The Durango Telegraph, April 6, 2023

First descent

New effort chronicles history of running Upper Animas

Untold story

The tribes that once called the Front Range home

Taking it easy

Low- and no-proof drinks for the sober & semi-sober

4 Head games

Facing every man’s greatest fear: the battle of the bald spot

by David Feela

6

Upper echelons

New effort documents history of river running on Upper Animas by Jonathan Romeo

8

The untold story

A look at the Front Range’s violent, complicated history with tribes by John Daley/Colorado Public Radio

RegularOccurrences

4 La Vida Local

4 Thumbin’ It

5 Soap Box

6 Top Story

8 State News

10 Drinks Up

11 Murder Ink

12-13 Stuff to Do

13 Ask Rachel

14 Free Will Astrology

15 Classifieds

15 Haiku Movie Review

Ear to the ground:

“What’s a Speedo?”

– Some of the tougher questions parents find themselves answering on the last weekend of the ski season

Order up

Is it us, or has there been a lot of activity in Durango’s restaurant scene? And no, we’re not talking about the new McDonalds in Three Springs to be built near the creepy gas station off in the distance. In any case, here’s our attempt (in no particular order) to track it all.

• In March, Gazpacho owner Matt Arias sold the restaurant to three of his staff members: Sadie Christensen, and brothers Brennan and Shane McManamon. Gazpachos, which has been around since 1991, is a local staple for New Mexican cuisine.

• April 1, Andy and Abby Snow, longtime owners of Nini’s Taqueria, sold to new owners, including the owners of Himalayan Kitchen. But no fears – the delicious burritos and famed Southwestern Chowder will remain largely unchanged.

• And, Chimayo Stone Fired Kitchen fell into new hands, though requests for comment were not returned Wednesday.

• “Public House 701” opened in the spot of the closed Fur Trappers/Mutu’s at the corner of 2nd Ave. & 7th St. Requests for comment were also not immediately returned, but it appears they are open for dinner Tues. - Sat.

• Wondering what’s to become of the old Home Slice on N. Main? Taste Cafe and Bakery will now occupy the space, moving from 11th St. Station. It appears Taste also will continue on at Lola’s Place on E. 2nd Ave.

Lightening up

Low- and no-proof spoofs you’ll thank yourself for in the morning

by Lucas Hess

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On the cover

While we all might be officailly ready for spring, the La Plata Mountains present a reassuring sight this week as we head into summer./ Photo by Andy High

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• We’re not done yet. Remember the gem in Mancos, Olio’s? It’s been announced that Dave Stewart and Jenn Lyndes, formerly of the Boathouse at Electra Lake, will take over. It’s not clear when the restaurant will reopen.

• Also, we’ve heard on good authority that a burger joint is coming to the building catty-corner to City Market North, because if Durango needs anything in the cuisine scene, it’s a place to get a burger…

• From a recent Durango Herald report, an Indian taqueria and electronic dance bar is coming to the old Francisco’s, 639 Main Ave.

• And finally, thanks to the Telegraph’s own deep investigative reporting (walking downtown), we’ve spied a sign that says, “Opening Soon! Beef Jerky Experience,” in the 900 block of Main. Can’t wait?

Results are in (kind of)

According to results of the Durango City Council election, it appears Gilda Yazzie has secured a seat. The race for the second seat, however, is too close to call between Harrison Wendt and David Woodruff. Final results will be announced April 18.

Nothing to fear but fur

Shedding new light on my couch pillow, the rising sun transformed its upholstered surface into what appeared to be a shabby dog blanket, sans dog. It confused me, because I don’t own a dog, so I had to believe either the sun was playing early morning tricks or a swarm of floaters in my eyes like the ones that often appear when I spend too much time without my sunglasses had just been released into my field of vision.

I squinted twice and rubbed my eyes: the mirage still lingered. Then I closed their lids like curtains: gone. I walked over to the couch and ran my fingernails across the pillow. A tangle of grey hairs caught under a fingernail, which turned out to be an exact match for the ones still left on my head.

I wasn’t losing my mind, just my hair. This shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise. My father wore a rather obvious hairpiece at age 65 when he went out to meet the public, unlike my mother whose tresses as she aged transformed into a mass of ringlet silver. I scratched my head. Isn’t baldness strongly associated with the “X” chromosome, which is inherited from the maternal side of the family? Just my luck.

Unfortunately, MPB doesn’t stand for Medical Benefits Package, or even Monthly Basic Pay. It translates rather effortlessly into what I suspected: male pattern baldness, a medical condition doctors have labeled androgenetic alope cia, which must be a linguistic Latin trick to avoid frightening the patient by announcing that you’re beginning to look like your father.

I won’t drag you too far down the medical rabbit hole, which incidentally is not where hares hang out, but since I looked a few things up I hope it won’t hurt to pull a few facts loose.

Women also encounter baldness (FPB), but the cultural practice of growing longer hair may distract us from realizing losing one’s hair is really a genderless issue. Granted, more men deal with baldness than women, but women have traditionally resisted any fashionable trend like growing a beard, except in the case of P.T. Barnum’s bearded lady Annie Jones who became rather famous for doing so in the 19th century.

Other factors besides gender may also lead to balding, such as nutrition, stress and illness, which brings to mind chemotherapy. Iron or protein deficiencies may also occur, even an excess of vitamin A. But nobody talks about working for 30 years as a public school teacher. It’s worth mentioning that a

Thumbin’It

Durango 9-R’s Board of Education siding with students to allow them to carry Narcan, which is used to treat narcotic overdoses in an emergency situation.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife extending winter wildlife closures because… well, winter has not loosened its grip in the Southwest. The closures are now in effect until April 30.

A newly debuted electric Ram pickup truck with up to 500 miles of range per charge. That should be enough to satiate most Durangoan’s adventures, no?

hair-pulling disorder called trichotillomania is a mental difficulty that prompts one to pull out one’s own hair, a condition thankfully more common as an expression than a disease.

One more mental hairball for people – especially men – is a sensitivity about losing one’s hair. Like it or not, confidence and strength are socially linked to luxuriously thick hair, so the skull becomes more like a chia pet for a multi-million dollar hair loss and growth treatment industry, stoking sales by advertising even more uncertainty about one’s purported withering prowess and sexuality. Of course, entirely shaving one’s head is an economical alternative to living with a treatment addiction. The look has become more common and more fashionable than when “skinheads” first emerged in the 1960s as a working class statement from a subculture in London.

A more heroic symbolic association with baldness can be drawn from the American bald eagle which is not actually bald but still reigns as our nation’s emblem of masculinity. It’s a bird of prey with talons and an enormous wingspan. Referring to it as bald is simply a truncated translation of an old English word – piebald – which means white-headed. Once I watched a half dozen eagles not flying or swooping, but stooped and motionless over an open spot in the ice on a mostly frozen Mississippi River. At first, they looked to me like a group of old men assembled for an afternoon of ice fishing. Then I realized I was partially mistaken: they were eagles, but they were also ice fishing. Perhaps the most lyrical words about baldness were first delivered in 1917 by a literary character named J. Alfred Prufrock, a dramatic monologue written and published by T.S. Eliot. The musings by this indecisive middle-aged narrator who is wearied by his perception of an age-induced diminished life are noteworthy. It’s a beautiful poem to read, but certainly not to emulate.

“Time to turn back and descend the stair,

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair –

(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)

I grow old ... I grow old ...

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?”

More than 130 lines long, the poem can set the reader into a similarly sullen state of mind, but not me. Every time I read it I just want to go out and buy a puppy.

– David Feela

SignoftheDownfall:

The inability to find a hole big enough to bury our heads in after Trump was charged with 34 felony counts and the ensuing media frenzy that followed.

Saudi Arabia and other oil producers announcing production cuts that could raise gas prices worldwide. Cue the “Thanks Biden” Fox News dad rants.

Kid Rock shooting cases of Bud Light in response to a transgender activist’s post. Imagine that. The man who wrote “Bawitdaba, da bang, da dang diggy diggy/diggy” could not find a more articulate way to express his emotions.

Po-Po Scam

Afroman – the “Because I Got High” rapper who once punched a woman on stage –is being sued by the cops. They raided his house on bogus kidnapping and drug trafficking suspicions last August and destroyed a $20K driveway gate and “confiscated” $5K in cash during the ordeal. So, to get even, Afroman used footage of the cops captured by his home security system for a music video, but the police got their feelings hurt and filed a lawsuit against Afroman for “invasion of privacy,” even though zero cops in this story had their houses raided.

DTooned

Leveling the field

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are the latest targets in the rightwing culture wars, following closely on the war against teaching honest American history in K-12 schools, colleges and universities. What will be next?

If DEI is bad, what do the culture warriors want? In nature, diversity is important for species survival. Animal and plant populations that lose genetic diversity for whatever reason are at risk of being wiped out by disease or some environmental change.My understanding is that human cultures around the world and throughout history have had social prohibitions on inbreeding. Almost instinctively, they have created ways to bring genetic diversity into their reproduction.

Diversity is strength. But it apparently inspires fear in some people. So what’s their alternative?

Equity means fairness. Even young children recognize when something isn’t fair. Sports fans are outraged if the refs keep calling fouls on their team, even for minor things that are overlooked with the other team. But some people are distressed by fairness. What about inclusion? Don’t we all (unless we are recluses) want to feel welcomed and included in group activities? Were you the kid that always got picked grudgingly and last in grade school when they were picking teams? How did that feel? How did it feel to be the new kid in school if your parents moved to a new community? How does it feel to be demonized for your very existence?

But some people obviously feel threatened by DEI, maybe because it might mean extending these values to historically marginalized and persecuted population groups they don’t like.

Unfortunately, ambitious politicians like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others in states controlled by the GOP are taking full advantage and not just stoking these fears for their own advancement, but enshrining persecution (especially of children) in state law. The GOP wants to make that national.

So we see what the opposite of DEI is. Maybe the next target in the culture wars will be the last phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance – “liberty and justice for ALL.”

– Carole McWilliams, Bayfield

Earth Day

Dia de la Tierra

April Events

April 17

Film: Kiss the GroundRegenerating Hope for Climate. UU Church 419 San Juan Dr. | 6-8pm

April 20

Electronics Recycling La Plata Fairgrounds

Turn off the lights

As a student at Fort Lewis College that came from Salt Lake City, it’s incredible how much damage artificial lighting can do. Growing up in a big city, stars basically didn’t exist. When I’d look up in the sky at night, all I saw was the radiating glow of thousands of streetlights and a dim moonlight. When I came here, I knew it would be different, a small town with a much smaller population, and I was reaffirmed as I looked up my first night in town and was amazed by the amount of stars I could see.

Light pollution is the excess of artificial light, and this causes a few environmental issues, including throwing birds off their migration patterns, destroying breeding habits in animals, sleep deprivation in humans and the lack of stars in our night skies. Birds and their migration patterns are easily thrown off, because when exposed to artificial light, their biological clock is thrown off.

Light pollution also affects the breeding habits of animals, such as the ghost moth. Ghost moths are pollinators, however, they are born with one disadvantage: they don’t have mouths. They live to mate and pollinate and then die. They only mate in the evenings/nighttime, and when the presence of artificial light is there, they feel threatened and won’t breed. This happens with so many species, including many amphibians, slowly dwindling their numbers down.

As for sleep deprivation in humans, it’s the same reason why people tell you to not stare at your phone right before you go to bed. Artificial light messes with your biological clock and either makes it harder to fall asleep or impossible.

You might ask what the solution to

light pollution is. It’s as simple as switching off your lights at night. Not only are you going to live a healthier life, but you will save some money.

As for the intrusive streetlights and lights from businesses? Write letters to your representatives explaining why this is an issue you care about and why they should, too. Not every form of pollution is an easy fix, but light pollution is just a flick of a switch away from being solved.

– Jake Schafer, Durango

Way of the dinosaur

This March was the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. as well as smaller troop assistance by the United Kingdom. Our country is not supposed to invade a country and reap the benefits of resources. With England allowed to reap benefits, British Petroleum, or BP, tapped into the world’s third-largest oil field with then-President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to cash in as well.

One would think an oil-rich country would at least take care of its people, especially after the death toll reached 400,000 Iraqis, according to Amnesty International. But to this day, there is plenty of poverty and corruption in Iraq, even with the 2,500 American troops there now.

Some people in the world think we did wrong in Iraq, like Russia is doing now in Ukraine by creating horrendous havoc. Our leaders say it is not the same. Methinks war stinks no matter what, and we, partners and even China should offer solutions instead of intrusions. Stop this atrocity that could do us all in and end us like the dinosaurs.

– Sally Florence, Durango

8:00-5:30pm

April 20

Robin Wall Kimmerer Braiding Sweetgrass FLC | 6-7:30pm

April 22 - Earth Day!

Parade: Dress up as your favorite animal, tree, fungi and join the "procession of the species" parade. Meet at the Train Station on Main, walk or bike to Buckley Park

10:10am

Celebration at Buckley Music, food, trash-totreasure art and maker space, circus, booths, fun for kids, and workshops. Buckley Park | 11am

earthdaydurango.com

First descent

New effort seeks to record tales of running the Upper Animas River

by Jonathan Romeo

In spring 1982, Kris Walker and his friend, Paul Semmer, sat on the banks of the Animas River on the south end of Silverton, ready to travel into the great unknown and (somewhat) ready to make the first descent of the Upper Animas River in a raft.

Though kayakers had been running the gnarly and techy stretch of whitewater as early as the 1970s, no one had previously attempted to take down a fullsized boat.

“People always ask if you’re afraid of first descents, and I say, ‘No, because if you’re afraid to run a river, you shouldn’t be on it,’” Walker said. “You need to be prepared, in shape and have proper equipment, but it’s the attitude of going into it that makes the difference. Because you are stepping into this absolute unknown.”

Spoiler alert – as you can probably surmise from the fact we interviewed Walker last week – he and his companion survived the adventure. But, it’s stories like these that Casey Lynch, the founder and former owner of Mountain Waters Rafting, hopes to get down in the history books.

Lynch has recently started recording the legendary river running stories of the Upper Animas, which are to be archived at Fort Lewis College’s Center for Southwest Studies. Already, Lynch has sat down with 10 different boaters and has plenty more planned in the coming days.

“Everyone up there has a story,” Lynch said. “And now, these stories will be available and open for public use, whether it’s students, future writers, whoever.”

And what better story to start with than the very first descent of the Upper Animas in a raft?

Paddling pioneers

If you’re unfamiliar, the stretch of the Upper Animas below Silverton is regarded as one of the most challenging and wild river runs in the Southwest. It’s known for its nearly 30 miles of continuous Class IV/V rapids, bitterly cold water and erratic flows.

And it’s extremely remote. To run the stretch, one either needs to put in at Silverton at an elevation of 9,300 feet or take the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail-

road in. Either way, at the end of the trip, all boaters require a ride out by the railroad at the traditional take-out at Tacoma.

Walker and Semmer, however, didn’t have much of this information at the time.

Walker, for his part, got into river running in the 1970s and started building catarafts (a twin-hulled raft) to be able to run more technical whitewater. In the early years, Walker ran huge, remote rivers in British Columbia and Canada’s

Northwest Territories.

In the spring of 1982, Walker ran an even further-modified cataraft in what’s considered the first descent of the Numbers and Pine Creek, very technical and tight sections of the Arkansas River near Buena Vista.

“It was a great run,” Walker said. “The boat was fast and maneuverable. I then called my boating companion Paul and said, ‘Let’s go try the Upper Animas.’”

Send it

Scouting on the river was limited, to say the least. Walker and Semmer walked the train tracks a little ways from Rockwood station north, and then from the put-in at Silverton down, about mile. In all, the pair had eyes on just 2 miles or so of an estimated 30 miles of whitewater.

Walker said he talked to a couple kayakers who had run the stretch for some insight, but it was only slightly helpful, because kayakers run the river differently. At the very least, however, they were able to say it should be doable in a raft.

“No one said, ‘You’re going to die,’ and I appreciated that,” Walker joked. I think.

After making sure the D&SNG would pick them up at Tacoma, Walker and Semmer trekked up to Silverton one day in late May 1982 and put on the river in one raft around 7:30 a.m. The pair were able to read and run most of the rapids but stopped to scout the biggest – No Name.

“You have to be willing to accept anything thrown at you,” Walker said of first descents (of which he’s done several. Walker also went onto co-found AIRE Rafts). “But you’re not lying to yourself –if you don’t have the confidence and knowledge, you’re probably going to get in trouble.”

On this day, Walker and Semmer were able to avoid any trouble on the Upper Animas, running all the rapids cleanly and getting to the take-out in just six hours with plenty of time to break down their gear before the D&SNG arrived.

“We were so focused on the river and concentrated on what’s coming next that we weren’t able to take in the absolute beauty of it,” he said. “And in the end, the Upper Animas was a stepping stone to much more difficult, bigger and more powerful rivers in Idaho.”

Campfires to recording booths

Every river has its own unique history and story, Lynch said, and the Upper Animas is no different, which is why he wants to record and preserve them before they get lost to time.

Nancy Wiley – whose father, Milt, was one of the first legendary kayakers of Durango – was taken down the Upper Animas in 1975, at the age of 15, in one epic father-daughter outing. The group was

Rafters and kayakers take on the Upper Animas in July 2019./ File photo

equipped with wool sweaters bought from a thrift store and thin nylon paddling jackets (brrrrr).

“I like to say, if that water wasn’t flowing, it’d be frozen,” Wiley said. “But I wasn’t scared or panicked. It was more matter of fact. Was it fun? That’s a good question. I was excited, it was beautiful, it was scary, and yes, I suppose fun.”

After, Wiley was hooked, and estimates that now she has probably run the Upper Animas more than 40 times. Once, at high water, she ran the entire 26 miles or so in about three hours in her kayak. A feat, sure, but far too short of a time to spend in such a beautiful place, Wiley said.

“There are special places in our world, and the Animas River Canyon is definitely one of them,” she said.

Amy Knight, who also recorded her story with Lynch, was one of the first women to row a raft on the Upper Animas with her friend Karen Glascock in 1984. A Mountain Waters Rafting guide, Knight said running the stretch never got old.

“There wasn’t a trip up there when I didn’t have butterflies in my stomach, because the consequences are huge,” she said. “It was lovely and awesome, but also nerve-wracking. You can be at your best, but sometimes shit happens. But we were young and having the time of our lives.”

And hey, maybe Lynch will ask me

one day to record my own river story on the Upper Animas, in which one night, while doing a layover at the guide camp (near Needleton), one of my buddies woke up in the middle of the night to… relieve himself… and walked straight into a tree and punctured his eye, requiring him to run the river with a compromised eye the next day.

Another spoiler alert – we made it.

The good, the bad, the ugly

As the years pressed on, river running equipment improved (namely bucket

boats gave way to self-bailers) and rafters became more familiarized with the Upper Animas. As a result, the idyllic yet dangerous run opened up to commercial trips.

By the 1990s, three local companies –4Corners Whitewater, Mild to Wild Rafting and Mountain Waters – were regularly running trips down the Upper Animas. But we’d be remiss to not mention the tragic price that sometimes comes with adventuring – in 2005, two people died on a commercial rafting trip, and another person died in 2009.

For a time, the number of commercial trips plummeted on the Upper Animas, from 872 visitors in 2005 to just 167 in 2006. The traumatic experiences, however, caused guiding companies to rethink their strategies and take a more cautious approach.

Now, customers who want to go on an Upper Animas trip must have previous rafting experience and be in good physical condition. Some companies, too, will throw customers in Durango’s Whitewater Park to see how they respond to the chaos of being in water. In turn, no one has died since that 2009 incident.

“You can do everything right, and still something bad can happen,” Lynch said. “It takes a lot of experience from guides to get down safely, but also a certain amount of luck.”

Far more people could be named in this story in the history of running the Upper Animas. But, suffice to say, Lynch wants them all for his archives – the good, the bad, the ugly (and he’s looking for the first kayakers to ever make the true first descent of the Upper A).

“I’m not going to get them all,” Lynch said. “But one thing you realize is the camaraderie up there. There were a ton of practical jokes in all directions, but when the chips were down, everyone looked out for everyone else on the river.” ■

A kayaker meets No Name rapid./ File photo

Before there was Denver

Nearly 50 Native American tribes once called Front Range home

by John Daley/Colorado Public Radio

Colorado’s history can often be headline news. That includes things like the proposed renaming of Mt. Evans or the removal of a statue of a Civil War soldier. It prompted a listener to ask CPR News’ Colorado Wonders a question: What Native American tribes lived in the area now known as Denver?

It came to CPR from Darlene Graham, a retired Denver Public Schools teacher. She remembers learning about the Ute tribe but not much more.

“I think it’s in fifth grade where they study Native Americans in this area. It’s just a fascinating subject,” she said. “I think it’s sometimes kind of forgotten.”

Standing in downtown Denver, Ernest House, Jr. would agree.

“We’re sitting here on the banks of the confluence in downtown Denver, and as I’m looking around, I saw people that were fishing, that were meditating, that were just walking their dogs,” House, a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe from Southwest Colorado and a former executive director of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, said.

“I go back in time and think about how our tribal nations had also utilized this area. Water’s so important,” he said.

Water was the lifeblood, helping sustain people in this region for 12,000 years or more.

The Utes and other tribes lived on the mountain side of the South Platte. And, House said, on the other side lived “the Plains tribes, those tribes that were mov-

ing with buffalo. They were large horse tribes like the Comanche, the Sioux Nations, Cheyenne, Arapahoe and so on.”

They traveled and traded around this region and beyond.

“There was an I-25 corridor long before any type of concrete was laid down that these tribes used,” House said. “Our tribal nations have always also been here, but often are overlooked, or the story’s never told.”

At least 48 other nations occupied this

land in the past 500 years. Then, waves of Euro-American explorers, trappers, traders and eventually settlers pushed in, often violently.

Tribes, House said, were “forcibly removed by treaty or by gunpoint from what we call the state of Colorado over the last 150 to 200 years.”

Complicated, violent history

History Colorado, the museum in downtown Denver, has been grappling with this complicated, bloody story. Last

fall, it opened a new exhibit on the Sand Creek Massacre, the deadliest day in Colorado history, which was developed in consultation with tribes.

“You can’t understand the creation of Colorado without understanding both the Sand Creek Massacre and the Gold Rush,” Sam Bock, publications director and lead exhibit developer for History Colorado, said. “They’re all connected.”

Increasing settlement on the land took off with the Gold Rush. Disease took the lives of many in tribal communities. Then in the 1860s, the U.S. used Colorado gold to help pay for the Civil War.

“The people coming to mine that gold were hostile to the Indigenous peoples who had been living here for hundreds of years,” said Bock.

To protect Denver and the mines, the U.S. sent troops. In 1864, the U.S. Army attacked a camp of mostly women, children and elders on Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado, as the exhibit documents. The soldiers murdered more than 230 peaceful Cheyenne and Arapahoe people.

“It’s really one of the most important moments in Colorado history,” said Bock.

That moment came after a string of treaties were broken by the government, with John Evans, the second governor of the Colorado Territory from 1862-65, playing a central role.

“We were here defending our land,” Richard Williams, executive director of a nonprofit called People of the Sacred Land, who is Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne, said.

Ernest House, Jr., a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, in downtown Denver./ John Daley/CPR News

“There was not a single person who was in Colorado at that time that was here legally.”

Sand Creek also set the stage for more death and devastation.

“These people were pushed very far away from their homeland,” Bock said. “They were pushed into residential boarding schools where their children, against their will, were taken and, oftentimes, sadly had their language and culture literally beaten from them.”

The Sand Creek Massacre is a key moment in the history of the entire hemisphere, Williams said.

“My ancestors were living in their homeland, and they were surviving in a very comfortable manner. And they were annihilated,” said Williams, an educator and former CEO of the American Indian College Fund. “Sand Creek, and from about 1861 to about 1869, is the worst case of genocide in the Americas.”

Reconciling the past

Momentum is building to revisit the past with an eye toward restoration and reconciliation.

In February, hundreds gathered at the Denver Indian Center, an urban cultural gathering center for the American Indian and Alaska Native community, which makes up roughly 2% of Colorado’s population, according to the U.S. Census. They were there for the kickoff of an event aimed at sharing the history of Denver’s American Indian and Indigenous Peoples communities.

“I think that we need to be able to tell our own story,” said Williams, who gave an invocation.

Community members, surrounded by the flags of Native American nations that decorate the walls of the center, joined in a traditional round dance along with Seven Falls Indian Dancers.

Denver’s Landmark Preservation Team and Office of Storytelling are developing a written study and a documentary. Community members are telling their stories. The state, too, is working to bolster the historic record, including about the dozens of tribes with ties to the land here.

“History Colorado and the Colorado Commission of

Indian Affairs held tribal consultations to make a list of these 48 tribes that have ties to what is now known as the state of Colorado,” state Deputy Press Secretary Melissa Dworkin said in an email. That includes the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Southern Ute Indian Tribe, which have jurisdictions in Colorado.

An exhibit at History Colorado called “Written on the Land” documents the story of the Utes, Colorado’s longest continuous residents, told in their own voices.

Currently, there are more than 200 tribal nations represented in American Indian/Alaska Native communities in the Denver metro area, according to Dworkin.

Williams said history also requires a hard, often painful look at how Colorado was formed.

“You only need to ask yourself one question: Why are there no Indian reservations on the Front Range or in the eastern plains of Colorado? And it’s a sad story.” Williams hopes in better remembering, chronicling and understanding history, the people living in the land now known as Colorado can seek truth and chart a better future.

For him, the effort is long overdue.

“One hundred and fifty years,” Williams said.

For more from Colorado Public Radio, visit cpr.org ■

Rick Williams at the Denver Indian Center as Denver's Office of Storytelling kicks off a project about the city's Indigenous community in February./ Photo by Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

Taking it easy

Low-proof and no-proof options for the sober and semi-sober curious

by Lucas Hess

Social gatherings and drinking culture seem to go hand-in-hand. If a person is not partaking in alcohol, whether on a certain day or altogether, he or she can expect that most others will be. The decision if or when to drink is a personal choice, but abstaining can be even more difficult when seemingly everyone around you has a cocktail, beer or wine in their hand.

In addition, if you ask the server for a soft drink or non-alcoholic beverage, it could potentially tip off friends and add to the dreaded peer pressure. Having an alcohol-free night can be hard enough without questions, unwanted attention and feeling the need to explain oneself –especially for those who may want an alcoholic drink as much as the next human.

Fortunately, a simple drink order does not have to induce anxiety in a non-drinker or someone who is simply pacing their alcohol consumption. These days, there are plenty of N/A or low-proof cocktail options you can try when out on the town or at home. They can be bubbly, fruity or tart – packing in a lot of flavor but not a big punch. And, best of all, no one but you will be the wiser.

Low proof

Low-alcohol cocktails include alcohol, but at a much lower percentage than their cocktail menu counterparts. Low alcohol drinks may be a great fit for a situation that would be best handled with a bit more clarity. These drinks often contain ingredients such as bitters, liqueurs or aromatized wines, like vermouth, to impart flavor without as much alcohol as high-proof spirits. They are commonly combined with soda water, juices or herbs to create a product that looks the same as a high-octane cocktail. Some great low-proof sippers follow:

• Spritz - Aperitivo cocktails like the spritz are great precursors to dinner and are intended to prepare your stomach for the meal to come. Aperitivo liqueur or amaro, which have a taste of slight bitterness that helps stimulate an appetite, are often used. Bitter aperitivo

liqueurs are not necessary though for a spritz cocktail, which obviously can be made by simply diluting your favorite wine with soda water. Whether using an aperitivo, amaro or wine, a slice of orange delivers a great citrus note and makes a splendid garnish for your drink.

3 oz. sparkling wine

2 oz. aperitivo/amaro (optional)

1 oz. soda water

1 slice of orange

• Sherry Cobbler is a classic cocktail that first appeared in the 1887 reprint of “Jerry Thomas’ Bartenders Guide.” This cocktail has been quenching thirsts on sunny days for more than 130 years.

.25 oz. simple syrup

1 orange slice

2.5 oz. Amontillado Sherry

2 small pieces of pineapple Shake with crushed ice, pour mixture in a “tall” Collins glass.

•Bamboo allows a fortified wine called dry sherry and bianco vermouth to take center stage instead of more booze-forward alternatives such as gin, vodka, tequila or whiskey. Once this drink is assembled, it will look and taste like a cocktail but with a lower alcohol percentage compared to most cocktails. Its history dates to the 1800s, when it was poured at the Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan.

1.5 oz. dry sherry, fino

1.5 oz. bianco vermouth

1 dash of Angostura bitters

1 orange twist, garnish

Combine all ingredients and stir with ice until chilled and diluted. Strain the mixture from the ice and into a cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of orange peel.

No proof

It used to be non-alcoholic drinks were thought of as children’s drinks, a sugar rush from concoctions like Shirley Temples or Roy Rogers. Those drinks still have their place, but now those options have expanded beyond the kids table. No-proof cocktails have flourished in popularity in recent years by combining the balanced and flavorful concepts be-

hind mixology to the non-alcoholic space. This includes using non-alcoholic bitters and even non-alcoholic spirits to create mocktails that are excellent to be sipped and savored. Products and ingredients worth pursuing for a mixed non-alcoholic mocktail include botanical waters, alcohol-free bitters.

However, be forewarned that fancy and bountiful options for no-proof mocktails may only be available at select establishments. With this in mind, here are a few simple tricks that could help expedite your order, offer a familiar comfort by giving your hand something to do and keep your cover:

• It’s all about the glass: “Soda water, short with a lime, please.” Asking for soda water in a short glass with a garnish is a great incognito way to look like you are drinking something like a vodka soda. Another easy and tasty option is to order a lemonade and soda in a “tall” glass, which will look almost indistinguishable from a Tom Collins.

• The beauty of the bottle: “I’ll take a Heineken zero-zero, please.” The romanticism of drinking out of a glass bottle might be just the fit for someone trying

to have a drinking experience without the alcohol. While the label may tip off your friends, therein lies an opportunity to show off your favorite koozie.

Drinking from a glass bottle is not limited to only beer, though, as there are now bottled non-alcoholic cocktails such as the Phony Negroni from St. Agrestis and a number of booze-free cocktails from Curious Elixirs.

According to Nielsen IQ, from August 2021 - August 2022, nonalcoholic sales grew 20.6% in the United States, bringing in $395 million in sales. While the reasons behind this growth are varied, it is becoming clear that more people are exploring non-alcoholic options.

So pay no mind to what everyone else is consuming, unless you are leading with curiosity and genuine interest. Who knows? You may end up trying a low-proof cocktail and enjoying it or pacing yourself with a non-alcoholic beverage, and your body will thank you later. But whatever you end up imbibing, please drink responsibly.

Lucas Hess is a bartender at El Moro and does beverage and event consulting for his day job. ■

Bamboo cocktail

Unintended consequences

New novel an Uruguayan romp you need to go on

by Jeffrey Mannix

In a first for Murder Ink – and I suspect a rarity in U.S. publishing – we have the pleasure of reading a book set in Montevideo, Uruguay. We take a bird’s eye view of the hijacking of an ar mored truck by a gang of brain-dead crooks that goes terribly wrong. After an unintended explosion and fire, shoot ing and yelling, the heist goes even wronger. Ultimately, a woman who was invited to come spectate by a man she had recently met walks off with all the money.

“The Hand that Feeds You,” by Mercedes Rosende and translated col orfully from Uruguayan Spanish by Tim Gutteridge, is a romp of unin tended consequences. The burlesque of characters is made easy to love and pity at the same time amid a very serious crime where people are killed and nobody really cares.

Rosende is a crafty writer, perhaps from also being a lawyer and journalist in her hometown of Montevideo, but you realize after only a few pages that the storyteller is nowhere to be found in the story. That’s a genuine skill for a fiction writer, most of whom – especially the luminaries of supermarket fiction –can’t stay out of their stories and don’t even know they have a presence. With Rosende’s “The Hand that Feeds You,” all the characters are a half-bubble off center, reminiscent of the charming books of Sicilian writer Andrea Camilleri and the exquisite 1994 novel “Pereira Declares” by Antonio Tabucchi.

Rosende’s performers, like Camilleri’s and Tabucchi’s, are embodiments of Laurence Peter’s 1969 “The Peter Principle,” wherein people in a hierarchy are inevitably elevated to their level of incompetence. And here, in Old Town Montevideo, the rogue gang of miscreants botch things so thoroughly that one Ursula López grabs her floundering new friend Diego and drives off with seven bags of money in a getaway van that low-functioning Ricardo left the keys in.

When the fire lets up, the smoke clears and the innate confusion

sharpens, the ill-equipped and stunned thieves begin to scatter, leaving behind Ricardo “Hobo” Prieto, who’s looking perhaps dead from a bullet to the head.

Retirement-aged Ur-

ination of Rosende and how this crimein-a-crime concludes. “The Hand that Feeds You” is a romp that you need to go on. I’d be able to tell you the moves it takes for one woman to attempt a heist of a heist, how a woman more experienced in housekeeping may be able to outsmart the white-collar and dirty-shirted criminals, or tell you where she drops a stitch or gives up Diego and the money and gets fed to the sharks. But there’s more to “The Hand that Feeds You” than fascinating scheming or predictable consequences in stealing from thieves.

I’m guessing that Rosende began “The Hands that Feeds You” without knowing where the story was going or who most of the players would be. I’ll guess again that Rosende came with her character Ursula, maybe she saw a need for a foil in weak-kneed Diego, and likely she knew she’d open with a calamitous armored truck robbery.

YOGA FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH

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showed up to watch and embolden Diego with a revolver in her purse, proves to be the exception to the Peter Principle. As we turn to page 23, we begin the story of this ordinary woman with unfortunate taste in men –including her father she quarrels with every night in his recliner that’s been empty for a long time after his death. She goes on to outthink and outmaneuver the unscrupulous attorney Antinucci, who assembled the goons and bankrolled the caper. She also manages to evade the notoriously numerous but lazy South American police and calculates how she and Diego can stay alive and vanish with all the money.

It would be easy to slip in a spoiler now in an attempt to describe the imag-

Rosende seemed also to have wanted to paint the Montevideo personality, and she appears to have wanted to sketch the South American country that few know anything about. I reckon that Rosende also cheers on the surgically successful crime, as many of us always hope for. I’d bet, too, that Rosende had fun writing “The Hand that Feeds You” and wrote an entire draft of the book before even a chapter-to-chapter edit. Speaking of which, she has titled the six sections of the book: The Escape; A Month Before the Escape; The Escape; The Day of the Escape; The Escape; The End.

Rosende was a passenger on this journey, not a driver, and these section headings are her sticky notes. With her cunning talent for writing, she produced an exciting caper that shouldn’t be missed if you think you can stand the tension.

“The Hand that Feeds You” is from the prescient Bitter Lemon Press in London, a preeminent publisher of exceptional crime fiction. It was released March 21 in paperback. At $15.95, it’s a bargain for the quality and cheaper yet with your 15% Murder Ink discount at Maria’s Bookshop. ■

Thursday06

Tour for Life, pet adoption event, 12 noon-5:30 p.m., La Plata County Humane Society, 1111 Camino del Rio.

Bingo Night, 5 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Live music, 6-9 p.m., The Office & Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.

Animas River Allies Kickoff Party, 6-8 p.m., 4Corners Riversports, 360 Camino del Rio.

Author Event & Book Signing: Mark Stevens, 6 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Trivia Night, 6:30 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1330 Camino del Rio.

Jim Belcher and Ben Gibson play, 7-9 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave.

First Thursdays Songwriter Series, 7-9 p.m., iNDIGO Room, 1315 Main Ave.

Life-Long Learning Series: The Incredible, Edible, Honeypot Ant, presented by retired biology professor John R. Conway, 7:30 p.m., FLC’s Noble Hall Room 130.

Friday07

Gary Walker plays, 10 a.m.-12 noon, Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave.

Tour for Life, pet adoption event, 12 noon-5:30 p.m., La Plata County Humane Society, 1111 Camino del Rio.

The ArtRoom Collective First Friday Art Crawl, 4-7 p.m., Smiley Building, 1309 E. 3rd Ave.

Fish Fry Fundraiser, 5 p.m., VFW, 1550 Main Ave.

Horizon plays, 5 p.m., Mancos Brewing.

Larry Carver & Ben Gibson play, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.

Alex Graf, and Tony Holmquist & Brendan Shafer play, shows at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., iNDIGO Room, 1315 Main Ave.

Live music, 6-9 p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.

Ru Paul’s Drag Race Watch Party, 6 p.m., Father’s Daughters Pizza, 640 Main Ave.

Tenth Mountain Division, and Dana Ariel & the Coming Up Roses play, doors at 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre.

Improv Night, 7:30 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.

Hip Hop Night, featuring DJ Tones and various acts, 8 p.m., The Hive, 1150 Main Ave.

Drag Show, 8:30 p.m., Father’s Daughters Pizza, 640 Main Ave.

Saturday08

Homebuyer Education Class, 8:30 a.m., more info at homesfund.org

Easter Egg Scramble, 9:30 a.m., Santa Rita Park.

Art April Fest, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., more info at fortlewis.edu

Tour for Life, pet adoption event, 12 noon-5:30 p.m., La Plata County Humane Society, 1111 Camino del Rio.

Setting the Stage: Durango in the 1920s, 1 p.m., presentation via Zoom. Hosted by Animas Museum, register at animasmuseum.org/events.html

The Pastor & The Pagan play, 1 p.m., the beach at Purgatory.

Dana Ariel and the Coming Up Roses play, 3 p.m., the beach at Purgatory.

Ben Gibson plays, 5:30p.m., The Office, 699 Main Ave.

Second Weekend Series, shows at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., iNDIGO Room, 1315 Main Ave.

One Heart Orchestra plays, 6 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Kirk James Blues Band plays, 6 p.m., Weminuche Woodfire Grill, Vallecito.

Live music, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.

Community Yoga, 6-7 p.m., Yoga Durango, 1485 Florida Rd. Donations accepted.

Cylus O’Connor plays, 6:30 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.

Silent Disco w/DJ Chaser, 9-11:30 p.m., 11th St. Station.

Sunday09

People We Know play, 11 a.m., the beach at Purgatory.

Pond Skim, 12 noon, Purgatory Resort.

Tour for Life, pet adoption event, 12 noon-4:30 p.m., La Plata County Humane Society, 1111 Camino del Rio.

Open Mic, 2 p.m., Mancos Brewing.

Feed the People! free mutual aid meal & winter gear drive for homeless community members, every Sunday, 2 p.m., Buckley Park.

Open Mic, 4 p.m., Fenceline Cider, Mancos. San Juan Mountain Boys play, 5 p.m., Weminuche Woodfire Grill, Vallecito.

Live music, 6-9 p.m., The Office & Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.

Sunday Funday, 6 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Monday10

Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

Live music, 6-9 p.m., The Office & Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.

Open Mic, 6 p.m., Weminuche Woodfire Grill, Vallecito.

Comedy Showcase, 7:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Tuesday11

Community Yoga, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Yoga Durango, 1485 Florida Rd. Donations accepted.

Bluegrass Jam, 5:30 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.

Live music, 6-9 p.m., The Office & Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.

Open Mic Night, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

AskRachel

Time capsule treasure map & pickleball, again

Interesting fact: Nearly one in six Americans are playing pickleball. So in Durango, it’s got to be like 5 out of 6, with the other person recovering from knee surgery.

Dear Rachel, I have this stack of small papers where I have written notes to myself. Backs of envelopes, tops of receipts, things like that. I keep trying to clear it off my kitchen table, but then I see all the good ideas and think, oh I need to keep that, I won’t remember it otherwise. So the pile stays and grows. What’s a good alternative for organizing all my brilliant-for-later ideas?

– Struck by Inspiration

Dear Inspired Victim, I got it. Make yourself a special box to put all the ideas in. Like one made of fine cedar, or an old Merrell shoe box. Take that box far out into the wilderness and bury it. On your way home, create a treasure map with lots of riddlesome clues. Hide that map in your most important personal effects. You will soon forget all about the box and all its

Wednesday12

Author Event & Book Signing: Dan Flores, 6 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Live music, 6-9 p.m., The Office & Diamond Belle, 699 Main Ave.

“Current Personal Research on the Peopling of South America,” 7-8:30 p.m., FLC’s Lyceum Room, hosted by San Juan Basin Archaeological Society.

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

Karaoke Roulette, 8 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.

Ongoing

28th annual Creativity Festivity, Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Avenue. Exhibit runs thru April 28.

62nd annual Student Juried Exhibition, The Art Gallery at Fort Lewis College. Exhibit runs until April 8.

contents, freeing yourself from the burden of all your down-the-road genius. But your heirs? They’ll kick off a Forrest Fenn-style search for whatever you buried out there.

– Marked with an X, Rachel

Dear Rachel,

I’ve seen all these letters you get about pickleball this and pickleball that. Yet somehow, Overland Park, Kans., gets celebrated as the most pickleball-obsessed city in America. (SLC was second, and someplace in Michigan was third.) I can only think that the criteria did not include letters to the newspaper, because clearly, Durango is beyond obsessed. What gives?

– Left Hanging

Dear Dangling Pickle,

Not only did Durango not make the list, but no Colorado community cracked the top 25. The list (at least the one I found) was based on Google searches about pickleball, so I can come to only one conclusion: Durangotans and Coloradans have al-

“Tyrannosaurus – Meet the Family,” Farmington Museum, 3041 E. Main St. Exhibit runs thru April 26.

The Hive Indoor Skate Park, open skate and skate lessons. For schedule and waiver, go to www.thehivedgo.org

Upcoming

“Romeo & Juliet,” presented by FLC Theatre, April 13-15, 7:30 p.m.; April 15-16, 2 p.m. FLC Mainstage Theatre. Tickets at: www.durangoconcerts.com

Great Old Broads for Wilderness “Wild for Wilderness Online Auction,” April 14-23, info at 2023wildforwilderness.afrogs.org

Free Legal Clinic, April 14, 4-5 p.m., Ignacio Library, 470 Goddard Ave.

Babydel’s Neon Jungle w/Seth Bass play, April 14, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre.

Graham Good & the Paints with Haro in the Dark play, April 15, doors at 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre.

ready reached expert status, so we don’t NEED to look up any stinkin’ information about the sport we’re best in the world at, alongside skiing, biking, rafting, drinking and costuming.

– Top that, Rachel

“Kiss the Ground: Regenerating Hope for Climate,” screening, April 17, 6 p.m., Unitarian Universalist, 419 San Juan Dr.

Planning Planting & Using an Herb Garden, April 17, 6:30 p.m., Animas Valley Grange, 7271 CR 203.

Durango PlayFest Speaker Series, featuring Broadway actor Sky Lakota-Lynch, April 20, 1-2 p.m., FLC’s Theatre Building – Main Stage Theatre.

Electronics Recycling, April 20, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave.

Author Robin Wall Kimmerer (“Braiding Sweetgrass”), April 20, 6-7:30 p.m., FLC.

Trail Crew Brew Release Party, April 21, 4-8 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

“Connections: An Art Show,” April 21, 4:30-7:30 p.m., Moody’s on Mill St., 15 E. Mill St., Bayfield.

Free Yoga, 6-7 p.m., April 21, Smiley Building Room 15, 1309 E. 3rd Ave.

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries-born René Descartes (1596–1650) was instrumental in the developing of modern science and philosophy. His famous motto, “I think, therefore I am,” is an assertion that the analytical component of intelligence is primary and foremost. And yet, few history books mention the supernatural intervention that was pivotal in his evolution as a supreme rationalist. On the night of Nov. 10, 1619, he had three mystical dreams that changed his life, revealing the contours of the quest to discern the “miraculous science” that would occupy him for the next 30 years. I suspect you are in store for a comparable experience. Brilliant ideas and marvelous solutions to your dilemmas will visit you as you bask in unusual and magical states of awareness.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The dirty work is becoming milder and easier. It’s still a bit dirty, but is growing progressively less grungy and more rewarding. The command to “adjust, adjust and adjust some more, you beast of burden” is giving way to “refine, refine and refine some more, you beautiful animal.” At this pivotal moment, it’s crucial to remain consummately conscientious. If you stay in close touch with your shadowy side, it will never commandeer more than 10% of your total personality. In other words, a bit of healthy distrust for your own motives will keep you trustworthy.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “‘Tis the good reader that makes the good book,” wrote Gemini philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. “In every book, he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear.” In the coming weeks, a similar principle will apply to everything you encounter. You will find rich meaning and entertainment wherever you go. From seemingly ordinary experiences, you’ll notice and pluck clues that will be wildly useful for you personally.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Traditional astrologers don’t regard the planet Mars as being a natural ally of you Crabs. But I suspect you will enjoy an invigorating relationship with the red planet during the next six weeks. For best results, tap into its rigorous vigor in the following ways: 1. Gather new wisdom about how to fight tenderly and fiercely for what’s yours. 2. Refine and energize your ambitions, so they become more ingenious and beautiful. 3. Find out more about how to provide your physical body with exactly what it needs to

be strong and lively on an ongoing basis. 4. Mediate on how to activate a boost in your willpower.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I won’t ask you to start heading back toward your comfort zone yet, Leo. I’d love to see you keep wandering out in the frontiers for a while longer. It’s healthy and wise to be extra fanciful, improvisatory and imaginative. The more rigorous and daring your experiments, the better. Possible bonus: If you are willing to question at least some of your fixed opinions and dogmatic beliefs, you could very well outgrow the part of the Old You that has finished its mission.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The Supreme Deity with the most power may not be Jehovah or Allah or Brahman or Jesus’s Dad. There’s a good chance it is actually Mammon, the New Testament’s God of Money. The devoted worship that humans offer to Mammon far surpasses the loyalty offered to all the other gods combined. His values and commandments rule civilization. I bring this to your attention, Virgo, because now is an excellent time for you to deliver extra intense prayers to Mammon. From what I can determine, this formidable Lord of Lords is far more likely to favor you than usual.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): It’s an excellent time to give up depleted, used-up obsessions, so you have plenty of room and energy to embrace fresh, succulent passions. I hope you will take advantage of the cosmic help that’s available as you try this fun experiment. You will get in touch with previously untapped resources as you wind down your attachments to old pleasures that have dissipated. You will activate dormant reserves of energy as you phase out connections that take more than they give.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “The best revenge is not to be like your enemy,” said ancient Roman philosopher Marcus Aurelius. I’m tempted to advise every Scorpio to get a tattoo of that motto. That way, you will forever keep in mind this excellent advice. As fun as it may initially feel to retaliate against those who have crossed you, it rarely generates redemptive grace or glorious rebirth, which are key Scorpio birthrights. I believe these thoughts should be prime meditations for you in the coming weeks.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sometimes love can be boring. We may become overly accustomed to feeling affection and tenderness for a special person or animal. What blazed like a fiery fountain in the early stages of our attraction might have subsided into a routine sensation of mild fondness. Even if you have been ensconced in bland sweetness, I suspect you will soon transition into a phase of enhanced zeal. Are you ready to be immersed in a luscious, lusty bloom of heartful yearning and adventure?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What shall we call this latest chapter of your life story? How about “Stealthy Triumph over Lonely Fear,” or maybe “Creating Rapport with the Holy Darkness”? Other choices might be “As Far Down into the Wild Rich Depths That I Dare to Go” or “My Roots Are Stronger and Deeper Than I Ever Imagined.” Congratulations on this quiet but amazing work you’ve been attending to.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): It’s swayswirl-swivel time for you, Aquarius – a phase when you will be wise to gyrate and rollick and zigzag. This is a bouncy, shimmering interlude that will hopefully clean and clear your mind as it provides you with an abundance of reasons to utter “whee!” and “yahoo!” and “hooray!” My advice: Don’t expect the straight-and-narrow version of anything. Be sure you get more than minimal doses of twirling and swooping and cavorting. Your brain needs to be teased and tickled, and your heart requires regular encounters with improvised fun.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): When I was growing up in suburban America, way back in the 20th century, many adults told me that I was wrong and bad to grow my hair really long. Really! It’s hard to believe now, but I endured ongoing assaults of criticism, ridicule and threats because of how I shaped my physical appearance. Teachers, relatives, baseball coaches, neighbors, strangers in the grocery store – literally hundreds of people – warned me that sporting a big head of hair would cause the whole world to be prejudiced against me and sabotage my success. Decades later, I can safely say that all those critics were resoundingly wrong. My hair is still long, has always been so, and my ability to live the life I love has not been obstructed by it in the least. Telling you this story is my way of encouraging you to keep being who you really are, even in the face of people telling you that’s not who you really are. The astrological omens say it’s time for you to take a stand.

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-Wed: 9ish - 5ish

Thurs: On delivery

Fri: Gone fishing; call first

Announcements

Tack & Equipment Consignment

Sale Sat., April 15, 9am - 3pm, LPC Fairgrounds - 2500 Main Ave., Durango. Consigners check in Fri., April 14, 9am - 7pm. Benefits the 4 Corners Back Country Horsemen, 970-884-2355 or e: jksherer1@outlook.com

KDUR is Celebrating 50 years in 2025. Staff is on the hunt for past DJs. Maybe you did a show for one year, maybe you did a show for 10. However long that was, hopefully you have a fond memory, a story or maybe even some recorded material! If you do, please email station manager Bryant Liggett,  Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu or call 970.247.7261

Lost/Found

Found Oakley Sunglasses at Dog Park. Describe model and color/lens. 970-570-7593

Lost Size 7 New OR Glove Black and brown, insulated. Call or text 970-570-7593.

Classes/Workshops

Free Tenant Rights Presentation

Free Tenant Rights Presentation presented by Colorado Legal Services Tuesday, April 18th, 5:30 pm – 7 pm at Durango Public Library and via Zoom. Topics include recent changes to landlord tenant law and evictions. Please call 385-7378 ext. 251 for details on how to attend or visit www.durango vap.com/events

Improve Your Handwriting!

Visit www.LetsLetterTogether.com or take in-person classes at The ArtRoom at the Smiley Building, Studio #11, 1309 E. Third Avenue, Durango

West Coast Swing Dance 6-week class starts April 12. Learn the basics of West Coast Swing. Registration is required at www.westslope westies.com.

ForRent

Furnished Studio in Town $900/mo. specula1@gmail.com

HelpWanted

Massage Therapists Needed

Amaya is hiring: Massage therapist part time positions Email triciagourley 13@gmail.com or drop off resume to apply

Bookseller - Maria’s Bookshop

Now hiring avid readers for FT & PT bookselling positions. Must enjoy some evening & weekend shifts. Applications available in-store and at mariasbook shop.com. Open until filled.

Durango Outdoor Exchange

is looking for a full-time or part-time Gear Specialist. Do you have -retail sales experience -gear knowledge -Saturday availability - self motivation - stoke for the outdoors? Come join the crew! Applications available on our website or swing by to meet Jen, 3677 Main Ave.

ForSale

Venture Split Snowboard

8 yo splitboard, backcountry ready, skins and bindings. Used $375. Tyler 970.247.1233

Crusher Fat Bike - Now $425 2015 Sun Bicycle, 7 speed, in excellent cond. Barely ridden. Basket & kick

stand. MSRP $530, now $425. 970-9030005.

Gordon Smith FibreFlex Longboard

A classic – sweet, smooth ride for cushy cruising. Been around the block but still in great shape. 42” long. $50 Text: 970-749-2595.

Reruns Home Furnishings

Brighten up your indoor (and soon outdoor!) space with bistro sets, patio/garden items, nightstands and lots of new art. Looking to consign smaller furniture pieces … 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

Wanted

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

Services

HaikuMovieReview

“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” Dueling Christ figures it is not, but bromantic meta fun, it is

– Lainie Maxson

spots: $65, with discounts available. RJ Mini Storage. 970-259-3494.

BodyWork

Reiki Practitioner, Postpartum Doula and Reflexologist In-office energy work sessions and reflexology by appointment, and in-home postpartum doula services and support. Energy medicine sessions held in office at the Sun Building, 755 E. 2nd Ave., Durango. 970-946-9352

30% Off Body Work, Tuesdays

Clinical deep tissue, cupping, and TENS treatment options. Located at the Community Wellness Center, 160 E. 12th St., Suite 1, Durango. Call to schedule w/ Dennis 970.403.5451

In-Home Fitness Training

Convenient. Private. All ages. Diane Brady NSCA-CPT. 970-903-2421

Stop Smoking/Break Bad Habits

Effortless! Relaxing! Get the results you want! Professional hypnosis with Susan Urban, (CHT, HA, TH).  Use your own brain to make the positive changes you want in your life. Free phone consultation. 970-247-9617.

Harmony Cleaning and Organizing

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

Lowest Prices on Storage!

Inside/outside storage near Durango and Bayfield. 10-x-20, $130. Outside

Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-7590199.

Lotus Path Healing Arts

Now accepting new clients. Offering a unique, intuitive fusion of Esalen massage, deep tissue & Acutonics. To schedule call Kathryn, 970-201-3373.

CommunityService

Volunteers Needed

Alternative Horizons needs volunteers for its hotline. Info at 970-2474374 or alternativehorizons.org/