Year’s blues.

10 n Jan. 7, 2021

Not to be confused with starvation, fasting is the deliberate refraining from eating. It’s an ancient practice tied to many religions and cultures, from Native American vision quests to Ramadan.

Mark Mattson, a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, ushered in the modern era of fasting, now known scientifically as caloric restriction, with his 2003 research on mice. The study suggested that longterm calorie-restriction increased the little mammals’ lifespans. Subsequent work by Mattson and others documented cognitive improvements in mice on calorie-restricted diets, again confirming age-old wisdom. This work helped spawn the popular diet called Intermittent Fasting, or “IFing,” for short.

IFing focuses on the timing of meals, rather than their content. Most adherents shoot for 16 hours of no eating, including the time spent sleeping. If you sleep for eight hours, then you’d be fasting for about half of your waking time on any given day. One could just as accurately call the diet intermittent feasting, which is part of why it’s so popular.

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Martin Berkhan, the weightlifter, irreverent blogger and owner of the Leangains brand, isn’t shy about eating an entire cheesecake in a sitting, or poking fun at people who do situps. Berkhan schedules his workout for the end of his fasting window, and follows the workout with a noholds-barred feast.

Love him or hate him, and regardless of whether you want Grand Canyon abs, Berkhan did a lot to organize the impact of caloric restriction on body building. Intermittent fasting is particularly effective, he says, because human growth hormone is naturally released in the early stages of a fast. Berkhan believes this fasting window is a powerful opportunity for the body to make the most of exercise – he does consume protein just before his regimen of squats, bench presses and pull-ups, all with hundreds of pounds of added weights, but his belly is not full. The reason he can get away with all the cheesecake is that those big muscles require a lot of energy to work that hard, and they will get that energy from his fat cells after depleting the sugar in his blood.

Exercising with an empty belly is not for everyone. But if you are willing to push against your comfort zone, it does get easier. Mattson told the health blog “Inverse” that it takes about a month before the hunger pains from a skipped meal go away, which coincides with the period when you can measure and feel the diet’s benefits, including insulin sensitivity in those with diabetes, lower blood pressure and even a lower resting heart rate. Fasting increases blood levels of ghrelin, a hormone that suppresses appetite, thereby making you less hungry – a counterintuitive idea that’s confirmed by virtually anyone who gives fasting a serious try.

Like any diet or health regime, intermittent fasting or “fasted training” only works if you stick to it. Americans have a sense of entitlement about food, that it’s all ours for the taking and don’t you tread on that right. But don’t you want to see your own abs once, or once more, before it’s too late? You don’t need to run up Mount Everest every morning to get there. Just be cool with being a little hungry. It’s the price of progress. n

MurderInk

Fight for her life ‘House of Correction’ a DIY courthouse drama you won’t wanna put down

by Jeffrey Mannix

N

icci French is the pseudonym of the English husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. They’ve written 23 psychological thrillers together since 1997, and each has written separately, including Sean’s biography of Jane Fonda and a 2019 nonfiction book by Nicci titled What Dementia Teaches Us About Love.

I’ve talked about midlist writers and their books before, and how they are routinely good and are the backbone of the publishing industry.

They’re the books that don’t get the publicity hype but pay the rent; and they’re the writers who often have real talent but seldom if ever get interviewed by Terry Gross.

The British wifehusband writing duo,Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, aka Nicci French

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Nicci French books are the center pole holding up the William Morrow tent, and I can’t remember reading one of their books and being disappointed. This is true of their latest House of Correction, issued in paperback last October and, as is their way, an addictive journey that contradicts the belief most of us have that we read too slowly.

Tabitha Hardy, a single, freelance science-book editor, moves back to her hometown village of Okeham, England, where she buys a ramshackle house with an inheritance left by her mother. She is hoping to get away from the hubbub of London and the emotional problems that have caused her to misremember and not remember and blank out over everyday happenings. She feels she has medicated and palavered enough to live a quiet, simple life.

We learn these elemental things about Tabitha long after she’s been arrested and charged with murdering her neighbor Stuart Rees; long after we learn that Stuart Rees was Tabitha’s high school math teacher in Okeham and had sexually violated her numerous times in the back seat of his car; long after Tabitha fired her public defender Mora Piozzi for refusing to believe she was innocent of murdering a man with a knife.

Tabitha decides, amid ridicule from everyone on the other side of the bars of her jail cell, to defend herself. This, despite that Piozzi advises her it could lead to her execution if she doesn’t take a plea bargain for some obscene number of years for something Tabitha and we readers can’t believe she’s guilty of.

We speak of locked-room mysteries – the trickiest, most mysterious of whodunits – made popular by Agatha Christie

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and Arthur Conan Doyle, Stieg Larssen’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Peter Lovesey with Bloodhounds, and the wonderful Adrian McKinty with In the Morning I’ll Be Gone. With House of Correction, Nicci French has put an entire mystery within the confines of a jail cell, a meager prison library and a courthouse, where Tabitha knows nothing about defending herself except that she’s innocent.

House of Correction is a most apt story for these times of devolving democracy and the rise of political chauvinism. This naive, emotional young woman was overwhelmed by her arrest and detention on charges that were too conveniently reached by high school bullies now behind tin badges. A delicate, fragile introvert whom we see empowered by prison inmates to find the fight mechanism we’re all endowed with.

Did Tabitha kill Stuart Rees? We have to go to a sniggering courtroom to find out. How could you resist that? n Mention Murder Ink and get a 15 percent discount on this and other books reviewed here at Maria’s Bookshop.

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Jan. 7, 2021 n 11

StufftoDo

Thursday07 29th annual Southwest Economic Outlook virtual forum, 8:45 – 11 a.m. Hear from experts in business and economics on their view of the current state of the economies, and their predictions for the future. For info, go to: fortlewis.edu/sweo.

Trivia Night, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month, The Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio. Socially distanced tables, masks required. No groups larger than eight. $5 suggested team donation. www.powsci.org.

Friday08

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

La Plata County Virtual Free Legal Clinic, 45 p.m. Call the Ignacio Library at 970-563-9287 to sign up.

Jeff Daniels livestreamed in concert, 7 p.m., Daniels (of “Dumb and Dumber” fame) will play songs and share stories from his latest album, “Alive and Well Enough,” followed by a Q&A. Presented

by Telluride’s Sheridan Opera House. $20 individual ticket, $30 multiple people viewing on the same device. Tickets at: www.SheridanOperaHouse.com.

Saturday09 Free On-Snow Avalanche Awareness Field Sessions presented by Friends of the San Juans, Jan. 9-10, Andrew’s Lake. Pre-registration required: www.thesan juans.org.

Henry Stoy plays piano, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., JeanPierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave. “Long Boards and Rope Tows,” a Zoom history of skiing in La Plata County, 1 p.m. Presented

by Robert McDaniel, founding director of the Animas Museum and longtime Purgatory ski patroller. Webinar will be recorded for those who cannot attend. $5 to benefit the Animas Museum. Register at animasmuseum.org

Bust out the skin suit, tutu or both for this Sunday’s 2nd annual Know the Snow Rando race at Purgatory.

With long (13k) and short (8k) courses as well as prizes for best costume and heaviest set up, this year’s race is as serious or light-hearted as you want it to be. But the beneficiary is no joke: proceeds will go to help fund avi awareness scholarships. This year’s race will be held in memory of local backcountry skiers Bert Perry and Jeff Paffendorf, who died in a slide near Silverton last month. The race will be capped at 75 skiers. To sign up, go to: eventbrite.com or purgatoryresort.com.

Henry Stoy plays piano, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., JeanPierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave.

Monday11 Meditation and Dharma Talk with Eugene Cash, 5:30-7 p.m. Online at www.durangodharma center.org/

Tuesday12 Sunday10 2nd annual Know the Snow Rando Race, fundraiser for avalanche education, 8-11 a.m., Purgatory Resort. This year’s event is dedicated to the memory of Bert Perry and Jeff Paffendorf. Limited to 75 participants. Register at eventbrite.com, search “Know the Snow Rando Race.”

the successes and challenges of his first four years in office and address his goals for the next four years.

For more info or Zoom link, email Bruce Rodman at mtnman16@gmail.com.

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.

Durango Rotary presents a Zoom talk with Christian Champagne, District Attorney for the 6th Judicial District, 6 p.m. Champagne will discuss

Wednesday13 ”Heavenly Splendor: The Baths of Caracalla,” a Zoom talk by Dianne Scialla, 7 p.m. Presented by The San Juan Basin Archaeological Society. For log-in information, go to: sjbas.org.

Ongoing Episode 4 of the “Actor’s Journal” featuring John Lithgow, of “The Crown,” as well as original works, essays, poems, remembrances by various actors. Presented by Durango Playfest. Tickets at: www.durangoplayfest.org/actors-journal 4

Try our Pumpkin Pie Latte!

Made with real pumpkin & whipped cream

REAL radio, REAL people

Stock up with a bag of fresh Fahrenheit Coffee!

Also serving espresso, baked goods, tea & more 1099 Main Ave., under the big clock Mon.- Thurs., 7:30am-3pm and Fri., 7:30am-1pm

12 n Jan. 7, 2021

DURANGO COMMUNITY RADIO AT FORT LEWIS COLLEGE

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AskRachel

Gift grift, gridiron grind and Soberuary Interesting fact: COVID has helped porn stars seize the means of production, and now I’m wondering what the world of Marxist porn really looks like.

Dear Rachel, What’s the statute of limitations on keeping unwanted gifts? My sister got me this book of poems (I hate poetry) by some fundamentalist preacher (I hate religion) trying to be cutesy (I hate cuteness). She also got me several throw-ins from her multi-level marketing “business” that I’ll never use and honestly smell atrocious. I wonder, how long until she forgets what she gave me, and by what point I’m beyond reproach if I get busted for clearing this crap outta here.

– Gift Horsepoop Dear Rotten Horse Mouth, Does your sister even come into your house? If not, simply don’t let her in. You have a pandemic still to blame. She’ll never know. Alternately, you can always say you used up the gifts she gave you, and tear off the book cover and use it to wrap up some small piece of your porn collection. If you still have physical porn.

Does anyone still have physical porn these days? That’s a MLM scheme I might invest in.

– Unwanted and unopened, Rachel Dear Rachel, I used to be a big collegiate sports fanatic.

And mostly not the big sports, but like track

“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.

Sunnyside and Fort Lewis Mesa libraries are open, providing books, movies, music, audio books and internet, Mon.-Fri., 2:30-7 p.m. or call 970-3753816. Curbside service also available.

Durango Public Library Weekly Activity Kits available for curbside pickup every Tuesday. Kits include supplies for one project for preschool, elementary and teen-age students. A new kit is released every Tuesday while supplies last. To request, email reference @DurangoGov.org or call (970) 3753380.

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: Women’s Skate Ski Clinic for all levels, 1-3 p.m., Sat., Jan. 16, Durango Nordic Center. $30 w/season pass, $35 without season pass. Please call to confirm availability: 970-385-2114.

and field, and baseball, and lacrosse. But football is ruining it all for me. These kids are getting ground up like sausage in that Pink Floyd movie. And it’s all a rigged system. Rigged to make rich people richer. Rigged to put the same schools in the championship every year. All the purity of college sports is tainted by this behemoth. How can I get the enjoyment back?

– National Collegiate Addicts Anonymous Dear Co-ed, I literally have no idea what you are talking about, except that it sounds like The Man is at it again. Yeah!

Stick it to the man! Stop eating Tostitos or whatever chip company sponsors things these days. That’ll show ‘em!

Then maybe, I don’t know, go outside and participate in some amateur sports of your own? Best case scenario, you become fit and fantastic. Slightly worse case, you wear yourself out to the point you can enjoy football without thinking about it.

– Go team go, Rachel Dear Rachel, All my friends are dry now. Everyone chooses January to stop drinking. I halfway admire them, because they’re not kidding anyone that they’ll give up drinking for the full year or even for Lent. But I’m also annoyed because now all my friends are lame for 31 days. And I never feel like a problem drinker until I’m drinking alone in the darkest days of winter. How can I feel more social until February?

– Lonesome Drunk

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Dry Mouth, There’s this beautiful children’s book out there, narrated by a dinosaur, called “All My Friends Are Dead.” So hey, at least your friends aren’t dead! Just dead to you.

Since not drinking is not an option for you, you need another pastime to accompany it. Wanna help me revive the world of tangible, physical, fits-under-your-mattress porn? Socially distanced, of course. Like, you stay in your home and I’ll stay in mine.

– No dryness here, Rachel

Durango Rotary presents a Zoom talk with Brian Rose of Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest CO, 6 p.m., Jan. 19. For more info or Zoom link, email Bruce Rodman at mtnman16@gmail.com.

Coke Nordic Race Series #2, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., Sat., Jan. 23, Durango Nordic Center. Register online by 6 p.m., Jan. 21 at www.durangonordic.org.

Alpine Bank Full Moon Howler, 69 p.m., Wed., Jan. 27, Durango Nordic Center. An event for the whole family.

Pass required, rentals available.

Avi Rescue Clinic with Leo Lloyd, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Sat., Jan. 30, Andrews Lake/Molas Pass. Sponsored by Friends of the San Juans. Free course but preregistration is required. Participants are also required to attend a virtual class 6-8 p.m., Thur., Jan. 28. To sign up, go to www.thesanjuans.org.

Deadline for “Stuff to Do” submissions is noon Monday.

To submit an item, email: calendar@durango telegraph.com

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Jan. 7, 2021 n 13

What Kate & Nate wear on their day off

... and you can too.

(Even if your name isn’t McKinnon. Or MacKinnon.)

In a variety of sizes for all your exploits on and off the red carpet.

(Also available in muscle T to show off your pipes.)

T-shirts: $15 Tanks: $12 Hats: $20 (plus shipping and handling)

Order yours today at: durangotelegraph.com or email telegraph@durangotelegraph.com

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): The pandemic has made it challenging to nurture our communities. In order to make new connections and keep our existing connections vibrant, we’ve had to be extra resourceful. I hope you will make this one of your holy quests in 2021, Aries. In my astrological opinion, you should be ingenious and tireless as you nurture your web of allies. Your assignment during our ongoing crisis is to lead the way as you show us all how to ply the art of high-minded networking.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus actor George Clooney is worth $500 million. Yet his dazzling opulence is puny compared to that of Taurus entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune exceeds $100 billion. It’s my duty to inform you that you will probably never achieve either man’s levels of wealth. Yet I do hold out hope that in the next 12 months you will launch plans that ultimately enable you to have all the money you need. 2021 will be a favorable time to formulate and set in motion a dynamic master plan for financial stability.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): One of your main themes for the next 12 months comes from Leonardo da Vinci. He wrote, “To develop a complete mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” If you use da Vinci’s instructions as a seed for your meditations, you’ll stir up further inspirations about how to make 2021 a history-making epoch in the evolution of your education. I hope you will treasure the value of “learning how to see” and “realizing how everything connects to everything else.” They should be at the root of your intention to learn as much as you can.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): An extensive study by psychiatric researchers suggests that well more than half of us experienced a potentially disabling trauma in childhood. You’re in the minority if you didn’t! That’s the bad news. The good news is that 2021 will be a time when you Cancerians will have more power than ever before to heal at least some of the wounds from your old traumas. You will also attract extra luck and help to accomplish these subtle miracles.

To get the process started, make a list of three practical actions you can take to instigate your vigorous healing.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo author Isabel Allende says, “We are in the world to search for love, find it and lose it, again and again. With each love, we are born anew, and with each

14 n Jan. 7, 2021

love that ends we collect a new wound. I am covered with proud scars.” I appreciate Allende’s point of view, and understand that it’s useful, even inspirational, for many people. But my path has been different. As a young man, I enjoyed my endless quest for sex and romance. It was thrilling to keep leaping from affair to affair. But as I eventually discovered, that habit made me stupid and superficial about love. It prevented me from having to do the hard psychological work necessary to continually reinvent intimacy – and become eligible for deeper, more interesting versions of love. I bring this to your attention, Leo, because I think 2021 could be your time for a personal rebirth that will be made possible by deep, interesting versions of love.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Occultist Israel Regardie (1907–85) was an accomplished author and influencer.

To what did he attribute his success? I’ll let him speak for himself: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” I hope you will write out this quote and tape it to your bathroom mirror for the duration of 2021, Virgo.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a mystical symbol of the hidden structure of creation. At its heart, in the most pivotal position, is the principle of beauty. This suggests that the wise teachers who gave us the Tree did not regard beauty as merely a luxury to be sought only when all practical business is taken care of. Nor is it a peripheral concern for those who pursue a spiritual path. Rather, beauty is essential for our health and intelligence. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to take a cue from the Tree of Life.

During the next 12 months, give special attention to people and things and experiences and thoughts and feelings that are beautiful to you. Meditate on how to nurture them and learn from them and draw inspiration from them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): According to motivational speaker Les Brown, the problem for many people is not that “they aim too high and miss,” but that “they aim too low and hit.” I’m conveying this to you just in time for the Reach Higher Phase of your long-term astrological cycle. According to my analysis, you’ll generate good fortune for yourself if you refine and expand your personal goals. Here’s a key detail: Don’t borrow anyone else’s standards of success. Home in on your own unique soul’s code and give it fuller, deeper, wilder expression.

telegraph

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): One of my pleasures in reading books is to discover thoughts and feelings I have never encountered. That’s exciting! But it’s hard to force myself to keep plowing through an author’s prose if it’s full of stuff that I already know about from my own life or from books, movies and other art. Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels fit the latter description. I realize that many people love his fiction, but for me it is monumentally obvious and boring.

What about you? Where do you go to be exposed to thrilling new ways of looking at the world? Judging from astrological omens, this quest will be especially fun and crucial in the coming months.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I only want people around me who can do the impossible,” Capricorn businesswoman Elizabeth Arden said. In that spirit, and in accordance with your astrological potentials, I hereby authorize you to pursue two “impossible” goals in 2021. The first comes to you courtesy of fashion writer Diana Vreeland, who wrote, “There’s only one thing in life, and that’s the continual renewal of inspiration.” Your second “impossible” goal is from actor Juliette Binoche, who said, “My only ambition is to be true every moment I am living.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Your past is becoming increasingly irrelevant, while your future is still a bit amorphous. To help clarify the possibilities that you could harvest in 2021, I suggest you suspend your theories about what your life is about. Empty yourself out as much as you can. Pledge to re-evaluate everything you think you know about your purpose. Once you’ve accomplished that, meditate on the following questions: 1. What experiences do you truly need and passionately long for – not the experiences you needed and longed for in the past, but rather those that are most vivid and moving right now. 2. What are the differences between your fearful fantasies and your accurate intuitions? How can you cultivate the latter and downplay the former? 3. What are your nightly dreams and semi-conscious fantasies telling you about how to create the most interesting version of the future?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Author Gunter Grass wrote, “Writers know that sometimes things are there in the drawer for decades before they finally come out and we are capable of writing about them.” I would universalize his thought in this way: Most of us know that possibly useful ideas and dreams are in the drawer for years before they finally come out and we know how to use them. I believe this will be an ongoing experience for you in 2021, Pisces.

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 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 1-Hour Virtual Workshop “Finding Balance in 2021: Reconnect with what is important in your life” on 1/16/21. Go to CrystalRobertsonCoaching .com for more information and Crystal RobertsonCoaching@gmail.com to register.

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.

Lost/Found: Found: Gear Box 12/27: Partially destroyed gear box Hwy 550 Hermosa. Contents intact. Text, describe, get your stuff! 970-317-7083

Wanted Storage/Office The Climbing Zine is looking for a place for our stash. Our zine and book stash that is. Could also be interested in additional future office space. Please contact Luke Mehall at 970-376-3116 or luke@climbingzine.com to chat.

ISO: flight instructor Wanted: Durango-area bi-weekly flight lessons from a CFI. Don't have own plane but looking to buy 1 soon. flyingfeet 17@hotmail.com Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-259-3494.

Services

BodyWork

Classical Music Lessons Julia Green is accepting two new students into her music studio. If you are interested please contact. Classical voice in German, Italian, French and music theory lessons will be taught. If you are a voice student you will be required to learn how to play your vocal line on the piano. Also, classical piano lessons and study available only for pianists. $60 per hour. 505-350-8543

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ForSale Reruns Home Furnishings Cozy up in the New Year! Lots of tables, night stands, bar stools, chairs, rugs, lamps, linens, kitchenware and art. Tons of glassware. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.Sat. 385-7336.

CommunityService Application Open for SCAPE 2021 Intensive six-month program teaches entrepreneurs about scaling their busi-

ness, product development, marketing, operations and finance. Program also includes access to industry partners and capital. Applications open to residents of Region 9 (Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan counties.) Primary focus will be ventures wanting to market and compete outside the local area while remaining headquartered in SW Colorado with special emphasis on job creation, capability and resilience from local disasters. Deadline to apply is Jan. 15, 2021. Program begins in spring.

To apply, visit: www.goscape.org

HaikuMovieReview ‘Alabama Snake’ A crazy, true tale of religion, jealousy booze and rattlesnakes – Lainie Maxson

NewspaperOrigami

A squirrel

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, 970903-9051.

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

telegraph

Jan. 7, 2021 n 15

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