Durango Telegraph - June 25 - July 1, 2020

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June 25, 2020 Vol. XIX, No. 23

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inside

T H E

O R I G I N A L

I N D I E

W E E K L Y

L I N E

O N

D U R A N G O

&

B E Y O N D

Waste not, want not

Rocking out at home

Tales of a toum raider

Overseas radioactive waste could be coming to SE Utah p7

Community Concert Series reimagined for COVID p9

Lapping up the garlicky goodness of summer p10

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2 n June 25, 2020

telegraph

lineup

boilerplate

4 La Vida Local

Can we talk?

Why it’s time to wave goodbye to the Chief for good

4 Thumbin’ It

by Shan Wells

5 Word on the Street

7

6 Soapbox 7 Regional News

Waste management

Should White Mesa Mill become the world’s radioactive dumping ground?

9 Top Shelf

by Missy Votel

10 Flash in the Pan

9

11 Ask Rachel

Homegrown

12 Stuff to Do

Bringing the community concert series to your own secret garden

by Chris Aaland

13-14 Free Will Astrology 15 Classifieds

10

15 Haiku Movie Review

Toum raider

On the cover: A magnificent example of Colorado’s state flower blooms in the high country./ Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Lapping up summer’s unexpected garlicky goodness

by Ari LeVaux

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

T

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

STAR-STUDDED CAST: Lainie Maxson, Chris Aaland, Shan Wells, Jesse Anderson, Ari LeVaux and Clint Reid

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

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

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

telegraph

Ear to the ground:

“We came up with a new word, ‘asphincterating.’ It’s when you choke on your own bull shit.”

– One local’s longshot at being added to Webster’s – or at least the Urban Dictionary

The fleecing of America

thepole

4

RegularOccurrences

A life without fleece may seem as unthinkable as a life without dogs, flip flops or Subarus. But if we love the outdoors as much as we say we do, we may have to get used to the idea.

Turns out that cuddly, cozy, indestructible, doghair covered wonder fabric you cherish is actually bad for the environment. Sorry – take a moment.

See, like your trusty four-legged pal, fleece – even the recycled kind – sheds more than a husky in summer time. In fact, every time you wash it, millions of microscopic plastic particles swish off and out your washer’s drain hose. According to Backpacker magazine, a study conducted by Patagonia and the University of California Santa Barbara in 2016 found that the average fleece sheds about 1.7 grams of microplastic per wash cycle. Recycled and newer fleece sheds less, whereas older fleece or generic (perish the thought!) sheds more.

Of course, one solution, already in wide practice locally, is not to wash your fleece quite as often. But according to the research, just one wash a year for every fleece sold in 2019 produces 15 tons of microplastics.

Although wastewater treatment plants can catch more than 98 percent of microplastics, each plant still pumps out some 65 million microplastic fragments daily.

As we’ve heard, microplastics proliferate far and wide from the high mountain air to our tap water, milk, beer, you name it. According to a 2019 study by the World Wildlife Foundation, the average person ingests 9 ounces of plastic per year – the equivalent of one credit card per week. Although there’s no research showing exactly what harm this causes, one can only imagine.

Granted this news is not “new” – the Patagonia/UC Santa Barbara study has been out for years – yet Americans keep snapping up new fleece to the tune of 7.8 million a year. To their credit, manufacturers have been heeding the call, with Patagonia working to reduce the amount of microplastics that slough off in the wash and Polartec releasing Power Air, a knit fleece that sheds five times less. But there is no such thing as a noshed fleece – at least not yet.

As Backpacker’s Casey Lyons puts it, it’s easy to congratulate ourselves when 20 recycled soda bottles went into making our garment. But 20 single objects are significantly easier to scoop out of the waste stream than microplastic fragments.

But don’t become unraveled just yet? Backpacker suggests to hang onto your existing fleece, wear it until it’s a rag and – although your camping buddies may object – don’t wash it as much. If you absolutely must, hand wash or use a front-loader machine. And when it’s time to buy something new, think about natural fibers like good, old-fashioned wool – you know, the original fleece.

June 25, 2020 n

3

opinion

LaVidaLocal Hey white folks…

Can we talk? The Chief sign controversy and nationwide protests are kinda making it clear we need to.

Let’s start with the history of whites in America. We stole the lands of Indigenous people and intentionally killed off 90 percent of them in the process. That is our baseline. If you are a white person and not viewing relations with Native Americans through this lens, you fail to understand racial dynamics in the United States.

This isn’t surprising. White people have a very large blind spot regarding the systemic racism of our culture. I’m a prime example. Growing up in Durango, I viewed the Chief as harmless nostalgia for an era of tacky advertising.

In 2002, I even used the image for a Snowdown poster. I've apologized for that trespass informally before, but it needs a formal apology now. Even though I felt I was not a racist person, I still committed a racist act by blindly colluding in a system that justifies white appropriation of nonwhite cultural identity. This attitude is, as we see in the defense of the Chief, very common despite being inherently racist, but not in the overt way whites prefer to understand the term.

If your definition of “racist” is the Charlottesville Klan shouting “blood and soil,” and you are disgusted by their violent hatred, that’s great. You aren’t a “racist.” But… that’s not the type of racism I’m speaking to. I’m talking about systemic racism, and it is almost entirely invisible to whites, as it was to me. It undergirds American culture and imbues unearned advantages to white people. In this way, all whites participate in and benefit from racism. Unconvinced? Check out this list: 1. Ten richest Americans: 100 percent white 2. U.S. Congress: 90 percent white 3. U.S. governors: 96 percent white 4. Top military advisors: 100 percent white 5. U.S. presidential cabinet: 91 percent white 6. People who decide which TV shows we see: 93 percent white 7. People who decide which books are published: 90 percent white 8. People who decide which news is covered: 85 percent white 9. People who decide which music is produced: 95 percent white 10. People who directed the 100 top-grossing films worldwide: 95 percent white 11. Full-time college professors: 84 percent white 12. Owners of professional football teams: 97 percent white* Some of the most powerful groups in the country are listed above. They represent influence, power and control held exclusively by a single racial group. While being born into and benefitting from a racist system is not necessarily our fault, we have the duty to continually educate ourselves about it, work to eliminate it, and most importantly, change it. This is not easy. White privilege is deep and durable.

Speaking of privilege, the Chief, along with other symbols like Aunt Jemimah, the Washington Redskins, Uncle Ben and numerous other stereotypes fall on a spectrum of appropriation that whites simply do not perceive as damaging. After all, we use caricatures like Fred Flintstone or Marge Simpson to stereotype white people, so what’s the problem with using caricatures for people of color?

One problem is that such caricatures are designed, created, controlled and manipulated by white people for our use, but they are not ours to use. For example, the white owners of the Chief Diner used the Chief sign as a way to promote their business. Because of the big nose, the image was intended as humorous Indigenous artist Ricardo Cate, creator of “Without Reservations,” a cartoon for the Santa Fe New Mexican, also uses a humorous style in his work. Ironically, one of his main characters is even named “The Chief.”

But that’s where the similarity ends. Cate’s work does not justify continued use of the Chief by a gallery owner.

His use of humor is designed to raise awareness of racism and the treatment of Indigenous peoples by a dominant white culture. The Chief sign was, and continues to be, used as a business prop; a type of mascot. This is dehumanizing and wrong.

Let me frame it a different way. If a German restaurant created a promotional 15-foot sign of a waving Jewish cartoon wearing a yarmulke, would that be appropriate?

Of course not. History and context matter. Most white people see the problem right away because we understand the history of the Holocaust.** Even though we agree that today’s Germans are not responsible for historical atrocities, we still see the use of a stereotyped caricature is indefensible. Yet we can’t see our participation in the same dynamic.

The controversy over the Chief is not new. One thing different this time is a smallish but meaningful movement of whites sensitized due to the ongoing BLM protests. Listening to communities of color instead of dismissing their concerns as “political correctness” or “outsiders taking offense” is critical, and that includes listening to those Indigenous voices for whom the sign is not offensive.

There is one solution I’ve heard that might work brought forward by communities of color: take down the Chief and commission a new sculpture by an Indigenous artist that will represent whatever those communities want it to represent.

Needless to say, I don’t speak for those communities or indeed, any community.

What I’m attempting to do is speak to white people as an individual white person critiquing the white race’s behavior.

We can build a better, more equal society, but only if whites humbly acknowledge that we, and only we, hold all the power in this country and therefore have the ability to change it, starting now. Refusing to do this will condemn the country to a terrible path of violent unrest and eventual fracture.

The celebration of Native Peoples at a gallery that provides an outlet for commercial artistic expression is positive, and the Clarks deserve credit for that. However, it is past time for a little cultural evolution.

While the Chief is undoubtedly historical, it is not a history worth preserving.

Seventy years underlining white cultural dominance and privilege is quite enough.

Thanks for the chat. Let’s keep it going.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It Durango’s Juneteenth celebration drawing hundreds in a show of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and racial justice reform

Out-of-state visitors coming to Durango and refusing (some rather rudely) to follow the City’s facemask order, putting locals – especially service workers – at risk

A successful roll out of downtown’s bump-out program and two-lane traffic, giving businesses extra outdoor space and lending a more welcoming vibe to Durango’s main drag

The CORE Act, which would have protected hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness in Colorado, including lands in the San Juans, failing to hitch a ride with the Great American Outdoors Act, which recently passed the Senate

Some of the outdoor industry’s biggest names, like Patagonia and North Face, pulling advertising from Facebook and Instagram until the social networks can improve policies to stop racist, violent or hateful content and misinformation

4 n June 25, 2020

– Shan Wells

*Source: White Fragility, by Robin Diangelo. **Actually, this too is problematic. I once thoughtlessly used an offensive caricature to depict an Israeli politician. Satire can be a minefield.

Energy Fuels’ request to accept up to 660 tons a year of radioactive waste from overseas at its White Mesa Mill despite objections from nearby tribal residents over air, water and land pollution

telegraph

Gundam Style

Technically, a giant robot is called a “mecha,” but most people use the word “gundam” thanks to the anime show that made them famous. Either way, while we were paying attention to other things, Japan went and built a 60’ tall mecha in an honest-to-goodness “Gundam Factory,” which is mind-blowingly cool. They didn’t waste their money on walls or corn subsidies or whatever else it is we waste our money on here in the West – instead, they built a big-ass android that probably has hidden lasers. Is the downfall turning Japanese? I really think so.

Q

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WordontheStreet With Independence Day coming up, the Telegraph asked, “What freedoms will you be celebrating?”

(/"01-"2,-$ (/"013+445’ ( check our website for hours: www.jimmysmusic.supply 1480 E. 2nd Ave. & 15th St. • 970-764-4577 Mike

“Celebrating our pride of the support our community has shown us. Thank you, Durango!”

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“I’m celebrating my freedom to choose – whatever I want!”

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Hot Pockets

“Fighting fascism by punching a Nazi.”

Paul

“I’m celebrating my right to free speech and expression as we can dissent and disagree and hopefully argue until we come to better public decisions.”

Sally Monella

“The freedom to wear a mask even in a bank.” telegraph

June 25, 2020 n 5

SoapBox

ReTooned/by Shan Wells

Combing over the dreadful truth To the editor, In response to the June 18 “La Vida Local” by Zach Hively, dreadlocks are from not “combing” your hair.

Washing is optional, but encouraged. I threw away the comb in February 1985. Adopting your protocol would not only be gnarly gross but would have me banned from some fine, clean-loving Durango establishments. When KDUR resumes with live on-air DJs, jah willing, I am sure Bryant Liggett would be less welcoming to the station’s longest-running radio host I-turning to the throne with 35 years of grime as my crown.

I, too, practice the art of bathing by paddleboard in the pristine(?) waters of the River of the Lost Souls, but it just doesn’t seem to give me that dippity doo curl nor illustrious Pert shine. So off to the Vitamin Cottage I go, for once not posing as a bonafide customer while sneaking into Prohibition Herb for the latest high grade, instead I actually shop in the natural food store, while forgoing the inflatable SUP upgrade I dream of. Love your prose, but please wash it before wearing it.

P.S. Please don’t tell me I look like something from “the inside of your shower drain.”

– Dreadfully yours, Rasta Stevie

Trump ignored pandemic playbook To the editor, President Trump said “the cupboards were bare” of PPE and ventilators when he took office, but they were bare three years into his administration. When asked about this, he blamed Russian Gate, Ukraine Gate and the impeachment, which is hogwash since there were adequate government resources available to address the need.

Ronald Klain, an Obama official who addressed potential pandemic outbreaks, said Obama provided the Trump

administration with a 69-page pandemic manual called “Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents.”

This document was ignored by Trump. Additionally, he abolished the office for pandemic preparedness in 2018, and gutted a global pandemic monitoring system.

Obama’s pandemic manual references the need for the federal government to procure PPE, detect the outbreak, ac-

quire funding and invoke the Defense Production Act at the earliest indication of a pandemic. It calls for appointment of a single knowledgeable federal person to lead the response effort, not an unqualified vice president.

Trump said he could not have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Obama administration told Trump and his aides to prepare for a potential pandemic.

– Donald Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H. via email

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Waste not, want not White Mesa Mill applies to begin accepting radioactive waste from overseas

by Missy Votel

H

undreds of tons of radioactive tailings could soon be knocking on the doorstep of southeastern Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument.

Energy Fuels Resources, which owns the White Mesa Mill south of Blanding and east of the monument, has applied to the State of Utah to amend its radioactive materials license in order to begin accepting radioactive tailings from a mill in Estonia. Currently, the mill is not allowed to accept waste from outside the United States.

In addition, Energy Fuels is asking for a doubling of its current allotment from a single source, from 5,000 cubic yards a year to 10,000 cubic yards.

White Mesa would process the Estonian waste, which contains about 0.05 percent uranium, extracting the yellow cake and disposing of the rest on site. If the application is approved, White Mesa could process as much as 660 tons of radioactive waste a year.

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality is taking public comment on the license modification through July 10. In its application, Energy Fuels said the Estonian government has ordered the Silmet rare metals processing plant, which produces tantalum and niobium, to cease operations until it can dispose of 2,000 drums of radioactive byproducts.

With no licensed facilities accepting such waste in Estonia, the company proposed shipping it to Utah.

The proposed plan is being met with resistance from conservationists as well as residents of the nearby Ute Mountain Ute community of White Mesa. Energy Fuels already has a questionable track record among both groups. Twice in the last five years, trucks on their way to White Mesa have spilled radioactive waste on Highway 191. In addition, Energy Fuels has been accused of cozying up to the Trump administration to reduce the size of Bears Ears Monument. In 2017, Andrew Wheeler, now head of the EPA, worked for Energy Fuels and successfully lobbied Trump to shrink the size of the monument in order to allow for more uranium mining.

The mill itself is believed to be the source of toxic and radioactive air pollution as well as contaminated ground water, according to residents of White Mesa, which lies just a few miles away.

“The facility has gone from being the North American continent’s dry, low-level radioactive waste disposal facility of choice … to now being the world’s radioactive waste dump,” Scott Clow, environmental programs director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, told the Salt Lake Tribune. “That is something the tribe opposes. The tribe does not want these materials to continue to be delivered to their neighborhood, their traditional lands, and stored there forever.”

According to the tribe, groundwater has been contaminated for years because of the uranium mill’s tailings pits; something the state and mill deny.

In January, Ute Mountain leaders sent a letter to the state detailing “overwhelming data” that showed a rise in groundwater contaminants and acidification beneath the mill site.

The tribe requested an investigation into the causes of the pollution, which includes rare toxic metals such as beryllium,

An aerial view of the White Mesa Mill complex. If its application to the State of Utah is approved, the mill could start handling as much as 660 tons of radioactive waste a year from a rare metals processing plant in Estonia. Environmentalists and residents of the nearby Ute Mountain Ute community oppose the idea, saying the mill has already contaminated local air and water. cadmium, nickel and thallium. The tribe argued these metals are not naturally occurring in the local geology or groundwater, indicating leakage may be occurring.

Others opponents of the plan called into question the state’s decision to reclassify the Estonian material as uranium-bearing “ore,” aka alternate feed, rather than radioactive waste. They also take issue with the White Mesa Mill’s deviation from its original intent, which was to process uranium ore, not process and dispose of radioactive waste. In addition to the Estonian waste, Energy Fuels is also asking to accept “alternate feed” from Union Pacific Railroad’s Moffat Tunnel near Glenwood Springs.

At a May 20 virtual public hearing on the proposal hosted by Utah’s Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control and covered by the SLTRIB, Grand Canyon Trust attorney Aaron Paul argued that calling the material anything but waste is misleading to the public.

“When the company is getting a fee to process alternate feed ... that fee is an obvious signal that what the company is really doing is being paid to operate a waste disposal business,” Paul said. “It’s not worth it for the company to buy that feed and turn it into yellowcake.”

Paul noted that when White Mesa was first licensed in 1979, it was proposed to have a 15-year lifespan processing uranium ore from regional mines.

“The documents surrounding that decision are crystal clear,” Paul said. “... if you lived in the (nearby Ute Mountain Ute community of) White Mesa, in Blanding or Bluff or elsewhere in the region in 1979, you would have thought that by 1994 the trucks going to and from the mill would be gone;

that the mill wouldn’t be running.”

The state’s “regulatory blessing” to allow the processing and disposal of radioactive waste at the mill, according to Paul, is a major reason why it has survived for so long despite a depressed domestic uranium market.

Energy Fuels did not respond to questions from the SLTRIB about if and how much money it would receive for processing the waste. Rather, company spokesman Curtis Moore spoke to White Mesa Mill’s “exceptional record of environmental protection” and the benefits of its “alternate feed recycling” program. “In only the past three years, Energy Fuels has recycled enough uranium to replace the amount of coal that would fill over 3,000 miles of coal cars connected end to end. This avoided almost 44.6 million tons of (carbon dioxide) emissions. Last year alone, Energy Fuels recycled enough vanadium to build 4.5 Golden Gate bridges.”

But for the Ute Mountain’s Clow, it’s still too big a price to pay for area residents.

“I think it would be the tribe’s preference that the facility shut down,” Clow said. “But that’s a big ask there. The mill has been there for 38 years now, and that’s a pretty short window of time compared to how long the tribe was there before and how long the tribe is going to be there after the mill, and all of that contamination.”

For details on the Energy Fuels proposal, go to https://tinyurl. com/y96qjzxz. Comments can be emailed to dwmrcpublic @utah.gov with “Public Comment on White Mesa RML Renewal” in the subject line. Written comments can be sent to DWMRC, P.O. Box 144880, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4850. Comment deadline is Fri., July 10. n

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June 25, 2020 n 7

8 n June 25, 2020

telegraph

TopShelf

A secret mission

Gather the backyard ‘quaranteam’ for reimagined community concerts

by Chris Aaland

M

any businesses and nonprofits have struggled through the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic shutdown that followed. Among those affected the most are music and the arts. Whether it’s a big festival like Telluride Bluegrass or a small, intimate venue, stage lights dimmed, doors locked and revenue dried up. Musicians and artists, their road crews, sound engineers, lighting technicians, stage hands, ticket salespeople, caterers, bartenders, security personnel and everyone else associated with live music production saw their paychecks disappear.

Caitlin Cannon plays July 15 as part of the “Concerts Reimagined” virtual series./Photo by Karly Horenn

JusttheFacts

What: Community Concerts Reimagined in Your Secret Garden When: 7 p.m, July 1, 8 & 15 Where: Online & on air at KSUT or KDUR For info: swcommunityfoundation.org

Here in Durango and surrounding areas, we’re fortunate to have a few resources to assist these folks out. One group that’s worked tirelessly to help is the Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado, which has organized a virtual and radio concert series called Community Concerts Reimagined in Your Secret Garden. Spread out over three Wednesdays from July 1-15, local musicians and arts groups will be featured on a one-hour radio program that will be simultaneously aired on KDUR and KSUT from 7-8 p.m. each week. The shows replace the popular Community Concerts in the Rochester Hotel’s Secret Garden, which had become midweek highlights to the local music calendar each summer.

“The uninvited guest that refuses to leave has put a halt to our summer concert series,” Community Foundation Executive Director Briggen Wrinkle said. “But KDUR, KSUT and the Community Foundation will still celebrate local music and arts with Community Concerts Reimagined.”

Nine musicians and bands will be featured (three per episode), as will interviews with 10 nonprofits (three to four per episode) and information on how you can support the cause. KDUR station manager Bryant Liggett and yours truly (I’m KSUT’s development director) will “emcee” the series. KSUT executive director Tami Graham will interview the nonprofit beneficiaries.

“I’d like to thank the Community Foundation and their leadership in support of arts and culture-related nonprofits in our area, as we’ve all been hard hit due to the impacts of COVID,” said Graham. “Many of these organizations rely heavily on attendance at live events and cultural experiences for their lifeblood. Funds raised from this series will provide vital operational sup-

port to these nonprofits until they can get back to doing what they do best.”

In lieu of live performances, the stations will tap into the recorded catalog of each musician or group. The Badly Bent, Black Velvet and Kirk James Blues Band will be featured on July 1; Leah Orlikowski, Farmington Hill and Lost Souls on July 8; and Caitlin Cannon, People We Know and the Jeff Solon Jazz Trio on July 15. Listeners can expect 12-14 minutes of music from each, spanning rock, Americana, bluegrass, blues and jazz genres.

“I really appreciate the opportunity,” Erik Nordstrom, a local musician who sings and plays guitar for Farmington Hill and Lawn Chair Kings, said. “We’re not making money these days, and I still have to pay for the website and (other) operating costs. Any money raised could go toward recording.

You don’t make much money off of albums, but it costs money to record.”

For Nordstrom, live dates from his two bands have been nonexistent. Farmington Hill reconvened for its first band practice since the pandemic began earlier this week.

They have one concert currently on the books – July 26 at Mancos Brewing – and a handful of Durango possibilities pending the state of the pandemic and reopening of venues.

“I feel like they’ve been trying to be really safe,” he said of Mancos Brewing. “They’ve expanded their outdoor seating, have levelled some land and placed extra tables outside.”

Nordstrom said one way to support local bands is by purchasing their music. Both Farmington Hill and Lawn Chair Kings have CDs and downloads available through their respective websites, which link to the national independent distribution company, CDBaby. That site connects musicians to Apple Music and other streaming services.

Some of the artists featured in Community Concerts Reimagined have recently re-

telegraph

leased albums but don’t have the chance to sell their wares to a live audience. People We Know dropped their debut disc, “Hard Times & Joy Rides,” last winter, but couldn’t sell the record at the cancelled Durango Bluegrass Meltdown this spring. Caitlin Cannon’s “The TrashCannon Album” is garnering rave reviews nationally in the altcountry press, but she has no chance to tour in support of it. Others, like Farmington Hill and Lost Souls, had recording plans scuttled.

Musicians are just one group that is struggling, however. The nonprofit groups are another. There are dozens of nonprofits in Southwest Colorado committed to music and the arts. Some put on festivals and concerts, others offer galleries for artists to display their work, and others are educational in nature.

Community Concerts Reimagined offers insights into some of these nonprofits in our local community, including Music in the Mountains, Pine River Arts, KDUR and KSUT (the July 1 episode); Durango Playfest, Be Frank Foundation, Durango Independent Film Festival (July 8); and Dancing Spirit Community Arts Center, Stillwater Music and Durango Arts Center (July 15).

The Community Foundation has set a goal to raise $50,000 through online donations. As of Tuesday, more than $10,000 had been raised. Donations can be made at swcommunityfoundation.org by clicking on the “Community Concerts” advertisement.

Additional support was provided by Four Corners Community Bank, Tito’s Vodka and the Rochester Hotel. In previous summers, the Rochester hosted live music in its Secret Garden on Wednesday evenings, raising money for a variety of local nonprofits through donations and beverage sales … hence the name change to Community Concerts Reimagined in YOUR Secret Garden.

The virtual component is a series of Facebook videos done by the bands and nonprofit beneficiaries. Many of these show the directors of nonprofits enjoying signature cocktails at local bars and restaurants. Angie Beach, executive director of Music in the Mountains, posted a video of Season’s lead bartender Colton Mowrer whipping up “The Waltz,” a vodka martini made of Tito’s, Fleur elderflower liqueur, sauvignon blanc and lemon juice, shaken vigorously over ice, then strained into a martini glass rimmed with oils from lemon zest. Other nonprofits and musicians will team up with different bartenders and restauranteurs to craft their own signature Tito’s cocktail.

“We’re encouraging listeners to select a location, invite a few ‘quaranteam’ friends and safely gather to have your own secret garden show,” said Wrinkle.

Listen to the radio, talkin’ ‘bout the last show? Email chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.n

June 25, 2020 n

9

FlashinthePan

Raiders of the garlic toum

by Ari LeVaux

it from the same source: Idaho’s late, great Jack Ronniger, keeper of the best garlic and rare potato strains.

One of my favorite things to do with garlic, be it bulb, sprout or scape, is make toum, a Lebanese aioli-like sauce of garlic, salt and olive oil. Even though it’s mostly garlic, and thus quite strong, toum is so maddingly delicious you will spread it everywhere.

Since I currently have shopping bags full of scapes, I’ve been making toum from those. It freezes well, in theory, although in practice toum doesn’t seem to last long enough to get frozen. It does take a toll on the breath, but in these socially distant times, who cares?

Eat toum off the spoon ’til you swoon.

This assertive, pale green paste makes a great spread, filling or ingredient. The nuts and parsley add a rich thickness and grassy fragrance, making it something of a cross between pesto and romesco sauce.

Scapes have more fiber than bulb garlic, so it takes longer in the blender.

But with patience, scape toum will emulsify just like bulb toum.

E

ach spring it happens. You cut into a clove of garlic, only to find its lily white interior tainted by the green stripe of a developing shoot. A few weeks later, sprouts will emerge from the tips of every garlic clove in the house, turning entire bulbs into Medusa heads.

During this period of garlic awakening, all cooks face a choice. Either dig out the little plant or cook with it undaunted, knowing the verdant imperfection tastes exactly like the bulb that hosts it.

And every year, some aspiring garlic growers will fall under the spell of a sprouted clove and decide to plant it in the dirt. The math of garlic propagation dictates that every planted clove will turn into a full bulb, so why not?

Alas, sprouted garlic sown in springtime won’t bulb. The clove must overwinter in the dirt. Planted in fall, it will sense the moist earth and send out roots, and then hibernate through the winter. When we see that green stripe in the garlic clove on the cutting board, we know the cloves in the garden are waking up too.

Fast forward to the present: the garlic I planted last fall is now producing delicious shoots called scapes, curly stems with pointy flower-like tips that emerge from the center of the plant around the summer solstice.

Garlic growers will diligently pick every scape, so as to encourage the plant to focus on its below-ground portion.

And garlic lovers are happy to buy and eat scapes as a seasonal treat. Use the scapes exactly how you would garlic, as a spice or vegetable. It’s fun chopped in stir-fries, or steamed whole, or held and chomped on like curly green cigars on poker night, or woven into garlands and placed atop our heads while we prance about like Greek divinity.

Scapes are readily available these days at the farmers market. And if you have designs to plant your own garlic this fall, now is the perfect time to plan your patch.

Going to the farmers market now in search of scapes to eat can be an important first step in finding your source for the seed garlic that you will plant in October.

“Seed garlic” is just regular garlic that is certified to be disease-free and of a particular variety. One advantage of

getting your seed garlic locally is you can see for yourself how well the garlic in question produces in your own climate. As a home gardener, you don’t have to worry about the financial devastation of a diseased garlic crop. And who really cares what variety of garlic you grow, as long as it grows well in your neck of the woods.

So be on the lookout for scapes at the farmers market, because the people selling them will have garlic to sell in about a month. Talk to the growers. Find out what varieties they grow. Look for scapes that are thick, because thick scapes come from thick plants, and girth indicates bulb size. Make notes, and come back in a month to see what those bulbs look like.

Where I live, Romanian Red is the garlic to grow. The cloves are big, easy to peel, not too spicy and very tasty. If you want to try a specific kind of garlic, ordering it online is your best bet. And you should order soon. Many of the popular varieties, like Romanian Red, will sell out before they are even harvested. I recommend buying garlic from Filaree Farm in central Washington state. Its founder, Ron Engeland, wrote Growing Great Garlic, the only reference you need for garlic cultivation. I didn’t get my Romanian Red from Engelend, but rather we both got

Garlic Scape Toum Serves 10 1 cup almonds 2 teaspoons salt 2 cups chopped scapes 2 cups olive oil 1 cup chopped parsley Zest and juice of ½ a lemon Pulse the almonds and salt in a blender until the almonds are crushed. Add the scapes and blend, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add the first cup of olive oil, a little at a time, again scraping the sides as necessary.

Add the lemon juice and zest and parsley, and blend until the parsley disappears. The second cup of oil is optional.

The paste will loosen as you add it, and then, surprisingly, thicken even more.

You can also skip the almonds, for a smoother, creamier final product. In that case, cut the salt in half and stop at a single cup of oil.

Spread toum on anything that moves. Wrap it in romaine leaves with chunks of feta. Refrigerate or freeze the unused portions. n

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10 n June 25, 2020

telegraph

AskRachel

Hail or hate the Chief & popping the Netflix question

Interesting fact: The most iconic Minnesota chain restaurant, according to some internet source, is Dairy Queen. So next time you miss your hockey pucks and your flip flops in winter, just head on over to Cortez or Aztec for a genuine Minne-Blizzard.

Dear Rachel, I genuinely don’t know what to think about The Chief downtown. On the one hand, I’m not Native American, so I don’t really understand how it feels to have my people be caricatured (unless Barney Fife counts). On the other hand, I don’t see how it’s racist or insensitive, and it’s been there my whole life, and I like it. So can’t we all just get along and let it stay? Why do we have to be so PC about absolutely everything?

- Hail to the Chief Dear Pasty, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: substitute “treating people with respect” for “being PC” and play a game I like to call “Who sounds like an asshole now?” Try it with this sample rant: We have gotten way too focused on being PC! What happened to common sense? Who is being PC with my opinions as probably a white individual? My opinions still matter! And I can’t handle when you point out how they might be insensitive to others!

– Sit down, Rachel Dear Diver, Why do people (like, say, hypothetically, newspaper people) think they can just close up shop for a week to jump on the river? They’re messing

with people’s lives here. People who rely on them every Thursday for a non-corporatized, humanlevel view of what’s happening in our town, plus When Animals Attack. And even worse, what if they get smart and never come back? We can’t have that! I protest.

- Gone Fishing Dear Hooked, If the Telegraphistas haven’t yet left to start up a new Dairy Queen in town, I can’t imagine what will stop them from coming back this time. But you are clearly a dedicated Telegraph devotee who has read every issue cover to cover for the last, oh, five years or so. So I don’t need to tell you that. I just need to ask, out of all the news in all the world, how this – a river trip – is what you picked up on.

– Dive this, Rachel

Dear Rachel, I’m thinking of asking my girlfriend to take the next big step with me. I want to ask her if she’ll share a Netflix account with me. It would be the first thing we really shared responsibility for, since we don’t live together yet. I just figure we’re both paying 15 bucks a month. We could split that and put the extra toward a really nice date night every eight or 10 months. Should I ask, or will I scare her off?

– Netflix and Split the Bill

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Don Juan, A nice date night every eight or 10 months? Boy, you’re thinking pretty far in the future for someone afraid of his own month-to-month streaming service contract. Then again, with romance like that in your heart, how could she ever leave you? And if she did, every single one of us Durango ladies will be circling your block, hoping beyond hope to get a glimpse of your four-roommate living room couch for a Netflix sesh. Unless you think nothing is wrong with The Chief. Instant turn-off.

– Are you still watching, Rachel

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ph ra g e le Te Gon n’ hi Fis

The Telegraph is taking a leave of absence the issue of July 2 for some much-needed R&R. (Don’t worry, we’ll be back July 9.)

Please get your events and display ads for the 4th of July week in by noon, Mon., June 22.

telegraph

June 25, 2020 n 11

StufftoDo Submit Stuff to Do by Monday at noon to: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

Thursday25 “Zoom Alice,” a virtual trip down the rabbit hole, presented by Merely Players, through June 27. www.merelyplayers.us.

ries, 5:30-7 p.m. To log on, go to durangoconcerts.com.

Durango’s Elder Grown plays the iAM Music Fest Sat., June 27, outdoors at Ernie’s/ 11th St. Station

Chuck Hank plays solo, 5 p.m., 11th Street Station.

The Black Velvet Duo, with Nina Sasaki & Larry Carver, plays 6 – 8 p.m., Dandelion Café (former Cyprus Café), 725 E. 2nd Ave.

Saturday04

Durango Green Drinks Zoom meeting, 6 – 6:45 p.m., June 25. Hosted by Mountain Studies Institute and Durango Farmers Market.

For Zoom log in, visit “Durango Green Drinks” on Facebook.

Durango Farmers Market, Saturdays, 8 a.m. – 12 noon, in TBK Parking Lot, across from the Transit Center. Victor Andrada plays live music Facemasks required. www.durangofarmersmarket.com.

John King plays Southern country for the free Concerts @the Park virtual concert series, 5:30 – 7 p.m. Log on at durangoconcerts.com.

Ongoing

Independence Day

The Hive is open for daily youth activities as well as community mural painting. Space is limited and masks are required. For offerings or to sign up, email Kelsie@hivedgo.org

Friday26 Lacey Black plays live from 5 – 8 p.m., Serious Texas BBQ South, 650 S. Camino.

Larry Carver & the Rando Zone play, 6 p.m., Derailed Pour House, 725 Main Ave. Roller disco opens at Chapman Hill, 6:30 - 9 p.m.

Saturday27 Durango Farmers Market, Saturdays, 8 a.m. – 12 noon, in TBK Parking Lot, across from the Transit Center.

Facemasks required. www.durangofarmersmarket.com.

Trail Party Enduro Race gravity stage racing, 9 a.m.

– 5 p.m., Purgatory Resort. www.purgatoryresort.com 6th annual Veteran’s Benefit Naughty School Girl Run, sign up starts at 9:30 a.m., El Rancho Tavern. For info, visit Facebook.

Henry Stoy plays piano, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., Jean Pierre Wine Bar, College Drive and Main.

Devin Scott plays ukulele, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., 11th Street Station iAM Music Festival concert series featuring Elder Grown, PJ Moon and the Swappers, Space Between Shadows and Profetic Calaveras, 4-10 p.m., 11th St. Station.

Sunday28 Henry Stoy plays piano, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., Jean Pierre Wine Bar, College Drive and Main.

Hoodfoot plays, 11 a.m.–2 p.m., 11th Street Station.

3rd annual Veterans Picnic & Raft Trip, free picnic and raft trips to honor veterans & their families, Sun., June 28, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., Santa Rita Park. For info., go to DurangoRafting.com or email info@DurangoRafting.com

Monday29 Durango Rec Center opens for limited hours and services. For info go to www.durangogov.org.

Meditation and Dharma Talks, Mondays, 5:30- 7 p.m. online at www.durangodharmacenter.org/ Rocky Mountain UkeFest Online Ukulele Jam, 6:30 – 8 p.m. For link, email: denise.leslie@gmail.com

Tuesday30 Lainie Maxson’s birthday!

Wednesday01 Ben Gibson plays solo, 5 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Badly Bent, Kirk James Blues Band and Black Velvet play an online concert 7 p.m., for the Secret Garden Community Concerts series. Tune into KSUT or KDUR radio or online. Sponsored by the Community Foundation. Donations go to local arts organizations.

Thursday02 “The Blues Review,” a Southwest Civic Winds ensemble, plays for the free Concerts @the Park virtual concert se-

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12 n June 25, 2020

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telegraph

San Juan Ramblers, small-group, halfday hiking adventures for grades 1-6, Mon. – Fri., 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., thru June. Sponsored by San Juan Mountain Association/Durango Nature Studies. Register at: tinyurl.com/y8ynl2jm “Earth … Sky… and Soul” of Covid 19, a new show by Karyn Gabaldon, Thurs., Fri. and Sat., noon – 6 p.m. and by appt. 680 Main Ave. Pine River Library is offering curbside checkouts Mon.-Fri., 2-6 p.m., and Sat., 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. For info., call 970-884-2222 or visit www.prlibrary.org/curbsidecheckout-program/ Durango Public Library’s Summer Reading Program for kids, teens and adults, thru Aug. 1. Register at DurangoGov.org/library or call 970-375-3380.

Upcoming: Bassel & the Supernaturals play Syrian roots and Chicago soul for the free Concerts @the Park virtual concert series, July 9, 5:30–7 p.m. To log on, go to durango concerts.com.

Free Virtual Legal Clinic, July 10, 4 – 5 p.m. Call the Ignacio Library at 970-)563-9287 to sign up.

Alice Wallace play folk, country and blues for the free Concerts @the Park virtual concert series July 16, 5:30 – 7 p.m. To log on, go to www.durangoconcerts.com.

Dave Mensch plays solo, 6 p.m., July 16, 11th Street Station.

FreeWillAstrology /

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): In addition to being a magnificent storyteller, Aries author Barbara Kingsolver raises chickens at her home.

“There are days when I am envious of my hens,” she writes, “when I hunger for a purpose as perfect and sure as a single daily egg.” Do you ever experience that delightful rush of assurance, Aries? I suspect that you’re likely to do so on multiple occasions in the coming weeks. And if you are indeed visited by visions of a perfect and sure purpose, your next task will be to initiate practical action to manifest it in the real world.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Nobel Prize-winning Taurus physicist Richard Feynman got his undergraduate degree from prestigious MIT and his PhD from prestigious Princeton University. Later he taught at prestigious Caltech. But his approach to education had a maverick quality. “Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible,” he advised his students. I think his strategy will work well for you in the coming weeks, which will be a favorable time to gather valuable information and polish your existing aptitudes.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You’re entering a phase when you’ll have the potential to upgrade and fine-tune your relationship with money. In the hope of encouraging that prospect, I offer you the counsel of author Katharine Butler Hathaway. “To me, money is alive,” she wrote. “It is almost human. If you treat it with real sympathy and kindness and consideration, it will be a good servant and work hard for you, and stay with you and take care of you.” I hope you’ll consider cultivating that approach, dear Gemini: expressing benevolence and love toward money, and pledging to be benevolent and loving as you use the money you acquire.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris from the bud, the lawyer from the infant?” Author Diane Ackerman asks her readers that question, and now I pose the same inquiry to you – just in time for your Season of Transformation. “We are all shape-shifters and magical reinventors,” Ackerman says. I will add that you Cancerians now have the potential to be exceptional shape-shifters and magical reinventors. What new amazements might you incorporate into your life?

What dazzling twists and twinkles would you like to add to your character? What will the Future You be like?

Week of June 25, 2020

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Qabalistic teacher Ann Davies asked, “If you stick your finger in the fire, do you then complain that it is unfair when your finger gets burned? Do you call the fire bad?” I offer you this caution, Leo, because I want to encourage you not to stick your fingers or toes or any other parts of you into the fire during the coming weeks. And I’m happy to inform you that there are better approaches to finding out what’s important to learn about the fire. The preferred way is to watch the fire keenly and patiently from a modest distance. If you do so long enough, you’ll get all you need.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In accordance with upcoming astrological portents, I urge you to engage in a vigorous redefinition of the term “miracle.” That will open you up to the full range of miraculous phenomena that are potentially available in the coming weeks.

For inspiration, read this passage by Faith Baldwin: “Miracles are everyday things.

Not only sudden great fortune wafting in on a new wind. They are almost routine, yet miracles just the same. Every time something hard becomes easier; every time you adjust to a situation which, last week, you didn’t know existed; every time a kindness falls as softly as the dew; or someone you love who was ill grows better; every time a blessing comes, not with trumpet and fanfare, but silently as night, you have witnessed a miracle.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): When Libras become authoritative enough to wield clout in their own sphere of influence, it’s often due to three factors: 1. the attractive force of their empathy; 2. their abilities to listen well and ask good questions, which help enable them to accurately read people’s emotional energy; 3. their knack for knowing specific tricks that promote harmony and a common sense of purpose. If you possess any of these talents, dear Libra, the next eight weeks will be a favorable time to employ them with maximum intensity and ingenuity and integrity. You’re primed to acquire and wield more leverage.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): There is only one kind of erotic intimacy between consenting adults that can truly be called “unnatural:” an act that is physically impossible to perform. Everything else is potentially vitalizing and holy.

No one knows this better than you Scorpios. You’re the champions of exotic pleasure; the connoisseurs of blissful marvels; the masters of curious delight and extraordinary exultation. And from an astrological perspective, the coming weeks will be a time when these aspects of your character could be especially vivid. But wait a minute.

What about the pandemic? What about social-distancing? What about being cautious in seeking intimate connection? If anyone

can work around these constraints so as to have sexual fun, it’s your tribe. Use your imagination!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): When he was 22 years old, Sagittarian-born Werner Heisenberg received his doctorate in physics and mathematics from a German university – even though he got a grade of C on his final exams. Nine years later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics because of his pioneering work on quantum mechanics.

What happened in between? One key development: He was mentored by physicists Niels Bohr and Max Born, both of whom also garnered Nobel Prizes. I hope this story inspires you Sagittarians to be on the lookout for catalytic teachers and colleagues who can expedite your evolution. The planetary omens are favorable for such an eventuality.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You Capricorns aren’t renowned for causing controversy. For the most part you’re skillful at managing your reputation and keeping it orderly. But there may soon be a departure from this norm.

A bit of a hubbub could arise in regards to the impressions you’re making and the effects you’re generating. I’m reminded of Capricorn author J. D. Salinger, whose book Catcher in the Rye was for a time widely taught in American schools but also widely banned because of its allegedly controversial elements. These days the book is regarded as a beloved classic, and I suspect you will weather your commotion with similar panache.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Novelist Tom Robbins articulated a vision of what it means to be bold and brave.

He said, “Real courage is risking something that might force you to rethink your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness.” I’m hoping you will make that formula your keynote in the coming weeks. The time is right for you to summon extra amounts of fortitude, determination, and audacity. What new possibilities are you ready to flesh out in ways that might prod you to revise your beliefs and welcome transformation and expand your awareness?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Joan of Arc performed her heroic and magical feats in 1430 and 1431. But she wasn’t canonized as a saint until 1920 – almost five centuries later. It took a while to garner the full appreciation she deserved.

I’m sure you won’t have to wait as long to be acknowledged for your good deeds and fine creations, Pisces. In fact, from what I can tell, there’ll be a significant honor, enhancement, or reward coming your way sometime in the next four months. Start visualizing what you’d like it to be, and set your intention to claim it.

telegraph

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June 25, 2020 n 13

FreeWillAstrology /

by Rob Brezsny

A river runs through it

! Gorgeously rustic 5-bed, 2-bath ! 10 miles east of Durango in the

Florida River Valley ! Listen to the sound of the river from the large back yard ! Large covered patio, attached garage

$350,000 MLS #768658

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries author Marge Piercy writes, “The people I love the best, jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows.” The Aries people I love best will do just that in the coming days. Now is not the right time to wait around passively, lazily hoping that something better will come along. Nor is it prudent to procrastinate or postpone decisions while shopping around for more options or collecting more research. Dive, Aries, dive!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip by Bill Watterson. It features a boy named Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes. In the first panel of one story, Calvin is seated at a school desk looking perplexed as he studies a question on a test, which reads “Explain (Isaac) Newton’s First Law of Motion in your own words.” In the second panel, Calvin has a broad smile, suddenly imbued with inspiration. In the third panel, he writes his response to the test question: “Yakka foob mog. Grug pubbawup zink wattoom gazork. Chumble spuzz.” The fourth panel shows him triumphant and relaxed, proclaiming, “I love loopholes.” I propose that you use this scenario as your victorious metaphor in the coming weeks, Taurus. Look for loopholes! And use them to overcome obstacles and solve riddles.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves,” wrote philosopher and activist Simone Weil. I’m hoping that this horoscope of mine can help you avoid that mistake. In the coming weeks and months, you will have a stronger-than-usual need to be seen for who you really are – to have your essential nature be appreciated and understood by people you care about. And the best way to make sure that happens is to work hard right now on seeing, appreciating and understanding yourself.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Some readers wish I would write more like Cormac McCarthy or Albert Camus or Raymond Chandler: with spare simplicity. They accuse me of being too lush and exuberant in my prose. They want me to use shorter sentences and fewer adjectives. To them I say: It ain’t going to happen. I have feelings similar to those of best-selling Cancerian author Oliver Sacks, who the New York Times called, “one of the great clinical writers of the 20th century.” Sacks once said, “I never use one adjective if six seem to me better and, in their cumulative effect, more incisive. I am haunted by the density of reality and try to capture this with ‘thick description.’” I bring these thoughts to your attention, my fellow Cancerian,

14 n June 25, 2020

Week of July 2, 2020

because I think it’s important for you to be your lavish, sumptuous, complex self in the coming weeks. Don’t oversimplify yourself or dumb yourself down, either intellectually or emotionally.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Travel writer Paul Theroux has journeyed long distances by train: once from Britain to Japan and back again, and then from Massachusetts to Argentina. He also rode trains during part of his expedition from Cairo to Cape Town. Here’s one of his conclusions: “It is almost axiomatic that the worst trains take you through magical places.” I’d like to offer a milder version of that counsel as your metaphor for the coming weeks: The funky, bumpy, rickety influences will bring you the best magic.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Philosopher Miguel de Unamuno declared, “Everything that exalts and expands consciousness is good, while that which depresses and diminishes it is evil.” This idea will be intensely true for and applicable to you in the coming weeks, Virgo. It will be your sacred duty – both to yourself and to those you care about – to enlarge your understandings of how the world works and to push your awareness to become more inclusive and empathetic. What’s your vision of paradise-on-earth? Now is a good time to have fun imagining it.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): What do you want to be when you grow up, Libra? What’s that you say? You firmly believe you are already all grown up? I hope not! In my vision of your destiny, you will always keep evolving and transforming; you will ceaselessly transcend your existing successes and push on to accomplish further breakthroughs and victories. Now would be an excellent time to rededicate yourself to this noble aspiration.

I invite you to dream & scheme about three specific wonders & marvels you would like to experience during the next five years.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has advice that would serve you well in the coming weeks. She says, “Keep a little space in your heart for the improbable. You won’t regret it.” In accordance with your astrological potentials, I’m inclined to amend her statement as follows: “Keep a sizable space in your heart for the improbable.

You’ll be rewarded with catalytic revelations and intriguing opportunities.” To attract blessings in abundance, Scorpio, be willing to set aside some of your usual skepticism and urge for control.

telegraph

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): Author Malidoma Somé lives in the U.S. now, but was born in the West African country of Burkina

Faso. He writes, “In the culture of my people, the Dagara, we have no word for the supernatural. The closest we come to this concept is Yielbongura, ‘the thing that knowledge can’t eat.’ This word suggests that the life and power of certain things depend upon their resistance to the categorizing knowledge that human beings apply to everything.” I bring Somé’s thoughts to your attention, Sagittarius, because I suspect that in the coming weeks, you will encounter more than the usual number of experiences that knowledge can’t eat. They might at times be a bit spooky or confounding, but will mostly be interesting and fun. I’m guessing that if you embrace them, they will liberate you from overly literal and materialistic ideas about how the world works. And that will be good for your soul.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Pioneer Capricorn scientist Isaac Newton is often hailed as one of history’s greatest geniuses. I agree that his intellectual capacities were sublime.

But his emotional intelligence was sparse and feeble. During the time he taught at Cambridge University, his talks were so affectless and boring that many of his students skipped most of his classes. I’ll encourage you to make Newton your antirole model for the next eight weeks. This time will be favorable for you to increase your mastery of three kinds of intelligence beyond the intellectual kind: feeling, intuition, and collaboration.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When future writer (and Aquarius) Charles Dickens was 12 years old, his parents and siblings got incarcerated in a debtors’ prison. To stay alive and help his family, he took a job working 12 hours a day, six days a week, pasting labels on pots of boot polish in a rotting, rat-infested warehouse. Hard times! Yet the experiences he had there later provided him with rich material for the novels that ultimately made him wealthy and beloved. In predicting that you, too, will have future success at capitalizing on difficulty, I don’t mean to imply you’ve endured or will endure anything as harsh as Dickens’ ordeal.

I’m just hoping to help you appreciate the motivating power of your challenging experiences.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Maybe you feel that the ongoing pandemic has inhibited your ability to explore and deepen intimacy to the degree that would like to. But even if that’s the case, the coming weeks will provide openings that could soften and remedy your predicament. So be extra receptive and alert to the clues that life reveals to you. And call on your imagination to look for previously unguessed and unexpected ways to reinvent togetherness and tenderness. Let’s call the next three weeks your Season of Renewing Rapport.

classifieds

Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.

Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum. Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com. Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.

(Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)

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

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

Wanted Do You Go Between Durango & Dolores or Mancos & Dolores?

The Telegraph is looking for someone to deliver a bundle of papers to the Dolores market once a week – preferably Thursday or Friday. Can pick up in Durango or Mancos. Email telegraph@durangotelegraph if interested. Small pittance possible.

and dirty pours. Suggestions and help with any project: new construction, remodels or personal hobby ideas.

Need a Medical Marijuana Card?

Durango’s Family Health Care, a total family medical care office, is now offering medical marijuana cards to those that qualify. Walk-in OK, no appointment needed. $100 fee. We are at 29423 HWY 160. More info at Durangofhc.com 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 Harmony Organizing and Cleaning Services Home and office 970-403-6192 Marketing Small and Local Businesses Media, social media, website content, SEO, etc. for small, local, independent or startup businesses. Email jnderge@ gmail.com

Beautiful Office Space Available inside natural health care office. Perfect for body worker or therapist.

Free: pkg, wifi & util. $400/mo.

Call 970.749.2815

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

ForSale

!Español Ahora!

Learn Spanish online via Skype. Flexibly available hours for all levels. Locally owned. Contact Chadwick (970) 3095966 or espanolahora@mail.com.

RSE Handyman Service Home maintenance & repair, yard work, odd jobs 970-903-0449.

Epoxy Magic 970-799-1563 Epoxy finishes for concrete, tile, countertops and wood tables. Clear, solid color

HaikuMovieReview

RealEstate Radon Services Free radon testing and consultation.

Call Colorado Radon Abatement and Detection for details. 970- 946-1618.

‘Artemis Fowl’ Dame Judi Dench is absolutely wonderful as David Bowie – Lainie Maxson

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ForRent

One-Person Rental Wanted For solo professional, 35-year resident with no pets $900-1100 w/ utilities Call or text (970) 759-2678 or email felicialibo@gmail.com

Services

and so much more. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

AKC, ASDR Mini Aussies For Sale Purebred, AKC, ASDR Mini-Australian Shepherds for Sale www.ausssietales.org Call to be added to waitlist! Pups due end of July 2020.

13’ Boston Whaler Boat Boston Whaler, 130 Sport, 2007, bimini top, 40 HP, great condition, $9700, 970-749-2395.

Reruns Home Furnishings New arrivals: Garden items and trellises. Cute 1950’s record cabinet, end tables, lamps, Midcentury-style bar stools

telegraph

June 25, 2020 n 15

16 n June 25, 2020

telegraph