the durango
elegraph
Spinning wheels
Stuck in road construction? Don’t just sit there ... by Addyson Santese
How we got here
A somewhat unabridged history of trying to protect the Lower Dolores by Jonathan Thompson / Land Desk
Lower Left Improv brings big comedy chops to Durango by Missy Votel
Music as medicine
Peak summer offers multiple options to move and be moved by Stephen Sellers
EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel missy@durangotelegraph.com
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STAR-STUDDED CAST: Addyson Santese, Jonathan Thompson, Stephen Sellers, Jeffrey Mannix, Rob Brezsny, Lainie Maxson, Jesse Anderson & Clint Reid
FAN MAIL ADDRESS:
There were vintage vibes in Mancos last weekend as the antique car show rolled into town./ Photo by Alex Krebs
ADDRESS: 679 E. 2nd Ave., Unit 8 Durango, CO 81301 PHONE: 970-259-0133
telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
Ear to the ground:
“It’s my dream to be on the ‘Calves of Durango’ Instagram page.”
– We all got to aspire to something, unless this is referring to agriculture –then, no.
Calling all artists
Whether you’re a budding or established artist, the Durango Open Studio Tour is seeking applicants interested in opening their studio doors during the twoday event, Oct. 5-6.
The annual event not only gives local artists exposure but gives the public a chance to meet artists and experience artistic processes up close. Last year, 29 area artists participated in the tour, which included everything from sculpture and photography to textiles, glass and painting.
“Durango is a place that celebrates and prides itself on creative arts, cultural traditions and practices, historical recognition, and expressive exploration,” tour organizer and co-founder Cindy Atchison said in a press release. “This free, self-guided tour of local artist studios is an opportunity for artists to give potential buyers, galleries and art lovers an opportunity to connect on a different level. Artists can give participants a behind-the-scenes view of their creative process, and in a way, let others be a part of the process.”
The weekend also includes a VIP artist reception from 4-5 p.m., Fri., Oct 4, at the Smiley Building followed by a reception open to the public from 5-7 p.m.
Even if you have a tiny or shall we say, “artfully” chaotic studio, organizers say don’t be shy. Last year’s studios included storage sheds, living rooms, kitchens, basements and even outdoor tents. Last year, participating artists saw between 30-60 guests during the two-day tour.
Artists will need to commit to being on site from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. both days of the tour, which takes place Sat.-Sun., Oct. 5-6.
The basic fee for artists to sign up for the tour is $110 (which includes a listing on the tour map), although scholarships are available. And artists get to keep 100% of profits from selling their art during the tour.
ster powder days. We are wholly independently owned and operated by the Durango Telegraph LLC and dis-
throughout the
For questions, email durangoopenstudio tour@gmail.com. To learn more about Durango Open Studio Tour and register, visit www.durangoopenstudiotour.com. Deadline for artists to register is Aug. 8.
LaVidaLocal
opinion Road work ahead
Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done? Is your to-do list piling up? Do you find yourself thinking, if only I had more time?
Well, do I have a solution for you! It’s called Waiting in Line at a Construction Traffic Stop.
Waiting in Line at a Construction Traffic Stop is the liminal space between your real, productive life and an endless purgatory where time ceases to exist. Or rather, time doesn’t seem to matter to the guy who’s holding the SLOW/STOP sign. You might as well relent yourself to him because he’s your Charon now – the ferryman who will guide you to deliverance and also over that giant hole in the asphalt.
Whether you were rushing to get to work on time or on your way to a nonrefundable appointment with a strict late-arrival policy, Waiting in Line at a Construction Traffic Stop is the universe’s way of giving you that extra time you’ve been asking for. (Albeit in a really inconvenient way.) But instead of shaking your fist out the window or banging your head on the steering wheel, you should embrace this as an opportunity to knock out some of those items on your to-do list! After all, how often do you get to be held hostage in a black hole of timelessness?
• Dig way too deep into that cooking blogger’s back-catalog and learn that they discovered their culinary passion during a study abroad year in Italy following a tumultuous breakup, and they’ve been using cooking as a way to heal their broken heart ever since; realize you’re slowly starting to fall in love
• Figure out what the hell Wordle is
• Read the Terms and Conditions of every contract you’ve ever signed; sit with the knowledge that you’ve effectively signed your life away
• Keep a dying language alive: learn to translate English into Wingdings
Here are some ideas of tasks that will only take a small eternity to complete while you wait to travel a quarter of a block:
• Play a game of Monopoly start to finish with the other drivers around you; try not to spend the entire game seething in resentment when someone else picks the dog before you, and you have to be the stupid little wheelbarrow
• Watch all three extended editions of “The Lord of the Rings” films, plus the 26 hours of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew
• Actually read the preamble to a lasagna recipe on a cooking blog
• Get a degree in civil engineering with an emphasis in transportation while also studying general relativity to understand the curvature of spacetime; travel back in time; get a job as a city planner; propose a different design for the road you’re currently on that would eliminate the future need for construction delays
• Research why breakdancing is now an Olympic sport but hot air ballooning, tug-of-war and canon shooting fell off the roster
Thumbin’It
Well, it’s not a solar-powered train, but D&SNG announced this week it is installing 868 solar panels on its buildings, which should go a long way to offset some train emissions.
The grassroots work of local high school students and Rep. Barbara McLachlan paid off. The new state law allowing students to carry Narcan and drug-testing strips on campus is on the books.
So, apparently it’s hot all over. But according to the New York Times, we can acclimate to the heat by exercising during the hottest part of the day and incrementally increasing the time. On second thought, we’ll stick to wearing our sweaters in the air-conditioned office.
• Schedule all your doctor’s appointments from now until the rest of your life, which might be shorter than you think if you have to sit in a hot car without AC for much longer
• Read the literary masterpiece “War and Peace”; get out of your car and go down the line telling every other driver that you’ve just read the literary masterpiece “War and Peace”
• Write an opinion piece for your local independent newspaper; double the estimated writing time if you’re trying to be funny (this will ensure plenty of time for mental breakdowns and contemplations of self-worth)
• Sit with your feelings
• Discover a new species of fungi growing off the chicken nugget you dropped under your seat back in 2011
Memorize all the words to R.E.M.’s 1987 hit classic, “It’s the End of the World as we Know It (And I Feel Fine)” so you don’t have to mumble-hum everything between the chorus aside from “LEONARD BERNSTEIN”
• After much rumination, leave a review of “War and Peace” on Goodreads: “Too much war. Not enough peace. 2 stars.”
• You know it’s crazy, but you feel this inexplicable connection with cookingblogger-person, like really know them, so you reach out via email and – surprise! – they not only write you back, but begin a correspondence that over time transforms from friendship into a tender romance, and when you propose to them from your car via FaceTime with a ring you’ve made from discarded gum wrappers, they enthusiastically nod yes; the other drivers waiting in construction traffic with you are the bridesmaids and groomsmen; your wedding cake is lasagna; you live a long, happy life together
• Call your mom
West Nile virus has reared its ugly head in La Plata County, with the first human case of 2024 reported this week. Time to slather on the DEET (just don’t get it in your mouth or other orifices).
More research has linked ultraprocessed foods to dementia. This includes bacon, sausage, baloney, hot dogs, sodas, sugar cereal and sugar soda. So basically our entire childhood diet. We’re all doomed.
Call it soccer spy gate. The reining-gold medal Canadian women’s soccer team was dinged six points for using a drone to spy on the New Zealand team’s practice ahead of an upcoming match. What happened to putting your ear up to the locker room door like the old days?
SignoftheDownfall:
– Addyson Santese
Weiner Down
It’s been a bad decade for Oscar Mayer Weinermobiles. It started in 2020 when Wisconsin cops ticketed a Weinermobile for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. It continued last year when meth heads stole the catalytic converter off a Weinermobile in Las Vegas. And it peaked last week when a Weinermobile capsized in Chicago and blocked an interstate for hours. But really, it’s just karma, because nowadays, instead of there being just one gigantic Weinermobile, there’s a whole fleet of small Weinermobiles made from converted Mini Coopers. The moral of this story is to not trade in your large, reliable Weinermobile for a lot of little foreign ones. You know who you are.
WritersontheRange
The power of one
How a principal in one rural Wyoming town helped change lives
by Katie Klingsporn
By the time she took the dais for the graduation this spring at the Arapaho Charter High School on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming, Principal Katie Law was beyond tired. She’d spent the last two days coaching students at the state track meet, and they made the drive back just in time for the ceremony.
Maybe it was the fatigue of the trip. Maybe it was the years she spent herding this class to the finish line. The hours answering their phone calls, figuring out plan Bs, worrying about them at every setback.
As she addressed the crowd, Law was nearly overcome with emotion. She paused before regaining control. There was so much to celebrate.
On this day, 14 students donned caps and gowns, the largest graduating class in the school’s 27-year history. Among the graduates were a record four students who graduated at least a semester early and three who were concurrently enrolled in a community college. Eight were headed to college or Job Corps.
For a tiny school that lags far behind conventional performance measures, these were significant wins.
The school, which serves majority Native American students, reports higherthan-average rates of foster care, homelessness and involvement in the criminal justice system. Some 70% of students live in single-parent households or have a deceased parent. In 2018, the on-time graduation rate was 0%.
I spent four months visiting the school during the semester before graduation this year. Data points can’t capture the hurdles the school faced – lost loved ones and an education system that’s historically failed Indigenous students.
But what the seniors had to their advantage was an advocate and a reliable
source of support: Principal Katie Law. An athletic white woman, Law often engaged in tasks that went beyond traditional principal duties. She made sure to learn the personal lives, history and family dynamics of all her students.
Well before Law was recently awarded Principal of the Year by the Wyoming Association of Secondary Schools, it was clear she had a rare level of commitment.
“You’re not going to find another principal or educator that puts as much time in as she does in the evenings on the weekends,” District Superintendent Curt Mayer said.
Law helps students get their driver’s licenses, chaperones college visits and makes calls when kids get arrested. Students have gone to Law with news that they are pregnant, and she has later cared for their infants in her office while they attend class.
The motivation is simple. “I want to see these students succeed, and I’m going to do what it takes,” she said.
Law grew up in Colstrip, Mont. – 30 miles from the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. She was the daughter of educators and never thought she would enter that world.
But she wanted to help people, and education ultimately became the vehicle for that. During her first year of teaching in Nebraska, she found a distraught student crying in the bathroom one day and sat comforting her for an hour. When Law saw her years later, the student told her she was a pivotal teacher. It dawned on Law then that she was different.
“I get a lot of, ‘That’s not your job,’” she says. “I’m like, ‘I know, but whose job is it?’”
She was hired to teach in the Arapaho School District, in Arapaho, Wyo., 18 years ago, at age 23. The school was rough. Drug use and gang violence were common. She kept her head down, helped where she could. Slowly, she
started building relationships.
The work can be devastating, and many fixes don’t last. Law is stubborn. “I think my biggest asset is, I won’t give up.”
Law doesn’t pretend to share a background with her reservation students, but she uses her own experiences to build empathy. School didn’t come easily to her. Her brother died young from diabetes. And she witnessed a murder at age 14. These are experiences her students can relate to.
It seems to work. At graduation, the seniors handed out roses to people who were meaningful. Law received six roses,
and six heartfelt hugs.
It’s not realistic to expect all struggling schools to find administrators like Law, who live and breathe their jobs and don’t burn out. Still, parents and educators can take this to heart: One caring adult can make an enormous difference in a student’s life.
Katie Klingsporn is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring conversation about Western issues. She lives in central Wyoming, where she reports on education and outdoor recreation for WyoFile.com. ■
Principal Katie Law hands out a diploma during the graduation of 14 seniors from the Wind River Indian Reservation’s Arapaho Charter School this spring. It was the most the school had graduated in its 27 years./ Photo by Katie Klingsporn
LandDesk
Just a local yokel
Some thoughts on the bid to protect the Lower Dolores River
by Jonathan Thompson
The News: Western Colorado’s Mesa and Montrose counties propose a 30,000-acre national conservation area for the Lower Dolores River corridor as an alternative to the proposed 400,000-acre national monument. While this may look like a peace offering or compromise from counties that have opposed protections, it is likely an attempt to block any sort of designation and will probably only fan the flames of controversy. It’s the latest volley in a half-century battle over the fate of the beleaguered river.
The Context: The current controversy over the Dolores River takes me back to when I was a youngster in the early ‘80s. McPhee Dam was under construction on the Dolores River, its proponents having vanquished a movement that sought to block the dam and keep the river free. My parents had been on the losing side of the fight, and I can distinctly remember my father blaming the defeat, at least in part, on outsider environmentalists – including Ed Abbey – deriding the pro-dam contingent as a bunch of “local yokels.”
I’m sure my dad took it personally. He was a fourth-generation rural Coloradan, had graduated from Dolores High School, and his mom and sisters still lived in Dolores – apparently making him a “yokel.” But also he saw it as a strategic misstep. Not only were these people insulting locals, but they were falling into the pro-dam contingent’s trap, bolstering the dam-building effort.
More often than not, these land-protection fights are framed as well-heeled elitist outsiders and Washington bureaucrats imposing their values on and wrecking the livelihoods of rural, salt-ofthe- earth local ranchers and miners. And in almost every case it is a gross oversimplification and, at worst, an inaccurate portrayal and a cynical attempt to disempower locals – and anyone else – who favor land protection. So when those anti-dam folks caricatured the pro-dam contingent as yokels, they were not only alienating locals who may have been on their side, but also validating the false depiction of the situation.
We saw this play out in the battle over Bears Ears National Monument. The antimonument contingent insisted that all “locals” were opposed to the monument – and the media largely bought into it –never mind that the effort to establish a monument was driven by Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute and other tribal nations who have inhabited the landscape since time immemorial. Never mind that the anti-monument “locals” were backed by mining corporations, right-wing think tanks and conservative politicians from all over (including a Manhattan real estate magnate and reality TV personality who became president). Utah’s congressional delegation even had the gaul to attempt to disenfranchise and silence tribal leaders’ voices.
The movement to protect the Dolores River has been portrayed in much the same way. It has its roots in 1968, when U.S. Rep. Wayne Aspinall, a Democrat from Colorado’s Western Slope, pushed through the Colorado River Basin Proj-
ect Act, authorizing the construction of five water projects. One of them was the Animas-La Plata Project, a byzantine tangle of dams, canals, tunnels and even power plants. Another was the Dolores Project, including McPhee Dam, which would impound water to lengthen the irrigation season for Montezuma Valley and send water to dryland bean farmers around Dove Creek.
The prospect of another river being stilled sparked a movement to block McPhee and designate the Lower Dolores as a Wild and Scenic River, which would have prohibited mining and oil and gas leasing, while also ensuring enough water to keep the river “wild and scenic.” Which is to say a lot more water than zero, which was historically the river’s flow from mid-summer into fall due to irrigation diversions.
Local farmers were generally in favor of the dam – and against Wild & Scenic designation, since it would likely deprive them of water during dry times. But their
cause was also backed by powerful agricultural interests, pugnacious Durango attorney Sam Maynes, Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., and, probably most importantly, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, which would receive a portion of the water.
The project was ultimately authorized. Construction of McPhee began in 1979 and the reservoir filled in 1984. No matter how one feels about dams, it had some benefits. The federally funded Dolores Archaeological Program surveyed and studied the cultural sites that were spread across the area to be inundated by the reservoir. It was a huge project that significantly advanced scientific knowledge of the Ancestral Puebloans. And, contrary to opponents’ fears, the dam didn’t kill the river. Rather it was like putting the river’s manic-depressive flows on lithium. The massive spring runoffs were tempered, but water managers released enough water in most years to scour beaches and preserve Snaggletooth Rapid’s snarl. And for the
The confluence of the Lower Dolores and San Miguel rivers./ Photo by Jonathan P. Thompson.
first time in a century, the Lower Dolores didn’t run dry in July. In fact, the year-round flows were enough to build and sustain a cold-water fishery for trout upstream and native fish downstream.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe got drinking water as well as enough to irrigate a major agricultural enterprise, providing much-needed economic development. The Town of Dove Creek received water as did the formerly dryland farmers, allowing them to diversify crops. The dam’s completion happened to coincide with the demise of the domestic uranium mining industry, meaning that threat mostly went away as well, along with the need for added protections.
Unfortunately, drier times set in. The megadrought, now going on a quarter century, has depleted flows and reservoir levels. To keep ditches flowing, dam managers have released almost no water in 14 of the last 24 years, essentially desiccating the stream and riparian ecology.
In the midst of it all, the uranium industry made a short-lived comeback between 2006-12. Now, it seems to be emerging from its zombified state once again and is targeting numerous sites along the Dolores. The river runs through the Paradox Formation, as well, meaning it could be targeted by lithium and potash miners.
Meanwhile, visitation to the Lower Dolores has ramped up – along with impacts – as social media reveals the canyons to more people, and the Moab crowd seeks new places to play.
All of that spawned new Wild & Scenic campaigns for the Lower Dolores, but after it became clear they couldn’t get past political hurdles, stakeholders came together on a compromise. They proposed a national conservation area on 60 miles of river below the dam, which would withdraw the land from new mining claims and oil and gas leases, bring more attention to the plight of this sorrowful and spectacular river, and possibly more funding to restoration efforts. But it would leave another 100 miles unprotected, in part because Mesa and Montrose counties withdrew support. Thus the proposal for President Biden to designate 400,000 acres as a national monument.
That proposal, perhaps predictably, has sparked a backlash and anti-national monument campaign partly fueled by disinformation. And, just as predictably, it’s being falsely framed as a fight of locals vs. outsiders. It’s true that a survey commissioned by Mesa County of about 1,200 registered voters in Mesa, Montrose and San Miguel counties found that 57% of respondents oppose the monument. But, that shows that
quite a few support the initiative.
And the Center for Western Priorities found that the survey may be biased since its creators consulted with monument opponents, but not proponents, about questions and how to word them. For example, the survey precedes one set of questions with: “Currently, uranium mining in the Dolores River Canyon area … impacts the local economy by providing tax dollars and jobs. The current national monument proposal would allow some but not all existing permit holders to continue.”
But this is misleading, because uranium mining remains virtually dead, so the economic impact is zero. Furthermore, a national monument grandfathers in all existing valid mining claims and has no effect on patented (private) claims. So even if there were operating mines, a monument wouldn’t hamper operations. Other questions were similarly misleading, implying that a national monument would remove management from the BLM or Forest Service.
Tellingly, the survey also found that 72% of respondents support existing national monuments “such as Browns Canyon, Chimney Rock and Colorado National Monument.” Why? Because they value conservation, and they’ve seen that national monuments don’t hurt the economy, agriculture or access. That they are less sure about a new national monument might have something to do with opponents’ simplistic and unfounded argument, which is that it could “impose severe economic hardships,” without explaining how.
Nevertheless, Mesa County used the survey to justify opposing the monument and proposing its scaled-down conservation area. Again, this tactic is an echo used by Bears Ears opponents. National conservation areas don’t inherently offer more or less protections or restrictions than monuments, but they do need to be passed by Congress.
Given how dysfunctional our Congress is, that could take years or even decades. Yet, the Lower Dolores needs help now. No, a national monument won’t solve all its problems; it may not help the river, itself, at all. Already the fight over the proposal has shone a spotlight on a remote, largely unknown area, which will surely draw more visitors and damage. A monument designation at least would provide protection against future development and burgeoning crowds.
The Land Desk is a newsletter from Jonathan P. Thompson, author of “River of Lost Souls,” “Behind the Slickrock Curtain” and “Sagebrush Empire.” To subscribe, go to: www.landdesk.org ■
Off script
Lower Left picks up local improv ball and runs with it
by Missy Votel
If you trust in your authentic self, the funny will flow. And maybe even something fabulous, magical and genuine that you never before thought yourself capable of, let alone in front of an audience of strangers.
That’s the philosophy of Durango’s latest entrants on the improvisational theatre scene, Lower Left Improv –and something they espouse to the folks flocking to their improv classes over the last few years.
“People always say, ‘Oh I’m not funny.’ But I tell them, I can guarantee this will be funny just because you’re having fun,” explained one of Lower Left’s cofounders Cindy Laudadio-Hill.
Lower Left – named for our little corner of the state –is made up of Laudadio-Hill, Mary Quinn and Sarah Syverson, of “Raven Narratives” story-telling fame. It was founded two years ago by Laudadio-Hill and Quinn, who later recruited Syverson, a former member with Quinn of the now-defunct Durango Dot Comedy.
JusttheFacts
What: “Mic Drop: Standup vs. Improv,” by Lower Left Improv
When/Where:
• Sat., Aug. 10, 7-9 p.m., Durango Arts Center
• Sat., Aug. 17, 7-9 p.m., Sunflower Theatre, Cortez
Tickets: www.lowerleftimprov.com
Laudadio-Hill and Quinn are both alums of Chicago’s famed Second City school of improv. Quinn spent six years there after being encouraged by her theatre professor at Fort Lewis College, Ginny Davis, to attend.
“She pushed me to move and I did – I packed up my car and went. I auditioned and got in,” Quinn said.
Despite this common thread, Laudadio-Hill and Quinn met in Durango when Laudadio-Hill, fleeing the Front Range during the pandemic, came to visit a friend in Durango.
“I really wanted to do some improv,” said LaudadioHill, who ended up moving full-time to Durango last year. A corporate trainer with her husband by day, she has been performing and studying improv since the ’90s all over the world, from Chicago to New York, L.A. and Denver, where she started an improv festival. During her pandemic trip here, she googled “improv in Durango,” and low and beyond found that auditions were being held by Quinn and fellow improv actor Jeff Graves for an upcoming show. “I got lucky, and these guys picked me,” she recalled.
As Quinn recalls, it was “love at first sight” (but not in a romantic way, more in a jovial partner Starsky and Hutch or Abott and Costello way). “When she walked on stage, I knew I met my improv soul mate,” said Quinn. The resulting show, “Devise and Conquer,” ran for
about a year at the Durango Arts Center, although it was “COVID times,” so no one’s really sure.
“Mary and I have a very similar love and theory of improv,” said Laudadio-Hill. “There’s a lot of unspoken understanding of the art form.”
Yes, art form. See, aside from their shared training at Second City, the two bonded over a mutual love bordering on obsession of all things Larry David. The creator of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” David is considered the god of improv, which by the way people spend their whole lives studying and trying to perfect. So yes, an art form.
Over this shared love, the two became besties, not only finishing each other’s sentences but sharing coffee, jokes and the stage ever since.
“I have her listed as ‘The Cindy,’ in my phone contacts,” Quinn said.
It is this sororal chemistry that led to the founding two years ago of Lower Left, with the two doing their first show in August 2021. They later brought Syverson on board, who knew Quinn not only from Durango Dot
Comedy, but the Raven Narratives and Syverson’s “Purple Fox Conundrum,” in which Quinn played a pastor in the Church of the Cell Phone (written coincidentally by the Telegraph’s own Zach Hively.)
Syverson said prior to joining, she had become a “vole” for four years, taking a hiatus from performing to “do other things.” In addition, she had become disenchanted with improv, where often as the only woman, she was typecast as a secretary, mom or – gasp – grandma. “It just wasn’t that joyful,” Syverson said. But then, she saw Laudadio-Hill and Quinn perform, and decided to come out of self-imposed exile. “When I got to play with these women, I felt this extraordinary feeling of connection and community that they were creating,” she said. “That’s pretty rare, and you need to trust each other as an improv team. That, paired with their skill level, it just created this atmosphere where you don’t go to this base layer of butt jokes.”
(Not that there’s anything wrong with butt jokes, but as Syverson said, they can get old really quickly.)
Since forming, Lower Left has done about 24 shows
Cindy Laudadio-Hill, left, describes an ice cream headache to Mary Quinn during a scene in which the prompt was ice cream and cones. The two, along with Sarah Syverson, form Lower Left Improv, which will be hosting a show of standup vs. improv Aug. 10 at the Durango Arts Center./Photo by Missy Votel
in Durango and Cortez, including two sold-out shows earlier this summer for their sketch production (think “SNL”), “Mind Your Manners.” Their classes have also taken off, with plans to offer an expanded menu of beginning and intermediate courses this fall in their renovated office, upstairs in the Main Mall.
“We laugh a lot, and I think people saw that and wanted to learn it, so we started having classes, and here we are,” Laudadio-Hill said.
The three women said they envision a “new era” of improv, where you can only portray who you are in real life (i.e. no taking on personas of other races or nationalities), where consent is sexy (ask before you touch your partner on stage or –god forbid – go in for a kiss), and always have one another’s backs. “It’s about playing to your strengths and finding relatable moments,” Quinn said.
They also want a safe space of support and acceptance where failing is OK, even encouraged. “On day one, I tell my classes, ‘We’re going to make your anxiety your superpower,” said Quinn. “When you step into that fear of failing, that’s where you can excel at improv. You want to fail over and over, because clowns fail all the time … except for the scary ones.”
At its very core, Laudadio-Hill notes, improv is really acting, just off script –which has its advantages. “I’ve never flubbed a line off script,” she said.
And lucky for local audiences, Lower Left will be going off script publicly very soon with the first-of-its-kind “Mic Drop: Standup vs. Improv” show Aug. 10 at the Durango Arts Center and Aug. 17 and Cortez’s Sunflower Theater. Just as its name implies, the show will be part standup and part improv, with the improv section riffing on the standup themes. The show is the result of reciprocal appreciation and cross pollination of the drag, standup and improv communities.
“The membrane is porous,” said Laudadio-Hill.
The idea for the show came up when local drag queen Aria PettyOne approached Quinn and local standup comic/drag king Bailey Carlson about the idea. The two then roped in Taylor Lennox, owner of the (ingeniously named) “So I Can Sleep” comedy writing and production company. “I said absolutely, let’s glue this thing together,” Quinn said. “We’re really trying to incorporate the whole community into our shows.”
And like improv itself, Laudadio-Hill notes that the whole funny experimental ball of wax is being made up as they go
along. “You gotta just take it as it comes,” she said. “We’re building a bridge to somewhere, you just don’t know where.”
But regardless of where it takes them, you can bet it will be well worth the en-
tertaining trip.
“The world needs more laughter,” Quinn said.
For more on Lower Left Improv, go to www.lowerleftimprov.com. ■
Sarah Syverson, left, and Laudadio-Hill joke around in the Lower Left Improv studio, in the Main Mall. In addition to putting on shows, the women also offer a range of popular improv classes./Photo by Missy Votel
BetweentheBeats
Remembering Mikayla
… and music to move us and move to
by Stephen Sellers
Greetings, dear readers. I met Mikayla Wright my first year teaching at what then was a scrappy, local educational start-up, Animas High School. Mikayla was a ninth-grader. She was incredibly kind, generous, patient, selfless and wise beyond her years even as a first year student – a model Osprey. Her mother, Sara Price, and I would go on to be teaching partners for the next eight years, weathering the highs and lows of under-resourced, fiery, progressive education reform. During the early stages of my divorce, Sara and Mikayla made space for me in their home to begin the next chapter of my journey building a new life on my own. It’s no accident Mikayla grew up to be the incredible, enlightened being she is, given the joy, dedication and immeasurable oceans of love Sara poured into her daughter’s life.
Earlier this July, Mikayla died in a boating accident, just weeks short of her 26th birthday, on Lake Navajo. Even after two memorial services, it’s impossibly hard to fathom her earthly departure. The pain and unfathomable grief silently screams through every tendril and connection of her community. This column is not long enough for me to do justice to the life that Mikayla lived – a life lived with boundless smiles, boldness and incredible perseverance. Rest in peace, Mikayla. May you find your deepest and highest self. May you know how loved you are. We love you, Sara, and Mikayla’s partner, Ben. We are with you on your journeys.
Alas, one way to move through heartbreak and heal is through music. It’s now peak summer in Durango, and many of us continue to glean it like plums and apricots from the corner speakeasies and festival stages alike. May we honor the life of Mikayla and the other precious souls we’ve said goodbye to recently. May music be medicine, a rallying call for us to share the joy and grief of life together. To exercise our deep human need for connection and community.
With that said, here are five not-to-miss events this August. Be sure to keep your eye on the calendars for Union Social House, 11th St Station and other local venues. And, though not mentioned, Music in the Mountains is unleashing a late-summer flood of epic classical music this month. As always, see you on the dancefloor, my friends. Tell your people you love them.
• Rhythms on the Rio, Del Norte, Fri.-Sun., Aug. 2-4 – The California Honeydrops, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, ALO, Lil’ Smokies, Shadowgrass, Diggin Dirt, The Fretliners, Armchair Boogie and Cousin Curtiss descend on Del Norte for this family friendly local festival just over Wolf Creek Pass. Be sure to bring your bathing suit to dip in the river. Single-day and three-day tickets are priced to move and are available at www.rhythmsontherio.com.
• Ray Wylie Hubbard, Animas City Theatre, Thurs., Aug. 8, 7 p.m. – One of the few Texas license plates that “locals” (we all know you just moved here from the Front Range, easy there, Sprinter Van guy) would be wise to not curse will be that of Texas music royalty Ray Wiley Hubbard. Oklahoman by birth, Texan by the grace of God, Hubbard has penned incendiary tunes over the last several decades for Lucinda Williams, Jerry Jeff Walker, Waylon and Willie, just to name a few. Expect the secret Texans you know as your friends, neighbors and, dare we say, “gangly, yet sexy” Telegraph columnists to show up with signifi-
Texas music “royalty” Ray Wylie Hubbard will be gracing the Animas City Theatre stage on Thurs., Aug. 8. Hubbard is known not just for his own music but his song writing for artists such as Lucinda Williams, Jerry Jeff Walker, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. / Courtesy photo.
cant Lone Star State energy at this red dirt revival.
• Suzy Bogguss, La Plata County Fairgrounds, Fri., Aug. 9, 6:30 p.m. – Country music legend Suzy Bogguss comes to play under the big lights at the annual La Plata County Fair this month with local legend Tim Sullivan opening the show. With an illustrious career spanning several decades, Bogguss’ vocals and songwriting on her latest album have been described by the revered American music rag No Depression as “radiant and transportive.”
• Carter Sampson and Amelia White, The Lightbox at Stillwater Music, Fri., Aug. 16, 7:30 p.m. – Self-described as “Nashville’s finest funeral singer,” Carter Sampson is set to cast musical last rites at The Lightbox alongside her touring partner and musical yin to her yang, Amelia White. Americana UK gave a rave review of a 2023 performance, calling the duo’s musical odyssey “a moveable feast” complete with the musicians adding harmonies and accompaniment to each other’s songs throughout the evening. Expect intimate listening-room vibes at this beautiful venue.
• Pussyfoot, Subterrain, Sat., Aug. 24, 8 p.m. – The Subterrain is gaining steam as the de facto DIYesque venue in town in the absence of venues like The Hive (which will be back soon!), booking screaming rock bands like The Crooked Rugs and local punk heavy-hitters Pussyfoot. The latter are set to return to the small, eclectically designed Subterrain for a late August throwdown. ■
Mikayla Wright and her mom, Sara Price
Prisoner of love
Revisiting ‘Heartsick,’ first in the evil seductress Gretchen
by Jeffrey Mannix
August book releases are scant right now, with publishers poised to put out their best bets this fall, when readers should be spending more time indoors reading. Or at least are no longer enamored with what’s sneeringly called “beach reads.”
So instead of picking up one of those 500-page formulaic soap operas, I’m introducing you to an author who wrote six of the most splendidly wanton murder mysteries that she eventually gave up writing crime altogether. She frightened even herself, sounds like. But, if you have tough skin, “Heartsick,” by Chelsea Cain, will give you lifetime credentials for a window seat on the crime fiction train to intransigence.
Cain’s “Heartsick” is her 2007 debut novel, and the first in a quintet of books that must be read sequentially, about Portland, Ore., detective Archie Sheridan and his nemesis Gretchen Lowell. The latter is certainly the savviest, most evil and seductive villainess in crime fiction history. You will have long forgotten the luminous Lizabeth Salendar in Stieg Larssen’s Millennium Trilogy before you forget a scintilla of Gretchen Lowell.
Cain’s latest in the Gretchen Lowell series, “Let Me Go,” was released in August 2013. If you read “Heartsick,” you will read all of Cain’s thrillers – you’ll steal them if you have to – but you must read “Heartsick” first.
It’s macabre. It’s mesmerizing. It’s brilliant. Nobody I’ve ever read can do heinous and make you like it as Cain can. Her six books have sold in excess of 1 million in the United States alone, and every Cain mystery has made the New York Times bestseller list.
Gretchen Lowell is a figurine beauty: blond, chiseled, slinky – a femme fatale. She insinuates herself into Portland police’s serious crimes unit. It’s headed by veteran detective Archie Sheridan, who’s been fruitlessly investigating a deviant serial killer with a team of detectives for the past 10 years.
Gretchen is clueful in addition to being seductive. Her bright green eyes, her poise and stunning beauty, and that sensual touch of naiveté with her polished natural charm forces compli ance. She lies with unques tioned authority: an academic psychologist, having just fin ished a book, thought she might help profile the psy chopath … just wants to help … has followed the case and Sheridan with keen in terest…
Sheridan has been haunted with a voice only he can hear by his failure to find a shred of evidence in pursuit for nearly half his career of the Beauty Killer. He’s desperate for a clue. A fetching psychologist inbetween books and profes sorships, why not?
Gretchen’s on the team, working closely with Archie – soon closer than a mouse in the claws of a playful feline.
In “Heartsick,” Cain invents fiction’s most perfectly villainous murderer. Women don’t usually play this role, don’t usually kill for pleasure, don’t usually torture with glee. But Gretchen Lowell is like no woman you’ve ever met in dreams or fiction – and she’s lovable.
one with a flashback to Sheridan’s bizarre entrapment and impassioned torture.
Cain skillfully juxtaposes present and past events to concoct police procedure with evil. It begins on page
Flash ahead to Sheridan’s return to work after two years of convalescing, still shaken and damaged from his 10-day ordeal with Lowell. Popping pain pills and amphetamines, he leads his team of detectives in yet another serial killer investigation with eerie similarities.
Now the damaged and lovelorn Sheridan visits Gretchen every Sunday in the state prison for the criminally insane, compelled, in theory, because at every visit she gives up the location of another of her victims. But we know that Sheridan is obsessed with his torturer, dreams about her, desires her, is willing to again be her captive.
“Heartsick” is peopled with carefully drawn and charismatic supporting characters who keep in motion components of a brilliantly fashioned intrigue. A smart book not for dozy readers.
If you’re brave enough to take Cain and “Heartsick” on, you’ll have to special order it from Maria’s Bookshop. And if you have a murmur of a faint heart, the Durango Public Library has a single copy with nobody waiting. ■
Thursday01
Ska-B-Q with music by Warsaw Poland Bros., 5-7 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Durango Wine Walk Launch Party, 5 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave.
Movie screening of “Legacy: Stories of Healing and Hope,” 5 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Concert Hall at The Park presents Jessee Lee, 5:30 p.m., Buckley Park, 1250 Main Ave.
Live music by Andrew Schuhmann, 5:30 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Adam Swanson, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Jeff Solon Jazz, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Music in the Mountains World Music with The Jacob Jolliff Band, 7 p.m., LePlatts Pond, 311 CR 501, Bayfield
Summer Comedy Open Mic, 7-8 p.m., Fired Up Pizzeria ,735 Main Ave.
Drag Trivia Night, 7:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Friday02
Carve Wars, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Purgatory Resort
First Friday Art Crawl, 4-7 p.m., various locations, downtown Durango
Digital Illustration Demo presented by Brad Polt-Jones Photography, 4-7 p.m., The Artroom Collective, Smiley Building, 1309 E. 3rd Ave.
Art opening by ZZ Wei “Whispers of the Heartland,” 5-7 p.m., Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave., Unit B
Live music by the Ben Gibson Band, 6 p.m., Gazpachos Restaurant, 431 E. 2nd Ave.
Live music by Reeder and Spencer, 6-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Live music by Adam Swanson, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Friday Night at Fox Fire featuring music by Out on Work Release, 6-9 p.m., Fox Fire Farms Winery, 5513 CR 321, Ignacio
Live music by Dustin Burley, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Rocky Mountain Uke Fest, 7 p.m., various venues, downtown Durango
Music in the Mountains Orchestra presents “Classical Hit Parade,” 7 p.m., Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College
Durango Dancing, 7-10 p.m., VFW Post 4031, 1550 Main Ave.
Saturday03
Durango Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-12 noon, TBK Bank parking lot, 259 W. 9th St.
Buckley Park Arts and Crafts Festival, 9 a.m.2 p.m., Buckley Park
“Nature’s Palette: The Art of Eunika Rogers” live painting demonstration, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave.
Cornhole Tournament supporting DHS Demons Football Team, 11 a.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds Picnic Pavilion, 2500 Main Ave.
“Too Broke for Sturgis” parking lot party, 12-4 p.m., Durango Harley, 750 S. Camino Del Rio
Live music by the Tracy Wiebeck Duo featuring Richard Leavitt, 5-8 p.m., Serious Texas BBQ South, 650 S. Camino Del Rio
Live music by Matt Rupnow, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Adam Swanson, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Wild Roses Band, 6-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Music in the Mountains pops concert “Star Wars vs. Star Trek,” 6:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College
Live music by Pete & Joan Wernick, 6:30 p.m., The Light Box at Stillwater Music, 1316 Main Ave., Suite C
Live music by Jennifer Hill with guests Family Reunion, 7 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave.
Sit, Stay, Slay Drag Queen Bingo! Hosted by Aria PettyOne, 8:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Sunday04
WolfWood Refuge fundraiser with music by Tom Ward’s Downfall, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Kennebec Café, 4 CR 124, Hesperus
Live music by Alison Dance Duet, 12-2 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Board Game Sundays, 2 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Music in the Mountains Orchestra Pinnacle Performance, 5 p.m., Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College
Live music by José Villarreal, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Live music with the Blue Moon Ramblers, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Rocky Mountain Uke Fest, 7 p.m., various venues, downtown Durango
Monday05
Live music by the Ben Gibson Band, 5 p.m., the Balcony Bar & Grill, 600 Main Ave.
Adaptive Sports Association Community Cruise bicycle ride down the river trail, 5:30-6:30 p.m., meet at La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave.
Live music by Adam Swanson, 5:30-10 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Gary Watkin, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Singo with Devin Scott, 6 p.m., Grassburger South, 360 S. Camino Del Rio
Comedy Showcase, 7:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Tuesday06
La Plata Dems Virtual Candidate Forum for LPEA District 1 and 4, 12-1:30 p.m., Register for zoom link at www.laplatadems.org/events
AskRachel Sick thoughts, charity lunch and well off
Interesting fact: All the “speak English good” websites I can find say “be well” is a perfectly friendly way to say goodbye. Maybe I am the unfriendly one.
Dear Rachel, Trying to figure out how we’re supposed to act anymore. Covid is spiking! Yikes! Of course no one wants to get sick. But do we do the same level of “stay home and breathe on no one” with other bugs? Have I missed the memos on how we talk about being sick anymore? Just trying to figure it out before this tickle in my throat gets any worse.
– Bad Feeling
Dear Leper, I shouldn’t have to tell you that I am not a medical professional. Nor am I any sort of public health officer. But I did watch a training video for a food handler’s certification one time, and it said clearly that if you are sick you should stay home and not touch food, unless you’re fine or you really need the money. So, if you are still unclear how you should act, I recommend getting a job in food service, just for the onboarding.
– Bad Medicine, Rachel
Dear Rachel, I’m blessed to have older friends (former teachers, mentors, etc.) who I still see some-
Memoir Book Club, 3-3:30 p.m., Bread Cafe, 135 E. 8th St.
Live music by Black Velvet, 6-8 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
“As You Like It,” Shakespeare in the Park, 6-8:30 p.m., Anesi Park, Blair St., Silverton
Live music by Adam Swanson, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Randy Crumbaugh, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Open Mic, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Wednesday07
La Plata County Fair, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
“Build Your Own Wildflower Seed Bombs,” 4:306 p.m., Durango Tool Library, 278 Sawyer Drive, Unit 4A
True Western Roundup, 5 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
Community Concert featuring The Badly Bent, proceeds benefit Stillwater Music, 5-7:30 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino Del Rio
times. They always insist on paying. Ten, 15 years ago they said, “When you get going, you can treat.” Well here I am, an adult, and they still say, “Your time will come.” It’s sweet, right? Except it also feels like they’re telling me I haven’t made it yet. And I haven’t, but I don’t want to admit that. How can I start taking the tab to repay their kindness without being rude?
– Free Lunch
Dear Moocher, You can’t. So don’t try. Unless your mentors are on fixed incomes, you let them pay. It is the circle of life. Someday, you must take another under your wing. Pass on your knowledge and buy them sandwiches, just as someone once bought sandwiches for you. But then you can flip the script. When you get old, and they want to pay, LET THEM. Because who turns down free food?
– Gobble up, Rachel
Dear Rachel, I can’t get over the phrase “be well.” It sounds SO pass agg to me. Unless you are a yoga instructor who says “namaste” without any trace of irony, but then it would still sound fake. What is this? Why is this little loving phrase so horrible? Or is it just me and my warped, neglected heart??
– Don’t Tell me What to Do
Word Honey Poetry Workshop, 6 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
“As You Like It,” Shakespeare in the Park, 6-8:30 p.m., Anesi Park, Blair St., Silverton
Live music by Adam Swanson, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Live music by Terry Rickard, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Open Mic, 7 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave.
Chicken Sh*t Bingo w/Devin Scott, 6:30-8 p.m., Grassburger downtown, 726 1/2 Main Ave.
Geeks Who Drink Trivia, 8 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr.
Ongoing
“The Return of the Force,” art exhibit exploring the influence of “Star Wars” on Native artists, FLC’s Center for Southwest Studies. Thru August.
Upcoming
La Plata County Fair, thru Aug 11, 9 a.m.-8 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds
Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
Dear Mega Resistor, Oh, it’s definitely passive aggressive. Unless it’s not. But when it is, it’s beautifully passive aggressive. What are you going to do, argue back with “No, I don’t WANT to be well! I want to be unwell, sickly, miserable, malnourished, malcontent, malevolent and all the other mal- words that are maladies in our world today?” Just suck it up, be glad they’re not more aggressive, and be your best dang self. Unless you have Covid. Then go be sick somewhere else. – Be mediocre, Rachel
An Evening with Ray Wylie Hubbard, Thur., Aug. 8, 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 College Dr.
“Mic Drop: Standup vs. Improv,” presented by Lower Left Improv, Sat., Aug. 10, 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center. Tickets and info at: lowerleftimprov.com
Concert featuring BrightSide Blue with Maria Joy, Sat., Aug. 10, 8-10 p.m., iAM Music, 1315 Main Ave., #207
John R. Miller with Joe’s Truck Stop, Wed., Aug. 14, 7 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 College Dr.
Deadline to submit items for “Stuff to Do” is Monday at noon. Please include: • Date and time of event • Location of event
E-mail your stuff to: calendar@durangotelegraph.com
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): One meaning of the word “palette” is a flat board on which painters place pigments. What would be a metaphorical equivalent to a palette in your life? Maybe it’s a diary or journal where you lay out the feelings you use to craft your fate. Perhaps it’s an inner sanctuary where you retreat to organize your thoughts and meditate on upcoming decisions. Or it could be a group of allies with whom you collaborate to enhance each other’s destinies. However you define your palette, I believe the time is right to increase the range of pigments you can choose from.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The star that Westerners call Arcturus has a different name for Indigenous Australians: Marpeankurrk. In their part of the world, it begins to rise before dawn in August. For the Boorong people of northwest Victoria, this was once a sign to hunt for the larvae of wood ants, which comprised a staple food. I bring this up, Taurus, because heavenly omens are telling me you should be on the lookout for new sources of sustenance and fuel. What’s your metaphorical equivalent of wood ant larvae?
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Seventy percent of the world’s macadamia nuts have a single ancestor: a particular tree in Queensland, Australia. In 1896, two Hawaiian brothers took seeds from this tree and brought them back to their home in Oahu. From that small beginning, Hawaiian macadamia nuts have come to dominate the world’s production. I foresee you soon having resemblances to that original tree, Gemini. What you launch in the coming weeks and months could have tremendous staying power and reach far beyond its original inspiration.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Ketchup flows at about 0.03 miles per hour. In 35 hours, it could travel about a mile. I think you should move at a similar speed in the coming days. The slower you go, the better you will feel. The more deeply focused you are on each event and the more you allow the rich details to unfold in their own sweet time, the more successful you will be at the art of living. Your words of power will be incremental, gradual and cumulative.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Astrologer Chris Zydel says every sign has superpowers. In honor of your birthday, I’ll tell you about those she attributes to you Leos. When you are at your best, you are a beacon of “joyful
magnetism” who naturally exudes “irrepressible charisma.” You “shine like a thousand suns” and “strut your stuff with unabashed audacity.” All who are lucky enough to be in your sphere benefit from your “radiant spontaneity, bold, dramatic play and whoo-hoo celebration of your creative genius.” I will add that of course you can’t always be a perfect embodiment of all these. But I suspect you are cruising through a phase when you are the next best thing to perfect.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo-born Friedrich August Kekule (1829-96) transformed organic chemistry with his crucial discovery of the structure of carbon-based compounds. He had studied the problem for years. But his breakthrough realization didn’t arrive until he had a key dream. There’s not enough room here to describe it at length, but the image that solved the riddle was a snake biting its own tail. I bring this story to your attention, because I suspect you could have practical and revelatory dreams yourself in coming weeks. Daydream visions, too. Pay attention! What might be your equivalent to a snake biting its own tail?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Please don’t succumb to apathy in the coming weeks. You should also take measures to avoid boredom and cynicism. At the juncture in your life, you need to feel deeply and care profoundly. You must find ways to be excited about as many things as possible, and you must remember why your goals are so magnificent. Have you ruminated recently about which influences provide you with the spiritual and emotional riches that sustain you? I encourage you to become even more intimately interwoven with them. It’s time for you to be epic, mythic, even heroic.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Historically, August has brought many outbreaks of empowerment. In August 1920, American women gained the right to vote. In August 1947, India and Pakistan wrested their independence from the British Empire. In August 1789, French revolutionaries issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man, a document that dramatically influenced the development of democracy and liberty in the Western world. In 1994, the United Nations established Aug. 9 as the time to celebrate International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. In 2024, I am officially naming August to be Scorpio Power Spot Month. It will be an excellent time to claim and/or boost your command of the niche that will nurture your authority and confidence.
This week’s FREE music:
Thurs., Aug. 1, 6 - 9pm: Bo DePena Fri., Aug. 2, 7 - 10pm: Yes, No, Maybe Sat., Aug. 3, 12 - 3pm: Randy Crumbaugh
Sat., Aug. 3, 7 - 10pm: Mean Irene Sat., Aug. 3, 10pm - 1am: House DJ Sun., Aug. 4, 1 - 3pm: Brookes and Belshare **FREE Trivia Every Tuesday @ 6 p.m.**
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): August is Save Our Stereotypes Month for you Sagittarians. I hope you will celebrate by rising up strong and bold to defend our precious natural treasures. Remember that without cliches, platitudes, pigeonholes, conventional wisdom and hackneyed ideas, life would be nearly impossible. JUST KIDDING! Everything I said was a dirty lie. Here’s the truth. August is Scour Away Stereotypes Month for you. Please be an agent of original thinking and fertile freshness. Wage a brazen crusade against cliches, platitudes, pigeonholes, conventional wisdom and hackneyed ideas.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You’re never too old or wise or jaded to jump up in the air with glee when offered a free gift. Right? So I hope you won’t be so bent on maintaining your dignity and composure that you remain poker-faced when given the chance to grab the equivalent of a free gift. I confess I am worried you might be unreceptive to the sweet, rich things coming your way. I’m concerned you might be closed to unexpected possibilities. I will ask you to pry open your attitude so you will be alert to looming blessings, even when they are in disguise.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): A friend told me this story: One summer day, a guy he knew woke up at 5 a.m., meditated and made breakfast. As he gazed out his kitchen window, enjoying his coffee, he became alarmed. In the distance, at the top of a hill, a brush fire was burning. He called emergency services to alert firefighters. A few minutes later, though, he realized he had made an error. The brush fire was in fact the rising sun lighting up the horizon with its fiery rays. Use this as a teaching story in coming days. Double-check your initial impressions to make sure they are true. Most importantly, be aware that you may initially respond with worry to events that are actually wonderful or interesting.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): At least a million ships lie at the bottom of oceans, lakes and rivers. Some crashed because of storms and others due to battles, or collisions. A shipwreck hunter estimates that those remains hold more than $60 billion worth of treasure. Among the most valuable are the old Spanish vessels that sank while carrying gold, silver and other loot. If you have the slightest inkling to launch adventures in search of those riches, I predict the coming months will be an excellent time. Alternately, you are likely to generate good fortune for yourself through any version of diving into the depths in quest of wealth in all of its many forms.
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.
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Wanted
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Donate/trade/sell (970) 259-2213
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ForSale
Reruns Home Furnishings
Vintage patio sets, chaise lounge, brass tray table, and cool, adjustable tall pub table. Also art, linens and housewares. Looking to consign smaller furniture. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.
Subaru Legacy Outback
1999, runs well, 245k miles. Asking $2000. Call Chip, 970-403-4989
CommercialforRent
Beautiful Shared Massage Space
$200 per mo. Grow your healing practice (Weds only) 6 mo. lease with possible renewal 970-247-1233
Commercial Space for Rent
Commercial/light industrial space in Bodo Park! 1,873 sq ft. Lots of natural light and vaulted ceilings. Ample parking. The previous tenant has run a successful business for the last 30 years from this location. Call 970-317-0495 for more information.
BodyWork
Massage Therapy
Helping Durango feel better for 23+ years. Rachel McGehee 970-903-0388
Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.
Services
Boiler Service - Water Heater
Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
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Service, inspecting, consulting, estimates Licensed Home Inspector 45 years tradesman experience 724-977-1111
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I'm local dependable & trustworthy. For more info & rates please call 402-2064735 or 970-424-1962.
walls, flood damage, mold, heating service.
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.
CommunityService
Could You Use Extra income?
The housing crisis is changing who can live here. Be part of the solution. Home shareonline.org offers a way to share space with a local worker or student! Call 970 749-9607 for more info.
‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’ With enough yoga and meditation one can become clairvoyant – Lainie
The Maker Lab in Bodo Park
Provides collaborative workspace, tools, learning and equipment featuring metal and woodworking, laser cutting, 3D printing, electronics and sewing. Classes for all levels. To join or learn more, go to www.themakerlab.org
Electric Repair Roof, gutter cleaning, fence, floors,
Maxson
