Durango Telegraph July 30, 2020

Feeling sorry for the nice Karens

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July 30, 2020 Vol. XIX, No. 27 durangotelegraph.com

inside

T H E

O R I G I N A L

I N D I E

W E E K L Y

L I N E

O N

D U R A N G O

&

B E Y O N D

Back to school

Beer buds

Chillin’ & dillin’

9-R releases detailed plan for pandemic learning p8

Using CO2 from beer to grow pot – and help the planet p10

A newbie’s step-by-step guide to pickling like a pro p11

Sure to float your boat.

Issue 13 is out now!

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

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

2 n July 30, 2020

telegraph

lineup

4

4 La Vida Local

The criding game

4 Thumbin’ It

One local’s tale of finding salvation in mountain biking

by Jennaye Derge

5 Word on the Street 6-7 Soapbox

8

8 Local News

Back in session

School District 9-R releases plan for learning in a pandemic

10 State News

by Missy Votel

Ear to the ground: “It’s like getting high and plucking your eyebrows – just not advisable.”

– One local’s advice against at-home quarantinis followed by at-home hair cuts

Bluer than blue

thepole

RegularOccurrences

Yet another victim of the pandemic: bluejeans. Seems with the advent of work-from-home leisurewear, U.S. denim sales have taken it in, er, the seat.

Over the last three months, denim sales have fallen by double digits compared with the same period last year, according to the Washington Post.

Seems folks have had a fashion epiphany over the last few months, opting for the “business on top, comfort on the bottom” model. They would just as soon wriggle into soft jammie bottoms with stretchy waistbands than high-waisted skinny jeans, according to the Post.

“I haven’t worn a single pair of jeans since the pandemic started,” remote-working Manhattanite Alexa Muñoz told the paper. “They’re looking at me sadly from the closet, but it’s like ... Why was I punishing myself?”

11 Flash in the Pan 12 Stuff to Do

11

13 Ask Rachel

Brew buds Using CO2 from beer to grow pot – and help save the planet

14 Free Will Astrology

by Michael Elizabeth Sakas, CPR News

15 Classifieds

12

15 Haiku Movie Review

Pickle like a pro

On the cover: Monsoonal storm clouds make for a spectacular sunset over downtown Durango./ Photo by Missy Votel

A newbie’s step-by-step guide to pickling (and not killing yourself)

by Ari LeVaux

boilerplate

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

T

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

STAR-STUDDED CAST: Lainie Maxson, Shan Wells, Jennaye Derge, Ari LeVaux, Jesse Anderson 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

The latest drop only adds insult to injury for the denim industry, which has seen a five-year downward slide. Last year, Americans spent about $17 billion on jeans, or 5 percent less than the nearly $18 billion spent in 2014, according to the Post.

Sales of “super premium” jeans – brands like 7 for All Mankind, True Religion, Joe’s and Hudson, which can cost upward of $200 a pair – slid more than 40 percent during that period.

True Religion, Lucky and G-Star RAW have all declared bankruptcy since April, while the parent company of Joe’s and Hudson filed for Chapter 11 protection in May. Levi’s this month posted a 62 percent drop in second-quarter revenue and announced plans to cut 15 percent of its corporate workforce, according to the Post.

Meanwhile, “athleisurewear” retailers like Lululemon and Gap, which owns Athleta, are reporting an uptick in sales of joggers, leggings and sweatpants.

Overall, apparel sales have dropped nearly 40 percent this year, according to Commerce Department data, mirroring a consumer pull-back in just about every category of spending. Plus, with many stores and fitting rooms still closed, it’s easier to buy a pair of sweatpants online than it is to gauge the size, fit and feel of a pair of jeans.

“Casual is really what’s winning right now,” Maria Rugolo, an analyst for NPD Group, told the Post. “Activewear is becoming more acceptable and if customers are looking to extend their wardrobe, they’re more likely to buy something with multiple uses, that they can wear for work, leisure and working out.”

“Jeans are cardiovascular prisons,” Sherman Oaks, Calif., spa/salon manager Rocío Rodríguez, 28, told the Post. “As much as I like the look, I don’t find myself waking up every day thinking, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to put on my jeans.’”

July 30, 2020 n

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opinion

LaVidaLocal How to cry on your mountain bike It wasn’t long ago that a commercial was circulating on Hulu that contained the storyline of an ordinary man who was on his “Hero’s Journey.” The ad was for oat milk or something, but the man’s personal agenda was to transform himself into a better person by waking up early every morning to go swim – and also drink oat milk. Near the end of the 30 second commercial, the music crescendoed in line with the man’s personal triumph. And just as he held up the beverage box in the swimming pool, I started to cry. Tears of pride and inspiration started dripping down my face while I sat on my couch eating popcorn and drinking wine.

It’s not that I’m overly sensitive, because I’m not. And that’s what I tell myself over and over when I’m tearing up over an internet video of a dog being reunited with its owner. Or when I see people in the streets marching for the betterment of the longstanding, poorly treated underdogs.

Nope, I’m super tough, strong, selfsufficient. I’m a rock. I’m steel, and I only let my emotions drip from my eyes when I’m in the safety of my own home with the blinds closed or hidden behind my sunglasses where no one can see me.

But then 2020 happened, and thus began the year of “f*** it.”

F*** it. Fine. I’m a big softie! Ok?!

F*** it, a podcast is going to make me cry while I walk my dog in public.

F*** it, I’m going to mountain bike to clear my mind which oftentimes requires a few sniffles.

It’s 2020 motherf***ers – the world’s a shitfest party, and I’ll cry if I want to.

So, without further ado, here is my guide to How to Cry While Mountain Biking: Pro Tip #1: Unravel your thoughts.

I’ve been mountain biking a lot lately because: 1) It’s super fun; 2) COVID has gifted me the time; and 3) It helps clear my mind when it otherwise feels like it’s exploding.

I’ve learned that I’m blessed in the latter and that not everyone can both bike daily through their emotions, nor climb hills while also sorting through the concept of world-wide vulnerability and our individual places within it. So I bike with gratitude and an understanding of my personal privilege.

Crying and riding, or “criding,” has allowed me the opportunity to unbottle all the things that I tend to bottle up – which is everything. And if I don’t ride, the spectacular rollercoaster of 2020 manifests itself in other ways. Like when I’m cooking dinner and Spotify plays a song with just the right amount of percussion, and I’m like, damn that’s powerful, and I cry into my sauteed squash and pasta.

Crying into your dinner is fine because sometimes that’s all that is available. But if given the option, I’d rather Marie Kondo my thoughts of murder, racism and disease on a trail in a beautiful meadow somewhere so I can be like, damn that’s a beautiful meadow. And not unintentionally salt my food and then eat all my feelings.

Criding Pro Tip #2: Do not cry riding uphill. Criding uphill is my jam because this is where I do most of my thinking. But, a funny thing happens when you start to cry that they don’t tell you in anatomy class and that I never really noticed until I started bike-a-crying: your throat closes up.

Like, your body decides that when water needs to come out your eyeballs, your throat can no longer pass air. Which is fine if you’re sitting snug in your home, or on a slow walk with your dog. But when you are exhaustively exerting yourself up a mountain on a bike, you need that airway to be-the-F open to breathe.

Gasping for air on a slight incline is really troublesome and unattractive so, wait until you’re stopped somewhere – such as a beautiful meadow – and then you can let it out. Bonus if you have snacks to also eat your feelings.

Criding Pro Tip #3: Do not start crying while going downhill either.

If you haven’t cried lately, trust me when I tell you not to do anything dangerous while crying because, much like a heavy sedative or trying to open your eyes in the shower, it stings and everything gets really blurry.

If you’re still curious or think it sounds fun, try splashing some water in your face then bombing down a mountain with your eyes closed because that is what criding downhill is. Good luck.

Criding Pro Tip #4: Pick the Right Trails. I’m not always suffering up steep uphills and bomber downhills when I try to clear my head. The trails I cride on only take enough of my concentration to keep my mind from going haywire with all my pre-existing anxiety, but not enough that I can’t still sort things out in a rational way.

I’ll ascend a trail while thinking about life –with a few technical spots along the way to keep me present and on my toes – and then descend to leave all those thoughts behind. Just leave them up at the top of the hill so you can focus on exactly what you’re doing in the moment.

The descent happens in a way that makes the world’s problems fade into the trail.

The orange combover becomes a big drop on a sandy downhill. The images of George, Auhmad, Breonna, Elijah, Sandra, the protestors, the supremacists, the red hats, the reversal of environmental protections, the 150,000 deaths, are all contained within that monstrous rock crop. And instead of swimming in the depths of news stories and present reality that I’ll never be able to navigate on my own, it’s a rock in a trail that I can.

I can solve this problem with a few fumbles and a couple back and forth sessions until I figure it out – or I don’t – but then I move on and there is nothing nuanced or convoluted about it. It’s just a rock or a drop, and if I don’t clean it, I will try again.

And when I finally ride it, I will cry because in a world where it feels like I can’t do or fix anything else, I can at least ride down the combover and up the rocks.

Sign of the Downfall:

Thumbin’It Three new COVID-19 vaccines showing promise among test patients, with dozens more potential vaccines in the works

Last week’s monsoonal deluge in Southwest Colorado bringing welcome relief to parched lawns, gardens and residents and leading to a lifting of fire restrictions on public lands

The protection of 65,000 acres of wildlands in the Navajo River watershed in Southwest Colorado, a 30-year, $37 million effort by the Conservation Fund

4 n July 30, 2020

– Jennaye Derge

Hospital Corp. of America, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, reporting $1.1 billion in profits during the pandemic, including $822 million in government stimulus, while nurses and health-care workers struggle with a lack of PPE Pesticide use, climate change and deforestation leading to a 93 percent decline in the number of Western bumblebees living in the U.S. from 1998-2018, according to a new study from the USGS Coronavirus moving into the No. 3 killer spot in Colorado this year, being a factor in 1,377 deaths so far and making for the “deadliest April” on record, according to the state health department

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Texass-hat Given the fact that our government just released videos of alien spacecraft, and that the Pentagon’s U.F.O. Unit is going public for the first time in history, it’s maddening that we’re discussing stupid stuff instead of aliens. But don’t worry, Texas State Rep. Jonathan Strickland (R, of course) is paying attention. According to him, if aliens are real and they come here, they’ll still have to take Jesus into their hearts if they want to go to heaven. Frankly, it doesn’t matter if aliens even have hearts, because if they have Twitter, they’re pulling a U-turn right now.

WordontheScreen In honor of the cancelled 2020 summer Olympics, which were supposed to start last week, the Telegraph asked, “What do you deserve a gold medal for?”

Q

Ashley

“Having a baby in the time of corona.”

Alison

“For the fact that it has been 18 days since I last ordered takeout.”

Dan

“Perfecting back porch drinking during COVID.”

Don

“For helping Colorado College move to a distance-based (online) teaching model in just 10 days.”

Erik

“Perseverance.”

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July 30, 2020 n 5

SoapBox

ReTooned/by Shan Wells

Ram-rodding sale of public lands To the editor, In violation of the public interest, Derek Padilla, head of the San Juan National Forest Service (“Caring for the land and serving people”), is currently ramrod-ing the sale of 39.99 acres – note that suspicious number – of National Forest land, just north of the Rico town limits, to the Atlantic Richfield Co., owned by BP America.

The national forest land at issue lies on the western slope of Telescope Mountain, above and adjacent to the ARCO mining clean-up site that borders on the east side of the Dolores River. Crossing the parcel is the Enterprise Mine branch-line grade of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. Its historic value and its inevitable deterioration from adverse effects that will result from private ownership is well documented. (Cultural Resource Inventory [SJNF #2018-30]; Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation [SHPO] [5DL478.19]).

The historical branch-line grade, furthermore, is an easily walkable trail that offers a magnificent, sun-drenched vista of the Dolores River, the San Juan Mountains to the west and north, and a startling partial view of La Plata range peaks to the south. It also could potentially link with the RGS main-line grade that wraps around the east side of Burns Canyon, 2 miles north of Rico.

In a letter to a Rico resident, Padilla justified this transaction on the ARCO-sourced notion that its work “would be more efficient and eliminate potential liability to the public domain if these lands were in their ownership.”

Confused as that reasoning is, what is clear about it is that ARCO’s remediation work does not require the public to give up ownership of this parcel of national forest land.

Additionally, according to his letter to the Rico town manager, wherein Padilla invites the town to “concur” in a memoranda of agreement pertaining to this deal,

Padilla is basing this sale on an obscure sub-paragraph of the Code of Federal Regulations. That subsection refers to the “conveyance” of small “mineral survey fractions”

that “must not exceed 40 acres in any one transaction.”

This parcel, however, has been lopped off from a much larger area of Forest Service land so as to fit, like the 4

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traveler being made to fit the Procrustean bed, to the less than 40-acre requirement, not because it was a “mineral survey fraction.” (Title 36, sub part C, 254.34 [a]).

Most important, however, is that this “conveyance must be determined to be in the public interest.” To that end, the Forest Service is enjoined to consider two criteria. (254.36 [b] [254.36 c 3 5]): 1. “Access to and use and enjoyment of national forest system lands by the general public will not be unduly impeded or restricted.”

2. Scenic, wildlife, environmental, historical, archeological or cultural values will not be substantially affected or impaired.”

Is there any doubt that Padilla has failed to meet this criteria?

The Town of Rico Board of Trustees is not contesting this sale. Though Trustee Patrick Fallon made a motion to seek a court injunction stopping the sale at a June meeting, Mayor pro tem Nicole Pieterse prevailed on the Board not to go that far. “We do not want to alienate Mr. Padilla,” she said. Pieterse is the “executive coordinator” of the Rico Trails Alliance, whose projects are nearly all subject to Padilla’s approval. She and another Rico Board member are married to RTA Board members.

At the July 15 meeting of the Town Board, Mayor Barbara Betts, without a vote and preventing public discussion of the issue that had been scheduled, confirmed with Town Manager Kari Distefano that the Town of Rico’s position regarding the pending sale will be on bended knee: asking ARCO for a public easement. For those who believe an easement “granted” by ARCO to placate the public now will not be rescinded later due to “public safety” concerns, well, I know of a bridge in Brooklyn that I can get for you wholesale.

If you agree that this pending sale of national forest land violates the public interest and therefore should not go through, please let Padilla know it at derek.padilla@usda.gov or 970-882-6834.

– Mark Eleison, Dolores

B.K.’s fart ad full of hot air To the editor, Are you as tired of hypocritical companies who make millions off a product and then slam the very people who produce that commodity as I am? They butcher the cash cow and happily serve it up on a bun with a side of fries, all the while denouncing the very ranchers responsible for raising their beef.

Yes, I am talking about fast food joints –specifically Burger King and its new ad on cow farts. This marketing ploy will undoubtedly alienate a number of consumers, but will it attract more than are lost? In rural areas, probably not.

Burger King’s new marketing scheme blames cow farts for climate change, when in fact the UNFAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) states that less than 6 percent of global GHG emissions come from beef

cattle. Of that, the U.S. is responsible for less than 0.5 percent, and roughly 5 percent of those gases come from cow farts. From those numbers, cow farts from American rancher-produced cattle contribute 0.025 percent of global emissions – seems like quite a stretch to pin global climate change on bovine flatulence.

But that is not really the point of the ad, is it? Such tactics are intended to play on your emotions and convince you that they are looking out for your best interests – when in fact the intention is to keep you from visiting the drive-through down the street rather than their own.

If the idea that Burger King is seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions seems a little hollow, their claims about caring for consumer health are almost laughable.

Burger King’s website claims 100 percent of their meat is free from artificial colors and flavors, yet the ingredients of their so-called “healthy” Impossible Burger are water, textured wheat protein, potato protein, coconut oil, sunflower oil, natural flavors, leghemoglobin, yeast extract, salt, konjac gum, xanthan gum, soy protein isolate and a number of vitamins. Sounds all-natural to me.

Emily Gelsomin, with Harvard Health Publishing, says, “Since diets higher in saturated fat are associated with increased rates of both heart disease and premature death, (plant-based burgers) may not be the type to opt for if your ambitions are purely health-related. They are also a significant source of sodium, particularly for those on salt-restricted diets.”

Does anyone really believe they care? If the environment and consumer health were important to Burger King, it stands to reason they would reflect that in their business model and their menu. Why the big public showing, the moralizing, the blame-shifting?

If, as C.S. Lewis once said, “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching,” then one’s actions outside of the spotlight define them. Highlighting their conscientiousness in this new ad appears to be nothing more than another publicity stunt with misinformation to garner attention.

Well, they got my attention, and I won’t be back.

Why have I chosen this hill to die on? I am tired of the misinformation spread against family agriculture.

Someone needs to set the record straight and if not me, then who?

I don’t patronize businesses that I don’t trust, and I will not support those that continue to attack the families who produce the food, fiber and energy this country depends on.

– Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling

Shop local for city manager To the editor, A light of wisdom, community and common sense illuminates our recent spiritual darkness! In cosmic sync with Comet Neowise, our Interim City Manager Amber Blake announced her bid to run for the very position that she has so bravely, capably and wisely commanded leading into and over the course of the pandemic! Please,

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beloved citizens of my native h(om)etown beneath the sacred peak of Dibé Nittsáá, let our City Council KNOW better than to hand off managing Durango to – listen to it – either of two out of state male contenders!

Admittedly, I have direct experience that proves beyond a Buddha’s doubt as to the personal and professional work integrity and old-Durango family and community solidness that emanates from Amber Blake. I am Amber’s fitness coach and yoga teacher as well as her bodyworker. Know this much: when you’re sleeping?

Amber is often out in Test Tracks, hammering out my running workouts – long runs, intervals, hill repeats – via headlamp so as to faithfully finish her workouts before her endless days of thankless yet pivotal meetings. When you’re relaxing? Amber is digging deep into research for her next meeting, presentation or city management plan. Amber is the most amazing wife and mother to her family (love her kids!) and without doubt a most remarkable bright light that is so under the radar of everyone, yet she serves and manages our still (semi) heavenly hamlet beneath the sacred peak.

Don’t y’all dare turn it over to out-of-staters! Shop local (especially for city managers).

– steve ilg, native durangatang (PS: Time for “The Chief” to retire. ilg’s partner is fullblood Navajo, trust me. Yeah, I used to eat at The Chief Caboose as a kid when The Chief could still wave. I thought it was cool, but, oh well. And while we are retiring archaic relics that now cause only polarization, let’s retire that forest fire spark plug of a train and build a rails-to-trails world class scenic bikeway that entire new generations actually care about! As a two-time cover athlete of Outside magazine, I can pr(om)ise: once Outside and myriad other media feature the Durango/Silverton BikeWay complete with sleepover spots for families at Hermosa/Rockwood/Tacoma/Tall Timber/Cascade/Needleton/Elk Park/Silverton? OMG, it’s all over. There are waaay more outdoor-oriented families interested in eco-tourism that would chronically flock to Durango/Silverton with a quiet, beautiful BikeWay. Can you imagine the Strava wars to set the records?!?! And, we could Nordic ski it in winter!!!)

Sewer plant not so crappy To the editor, For many months I have passed by the sewer treatment plant construction site observing the efforts of humans and machines to upgrade our facility. Human waste is a big piece of the sustainability challenge.

The new wastewater treatment plant is built with stone, steel, concrete and glass – durable and beautiful materials. The sprawling complex is rather attractive in an industrial design kind of way.

If it works as good as the engineers say, we’ve got a winner.

Way to own it Durango!

– Steve Kawell, Durango

July 30, 2020 n 7

LocalNews

School District 9-R has released its “Return to Learn” plan, which includes in-person, online and hybrid learning options. The 52-page plan also includes safety protocols for schools, including small-pod learning, daily self-certification, social distancing, sanitation measures and, yes, face coverings./Photo by Missy Votel

Back to school 9-R announces options as well as safeguards for in-person learning

by Missy Votel

I

t used to be that school was all about the three R’s. But this school year, it’s all about the three W’s: washing hands, wearing masks and watching your distance.

On Fri., July 24, Durango School District 9-R released a draft of its “Return to Learn” plan, which includes options for in-person instruction five days a week, online schooling and a blend of the two, which would include two days of in-school instruction. Classes in the district resume Tues., Aug. 25.

The draft plan is available to view on the district’s website (www.durangoschools.org). The district is also soliciting feedback via a survey for school staff and parents. The district expects to release a final plan Fri., July 31. “Family engagement” sessions to go over the plan will be held Aug. 6 -7 at various times throughout the day (see breakout box.)

“In Durango, we have so much to be proud of in the way that staff, students and the community rallied during our school closure,” Durango School District Superintendent Dan Snowberger wrote. “Our plan provides quality options … It also provides important safeguards to our staff to ensure that they can also be safe. I understand perspectives about if and how school should open vary greatly. In this plan, we have attempted to provide quality options that allow families to decide what is best for them.”

8 n July 30, 2020

JusttheFacts What: District 9-R Family Engagement Zoom Sessions When: Thurs.-Fri., Aug. 6-7, 7:30 a.m., 12 noon and 6 p.m. both days Where: /us02web.zoom.us/j/83657335009?pwd=YzB jVEU1c20xRWJ5RFltTjdyYUlkUT09; passcode: 475151 Or via iPhone one-tap: +16699006833,,83657335009# or +12532158782,,83657335009# (La reunión de Zoom también está disponible en Español.)

Other important dates to remember: July 31: Publication of final adopted plan Aug. 10: Parent selection of model of learning & transportation due Aug. 24: Meet your teacher opportunities (format and methodology to be announced) Aug. 25: First day of school The bulk of the 52-page plan concentrates on safety protocols for in-person learning. Snowberger said the plan represents current best practices of the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Department of Public

telegraph

Health and Environment. These practices are based on a three-tiered system that includes: • Yes – mask wearing of all staff and students fourthgrade and higher. (Face coverings are strongly encouraged for students in grade three and below.)

• Social distancing will be practiced throughout classrooms, with 6 feet – or as much space as possible – between desks. All desks will face the same direction, and students will be urged to keep 6 feet from others. Plexiglass will be used where distancing is impossible or in high-traffic areas.

• Students will be placed into pods or “cohorts” of the same dozen or so kids throughout the day, including lunch and recess, to the most extent possible. They will stay in the same classroom throughout the day, with teachers rotating among rooms. The schedule of daily classes will be reduced at the middle and high school level. Both of these measures are to reduce commingling in hallways and facilitate easier contact tracing in the event of an outbreak. For teachers and staff where social distancing from students is impossible, PPE gear, including gowns and N95 masks, will be provided.

• On the bus, social distancing will also be practiced, with assigned seating and masks required. Students from the same family will be asked to sit together.

• All students must “self-certify” online before boarding the bus or entering school. The certification requires 4

students to confirm they do not have a temperature over 100.4F and are not exhibiting symptoms such as chills, aches, pains, cough or loss of smell. Any student who does not self-certify at home will be screened upon entry into the school by a trained staff member, and checks will take place throughout the day.

• Start times will be staggered and multiple entrances will be utilized to avoid clustering. Sorry, high schoolers, but it’s going to be a closed campus this year, and you’ll be required to wear your school ID on your person. Every. Day. Parents will not be allowed in the building under ordinary circumstances.

• Cleaning and hand-washing/sanitizing will be implemented throughout the day, including but not limited to: entering/exiting the building and classrooms; before/after eating, recess, mask removal and touching the face; after handling shared objects; and after coughing/sneezing/ blowing nose. Surfaces will be disinfected regularly, with an emphasis on commonly touched surfaces and “cleaning breaks” throughout the day. Schools will provide the cleaning supplies.

• Staff or students with COVID-19 symptoms will be relocated to an established, isolated room (not the health room, as this must be kept open) until they can safely leave the building. With a confirmed case of COVID-19, the district will coordinate with San Juan Basin Public Health to determine the correct course of action on a case-by-case basis. This may include ceasing in-person instruction for a period of time.

The school district said the plan was based on the latest scientific evidence, which suggests younger children play a smaller role in transmitting COVID-19 and the risk of COVID and the related Multisystem Inflammatory Disease in Children (MIS-C) among younger children is less than that of yearly influenza. Furthermore, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is minimal benefit relative to the difficulty of physically distancing young children. There is also evidence that physical distancing

9-R classrooms are going to look a bit different this school year, with mandatory facemasks for grades 4th and up, 6-foot distancing between desks and a pod system, whereby students stay with the same core group the entire day, with teachers switching classrooms./File photo can negatively impact development of younger children.

As a result, kindergarten and elementary schools have different guidelines than the secondary schools.

The risk of transmission is greatest between adults, therefore, the number of adults allowed to be in close proximity to each other and students will be limited.

Of course, there is much more in the plan than this space allows – parents and students are encouraged to sift through the details on their own. And keep in mind, everything is subject to change at a moment’s notice, as we’ve

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Superintendent Dan Snowberger can be reached at 970-3753819 or by email at DSnowberger@gmail.com.n

*Yes, it is fine if you want to take a few for friends, neighbors, family, etc. Just don’t poach the whole stack. That’s lame.

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If you need extra papers for fire-starter, Trump Piñatas or makeshift COVID masks, we stock back issues at our racks at the following locations: • The Mayer Building, 679 E. 2nd Ave. • The Durango downtown Post Office • Peerless Tire Or call 970-259-0133 and we’ll hook you up.

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all become accustomed to by now.

“The planning landscape seems to shift daily. While this document presents our best thinking to date, we know that we will continue to learn and adapt as more is known,” Snowberger wrote. “We will all need to be flexible in order to pivot our approaches. We will continue to seek input and communicate as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

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9

StateNews

Charlie Berger, co-founder of the Denver Beer Co., pours some beer for a taste test. In a pilot project facilitated by the state health department, carbon dioxide generated during fermentation from the Beer Co. was sold to The Clinic, a Denver cannabis dispensary, to boost plant growth at its grow operation./Photo by Hart Van Denburg/CPR News

A match made in beer heaven Turns out, the CO2 that beer burps out is great at growing pot

by Michael Elizabeth Sakas Colorado Public Radio News

T

he idea was to capture carbon dioxide, which beer releases as it ferments, and sell it to a cannabis company that needs the greenhouse gas to grow its marijuana plants indoors.

It's a simple concept that has a lot of Colorado synergy to it.

The hope was the partnership could be both economically and environmentally viable. Now, the carbon exchange program has proven to be just that after a successful state pilot.

The state health department's small business assistance program, which helps businesses with environmental compliance, connected Denver Beer Co. with The Clinic, a Denver cannabis dispensary. The brewery's captured CO2 was

pumped into The Clinic's grow rooms throughout the plants' life cycle.

The four-month experiment went uninterrupted by COVID-19, since both businesses were deemed essential and continued operations. For Kaitlin Urso, an environmental consultant for the state and pilot lead, it was an important question even before the worries of the coronavirus: could Denver Beer make enough CO2 to carbonate their own beer and supply the Clinic's needs?

The answer was a resounding yes. “It was just a really great success to see all around,” Urso said.

The Clinic reduced its CO2 costs by 15 percent, and their plants met their growth milestones and expected yields. By having a buyer for its CO2, Denver Beer Co. offset the cost of the equipment that captures and liquefies the gas.

Earthly Labs, the company that created the capture technology, said Denver Beer Co. recovered 93 trees worth of

CO2. In a nod to the program, The Clinic's recycled-carbon-grown cannabis line is called "93 Hoppy Trees."

Zach Engel, operations director for The Clinic, believes his company is the first cannabis cultivator in the country to use natural CO2 from a brewery to grow its product. In a statement, Engel said The Clinic will expand its partnership with Denver Beer Co. to further reduce emissions.

While the state's role in this experiment has come to an end, Urso wants to help other businesses take on a similar project.

"Many different industries use CO2 – from laboratories to restaurants, to medical applications to marijuana. Not only cultivation but a lot of concentrates are extracted using CO2 as the solvent," Urso said. "We'd like to see this type of partnership grow."

For more from Colorado Public Radio News, go to www.cpr.org. n

Free Clinic on Advance Care Planning Presented by Colorado Legal Services

Tues., Aug. 18, 5:30 - 7 p.m. via Zoom '* ,

10 n July 30, 2020

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Topics include medical power of attorney, living will, CPR directive, etc.

Please call (970) 247-0266 for details on how to attend

telegraph

FlashinthePan

Dillin’ like a Belarusian The beginner’s guide to pickling like a pro (and not killing anyone)

by Ari LeVaux

sources, dill leaves alone won’t cut it; there have to be flowers. The Ball recipe also calls for cutting of the cucumbers, which you don’t have to do if you pick them small, Belarusian-style.

Most family recipes start like this, with a proven recipe. Little by little you make it your own. More pepper flakes, perhaps, or even skip the dill and use pickling spices.

Ultimately, there are many correct ways to can a pickle, and one rule to rule them all, a rule to which every canner who hasn’t yet died of food poisoning will abide without hesitation: If the seal is broken, throw it away. Don’t even taste it.

Ball-style Dills 4 pounds (3- to 5-inch) pickling cucumbers 1 gallon plus 1 quart water 10 tablespoons Ball Salt for Pickling and Preserving 3 cups white vinegar (5 percent acidity)

C

anning the harvest should be a joyous and rewarding experience, but if you are in over your head it can be stressful and overwhelming, even dangerous.

Aspiring or novice canners should not wait for the so-called harvest season to get started. Midsummer is a great time to ease into the groove, work on your skills, figure out your game plan, and stock up on whatever gear and supplies you don’t have, without the pressure of a mountain of produce. If you just do a jar or two here and there, you can keep skin in the game without breaking a sweat.

The Missoula Valley is home to several families of Belarusian immigrants, all of whom come from a town called Olshany. Known as the cucumber basket of Belarus, Olshany cucumbers are in demand as far as Moscow. The cukes in Olshany are grown in shopping mallsized greenhouses, some of which are heated by as many as 10 wood stoves in order to extend the season at both ends.

The Belarusians brought this cucumber know-how to Montana, and their cucumbers, a small pickling variety that is sweet and juicy enough to eat like popcorn, have become popular for both pickles and fresh eating.

Some of the Belarusians sell pickles too, and I bought some with high hopes, but they were disappointing. My friend Valentina Andrusevich, who was born in Olshany, has a stand at the market. I told her about those surprisingly underwhelming pickles, and she explained that the Belarusian pickles for sale at market won’t taste like the pickles you eat at home, because food safety standards require more salt, vinegar and heat then the cucumber specialists care to subject their cucumbers to. “That is why I don’t sell pickles,” Valentina said.

I asked Valentina what she does at home.

“I pack the cucumbers into clean jars, and I add all the spices. I put these jars in the oven at 350 for 25 minutes to sanitize them. While I do that, my brine is boiling. I pour the brine into each jar and seal it. Then I turn the jar over.”

She inverts the pickles twice a day for the next two days, so they spend about half the time upside down. It’s a way of compensating for the fact that she doesn’t boil her pickles. It also distributes the spices, and the tannins from the horseradish leaves.

Bacteria or spores can sometimes hide out in air pockets inside dill flowers or elsewhere. Inverting the jars like this helps the brine make it everywhere it needs to go.

Valentina’s brine recipe – 24 cups water, 1 cup salt, 1 cup sugar and 4 cups white vinegar – filled eight jars of cucumbers, dill, garlic, crushed red pepper and horseradish leaves, as instructed. Valentina says the horseradish adds flavor and crispness to the pickles.

I brought a jar of four-day-old pickles to market.

Valentina opened the jar, stabbed a pickle with her knife, and chewed slowly, frowning. “You know, it’s not bad,” she said in her flat, Eastern European deadpan.

If you’ve been pickling your whole life like Valentina, perhaps you know the rules well enough to get away with breaking them. But new canners should take a more cautious approach and learn proper safety protocols. Ball Corp. – the company that produces almost all of the canning jars in circulation today – has a book out called Ball Canning Back to Basics.

The Ball book begins with a section on the basic gear, ingredients and procedures involved in canning. If you don’t know the importance of adjusting acidity, accounting for altitude or measuring headspace, you should find a reputable source of information like this book or one of the many other educational resources in print and online.

Not surprisingly, the Ball book’s recipe for dill pickles includes proprietary products like Ball® Salt and Ball® Pickle Crisp® Granules. You can, of course, use any kind of pickling salt. And you can skip those granules, or replace them with horseradish leaves – grape, cherry and oak leaves are also widely used for this purpose.

Curiously, the Ball recipe calls for “dill sprigs,” but doesn’t specify leaves or flowers. According to my

telegraph

2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon pickling spice 12 dill sprigs 2 tablespoons mustard seeds Ball Pickle Crisp Granules (optional) Rinse the cucumbers under cold running water and trim any that are longer than 5 inches so that they’ll fit comfortably in the jar. Cut each cucumber lengthwise into quarters. Place the spears in a large, clean container (such as a 12- to 18-quart food-safe plastic pail or basin). Combine 1 gallon of the water and 6 tablespoons of the salt in a large pitcher, stirring until the salt dissolves. Pour over the cucumbers; cover and let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Drain; rinse under cold water, drain again.

Combine remaining 1 quart water, vinegar, sugar, pickling spice and remaining 1⁄4 cup salt in a stainless-steel or enameled saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until the salt and sugar dissolve.

Place 2 of the dill sprigs and 1 teaspoon of the mustard seeds into a hot, freshly sterilized jar, and pack tightly with the cucumber spears. Ladle the hot pickling liquid over the spears, leaving 1⁄2-inch headspace. Add 1⁄8 teaspoon Ball Pickle Crisp Granules to jar, if desired. Remove air bubbles.

Wipe the jar rim. Center the lid on the jar. Apply the band, and adjust to fingertip-tight. Place the jar in a boiling water canner. Repeat until all the jars are filled.

Process the jars 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat; remove the pot’s lid, and let the jars stand 5 minutes. Remove the jars and cool. n

July 30, 2020 n 11

StufftoDo

Thursday30 Zoom Town Hall on affordable housing, hosted

by La Plata County commissioner candidate Marsha Porter-Norton, 5-6 p.m. Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/86233107121 Chuck Hank solo loop set, 5 – 8 p.m., 11th Street Station, Main Ave. and 11th St. Durango Musician Showcase featuring Thom Chacon, Kirk James, Sarah Illsley and Patrick Crossing, for the online Concerts @the Park summer concert series, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. www.durangoconcerts.com Durango Green Drinks online 6 – 6:45 p.m., hosted by the Durango Chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby and the Garden Project of Southwest Colorado/Manna. Zoom: tinyurl.com/y5yuzn3w. Meeting ID: 812 4619 8501 Phone in: +1-346-248-7799 The Black Velvet Duo, with Nina Sasaki & Larry Carver, play, 6 p.m. at the Dandelion Café (previously the Cyprus Café), 725 E. 2nd Ave.

Friday31 Andrew Schuhmann plays July 31, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Snazzy Licks solo, 6 - 9 p.m., 11th Street Station, Main Ave. and 11th St.

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

Saturday01 Application deadline for Phoenix Art Project Community Exhibit on the challenges, resilience and strengths revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A variety of media accepted: paintings, photography, sculptures audio recording of poetry, etc. Exhibition open Aug. 17.

For guidelines and link to submit, visit www.Durango Arts.org. For information on the Phoenix Project, email liz@durangoarts.org or Jen@durangoarts.org.

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

Facemasks required. www.durangofarmersmarket.com.

Dustin Burley plays, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Blue Moon Ramblers play Americana/bluegrass, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Alex Forsthoff & Friends play live music, 5 – 8 p.m., The Nugget Mountain Bar, south of Purgatory.

Monday03 Colorado Day, celebrate the state’s 144th birthday with free entrance to Colorado’s 41 state parks.

Misfit Poetry with Zach Hively, online writing workshop, 4-6 p.m. Register at casaurracaltd.com.

Meditation and Dharma Talk, 5:30- 7 p.m. online at www.durangodharmacenter.org/

Aikido via sword and jo training, 9-10 a.m., Claire Viles Park (next to St. Columba Church). Masks required. www.durangoaikido.com

Rob Webster plays, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Moonbirds and Friends play live music, 5 – 8 p.m., the Nugget Mountain Bar, south of Purgatory.

Ed Bolster plays live on the patio, 6-8 p.m., PRIMI Pasta & Wine Bar, 1201 Main Ave

Adam Swanson plays ragtime piano, 5:50 – 8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Tuesday04 Barack Obama’s birthday.

Devon Scott plays everything from R. Kelly to Patsy Cline on ukulele, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Gary Walker plays jazz accordion, 6 – 8 p.m., Dandelion Café, 725 East Second Ave.

Sunday02 Henry Stoy plays piano, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., Jean Pierre Wine Bar, College Drive and Main.

Wednesday05

Terry Rickard plays, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Ongoing La Plata County Fair 4-H Shows and Livestock Auction, Aug. 1-7, junior livestock auction Aug. 8. Buyers can access livestock auction in-person or via telephone and should contact Jodi Zuber at 382-6465 or at jodi.zuber@co.laplata.co.us. Social distancing enforced and masks required on fairgrounds property.

GOAL & BART, art and Leadership sessions for middle and high school students will be coming up in August. GOAL (girls): Aug. 3-6; BART (boys): Aug. 1013. Advance registration required; scholarships available. www.durangoarts.org “Cirque,” large-scale paintings by Mariah Kaminsky, on display thru Aug. 2, Animas Chocolate Co., 920 Main Ave. Lacey Black/Dale Elliott play ragtime and honkytonk piano, 12 noon – 2:30ish, daily at the Grand Imperial Hotel’s Lone Spur Cafe in Silverton.

The Hive offers daily youth activities including “Musical Mondays,” “Sewing Tuesdays” and “Theatrical Thursdays.” Space is limited and masks are required. For info or to sign up, email Kelsie@hivedgo.org

Wednesday Wine Workshops, taste your way through Italy’s wine regions with Sommelier Tracy, 4-5 p.m., PRIMI Pasta & Wine Bar, 1201 Main Ave. Reserve your spot at www.primidurango.com

“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.

Aikido via sword and jo training, 5-6 p.m., Claire Viles Park (next to St. Columba Church). Masks required. www.durangoaikido.com

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/4

Come by for a delicious cup!

You deserve it, and we’d love to see you.

REAL radio, REAL people

Proudly serving Fahrenheit Coffee, espresso, baked goods, teas and more!

1099 Main Ave., under the big clock Mon.- Thurs., 7am-3pm and Fri., 7am-1pm

12 n July 30, 2020

DURANGO COMMUNITY RADIO AT FORT LEWIS COLLEGE

telegraph

91.9 93.9

KDUR.ORG

AskRachel

Total zeroes, ice cream diet and the vocal minority Interesting fact: The “odo-” in “odometer” comes from the Greek “hodos,” meaning “way,” via the French odometer. That word is the only enduring contribution France ever made to the modern automotive industry.

Dear Rachel, My children are really missing out on an important milestone in life. They will never witness their odometers rolling over all the digits at one time. Even the crappy old used cars they’re driving as teen-agers now have digital odometers, and I’m sorry, a row of LED digits cannot match the thrill of watching a series of nines become that aesthetically orgasmic 00000.

Is there any substitute for old odometers in the modern world?

– Rolling a Number Dear Doobie Parent, It’s probably a good thing kids these days don’t have analog odometers, because they’d have to take a TikTok while operating a moving vehicle. Back in my day, when I took my first car over 200,000, I had no phone and no camera. I simply stared in awe at that weirdly calming set of numbers. A cameraphone would really have distracted me from watching the dashboard for, like, five of those 60 beautiful seconds.

– Be a hero, not a zero, Rachel Dear Rachel, I’m really not lactose intolerant, except for ice cream. Within five, 10 minutes of downing a

MoreStufftoDo from p.12

Upcoming: Free electronic recycling event, sponsored by PCs for People, personal consumer drop-off Aug. 6, 1 – 5 p.m., Durango High School. Acceptable donations include computers, laptops and tablets. Business Electronics Recycling takes place Aug. 7 by appointment only. Acceptable business donations include desktops, laptops, flat screen monitors, keyboards, printers, speakers, hard drives and other computer parts, power cords and cables, servers and networking equipment. Business pick-up available (15 computer minimum required). Email recycle@pcsforpeople.org or call 720-452-1548 to schedule.

Carve Wars, chainsaw carving competition, Aug. 7 – 9, Purgatory Resort. www.purgatoryresort.com Jose Villareal plays, Aug. 6, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Donny Johnson plays, Aug. 7, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. The Black Velvet Trio plays Aug. 7, 6 p.m., at Fox Fire Farms Winery, Ignacio.

“Unbridled” equine photography of Tony Stromberg, opening reception Aug. 7, 5 – 7 p.m., Sorrel Sky Gallery, 828 Main Ave. Exhibition runs through Aug. 31.

milkshake, it sends all my boys to the yard, if you know what I mean. You think I’d learn my lesson and stop eating ice cream. Or at least I’d only do it like once a summer. But noooo. The trauma wears off in just a couple weeks and I dive right back in. Story of my life, going on four decades. I need an alternative to kick the habit. Help!

– Screw the Milkman Dear Time Bomb, You’ve reminded me of a story my brother-in-law tells every Christmas. It’s seriously not fit to print, but it involves a lifetime ban from Disneyland. He’s not officially banned; he just can’t show his face ever again, lest the cleaning crew spots him. Who am I to deny you your pleasures and your pains? Eat ice cream. Apparently it’s worth it to you. Maybe just do it alone from now on.

– Tick tock, Rachel Dear Rachel, Do you ever see those numbers like “98 out of 100 scientists recognize climate change” and think, who are the other two scientists, and how have the 98 scientists not beat them up behind the gym? I just found out my sister is one of those two scientists. You’d think a master’s degree in hard science and a publicly funded job would show her the light. But she’s a hard-line denier. How can I even argue with her, when she knows the science better than I do?

– Feeling the Heat

Escalante Days Mountain Bike Race, Aug. 8, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m., 13-mile, 18-mile, 33-mile and 50-mile options. Flanders Park, Dolores. Register at: https://bit.ly/ 3hfN1ak. More details at doloresrace.com Edible/Medicinal Plant Excursion, Aug. 8, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Participants meet at the Rec Center and carpool to the site.

Register at the Rec Center or at DurangoGov.org . More information: AlpineHike@gmail.com. $35.

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com Dear Hot Stuff, Reminds me of my friend who watched Elon Musk shatter the Tesla truck’s unbreakable window and still tried to put down a deposit that day. You really cannot reason with imbeciles. Just remember: even if she is wrong about nearly everything, she can still contribute good to this world. No one is wrong 100 percent of the time. What’s that old saying – even a Peugeot has an exceptionally accurate odometer?

– Can’t stand the heat, Rachel

Business up front, socially distanced party in the back?

Matt Rupnow plays, Aug. 8, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Rocky Mountain Uke Fest online jam, Aug. 10, 6:30 – 8 p.m. Email denise@rockymountainukefest.com for Zoom link.

Leah Orlikowski plays, Aug. 11, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Sean O’Brien plays, Aug. 13, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. La Plata County Free Virtual Legal Clinic, Aug. 14, 4 – 5 p.m. Clinics will be held via telephone. To schedule a spot, call the Ignacio Library at 970-563-9287. Space is limited.

Jack Ellis plays, Aug. 14, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Mushroom and Wine Dinner, Aug. 14, 6:30 – 9 p.m., Purgatory Resort. www.purgatoryresort.com

Ads in the Telegraph can let your customers know you’re back in business!

Call Lainie to mullet over: 970-259-0133 or lainie@durango telegraph.com

telegraph

July 30, 2020 n 13

What Kate & Nate wear on their day off

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is renowned for his buoyancy. In one of his famous lines, he wrote, “I am awaiting, perpetually and forever, a renaissance of wonder.” Here’s what I have to say in response to that thought: Your assignment, as an Aries, is NOT to sit there and wait, perpetually and forever, for a renaissance of wonder. Rather, it’s your job to embody and actualize and express, perpetually and forever, a renaissance of wonder. The coming weeks will be an especially favorable time for you to rise to new heights in fulfilling this aspect of your life-long assignment.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I live in Northern California on land that once belonged to the indigenous Coast Miwok people. They were animists who believed that soul and sentience animate all animals and plants as well as rocks, rivers, mountains – everything, really. Their food came from hunting and gathering, and they lived in small bands without centralized political authority. According to one of their creation stories, Coyote and Silver Fox made the world by singing and dancing it into existence. Now I invite you to do what I just illustrated: Find out about and celebrate the history of the people and the place where you live. From an astrological perspective, it’s a favorable time to get in touch with roots and foundations.

... and you can too.

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

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

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

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

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

14 n July 30, 2020

their problems. I bring these possibilities to your attention, Cancerian, because the coming days will be an excellent time to try them out.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Notice what no one else notices and you’ll know what no one else knows,” actor Tim Robbins says. That’s perfect counsel for you right now, Leo. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, your perceptiveness will be at a peak in the coming weeks. You’ll have an ability to discern half-hidden truths that are invisible to everyone else. You’ll be aggressive in scoping out what most people don’t even want to become aware of. Take advantage of your temporary superpower!

Use it to get a lucid grasp of the big picture – and cultivate a more intelligent approach than those who are focused on the small picture and the comfortable delusions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else,” playwright Tom Stoppard wrote. That’s ripe advice for you to meditate on during the coming weeks. You’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when every exit can indeed be an entrance somewhere else – but only if you believe in that possibility and are alert for it. So please dissolve your current assumptions about the current chapter of your life story so that you can be fully open to new possibilities that could become available.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Your meditation for the coming weeks comes courtesy author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. “We can never have enough of nature,” he wrote. “We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder cloud, and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.” Oh, how I hope you will heed Thoreau’s counsel. You would really benefit from an extended healing amidst natural wonders. Give yourself the deep pleasure of exploring what wildness means to you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Author and activist bell hooks (who doesn’t capitalize her name) has taught classes at numerous American universities. She sometimes writes about her experiences there, as in the following passage. “My students tell me, ‘we don’t want to love! We’re tired of being loving!’

And I say to them, if you’re tired of being loving, then you haven’t really been loving, because when you are loving you have more strength.” I wanted you to know her thoughts, Capricorn, because I think you’re in a favorable position to demonstrate how correct she is: to dramatically boost your own strength through the invigorating power of your love.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “When I look down, I miss all the good stuff, and when I look up, I just trip over things,” singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco says. I wonder if she has tried an alternate approach: looking straight ahead. That’s what I advise for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. In other words, adopt a perspective that will enable you to detect regular glimpses of what’s above you and what’s below you – as well as what’s in front of you. In fact, I suggest you avoid all extremes that might distract you from the big picture. The truth will be most available to you if you occupy the middle ground.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “One must think with the body and the soul or not think at all,” Libran author and historian Hannah Arendt wrote.

She implied that thinking only with the head may spawn monsters and demons.

Mere conceptualization is arid and sterile if not interwoven with the wisdom of the soul and the body’s earthy intuitions.

Ideas that are untempered by feelings and physical awareness can produce poor maps of reality. In accordance with astrological omens, I ask you to meditate on these empowering suggestions. Make sure that as you seek to understand what’s going on, you draw on all your different kinds of intelligence.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Langston Hughes (1902-67) was a pioneering and prolific African American author and activist who wrote in four different genres and was influential in boosting other Black writers. One of his big breaks as a young man came when he was working as a waiter at a banquet featuring the famous poet Vachel Lindsay. Hughes managed to leave three of his poems on Lindsay’s table. The great poet loved them and later lent his clout to boosting Hughes’ career. I suspect you might have an opening like that sometime soon, Aquarius – even if it won’t be quite as literal and hands-on. Be ready to take advantage. Cultivate every connection that may become available.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Italian word nottivago refers to “night roamers”: people who wander around after dark. Why do they do it?

What do they want to accomplish?

Maybe their ramblings have the effect of dissolving stuck thoughts that have been plaguing them. Maybe it’s a healing relief to indulge in the luxury of having nowhere in particular to go and nothing in particular to do: to declare their independence from the obsessive drive to get things done. Meandering after sundown may stir up a sense of wild freedom that inspires them to outflank or outgrow

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I always wanted to be commander-in-chief of my onewoman army,” singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco says. I think that goal is within sight for you, Scorpio. Your power over yourself has been increasing lately. Your ability to manage your own moods and create your own sweet spots and define your own fate is as robust as I have seen it in a while. What do you plan to do with your enhanced dominion? What special feats might you attempt? Are there any previously impossible accomplishments that may now be possible?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Author Faith Baldwin has renounced the “forgive and forget” policy. She writes, “I think one should forgive and remember. If you forgive and forget, you’re just driving what you remember into the subconscious; it stays there and festers. But to look upon what you remember and know you’ve forgiven is achievement.” That’s the approach I recommend for you right now, Pisces. Get the relief you need, yes: Forgive those who have trespassed against you. But also: Hold fast to the lessons you learned through those people so you won’t repeat them again later.

telegraph

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 Misfit Poetry with Zach Hively Online writing workshop with the Tele’s finest! Strengthen yourself in any genre. Mon. Aug. 3, 4-6pm. Register at casaurracaltd.com.

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@du rangotelegraph.com if interested. Small pittance possible.

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.

HelpWanted Landscapers wanted for installation of custom landscapes with Genesis Land and Waterscapes.

Looking for full-time employees to join the team. Pay is dependent upon your experience. Please contact me at genesis@ frontier.net or 970-749-0912

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

Services

Pets

Academic Support Math and Science Tutoring & College Application Support. 7th-12th grade. Distancing and masks req. Al McKown 970799-6114

Sweet Healthy Kittens Available for adoption immediately.

Seen veterinarian and been de wormed, first shots. 8 weeks + in age. If interested please text 970-946-0768.

Mysto the Magi is Back!

Mysto the Magician is back in town and ready to perform the most mind blowing magic either outside or virtually for your family reunion, wedding, birthday, or corporate event. Contact Mysto at (970) 759-5015 or MystoTheMagi@hot mail.com Quantum Astro Readings one hour $75 intro 772-492-9464 RSE Handyman Service Home maintenance & repair, yard work, odd jobs 970-903-0449.

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

ForSale Miscellaneous 12 ft Hobie fiberglass kayak, $185.00.

Auto trailer-5 x 8 feet size, $345.00. 303522-6798

Garden items, bistro, and lots of fun kitchen items. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

RealEstate Radon Services Free radon testing and consultation.

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

HaikuMovieReview

Reruns Home Furnishings New arrivals: Vintage Drexel Asian cabinet with matching mirror. Tall tables, bar stools, and two midcentury dressers.

“Uncut Gems” Looking to add to your current stress level? This is the film for you – Lainie Maxson

NewspaperOrigami A Star

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

ForRent Bright & Beautiful Office Space available inside natural health care office. Perfect for body worker or therapist.

Shared waiting area & bathroom. Free: pkg, wifi & util. $550/mo Call/text 970749-2815 Sustainable Small Community 45 miles from Durango, next to national forest. Private cabins for rent or work exchange. Refs, dep. snowdome ranch@protonmail.com.

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July 30, 2020 n 15

La Plata County’s new Draft Land Use Code is out for public review!

Please provide your input on the new code that aims to: 7 /,3&!" -/"!& 1 &)&15 +! &*-/,3"! "/1 &+15 ,# 1%" !"3"),-*"+1 -/, "00 +! ,21 ,*"0 7 &)&1 1" +! !&/" 1 $/,41% 1, --/,-/& 1" /" 0 7 *-/,3" 1%" /"3&"4 -/, "00 7 /1& 2) 1" )" / !"3"),-*"+1 01 +! /!0 7 1/" *)&+" 1%" !"3"),-*"+1 -/, "00 7 /,1" 1 +! /"0-" 1 1%" ,2+1580 *,01 3 )2"! 00"10 7 &+&*&6" 0-/ 4)

The Board of County Commissioners will hold public hearings Aug. 4th and 11th from 2 - 4 p.m. & 6 - 8 p.m. on both days ,&+ 3&

,,* ,/ &+ -"/0,+ 0, & ) !&01 + &+$ +! * 0(0 /".2&/"! 1 1%" ,2+15 !*&+&01/ 1&,+ 2&)!&+$ +! 3" 2/ +$, ,,* )&+( %11-0 20 4" 6,,* 20 '

" ! 1%" ,!" -/,3&!" &+-21 +! #&+! ,21 *,/" 1 %11-0 &1 )5

Come visit our shiny new Airstream style trailer in Bird’s restaurant parking lot 2957 Main Ave. Open daily, noon ’til dusk 970 903 1300 See our Instagram and Facebook pages for updates

16 n July 30, 2020

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