The Durango Telegraph, April 15, 2021

Hugs and drugs

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FREE April 15, 2021 Vol. XX, No. 15 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

Fast-charging

The Diné Reader

Peas in the valley

How one mountain town is tackling EV range anxiety p8

Collaboration leads to first-ever anthology of Navajo lit p9

When to plant and how to eat your spring greens p11

Back in the flow.

Issue 15 of The Gulch is here!

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

To find out about advertising opportunities, email: steve@gulchmag.com

2 n April 15, 2021

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lineup

4

4 La Vida Local

So close, so far

4 Thumbin’ It

Pope Francis and the fight for marriage equality

by David Feela

5 Word on the Street

8

6-7 Soapbox

Range anxiety

8 State News

Ear to the ground: “Is there anything more satisfying than when your snot decides to switch nostrils?”

– Local allergy sufferer looking on the bright side

’Dem apples

thepole

RegularOccurrences

The apple of Southwest Colorado’s cider scene has caught the attention of the international sipping crowd. Last week at the New York International Cider Competition.

Mancos-based Fenceline Cider took home two awards, winning a silver in the Wood-Aged Category for its Windfall cider and a bronze in the Fruit Cider Category for its Understory Elderberry. But, perhaps even more exciting, it was named “Colorado Cider Producer of the Year “at the New York City event.

How one mountain town grappled with adding EV charging stations

by Sam Brasch/Colorado Public Radio

9 Top Story 11 Flash in the Pan

9

12-13 Stuff to Do

Essential reading Collaborative effort compiles firstever anthology of Navajo literature

13 Ask Rachel

by Missy Votel

14 Free Will Astrology 15 Classifieds

11

15 Haiku Movie Review

Peas in the valley

On the cover: The San Juan River wends its way to the confluence with the Colorado in southeastern Utah this week./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire

How to plant – and enjoy – those first sweet greens of spring

boilerplate

by Ari LeVaux

EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel (missy@durangotelegraph.com)

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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.

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

telegraph

Sam Perry, left, and Neal Wight, Fenceline Ciders founders.

“We’re thrilled to be honored with these three awards from NYICC,” Sam Perry, Fenceline cofounder, said.

Fenceline’s Windfall Cider is described as a French-style cider, made from a blend of French Bittersweet apples sourced from Shawn Carney’s Atomic Orchard in Cedaredge, Colo. The juice is fermented slowly, finished in French oak casks and packaged in 750ml bottles.

Perry said the Windfall, is a great example of a proper “mountain-west cider” and one of his favorites. “The higher tannins and acid, produced by fruit grown at this altitude and dry climate, can create some remarkable flavors,” he said. “It is the exact style of cider that got me excited about planting an orchard and working with apples.”

The Understory Elderberry, released in fourpack cans in July 2020, combines two old world flora – elderberry and apples – to produce a bold purple cider with the thick tannins of the elderberry forming the perfect complement to the sweetness and acidity of the apples.

“Our new Understory cider is truly unique,” said Perry, adding that elderberries have been known for centuries as a folk remedy with perceived antiviral properties, “which I think makes it the perfect cider for this summer.”

The International Cider Competition is open to commercial cider producers from around the world. What sets it apart from other international beverage competitions is it’s a “trade only” blind judging panel made up of retail buyers, restaurant beverage directors and hoteliers.

Fenceline was founded in 2018 by Perry and Neal Wight, who sought a way to upcycle the thousands of abandoned heritage orchards found throughout Montezuma County. Fenceline’s full line of ciders are available at liquor stores throughout the Four Corners or get it straight from the source at its taproom along the banks of the Mancos River, at 141 S. Main St., Mancos. n

April 15, 2021 n

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opinion

LaVidaLocal When in Rome International travel might be improved these days if a good witch loaned me a pair of ruby slippers. Back in 2013, before travel bans existed, our journey to Italy required three cramped jets and too many mind-numbing hours shuttling from Durango to the gates of Leonardo da Vinci International Airport. A new Pope had just been elected. It might have been a coincidence but he too decided against wearing the traditional papal red shoes.

Much has been written about the rise and fall of the classical empires.

Rome was a combination of the ancient, old, tacky and modern all competing for the same space, much as it must have been back in Caesar’s heyday, much as cities are dealing with today. I can’t say I ever want to go back, but I don’t mean this as a criticism of the city. The world is too large and one lifetime is too short. For me, Rome was built for one stay.

We rode the trains and walked the streets during our two-week visit, and it looked like half of Rome’s residents hung out around the Vatican, hoping for a glimpse of the new Pope. That’s not counting all the tourists, who probably outnumbered the locals.

The only chance I had to see the pontiff up close turned out to be his life-size image on the back of a bus as it pulled away from the curb.

The Easter season had arrived, and things were coming back to life. In the courtyard next door to our rental the present-day Romans hosted a traditional passion play, staging the Last Supper on a long flatbed trailer beside an ancient church, singing hymns late into the night. The next evening’s drama turned out to be a faux crucifixion, with more singing. I stepped outside to watch, but quickly lost the urge to view such a savage ritual being reenacted for the sake of compassion and remembrance. I bowed my head, turned and hurried back inside.

Eight years later, Pope Francis still displays staying power, despite disappointing many of his conservative Catholics by behaving in an unconventional manner, walking along with the crowd instead of being carried above them in a glass-enclosed chair, or riding to engagements in a tiny Fiat instead of being chauffeured in the papal limousine. He even opted to reside in a small apartment rather than occupy the Vatican suite, an appropriate display of humility that possibly confused his traditional staff and clergy.

Since taking office, he has spoken openly on subjects too often barely au-

dible as whispers, urging the church to embrace more women in leadership roles, speaking up for the poor, reminding listeners to have mercy, that humans make mistakes, and he’s even gone so far as to respond in a sympathetic way for the first time in 150 years of papal oversight to a question about homosexuality. He replied, “Who am I to judge?”

Recently the Pope spoke out against using the death penalty, which sparked some controversy among his religious followers, many of them the same people whose walls are adorned with crosses that depict the crucifixion. Staunch Catholic death penalty advocates may be missing this incongruity.

Discontented liberals have complained the Pope has not taken decisive enough action to deal with priests under his watch who still prey upon the innocent, sexually exploiting young people they are charged to serve. He has not questioned the tenet of celibacy, nor has he suggested that women are as qualified as men to be ordained as priests.

Back in 2017 I read a headline about Pope Francis that troubled me. He reportedly had only the second highest number of Twitter followers for any world leader. The one who had the most followers was our former White House resident and president, chief of discord and divisive politics, a sort of antithesis to what Pope Francis represents.

But when I think back to how ancient Roman society behaved at the coliseum, stirring up an enormous following at public spectacles of blood and gore, it reminds me that the coliseum served as the Twitter platform of its time. The crowd roared, the crowd booed. Gladiators were adulated or ridiculed. Animals baited and killed. Condemned prisoners served up as bait. That old joke about the lions eating up all the prophets – it’s a wordplay that’s still laughably true.

And the games continue. A recent statement by the Vatican, approved by the Pope, declared the Catholic Church could not support gay unions, which looks like a “thumbs down” in the arena of official opinion. Despite the Pope’s welcoming tone back in 2013, and again last year by advocating for civil union laws for same-sex couples, a gay lifestyle is still a choice it cannot condone. So Happy Easter to the LGBTQ community. You can be baptized as an infant without your consent. Who you love is also a matter for the church to decide, as if it has nothing to do with being born.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It

4 n April 15, 2021

– David Feela

Didgeridon’t

The return of Frontier Airlines to the Durango/La Plata airport, with flights to Denver and Las Vegas scheduled to start June 4

Another blow for COVID vaccination efforts, with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine halted pending further review of a possible link to a rare blood clotting disorder

Concrete steps in addressing the homeless and affordable housing situation in Durango with construction of Espero Apartments, which will provide 40 onebedroom units for disabled, low-income or unhoused community members

A new study that found one in three COVID survivors was diagnosed with a brain or psychiatric disorder within six months, suggesting the pandemic could lead to a wave of mental and neurological problems

Another win for affordable housing with residents of the Riverview Mobile Home Park banding together to buy the property from its corporate owners, helping to secure their housing futures

Continued police brutality against unarmed Black men, with the shooting death of Duante Wright in Minnesota and the pepper-spraying of uniformed Army Lt. Caron Nozario in Virginia

telegraph

Australian Mark Murray invented the “Hamdog” – a bun designed for both a burger and a hotdog – well over 10 years ago, but it’s just now coming into vogue. The idea flopped on the Down Under version of “Shark Tank” back in 2015 (even though it earned a U.S. patent in ’09), but now, thanks to Aussie carnival popularity, you too can own a Hamdog franchised location for only $10K and bring this abomination to the states. But please don’t do it, because I promise you won’t relish the decision.

WordontheScreen

Q

With 4/20 taking place on Tuesday, the Telegraph asked, “What’s your favorite munchie food?”

Nigel

“You know, something healthy, like queso con carne with Fritos Scoops.”

Brian

“Cookies and

cream ice cream topped with Milk Duds.”

Jesse

“More edibles or tacos. It’s always tacos.”

Judy

“It certainly wouldn’t be the flying worms in Texas.”

Ron

“Beer nuts.”

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April 15, 2021 n 5

SoapBox Consider LPEA broadband petition How is your internet connection? Is it stable and fast?

You might believe that everyone in Durango has access to quality, affordable broadband. And yet I have been on literally dozens of Zoom meetings where I know that someone is in Durango but has a lousy connection!

Especially during the pandemic, we have come to understand that broadband access is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Remote learning, working from home and telehealth are all difficult, if not impossible, without good broadband. And really good broadband needs fiber optic.

So, are the current broadband providers willing to invest significant amounts of money to improve our broadband? I would say almost certainly not. The situation is analogous to what occurred with electricity during the 1930s and 1940s. The electric companies were willing to provide electricity in the larger cities, but they were not willing to invest in providing electricity in more rural areas. That’s why the rural electric coops were created.

And today we all enjoy reliable and affordable electricity.

If the current broadband providers will not make the investments required, is there anyone else who can or will do this? Well, our own La Plata Electric Association is in a good situation to provide quality, affordable broadband to its members. They already have poles spread over both La Plata and Archuleta counties. They also have fiber optic cable already deployed to serve their internal needs. And, finally, they have a broadband subsidiary, FastTrack Communications, which has the experience and expertise required. LPEA is also used to taking on projects with longer payback. LPEA exists to benefit the members, not make a profit.

There is some risk with LPEA taking on this project, but I believe it is moderate and manageable. Our neighbor co-op, Delta-Montrose Electric Association, estab-

lished a subsidiary to bring cable to its members, and it has years of experience that it can share. If I lived in Montrose, I could get 1Gbs upload and download for the same price that I currently pay for 15Mbs down and 3 Mbs up!

If you believe that LPEA should play a strong leadership role in bringing quality, affordable broadband to our area, then please consider signing our petition requesting this. You can find the petition at https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lpea-broadband. Let the Board of Directors of LPEA know that their members need quality, affordable broadband.

– Guinn Unger, former LPEA board member

vote is taken there. Finally, the bill is brought to a “third reading” for a recorded vote. If it passes, it is sent to the Senate, where the process starts again.

If legislation passes both chambers, as amended, it is sent to the Governor to sign. We always face the chance of having the Governor veto our bill.

The legislation I am running saw success this week: The Governor signed HB 21-1161 requesting the Department of Education apply for a waiver from the federal government for students taking the CMAS standardized tests this year. We learned this week the federal government approved the waivers, adding eighth-grade science to the list, which includes math for grades 4, 6 and 8, and language arts for grades 3, 5 and 7. No decision was made about holding students, educators or districts accountable for the scores. Colorado is the first state to earn a waiver.

A second bill signed by the Governor, SB 21-053, will hold harmless the schools experiencing a temporary shortage of students during the pandemic. Thousands of students, mostly at-risk, did not attend remotely, or at all; our normal procedure would be to take the money given, according to the estimated student count in October, away from the schools. We felt that was cruel punishment, so we budgeted money to be taken off the negative factor debt instead. Colorado is giving $60 million to schools and another $25 million to rural schools from the new tobacco tax.

Three bills passed third reading and are headed to the Senate. The first is HB 21-1138, standardizing off highway vehicle use in the state. Currently, people licensed elsewhere tend to follow their own state laws allowing OHV use on all county roads. In Colorado, each county decides which roads these vehicles can and cannot use. Some people in Colorado are licensing their OHVs in other states so they do not have to follow Colorado law. This 4

Having a ball With the pandemic, we may need to continue coming up with creative ways to resume having social lives while continuing to mitigate risk. This is a prime opportunity to bring back masquerade balls. Think about it – covering your face would be encouraged, 6-foot distancing would work, and we would still be able to socialize.

– Laurel Smerch, Durango

School funds, OHVs & foster care We’re seeing a lot of action in the Capitol these days, as legislators present their final bills while we collectively prepare to work on the Long Bill, Colorado’s budget.

To review how legislation is passed: we present bills in front of a committee, with public testimony and, sometimes, a few amendments. If the bills pass, they may be sent to a second committee. Then the bill is brought to the House floor for debate on “second reading,” when every legislator can hear about the legislation. A voice

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legislation says all vehicles, no matter where they are registered, must follow state law.

Second is HB 21-1129, giving educators one extra year to be trained to teach reading, required under 2019’s READ Act. The wait is permissive but gives educators a little extra time to be trained when they wish.

And third is HB 21-1151. I am running the bill with Rep. Marc Catlin and Sen. Don Coram, the only other representatives with federally recognized Indian tribes in their districts. This bill addresses the fact that only 4 percent of Native American children needing foster care are placed in Native American homes. This legislation allows tribes to certify their own foster homes so children can receive care in their own communities, remaining connected to their culture.

Finally, HB 21-1104, passed through the Education Committee and now heads to the Finance Committee.

Currently, educators renew their licenses every five years; this bill will make it every seven years. The extra time aligns Colorado with most other states and accounts for the extra classes past legislation has required, giving educators more options for classes and saving them money.

For two years, the Teacher Licensure Fund will be losing money, as about 38,000 teachers will be affected. We are requesting some stimulus money to cover the temporary cost. Four Department of Education positions will be eliminated.

The work continues.

– Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango

The binoculars of history In the clamor over whether Toh-Atin’s “Chief” should stay as a timeless, beloved Durango icon or go as a dated, racist cartoon misrepresenting Native Americans, I see our own local version of the recent battles waged over keeping Confederate-era monuments and statues standing in the Southern states.

Celebrating

If we are to finally heal and move past the racial and cultural-based prejudices that have plagued this nation since its founding, staunch defenders of the sign need to check again to see which end of the binoculars they are using to examine history.

Because this debate isn’t about the fun, family meals you might have enjoyed years ago under the sign at the diner. And it isn’t about how, after all these years, the figure on the sign seems to be waving to you like he’s greeting an old friend. It isn’t an attack on the Clark family, either, though many have seen it as such. The Clarks are fine people and true supporters of so many families and communities in the Four Corners.

This is about Native American citizens of this country – especially students who travel from near and far to attend Fort Lewis College – turning onto Ninth from Main Ave. or Camino del Rio without being confronted with a giant image seen as a cruel caricature that leaves many wondering if they are valued, or even welcome, in Durango.

Just as any Black citizen of the United States should be able to travel to, move to, or study in a city like Richmond, Va., without being confronted by monuments to a society that believed in their enslavement, Native Americans should come to our community and see a place where they are not reminded, upon arrival, of injustices from the past.

But wait, you might shout, still holding those binocs the wrong way: The sign isn’t posted in a city park, or a public cemetery. It’s on private property, so that’s different ... .

Is it?

– Gregory Moore, Hermosa

Lack of humor damaging to all The Telegraph’s cartoon with Toh-Atin’s Chief in the background, accompanied by three people with conversation bubbles, completely missed any mark it was aiming for, except meanness. It was not humorous, it was not

thought provoking, it was not accurate. Relevance requires knowledge of topic. Humor requires perspective. In this case, the cartoon is lacking in both. The results are damaging to all involved.

– Kelly Rubin, Durango

Support for media literacy bill Many of us learned to decipher media in much simpler times. We had a limited number of news outlets, most of which adhered to the same standards of reporting. Our teachers and librarians merely needed to teach us how to navigate those sources and determine the publisher’s biases as we decided where we stood on the issues.

That standard of reporting and sources of information have changed dramatically over the years, and it has become increasing clear that we need new ways to teach students to navigate media. How is truth determined nowadays? Teachers and librarians need the training and tools to teach our future citizens.

Revamping curriculum is no easy feat. It cannot be done effectively without the support of state governments, which have the resources to devote to the effort.

We are proud that our state congressional leaders, Rep. Barbara McLachlan and Sen. Don Coram, stepped forward to sponsor HB21-1103 (Media Literacy Implementation). This law would provide funds to create and maintain nonpartisan curriculum materials, resources and technical support that will be available to all school districts and charter schools. Rep. McLachlan stated, “Studying media literacy does not steer students in an ideological direction, but it does give them the tools to analyze information and form their own opinions based on facts and evidence.”

Please support HB21-1103.

–Friends of the Southwest La Plata Library District Board of Directors: Alana Ostrander, Kimberlee Yeargin, Kaye Berman, Roy Horvath, Kim Martin

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telegraph

April 15, 2021 n 7

StateNews

Range anxiety How the mayor of Salida got caught in a battle over electric car chargers

by Sam Brasch

with buying EV.” Nelder added the strategy t started with an email between PT clearly worked for Tesla, which Wood, the Mayor of Salida, and elecbuilt its fast-charger network to retric car startup Rivian. assure potential customers. He To power its soon-to-be-released elecdoesn’t see any reason why Rivian tric truck and SUV on long trips, Rivian shouldn’t be allowed to do the announced plans to build an “Advensame. ture Network” of 3,500 fast charging sta“This is a private enterprise, tions across the U.S. and Canada. Cody baby,” Nelder said.

Thornton, the Rivian employee, told Not all chargers are funded by Wood the company hoped to build one private companies, though. Presiof the first hookups in the town at no dent Joe Biden’s proposed infracost to taxpayers. structure package calls for $174 “And I was like, ‘Heck yeah! I think billion to accelerate the transition so!’” Wood said. to electric vehicles including The mayor only found one reason grants to build 500,000 new for hesitation. Only Rivian owners charging stations across the councould use the Rivian chargers. Built-in try. Nelder said any public money software would refuse any other type of should go to stations with stanelectric car, which Wood worried could dardized plugs. confuse drivers hoping to recharge in “We don’t think the public Salida. “If you can only charge at cershould fund projects the public tain places, it divides the world up in a can’t use,” he said. pretty awkward, inefficient way,” he In the end, Mayor Wood was said. “A pretty unequal way, too.” able to work out a deal with RivRivian declined requests for comian. The company agreed to install ment or interviews but detailed its four exclusive fast chargers and plans for the Salida charging station four slower chargers open to the in a public meeting before the city general public (like the council. The plan also put Wood at the Salida Mayor PT Wood holds the original free electric vehicle charger he installed at Wood’s High chargers the company plans to center of a growing question over elec- Mountain Facility, the bar he owns and operates, in March./Photo by Sam Brasch/CPR News build in all Colorado state parks). tric car chargers: As the U.S. rapidly exThe lease between the City of SalThose experiences were a big reason he ida and Rivian can be renegotiated after a pands electric car hookups, should there be about two hours from any major interstate.

“We’re a little off the beaten path, so pushed back against Rivian’s plans to build decade. At that point, Wood said the coma single plug for every vehicle?

A traditional gasoline vehicle can refuel providing the ability to charge your EV al- an exclusive charging network. If only cer- munity could push Rivian to unlock all its at almost any gas station in the country. lows for folks to come here and experience tain people could use the chargers, only cer- chargers. “I think that’s fair because that tain people would visit Salida. In his ideal gives them time to recoup their investWhile most drivers barely notice the con- our little piece of paradise,” he said.

The strategy has worked for Wood as a world, there would be a universal standard ment,” Wood said. venience, the standardization required decades of industry cooperation and gov- business owner. In 2013, he installed a for car chargers, ensuring every plug fit Opening up the chargers could be ernment regulation over the 20th century. charger just inside Wood’s High Mountain every car. straightforward. In a city council meeting, Not all experts share that desire. Chris Cody Thornton, the representative for RivMeanwhile, electric cars face a landscape Distillery, a watering hole he owns on the similar to smartphones. Tesla essentially edge of downtown. At the time, Wood said Nelder, who studies electric car infrastruc- ian, confirmed the fast-charge plugs would fills the role of Apple. The electric trans- it was the only free, public charger any- ture for the Rocky Mountain Institute, said fit all vehicles using the CCS standard. portation pioneer has built an extensive where in central Colorado. Drivers started most electric car models can easily handle Wood asked if simple software could make network of faster chargers with proprietary plugging in daily and buying whole cases the vast majority of daily car trips in the the chargers accessible to other cars.

U.S. That means most drivers will rarely plugs exclusive to its own vehicles. Most of spirits in exchange.

“Conceptually? Yes,” Thornton said.

“It was wild,” Wood said. “One of the need public chargers if they have a dediother models have at least the options for While it was a small admission, Wood cated plug and parking spot at home. something like a USB plug for an Android better marketing things I’ve ever done.” said it’s important to plan ahead as the cliHe expanded on the strategy after winNevertheless, Nelder said many drivers mate warms. In recent years, wildfires have phone. Other manufacturers build their cars with a standard known as the Com- ning the mayor’s office in 2017. With the want to be able to recharge on longer trips, threatened Salida and drought has shrunk help of a state grant, the city installed three which means public fast chargers could the rapids in the Arkansas River. As Wood bined Charging System.

While he doesn’t drive an electric car charging stations scattered around the help ease consumer anxiety and accelerate sees it, pushing Rivian was one way his city himself, Wood has long seen car chargers as town center. These plug-ins also offer free the switch to electric vehicles. could do something.

“We just need more public chargers,” a way for Salida to help combat climate electricity through a standard plug, but at a “It fit in with our ethos and let us put change and put itself on the map for slower speed than the Rivian fast chargers. Nelder said. “The more that people see pub- our money where our mouth is,” he said. tourists. Even though the city has plenty of Wood said the economic return easily cov- lic, especially high-speed, chargers out there, For more from Colorado Public Radio, go to: the more comfortable they’re going to be www.cpr.org. n mountain bike trails and river options, it’s ers the cost of the electricity.

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8 n April 15, 2021

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TopStory

Essential reading Collaborative effort leads to first-ever anthology of Navajo literature

by Missy Votel

S

everal years ago, Connie Jacobs was teaching a class at San Juan College, in Farmington. She had just finished a section on Luci Tapahonso, the Navajo poet laureate at the time and one of the first published Navajo writers, when one of her students approached her after class.

“A young Diné man came up after class and said, ‘I didn’t know there were Navajo poets,” Jacobs recalled.

As a boy attending high school near the reservation, he had learned about what Jacobs likes to call the “great whites” – Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Faulkner – but not about the plethora of gifted writers and poets from his own home, the Navajo Nation.

Justthefacts What: The Diné Reader, an online reading and conversation with Esther Belin, Connie Jacobs, Byron Aspaas and Rachel Heather Johnson When: Thurs., April 22, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Live on Zoom and Maria’s Bookshop’s Facebook page Info: www.mariasbookshop.com Jacobs, who taught for several years at Fort Lewis College as well as SJC – where one-third of the student population is Native – knew things had to change. Sure, there was already quite an impressive catalog of Native American literature. But a collection solely devoted to the writings of the Navajo, or Diné as the Navajo people call themselves – the largest Native American tribe in the United States – was nonexistent.

That’s when the dream for an anthology of Navajo writings was born. More than 10 years in the making, the dream recently became a reality: The Dine Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature, came out last month. Published by the University of Arizona Press, the 409page comprehensive collection contains poetry and prose from the first nationally published Navajo writer, Blackhorse Mitchell, to earlier voices like Nia Francisco and Grey Cohoe, to contemporary writers like Sherwin Bitsui as well as emerging young writers. In all, the Reader includes contributions from 33 Navajo writers, poets and artists.

“The Diné Reader is unique in that there are no other single book collections of the writing from one tribal nation,” said Jacobs, who co-edited the book with the help of fellow academians Esther Belin, Anthony Webster and Jeff Berglund.

As Jacobs recalls, she had discussed the idea first with Berglund, a professor at Northern Arizona University in

Flagstaff, which also has a large Native and Navajo student population. He, too, had noticed a similarly troubling trend: a dearth of teachings on Navajo writings, despite an abundance of good Navajo writers. From there, the two enlisted the help of mutual friend, Belin – an established Navajo poet in her own right, whose first book of poetry, From the Belly of My Beauty, won the American Book Award in 2000. A second-generation off-reservation Native Amer-

telegraph

ican, Belin grew up in California but now lives in Durango, where she taught at FLC and now teaches for the Low Rez MFA program at the Institute of American Arts in Santa Fe. Belin then brought Webster on board, a Navajo poetics linguistics specialist. From there, the four put their heads together, trying to figure out how to structure the book and – more importantly – who to include.

“It was not an overnight process,” said Jacobs. “We have this whole range.

We found so many other poets we would have loved to include but couldn’t because of length.”

In the end, the book ended up taking a chronological approach to writers, starting with an excerpt from Miracle Hill: The Story of a Navajo Boy, the 1967 seminal work from Mitchell (who attended boarding school in Ignacio). The book also includes an introduction written by Belin, following the arc of Navajo works written in English. Although the Diné have been handing down oral stories for generations, the written word – in English – is a relatively recent phenomenon that started with the forced re-education of Native American children in Indian boarding schools beginning in the late 1800s. In fact, poetry was often used as a way to teach English to the students, and the government even compiled the poems into periodicals to chart its re-educating “progress.”

Although much of those works have been lost, the book contains a few of the early anonymous poems: “If” If I were a pony A spotted pinto pony A racing, running pony I would run away from school And I’d gallop on the mesa And I’d eat on the mesa And I’d sleep on the mesa And I’d never think of school Belin said the native Diné language is lyrical with many poetic and literary devices already in use, which helped facilitate the switch for Navajos to write in English. She points to the example of noted Diné poet Henry Tinhorn, who learned to write while attended a boarding school in Utah in the late 1970s despite the administration’s reported misgivings that “Indian kids can’t write sonnets.” Tinhorn’s, and other students’ works, went on to be published in the now defunct journal Arrow.

“That’s the significance we really want people to know – that Navajo people have been writing poetry and using the English language poetically, which is really what people would consider a higher order of using language,” Belin said.

“They’ve been creating, crafting and weaving into it content that was reflective of their culture and experiences.” 4

April 15, 2021 n

9

DinéReader

FLC hosts ‘Day of Dialogue’ April 20

from p. 9 She said that although a lot of the early works center on the boarding school experience, the genre expanded from there, taking in everything from politically active writings during the Civil Rights movement to today’s young writers, who approach it more intentionally. And that variety is something she and the other editors sought to capture with the book.

“We were pretty particular in creating an array of styles, topics and content,” she said.

In addition to the writings, the book also includes a timeline of important dates in Diné political and literary history as well as resources for educators to include more Navajo writings in their courses. The latter is something important to Belin – it is her hope to have more classes offered in creative writing and Navajo literature offered to Native students, something she said is already in the works at Diné College and other regional colleges. She also dreams of a day where more Natives are not just attending college, but teaching the classes – particularly the ones on Native literature.

“Of all the courses offered, Native studies is the only one where it’s acceptable to have the majority of people teaching it non-indigenous or non-Indian,” Belin said. “I get it, our population is so small, but we just need more people coming in and/or allies trained in ways to teach it.”

Jacobs agrees and said she believes that time is coming. Already, there is talk of

The editors of the Diné Reader, clockwise from top left: Esther Belin; Jeff Berglund; Anthony Webster; and Connie Jacobs. hosting special events on the book at SJC, FLC and NAU. She points to the young Diné student all those years ago, Byron Aspaas, who had never known about Navajo poets – and now is one himself. Not only is his work featured in the Reader, but he will accompany Jacobsand Belin for a virtual reading and Q&A on the book April 22 in conjunction with Maria’s Bookshop.

“We’re really just warming up,” Jacobs said. “Our point is to get the book out so people can see how valuable it is and to encourage young Diné people who may not know that they can be a writer.

“Our dream is to have this just be Volume I – there are so many good writers that have been left out and so many emerging writers.”

The Diné Reader is availabe at Maria’s Bookshop. To learn more about the book, go to: uau press.arizona.edu/books. n

Fort Lewis College wants to open the lines of communication between the school, Native American students and residents. Next Tues., April 20, the school is hosting a “Day of Dialogue,” a virtual event comprised of roundtable conversations between students, educators and alumni from Native American-serving nontribal institutions that started as Native American boarding schools, such as FLC. Speakers will discuss a range of topics, and audience participation is encouraged.

The event is possible through a grant from the Mellon Foundation to bring Native American and Indigenous Studies scholars to campus, foster additional research in the humanities and expand the use of inclusive teaching methods.

“Fort Lewis College believes the work supported by the grant aligns with our core values, and the program is having a positive impact on the education of our students,” school administraors said in a press release.

“The grant facilitates a collaborative educational environment across our campus as we work toward reinforcing our efforts to infuse diversity and inclusion into our curriculum and institutional life.”

In 2019, FLC President Tom Stritikus also established a Committee on FLC History to examine the school’s origins as a Native American boarding school. A key question was how understanding and recognition of that past should inform the school’s present and future.

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Joining FLC in its day of conversation will be faculty, staff and students from the University of Minnesota-Morris, an institution that, like FLC, also began as a Native American boarding school.

All sessions are free and open to the public. The schedule is as follows: • 9-9:50 a.m. Opening Ceremony & alumni comments • 10-10:50 a.m. Session One: Land acknowledgement & environmental sustainability • 11-11:50 a.m. Session Two: Boarding school histories & tuition waiver • 12-12:50 p.m. Lunch • 1-1:50 p.m. Session Three: Student voices • 2-2:50 p.m. Session Four: Indigenous pedagogies • 3-4:00 p.m. Recap & closing ceremony For info or Zoom link, go to: fortlewis.edu/ dayofdialogue. n

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telegraph

FlashinthePan

A fistful of peas

by Ari LeVaux

G

ardening is a conversation with the earth. The gardener does something, and the earth responds via the outcome. If you plant a tomato seedling upside down, for example, the earth will happily swallow it, thereby ending the discussion.

A new dialog starts every time the gardener sows a seed or does anything to disrupt the status quo, even something as mundane as digging up last year’s beds. Like any language, a garden dialectic grows to reflect the landscape, complete with regional variations. When I lived in the New Mexico hills, a seasoned farmer told me to begin planting when the lilacs leafed out.

That advice saved me a lengthy conversation with the earth. Farmers, unlike most gardeners, do this stuff all day and are fluent in these things.

Up here in Montana, some farmer friends of mine begin the annual conversation with a handful of peas. It goes like this: As soon as the soil thaws, you plant some peas. You don’t have to soak the peas overnight first, like I usually do when I plant for real in order to jump-start the germination process. Just plant the peas and see how the earth responds. They may sit there for a week or two, but when they finally sprout is when you plant your peas for real.

Planting that first handful of peas in a bare, brown field can be a lonely experience. It’s the feeling of being slightly early to the party, a feeling top gardeners know well. But you and your plants don’t want to be too early, or they might get nipped by a late frost. Or too late, on the other hand, because then you will spend the rest of the season playing catch-up. Late planted peas in particular won’t reach pod-bearing age before they wilt in the heat of summer. By planting a test handful of peas, you dial in the timing for the whole garden. When that first handful sprouts, it’s game on. Soak the rest of your peas, and start building a trellis. Maybe plant some spinach too, which grows happily at the foot of pea stalks.

The pea pods themselves are not the only reason to grow peas. Many of the vendors at my local market sell pea shoots by the bunch throughout the season. They add crunch to salads, complexity to instant ramen, and cute curls when wilted atop anything hot. In a stir-fry,

which is my favorite way to eat them, those pea shoots are delicate and savory. And unlike the peas grown for their pods which can only be planted during that tight spring window in time, it’s never too late to plant pea shoots.

Altogether, you could do worse than to go all-in on peas, right about now. Grow them for peas, grow them

for greens, and grow them to keep your finger on the pulse of the garden.

How to grow pea greens: Pea greens grow fast and are high in protein and vitamins A & C. It’s definitely worth planting more peas than you think you’ll need, just to have a little crop of these delicious sprouts. Rather than paying a lot of money for a little envelope of dried peas, if I can I’ll instead pick up some dried cooking peas in the bulk bins of my local grocery store.

They sprout just fine – just remember to eat them for the greens, and not to expect any sweet peas. When I do order pea seeds, I buy the largest envelope I can find.

Begin by soaking the pea seeds for about 24 hours. They should swell and turn a little green, and start to look a little bit alive.

Work your pea spot, or arrange a container that drains, filled with potting soil. Make sure the soil is perfectly moist.

Sow peas in a dense layer, so thick that they almost touch but none atop another. Cover the peas in another layer of soil, compost or potting mix. Water again. For the next few weeks, keep the soil moist but not swampy.

When they are about 4 inches tall – about three weeks – your pea greens are ready for harvest. They will be tender to about 8 inches tall.

This recipe comes from Budai, my favorite Taiwanese and Chinese restaurant in Albuquerque, from my time in those New Mexican hills.

Qing Chao Pea Sprouts 2 servings 1 tablespoon peanut oil 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns (or substitute one clove minced garlic) 1 pound chopped pea shoots, including leaves, stems and curly-cues ½ cup broth (chicken or clam) ½ cup rice wine ½ teaspoon white pepper Salt to taste Heat the oil on high in a wok or heavy pan.

Add the peppercorns and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the pea greens, broth and wine, in that order. Stir it around quickly, cooking everything evenly. Add the white pepper. Stir fry 1 minute at high heat, so the sauce starts to thicken but doesn’t completely evaporate. Season with salt and serve. n

Helping make my home, your home.

I will make sure you’re TCO in DGO.

Rebecca Applegate

Taking Care Care Of Business

970.769.1336 Rebecca@RealEstateDurango.com

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StufftoDo

Thursday15 Gary B. Walker plays piano, 11a.m.-1 p.m., Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave. “Basket Weaving in the Mesa Verde Tradition” with Ed Jolie, free webinar, 4 p.m.

Register at CrowCanyon.org “Cooking with Karma” with Karma Bhotia, owner of the Himalayan Kitchen, Zoom presentation, 6:30-8 p.m. Get Zoom link at: www.facebook.com/animasvalleygrange/ Author discussion with Ann Hillerman, 6:30 p.m., via Zoom. Hillerman will talk about her latest novel, Stargazer. For link, visit www.mariasbookshop.com “Migration in the Age of Climate Change,” zoominar presented by FLC Lifelong Learning Lecture Series, 7-8:30 p.m., featuring FLC Associate Professor of Sociology Benjamin Waddell. tinyurl.com/2o6ltmsq Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

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

“Forest & Fire Learning Series: Adapting to the Unprecedented,” virtual e-vent, 6-7 p.m., Mountain Studies Institute Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Chuck Hank plays funk 6 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Purgatory closes out another season with one last weekend of slush bumps this Saturday and Sunday. The Six Pack will be open for your frontside skiing and riding pleasure, with live music Saturday afternoon from State 38, food and drink deals, and $45 tickets for non-passholders (48-hour advance purchase required at www.purgatoryresort.com.)

Southwest Colorado Community COVID Forum, online, 7-8 p.m. Presented by Colorado Working Families Party, the Colorado AFL-CIO, and United Today, Stronger Tomorrow. Register at: mobilize.us/co-wfp/event/374164/

Friday16 Freestyle Art Fridays, 2-3:30 p.m., at The Hive with Alex Vick. To register, email kelsie@hivedgo.org.

Jack Ellis & Larry Carver play 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Henry Stoy plays piano, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave. Return of the Jedi! 9:30-10:30 a.m., learn the Japanese weapons and techniques seen in Star Wars.

Claire Viles Park (across from St. Columba). www.durangoaikido.com Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Larry Carver and Ben Gibson play, 6 p.m., Derailed Pour House, 725 Main Ave.

“Wild for Wilderness Online Auction” opens and runs through April 25, benefitting Great Old Broads for Wilderness. Featuring adventure trips, vacations, outdoor gear, clothing, jewelry, art, books and more. Proceeds go to support wilderness education, advocacy and stewardship. Visit: wildforwilderness2021.afrogs.org

Sunday18

Saturday17

Blue Moon Ramblers play, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Purgatory Season Finale, beach party with live music from State 38, $45 lift tickets, while supplies last.

48-hour advance purchase required.

Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

12 n April 15, 2021

Purgatory Season Finale, $45 lift tickets, while supplies last. 48-hour advance purchase required.

Henry Stoy plays piano, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave.

telegraph

Monday19 Meditation and Dharma Talk with Matthew Brensilver, 5:30-7 p.m. Online at www.durangodharmacenter.org/

Tuesday20 “Day of Dialogue,” a daylong virtual event hosted

by Fort Lewis College comprised of roundtable conversations between students, educators and alumni from Native American-serving nontribal institutions that started as Native American boarding schools. Speakers will discuss a range of topics and audience participation is encouraged. All sessions are free and open to the public.

To register or for info, visit fortlewis.edu/dayofdialogue

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

“Struggle Over the Melting Arctic,” a virtual talk, 11:45 a.m. with moderator Guinn Unger. Presented by the 2021 Great Decisions International Affairs Discussion Program. For link, visit www.lwvpaplata.org.

San Juan Mountains Association Volunteer Training, 5-6 p.m. Train to be offer visitor outreach in the backcountry or to become a new “Forest 4

AskRachel

Dishing it out, hug withdrawal and getting boned Interesting fact: In humid climates, bones can decompose in a decade or two. But in more dry areas, they can take hundreds of years. This is why we generally hide bodies in lakes.

Dear Rachel, I hate doing dishes. I know, on a rational level, that if I did them every time I ate a meal, I would be done in about four minutes and never have the stress of unwashed dishes. But I don’t do them after breakfast, because I need to get a start on my day. And I don’t do them after work because I’ll just have to do them again after dinner. Then I don’t do them after dinner, because there’s too many. How can I make enough money to hire someone to do my dishes?

– Sink, Sank, Sunk Dear Anti-Diver, How meta is this! The old-timey advice column in the Tele used to be written by dishwashers. Or at least that was the pretense. Because really, who worse to ask for advice than someone who washes dishes? Well, it turns out the answer is “someone who never does the dishes.”

I figured that out years ago, when I broke a lease because my roommate literally never did the dishes in five months. I couldn’t live like that. I hope you turn your life around before you become like her.

– Suds up, Rachel Ambassador” at trailheads. For info or to sign up, go to: www.sjma.org Author Discussion: Luke Mehall, 7 p.m., zoom talk with Mehall on the 20th anniversary of his Climbing Zine. www.mariasbookshop.com

Wednesday21 Virtual Book Club, 2-3 p.m., join the Durango Public Library to discuss whatever you’ve been reading or watching lately! Contact Spenser at spenser.snarr@gmail.com for login details.

Return of the Jedi! 5:30-6:30 p.m., learn the Japanese weapons and techniques seen in Star Wars. Claire Viles Park (across from St. Columba). www.durangoaikido.com Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Live music, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Ongoing Family Fun Geo-Caching-Style Adventure, a fundraiser for Fort Lewis Mesa Elementary, through May 16, around Durango and Hesperus. Choose from three levels of difficulty and use your smartphone and problem-solving skills to follow a map and clues to the hidden Roadrunner.

Each map purchased will enter your name into a drawing for a grand prize associated with that map. For info., go to www.theroadrunnerchase.com.

DAC’s Durango’s Got Talent (Virtual Edition), entry deadline extended to April 15. Video submissions should be no longer than 4 min and be appropriate for a family

Dear Rachel, I just had my first hug in over a year. My notquite-elderly neighbor is officially vaxxed up, and even though I’m not, she asked if she could hug me. I did it for her, but I’ll be honest… it was me who couldn’t let go. I need to know: how can I let go of the guilt I feel for breaking all the rules and loving it so much? Also, did I endanger either one of us with my tears? Is that a thing?

– Hug Me Tender Dear Hug Me Do, You got to soak it in. Maybe you’re a rebel, but at least you’re a consensual rebel. Let’s get through this, and we can all get us a little not-quite-elderly love. Oh, and I imagine you’re both fine, so long as no one licked up the tears. But don’t take my word as gold. I’m not Dr. Rachel, and if I were, I’d probably be that one in five who doesn’t recommend sensible health practices.

– Take two ibuprofen, Rachel Dear Rachel, I know several people with cow and deer and horse skulls on their walls that they just found lying around somewhere like pennies in the McDonald’s drive thru. I spend literally half my life in the outdoors and the only bones I’ve ever found were left over from someone’s bbq rib lunch. What are people doing that they find dead animal pieces so easily – and then so casually display them in their living rooms?

– Bones About It audience. $25 entry fee per submission to cover production and release costs. For info. or to register, go to: tinyurl.com/256px9ac Spring Cleanup, thru May 9, sponsored by the City of Durango, taking yard waste, furniture, large appliances, scrap metal, drywall, fencing, carpeting, tiles and open dried paint cans. For schedule, go to: www.durangogov.org Hawaii & Southwest art display, Durango Rec Center.

Weekly Activity Kits for Kids and Teens, new kits come out every Tuesday, while supplies last, Durango Public Library. Stop by or arrange a curbside pickup: 970-375-3380 or reference@durangogov.org.

Episode 6 of the Actor’s Journal now streaming, featuring Judith Guest, Stacy Keach and more. Presented by the Durango Playfest. For tickets, go to: www.durangoplayfest.org/actors-journal “High History,” presented by Telluride Theatre, available on demand through May 2. Take a trip back in time as Betty and Chrissy get high and are guided by a ghost back in time to revisit Telluride’s history and its most notable, notorious and wacky characters. Ages 17+. Tickets available at: www.telluridetheatre.org “Sui Generis: A year of its own” art exhibit, Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.

Upcoming Ska Trail Crew Brew launch and Durango Trails fundraiser, ride-, walk- or drive-thru event, Thurs., April 22, 12 noon – 6 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard.

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear De-boned, We manifest our own realities. If you think about bones, you will find bones. If you think about cheese sandwiches, you will find cheese sandwiches. If you think about never doing dishes ever again, you will find yourself living alone, unless you count mice and an indefinable stench as companions. So it’s time to assess where your energies are going. Me? All I can think about now is barbecue ribs. I hope that comes to fruition, and soon.

– Roll them bones, Rachel literature, conversation with editors Esther Belin and Connie Jacobs along with contributors Byron F. Aspaas and Rachel Heather Johnson, Thurs., April 22, 6:30 p.m. on Zoom & Facebook. www.mariasbookshop.com “Wilderness in America,” a free Zoom talk, Thurs., April 22, 6-7 p.m. featuring Wilderness in FLC professor Andrew Gulliford as he reviews the history of wilderness and tells a few tales from our own Weminuche Wilderness. Email darcy@prlibrary.org for login details.

“A Conversation About Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night,’” zoominar presented by FLC Lifelong Learning Lecture Series, April 22, 7-8:30 p.m., featuring art historian and journalist Judith Reynolds and photographer and retired English professor Carol Schmudde. tinyurl.com/2o6ltmsq “Diverse Voices,” presented by Fort Lewis College Theater, livestreamed April 23-24, featuring “Cendrillon” (Cinderella) and “Musical Scenes of Diversity and Inclusion,” directed by Suzi DiSanto. Tickets at: tinyurl.com/m8hc9chn “EGBDF the Musical Yak” children’s book free virtual reading, Sat., April 24, 9-9:30 a.m. katieterrellramos.com Manna Soup Kitchen Director Ann Morse free virtual talk. Tues., April 27, 6 p.m. Presented the Rotary Club of Durango. For log-in, email: Mtnman16@gmail.com.

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

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

The Diné Reader, an anthology of Navajo

telegraph

April 15, 2021 n 13

What Kate & Nate wear on their day off

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Today I feel the whole world is a door,” poet Dennis Silk wrote.

In a similar spirit, 13th-century Zen master Wumen Huikai observed, “The whole world is a door of liberation, but people are unwilling to enter it.”

Now I’m here to tell you, Aries, that there will be times in the coming weeks when the whole world will feel like a door to you.

And if you open it, you’ll be led to potential opportunities for interesting changes that offer you liberation. This is a rare blessing.

Please be sufficiently loose and alert and brave to take advantage.

(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 stop by our Tele central: 777 Main Ave., #214, Durango

14 n April 15, 2021

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): Sagittarian author Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz wrote a poem entitled “Not Doing Something Wrong Isn’t the Same as Doing Something Right.” I propose that we make that thought one of your guiding themes during the next two weeks. If you choose to accept the assignment, you will make a list of three possible actions that fit the description “not doing something wrong,” and three actions that consist of “doing something right.” Then you will avoid doing the three wrong things named in the first list and give your generous energy to carrying out the three right things in the second list.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo poet Charles Wright testifies, “I write poems to untie myself, to do penance and disappear through the upper right-hand corner of things, to say grace.” What about you, Virgo? What do you do in order to untie yourself and do penance and invoke grace? The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to use all the tricks at your disposal to accomplish such useful transformations.

And if you currently have a low supply of the necessary tricks, make it your healthy obsession to get more.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the past few weeks, I hope you’ve been treating yourself like a royal child. I hope you’ve been showering yourself with extra special nurturing and therapeutic treatments. I hope you’ve been telling yourself out loud how soulful and intelligent and resilient you are, and I hope you’ve delighted yourself by engaging with a series of educational inspirations. If for some inexplicable reason you have not been attending to these important matters with luxurious intensity, please make up for lost time in the coming days. Your success during the rest of 2021 depends on your devout devotion to self-care right now.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Why don’t rivers flow straight? Well, sometimes they do, but only for a relatively short stretch. According to the US Geological Survey, no river moves in a linear trajectory for a distance of more than 10 times its width. There are numerous reasons why this is so, including the friction caused by banks and the fact that river water streams faster at the center. The place where a river changes direction is called a “meander.” I’d like to borrow this phenomenon to serve as a metaphor for your life in the coming weeks. I suspect your regular flow is due for a course change – a meander. Any intuitive ideas about which way to go? In which direction will the scenery be best?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire and China in the second half of the 13th century, kept a retinue of 5,000 astrologers on retainer. Some were stationed on the roof of his palace, tasked with using sorcery to banish approaching storm clouds. If you asked me to perform a similar assignment, I would not do so. We need storms! They bring refreshing rain and keep the Earth in electrical balance. Lightning from storms creates ozone, a vital part of our atmosphere, and it converts nitrogen in the air into nitrogen in the ground, making the soil more fertile. Metaphorical storms often generate a host of necessary and welcome transformations, as well – as I suspect they will for you during the coming weeks.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Sometimes when a disheartening kind of darkness encroaches, we’re right to be afraid. In fact, it’s often wise to be afraid, because doing so may motivate us to ward off or transmute the darkness. But on other occasions, the disheartening darkness that seems to be encroaching isn’t real, or else is actually less threatening than we imagine. Novelist John Steinbeck described the latter when he wrote, “I know beyond all doubt that the dark things crowding in on me either did not exist or were not dangerous to me, and still I was afraid.” My suspicion is that this is the nature of the darkness you’re currently worried about.

Can you therefore find a way to banish or at least diminish your fear?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian poet Denis Johnson eventually became a celebrated writer who won numerous prizes, including the prestigious National Book Award. But life was rough when he was in his twenties.

Because of his addictions to drugs and alcohol, he neglected his writing. Later, in one of his mature poems, he expressed appreciation to people who supported him earlier on. “You saw me when I was invisible,” he wrote, “you spoke to me when I was deaf, you thanked me when I was a secret.” Are there helpers like that in your own story? Now would be a perfect time to honor them and repay the favors.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Unexpressed emotions will never die,” trailblazing psychologist Sigmund Freud declared. “They are buried alive and they will come forth, later, in uglier ways.” I agree, which is why I advise you not to bury your emotions – especially now, when they urgently need to be aired. OK? Please don’t allow a scenario in which they will emerge later in ugly ways. Instead, find the courage to express them soon – in the most loving ways possible, hopefully, and with respect for people who may not be entirely receptive to them. Communicate with compassionate clarity.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was called a genius by Nobel Prize-winning author Bertrand Russell. His Philosophical Investigations was once voted the 20th century’s most important philosophy book. Yet one of Wittgenstein’s famous quotes was “How hard it is to see what is right in front of my eyes!” Luckily for all of us, I suspect that won’t be a problem for you in the coming weeks, Taurus.

In fact, I’m guessing you will see a whole range of things that were previously hidden, even though some of them had been right in front of your eyes. Congrats!

Everyone whose life you touch will benefit because of this breakthrough.

... and you can too.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): What do you believe in, exactly, Leo? The coming weeks will be a fine time to take an inventory of your beliefs – and then divest yourself of any that no longer serve you, no longer excite you, and no longer fit your changing understanding of how life works. For extra credit, I invite you to dream up some fun new beliefs that lighten your heart and stimulate your playfulness. For example, you could borrow poet Charles Wright’s approach: “I believe what the thunder and lightning have to say.” Or you could try my idea: “I believe in wonders and marvels that inspire me to fulfill my most interesting dreams.”

telegraph

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Some people, if they didn’t make it hard for themselves, might fall asleep,” novelist Saul Bellow wrote. In other words, some of us act as if it’s entertaining, even exciting, to attract difficulties and cause problems for ourselves. If that describes you even a tiny bit, Pisces, I urge you to tone down that bad habit in the coming weeks – maybe even see if you can at least partially eliminate it. The cosmic rhythms will be on your side whenever you take measures to drown out the little voices in your head that try to undermine and sabotage you. At least for now, say “NO!” to making it hard for yourself. Say “YES!” to making it graceful for yourself.

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

in company vehicles. (4) 10-hour shifts. $15/hr start. Clean DL a must. andrewrobertson83@outlook.com

Maui Art Display Durango artist displays Hawaii & SW art at Rec Center during April.

HelpWanted Join a Fast Growing Team!

MUNIRevs | LODGINGRevs is a rapidly growing Software-as-a-Service platform that automates the collection of sales and lodging tax payments for businesses in addition to vacation rental compliance. Currently hiring for a variety of positions. To see all open jobs please visit https://mu nirevs.com/job-opportunities/

Massage by Meg Bush, LMT 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199. massageintervention.life Voted best massage in Durango 18/19/20. Couples, cupping, local CBD. Reviews on FB + Yelp. 970-903-2984.

Announcements KISS Tribute Band L.A. Dave in Bayfield is seeking dedicated musicians for serious KISS tribute project. 818-836-8183.

BodyWork

ForSale Gardener/Lawn Maintenance We are hiring for all positions gardener/weeder, lawn care laborer, team lead lawn care. We work Mon - Thurs full time. If you love working outdoors, with a team and are detail oriented please give us a call. 970-946-5284 or info@earthscapesdurango.com

Reruns Home Furnishings Spring is here! Nice new bistros and

vintage patio sets. Tons of pots and yard art. Vintage bread boxes, glassware and kitchenware. Mid-century desk and lots of cool small furniture from brands like Pier One and Pottery Barn. Come in today. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

HaikuMovieReview ‘Harriet’ Perhaps the most brave, selfless, tenacious and kind soul who ever lived – Lainie Maxson

NewspaperOrigami

A blowfish

Wanted Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-2593494.

Services

PT Farm Manager Medicinal foods farm seeking farm manager, 16 hrs wk. 2yrs farm exp a must. $20-$25hr DOE. Request info at mtberrymedicine@gmail.com Lawn Care Laborer Wanted Lawncare company hiring friendly, reliable laborer for mowing, trimming, yard cleanup. $15/hr. Must have valid drivers license. Full time M-F May-Nov. Call Pat 970-946-8823.

Seeking Teachers Durango Adult Education Center hiring ESL + GED teachers for Fall 2021. Find details, apply at www.durangoadulted.org Love to Climb?

Definitely the job for you. Tree work, hiking, climbing, ropework, chainsaws.

Work with experienced tree climbers and fellers at an established company with an industry leading safety record. Wild and beautiful places, home every night, travel

Fire Mitigation Services Professional Training & Services (Licensed & Insured) Retired Forester & Firefighter (Smokejumper) www.homesteadfiremitigation.com 970-317-0826.

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

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