Making the DIA mad dash is not for the faint of heart or fortitude by Addyson Santese 9 If you build it ...
– A friendly reminder when the absurdity and frustration of whacking a small ball with a club becomes a little too much
Om, sweet om
Potential new Four Corners clinic would fill gap in reproductive care by Ann Marie Swan On the cover
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If it seems like a season of anniversaries, you’re not mistaken. Several longtime local institutions celebrated birthdays recently, including Durango Natural Foods, Ska Brewing, Maria’s Bookshop and yours truly. And now those flexible, grounded, soothing (and amazingly strong!) folks at YogaDurango are celebrating 18 years in the practice of making us all feel better.
Starting from its humble beginnings in a cozy ground-floor space at the corner of 15th and E. 2nd Ave., YogaDurango has since moved on up in the world, first to a spot on Main Avenue and then to its current light-filled oasis upstairs from Star Liquors on Florida Road. In that time, it's also grown its offerings with around-the-clock classes –everything from drum circles to hatha to kirtan – taught by a dozen or so teachers, some of whom have been there from the start.
“I don't believe I thought we'd arrive in the OG category of Durango when we landed here, one of many small but impactful, cultural enterprises of our town,” co-owner/ founder Sheryl McGourdy said. “It’s been lots of hard work … yet I’m grateful time and time again to this community and being able to create something beautiful for it!”
To honor the occasion, YogaDurango will offer a day of free classes from 7 a.m.- 7 p.m. Sat., Oct. 12, including an opening mantra/meditation, various yoga classes and an evening kirtan. Registration is recommended as class size is limited and expected to fill. For more info. or to register, go to: www.yogadurango.com.
Comet drive-by
Something last visible to the Neanderthals will be visible in the night skies over the U.S. this week. No, we’re not talking woolly mammoths – but almost as good.
Last visible to earthlings 80,000 years ago, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, aka C/2023 A3 will once again come in for an extremely rare up-close, naked eye viewing. Although visible most of the month, it will be brightest this Sat., Oct. 12, shortly after sundown. Cometgazers are advised to keep their eyes peeled toward the western horizon. But don’t dilly-dally: the “cosmic snowball” will fade off into the cosmos in about 30 minutes. And if you happen to miss it – A3 is expected to be visible thru Oct. 19, clear skies willing. However, binoculars, a telescope or some really sharp eyes will be necessary.
LaVidaLocal
‘And don’t call me Shirley’
Do you yearn for the days of middle school when you were forced to run the mile, but wish that not finishing on time had more inconvenient, expensive consequences? Have you thought about adding some high-intensity interval training to your otherwise relaxing vacation plans? Are you perhaps training for an ultramarathon or some other grueling test of the human body’s mental and physical limits? If only there was a place where you could accomplish all of those goals simultaneously…
Allow me to introduce you to a little concept called running from Terminal A to Terminal B of the Denver International Airport. Nothing gets the heart pumping and the blood flowing like the fear of missing a flight, but the mile-high airport takes things to the next level.
Located on a prairie a million miles away from civilization, the Denver Airport looks less like one of the top 10 busiest airports in the world and more like a haunted circus that rolled into town right around the time a bunch of schoolchildren went mysteriously missing. Blucifer, the airport’s 32-foot-tall mustang statue with glowing red eyes (who also coincidentally crushed its sculptor to death) does little to counter that image. Neither do the conspiracy theories about end-of-the-world predictions and secret underground tunnels for lizard people. But that’s not even the scariest part about this place.
You see, the real horror is that the DIA was designed exclusively with Olympic athletes in mind. From its miles-long terminals to its haunting artwork, this airport offers a truly punishing travel experience. You’ll need self-discipline, mental fortitude and a sub-four-minute mile if you have any intention of making your connecting flight thanks to a few sadistic architects.
Thumbin’It
More folks left their cars at home and hopped on the bus in August, with Durango Transit providing more than 51,000 rides, the most in a single month in 10 years. The uptick was thanks in part to the city’s summer zero fare program, funded by the lodgers tax.
Plans coalescing for a local clinic to provide reproductive health care needs to area residents as well as traveling patients in the wake of the closing of Durango Planned Parenthood this summer.
Got leaves? Table to Farm Compost will take them off existing city utility customers’ hands. All you gotta do is get them into those big paper bags (available at hardware stores) and sign up for pick-up at tabletofarmcompost.com.
Most people would assume that the “international” component of the airport’s title might mean it has the capacity to move large numbers of people from place to place via, say, a tram system or busses. And you’d be partially right. There’s a train that can take passengers from terminal to terminal, but to get to that train you have to hoof it the entire mile through all 37 gates like a pack mule at the Grand Canyon. And if you think using the moving walkways is an easy solution, well, boy do I have bad news for you.
On every single moving walkway, there will be at least one person who considers the conveyor belt the perfect place to take a load off. Unlike you, they have at least six hours until their next flight. They’re in no rush. Not only will this person stand directly in the center of the walkway, they will also barricade either side of the aisle with their offensively large luggage and aggressive lack of spatial awareness. Hopefully you’ve always wanted to participate in an urbanized version of American Ninja Warrior because you’ll need to be really good at parkour to make it around these human obstacles.
The only way to prepare for a trip to the Denver Airport is to adopt a rigorous training schedule that focuses heavily on hitting your VO2 max and developing neuromuscular power. You’ll also want to work on intermittent fasting. Since your gate will inevitably change the moment you get to your terminal, you’ll have to forgo any plans of “grabbing a quick bite” between flights. If you’ve trained well, you should be able to run the equivalent of the Boston Marathon from the caloric intake of two Biscoff cookies.
With strength, determination and a brutal fitness plan, you just might make it to your vacation. And don’t forget – you get do all of this again on the way back!
– Addyson Santese
Not another one! Milton is bearing down on the Sunshine State as a Class 4 hurricane as we write this, obviously oblivious to the grandfatherly name it was given.
The recent death of Sammy Lopez, former Daily Times publisher, longtime New Mexico newsman, director of the N.M. Press Association and champion of small newspapers. His wisdom, kindness and guidance will be missed.
Whoopsie. Qantas Airlines recently played the R-rated movie “Daddio,” complete with sex scenes, on its in-flight entertainment system, which couldn’t be turned off. Meaning, lots of passengers were turned on, and parents found themselves having really awkward conversations with their kids.
SignoftheDownfall:
The Errors Tour
Two weeks ago, at an auction in Texas benefiting local youth by the nonprofit “WildGame,” an unnamed old man paid $4,000 for a signed Taylor Swift guitar and then smashed it with a hammer in front of the cheering crowd. $4k might sound expensive, but since the average TSwift concert ticket costs $1,100, this story didn’t make sense. Then last week, it came out that the guitar wasn’t really signed (genuine ones sell for $10K on eBay). It just came with an autographed CD insert, which the old man kept, presumably after crying MAGA teardrops on “her” guitar.
Democracy do’s and dont’s
Don’t tell me how the government never helps you!
Don’t tell me how all politicians are corrupt!
Don’t tell me how your taxes are too high and how the system is rigged!
Don’t tell me that you don’t like the candidates and the issues!
Don’t tell me how your vote doesn’t matter because the election is rigged and the “fix” is in!
Don’t complain about how everything is lousy and so unfair because if you don’t vote, you forfeit your right to complain!
So if you don’t vote, just don’t!
– John Egan, Durango
The neutral science of Prop 127
As wildlife scientists devoted to rigorous independent research, we wish to inform Coloradans what the best peer-reviewed and published science says about mountain lion and bobcat trophy hunting.
Voters deserve to know without bias what are mere assumptions without proof, and what are sciencebased facts backed by evidence.
As journalists dive into wildlife science, they too should realize that all opinions are not equal when it comes to science, and everyone – including government agencies – ought to be fact-checked based on scientific research.
The big question: Does Colorado’s current program,
allowing citizens to kill 500 mountain lions and about 1,000 bobcats every year, have any positive or negative effect on wild cats or other wildlife populations, on public safety or on domestic animals like cattle and dogs – and if so, what?
As you might imagine, mountain lion populations are not at all like prey animals. Lions are territorial and do not tolerate the presence of other lions within their vast ranges – unlike deer, for instance, which congregate and are easy to spot. There are about 4,000 lions in Colorado, but we don’t have precise estimates because their shy, elusive nature makes them difficult to count.
Science confidently informs Coloradans that mountain lion populations self-regulate. In layman’s terms, that means that trophy hunting is not managing their populations, and that they will not explode in the absence of trophy hunting.
World-renowned big cat researcher Maurice Hornocker, in his book “Cougars on the Cliff,” explains that mountain lions “regulate their own numbers and actually help prey animals maintain or increase their population numbers.”
In California – a state without trophy hunting for the last 52 years – lion populations remain stable, not increasing, and just 15 are killed each year for predation on livestock.
Without exploding lion populations, assumptions about decimating deer, as some would claim, are false, according to research. Colorado Parks and Wildlife, among others, has provided ample studies to show
that where there are fewer lions, there will be fewer deer and vice versa. Nature has its own way of balancing without artificial interference.
In terms of public safety, pets and livestock, multiple studies show that trophy hunting does nothing to make us, our pets or livestock any safer than we already are. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that when you take out what is typically considered a trophy lion – a large resident male – you invite conflict into the region by opening up his territory to juveniles that are more likely to get into trouble.
In sum, the recreational killing of lions and bobcats, which allows keeping heads and selling fur, does not solve any true management need. It neither reduces human-lion conflict, nor prevents depredations; it will not make humans wandering in the woods or pets at home any safer than they already are.
The science also informs us that there is a proven, effective way to prevent conflict between lions and livestock, pets and people: to identify individual lions that pose risk and have the professionals verify and handle them as they see fit.
On bobcats, Colorado has no estimated population count. Bobcats are allowed to be trapped during the season in unlimited numbers. Live traps set with bait are allowed to be unattended for 24 hours, and there is documentation showing lynx have been accidentally trapped where habitats overlap.
Because trophy hunting and commercial fur trapping are not managing anything, the question of
whether we wish to keep allowing it is one of social science or ethics. That is beyond our expertise, but a Colorado State University survey found that 88% of Coloradans disapproved of hunting mountain lions with dogs, which is how lion hunting is done in Colorado because lions are so shy.
Furthermore, there is a whole body of science on the ecological services of mountain lions and bobcats. Apex predators serve to keep ecosystems healthy, and that is increasingly important today as we are losing our biodiversity.
So let’s follow the science, as well as our ethics and the environmental goals of Colorado.
– David Jennings, wildlife conservation scientist, Denver; Elaine Leslie, former Chief of Biological Resources for the National Park Service, Durango; and Delia Malone, Wildlife Chair for the Colorado Chapter of the Sierra Club, Carbondale
Trump’s Christian facade
A Christian is a person who believes in Christ as the son of God and follows his teachings. Such teachings include: forgiveness, Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you;” and truthfulness, Proverbs 22:21, “To be honest and to speak the truth, so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve.” Christ also teaches to not let money cloud one’s faith: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless,” Hebrews 13:5. Christians are also taught to value women: “A gracious woman gains honor; violent men gain only
wealth,” Proverbs 11:16. And a Christian would seek unity, “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony,” 1 Corinthians 1:10.
So why do so many Christians support and rally behind a candidate who seeks vengeance? When interviewed by Sean Hannity on Fox News on June 5, Donald Trump said, “When this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them, and it would be easy because it’s Joe Biden.” And why do they support a former president who lies? According to the Washington Post, he publicly lied 30,573 times during his four-year presidency. Or why would they support someone who values money and status more than human dignity? Donald Trump has said, “Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people” and “Part of the beauty of me is that I am very rich.” He also has a low opinion of the opposite sex. Regarding his wife, Melania, when asked if he would stay with her if she was disfigured in a car crash, Trump replied, “How do the breasts look?” (April 11, 2005).
Lastly, what about the Second Commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself?” How does Trump exemplify this, if at all? By dividing us? By highlighting differences? Making issues an “us v. them” debate is a consummate rhetorical tool for Trump, using terms like “the blacks,” “the immigrants” and “the others.”
And then there are the patriots, where valuing country, flag and duty are paramount. How do you support someone who dodged the draft because of university studies and a “bone spur” (with no documenta-
tion)? And how do you support someone who was quoted as saying, “You think I’m stupid? I wasn’t going to Vietnam.” Or a person who says this about a former Vietnam vet and Congressman: “I like people who weren’t captured,” (July 2015). Or a person who’s pledge to uphold the oath of the highest office in our government suggests that parts of the U.S. Constitution should face “termination.”
Trump also used our nation’s most hallowed cemetery, Arlington, for political promotion in defiance of a rule that forbade such actions. And if we blend the Christian and patriotic themes, we get “The God Bless the USA Bible,” which Trump now pedals to conflate Christian beliefs with nationalism. Not exactly a person or presidential candidate who’s supporting “we the people.” So what would a Christian or a patriot do? Hopefully vote to uphold the Constitution and the teachings of Christ, not bend to the machinations of someone who clearly does not uphold “we the people” or “love thy neighbor.” Think and vote.
– Tim Thomas, Durango
“We’ll
print damn near anything”
The Telegraph prides itself on a liberal letters policy. We have only three requests: limit letters to 500 words; letters must be signed by the writer; and thank-you lists and libelous, personal attacks are unwelcome. Send your profundities by noon Monday to telegraph@durangotele graph.com
WritersontheRange
A natural ally
We need mountain lions to do their job
by Dan Ashe
As a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I have hunted practically as long as I can remember. Hunting has been a lifelong passion and helped shape my values as a wildlife-conservation professional.
But I am against hunting mountain lions in Colorado. Today, I join many wildlife professionals and hunters who support Colorado’s Proposition 127 –Cats Aren’t Trophies – this November. I’ve never been much for so-called “trophy hunting,” especially when the animals are chased to exhaustion by commercial outfitters using dogs and GPS tracking. Once these lions are perched helplessly in a tree, they are shot by a so-called “hunter.”
This kind of hunting violates a foundational value of “fair chase” that I was taught as a child. I was also taught that hunting is a form of harvest, reconnecting us to the land. Part of that connection is respect for the game we hunt, not desire to dominate or eliminate them.
But hunters are predators, and as a nation, we have long harbored a bloodlust for competitors like mountain lions. We have stoked societal mythologies and fears, and despite the wisdom of conservation scholars like Aldo Leopold, we have continued to scapegoat these creatures in the name of game management.
Maybe we do this to hide our own inadequacies. It is much easier to blame declining elk or deer populations on mountain lions or wolves than to grapple with habitat loss and fragmentation,
drought or changing climates. Acknowledging those would require that we deal with our ever-expanding desires for more and cheaper and easier.
Yet here’s what’s important to know now: Emerging science tells us that these apex predators aren’t the enemy, they’re allies. They are likely providing an important ecosystem service in checking the spread of chronic wasting disease, CWD, an existential threat to healthy deer and elk populations, by targeting animals weakened by disease.
Forty-two of Colorado’s 51 deer herds and 17 of 42 elk herds are infected with this fatal, brain-wasting malady. The disease started in Colorado and spread across the Midwest and Rockies. It has killed hundreds of thousands of elk, deer and moose, and it is getting worse.
The pathogen is not a virus or bacteria but a “prion” – a protein that slowly and painfully destroys brain tissue in deer and elk. There is no evidence that these CWD prions are “zoonotic” and can infect humans, but public health officials warn against eating CWD-infected game as a precaution.
Prions aren’t living things, so they can’t be killed with antibiotic or antiviral medications. They can only be “deactivated,” and amazingly, science is telling us that they are deactivated in the digestive systems of predators like lions and wolves. That is why these animals are our natural allies.
As a scientist, I know that correlation is not causation, but sometimes it can be a powerful indicator. There is good science showing that lions will selec-
tively prey on CWD-infected animals because infected animals are likely easier to kill. Where there are no lions, there are higher rates of CWD-infected animals; where healthy lion population exists, there are low levels of CWD infection or none at all.
Killing 500 lions every year in Colorado is not unscientific and unethical, it is interrupting the animals’ vital work as a bulwark against CWD. In Colorado, 2,000 residents will buy a license to kill a Colorado lion (0.3% of nearly 6 million citizens, and 0.6% of state hunters), and 500 nonresidents come into the state to buy a license for lions.
For as long as there have been hunters, and as long as hunters have been managing wildlife, we have scapegoated and persecuted apex predators, like mountain lions. It’s time we change. Mountain lions are our allies, so let’s start treating them that way. We need them to flourish.
Voting yes in support of Proposition 127 is a great beginning.
Dan Ashe is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He was the 16th director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, serving for nearly six years. ■
A healthy mountain lion population is key to a healthy deer and elk population as lions often prey on CWD-infected animals./ Photo by Richard Callupe/Unsplash
Reclaiming access
Potential new Four Corners clinic could better serve rural reproductive care needs
by Ann Marie Swan
It just so happened that Colorado author Pam Houston’s reproductive life coincided almost precisely with the 49 years, five months and two days that the U.S. Supreme Court protected a woman’s right to an abortion. Last week, Houston told a squeezed-in crowd at Maria’s Bookshop that she started her period in January 1973, and went into menopause at the time Roe v. Wade was reversed in June 2022, ending the constitutional right to abortion.
A body in sync with the progress, then decline of reproductive rights.
Houston, in Durango to promote her latest book, “Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom,” has always opened doors wide to her inner life, whether characters are fictional or all too real.
With 60 chapters – one to match each year of her life – “Without Exception” is ambitious, moving among facts and laws to impressions and personal stories, from sickening to uplifting. It’s brave, uncomfortable and necessary.
Houston skillfully makes connections, for example, between acts of government interference and grievous nonchalance, from enacting control over women’s bodies to companies not held responsible for toxic spills that poisoned the soil of the Navajo Nation.
“Same machine,” she said.
Houston’s book is all over the place –but in a good way with good reason. Because conversations about abortion must cover much ground. From the sweeping to the visceral, every detail matters in underlining demands for body sovereignty, safe reproductive health care and, ultimately, freedom to live as we wish.
Equally important to rights is actual access. Especially in remote, rural areas.
Houston’s talk was more timely than she may have realized. Afterward, as chairs were put away, a few in the know
spoke within small groups about the potential for a new local clinic – now in its exploratory phase – that could replace the nonprofit Planned Parenthood that recently closed in Durango. Ideally, the new clinic would serve Southwest residents even better, along with increased numbers of travelers requiring care.
Dedicated supporters approached a nonprofit specializing in reproductive health care clinics in underserved and rural areas. Together, they are considering feasibility, working through processes of everything involved, punching numbers and, generally, getting the lay of the land.
A force within this group – a changer, a believer – is registered nurse Ginny Laidler, who worked at Durango’s Planned Parenthood for 18 years. Laidler has done everything from performing ultrasounds, assisting surgeries, managing the clinic and holding hands of patients.
She has lived the inverse dynamics across health care: increased workloads,
fewer staff members and decreased support, especially after the pandemic.
And who better to lead the charge than a frontline nurse?
“I needed to do whatever I could to open a clinic,” Laidler said. “Locally controlled, locally run with no call center, tailored to the needs of our community.”
Emphasis on the call center. Scheduling at Planned Parenthood was centralized, far from Durango, and, oftentimes, a nightmare. Nonmedical personnel, often unaware of the time needed for procedures, lab work, explanations and more, decided appointment slots. And day-in, day-out long-distance scheduling upsets contributed to employee burnout.
Sure, the clinic had a rhythm with routine care for its regulars. But abortion care was less reliable. Who would show up on any given day?
Let’s be clear, Planned Parenthood
does a lot of things very well. In particular, it attracts compassionate, committed providers. Young people, especially, respond to them. But its model was urban and didn’t meet unique rural needs. Twenty states ban or restrict abortions. Since the fall of Roe, Durango’s place on the map attracts interstate patients, notably from Texas. In fact, Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment data show that nearly one in five abortions performed in our state last year were on Texas residents. In 2023, 2,846 Texans terminated pregnancies in Colorado, up from 400 in 2021.
With this reality, a new clinic’s vision would expand to manage the needs of these patients who, for example, miscarried or had nonviable pregnancies and can’t receive treatment in their home states. Without that care, women risk excessive bleeding or even death.
Laidler has witnessed these anomalies.
In 2023, Yale Medicine reported the effectiveness of medical abortions from mifepristone and misoprostol pills between 92% and 99.7%. Pretty good odds, except for those who fall between those percentages with incomplete abortions. Medical school curriculums in states with draconian abortion laws are being affected, too. Students and residents won’t experience full-scope reproductive care, won’t learn all they need to know. A dearth of professional knowledge isn’t a far-off scenario.
For all the reasons, all the people, Laidler will do everything possible to help create a reproductive health clinic in the Four Corners. “I cannot let this go,” she said.
Ann Marie Swan is a former opinion editor at The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez. She’s worked in newsrooms at the Rocky Mountain News, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Pacific Stars and Stripes in Tokyo. ■
BetweentheCovers The truth is out there
Book details Navajo Ranger’s career investigating the unexplained
by Missy Votel
Strange things are afoot on the Navajo Reservation in Stanley Milford Jr.’s new book, “The Paranormal Ranger.” And by “afoot,” I mean literally, as in Bigfoot, skinwalkers, witches and aliens. But there are plenty of hovering, floating and flying anomalies as well, from UFOs and ghosts to the occasional flying butcher knife or coins dropping from the sky.
And lest you think these occurrences are all figments of Milford’s overactive imagination, the book is nonfiction, based on Milford’s 23 years in law enforcement as part of the fabled Navajo Rangers. For a good part of his career, Milford, along with his partner Jonathan Dover, were assigned to the Special Projects Unit, which investigated reports of paranormal and supernatural activities. Think of them as the Navajo Nation’s own Scully and Mulder, running to investigate cases that most of us would run far, far, away from. (In addition to the SPU, Milford also worked on the Four Corners Manhunt, a fascinating case in itself that he devotes an entire chapter to.)
Although Milford, an avowed skeptic, saw his job as investigating paranormal happenings, he also saw his role as comforting those traumatized by events such as a Bigfoot staring into their windows or a skinwalker hex. Often ignored or shunned by law enforcement, Milford made it a priority to listen to the victims –many of whom were Navajo elders – assuring them they were being taken seriously and their voices heard. And he remained unflappable and logical through it all, something he credits to his strict training in the U.S. Indian Police Academy. In addition to encouraging calm under pressure, the training also taught Milford how to tap into his “sixth sense,” that creepy feeling that makes the little hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and tells you something is not quite right.
Speaking of hair standing on end, many of Milford’s detailed encounters will do the same for the reader,
and some chapters may not be suitable for late-night reading. Not only has Milford investigated countless paranormal reports, but he has experienced several bizarro events on his own, including a skinwalker run-in that may have you sleeping with the lights on or burning sage before going to bed.
Milford was raised partially by his Navajo father, spending summers on the reservation, and partly by his Cherokee mother, who sent him to “westernized” schools in Oklahoma. He believes it is this upbringing, with one foot in Nav ajo traditions and the other in Western culture, that uniquely prepared him – and perhaps made him a conduit – for his fu ture of eerie and often unexplainable work.
Between the chapters on paranormal investigations, Milford weaves in the tale of the Diné creation story. Fan tastical in its own right, Mil ford says it is this belief in other worlds – there are four in the creation story as well as talking coyotes and monsters – that allows Navajos to be more receptive to other realms of existence. In fact, Navajo lore refers to a monster, Ye’iitsoh, that bears a striking resemblance to modern-day Bigfoot, Yeti, Chupacabra and Sasquatch.
through history – that serve as a super highway for hauntings and ne’er-do-well spirits.
Even more unsettling, Milford – who left law enforcement in 2019 and since has been in high demand on the international speaking circuit – contends there has been an unprecedented uptick in paranormal events in recent years. He credits this to an imbalance in our world – from environmental crises to multiple wars to drug epidemics – with human suffering at new highs. He even sees his own people becoming further removed from their traditions, culture and old ways, like the teachings of the medicine men. It is this turmoil, trauma and detachment, he posits, that can create paranormal “hotspots.” But all is not lost. While most may consider a visit from a skinwalker, ghost or alien terrifying, Milford regards them with curiosity; their objective is not to hurt us but to serve as a wake-up call for humankind. It is an opportunity to question how we are living and how we can all be better to each other and the planet.
And while Milford’s own experiences are too numerous to write off as coincidence or late-night hallucinations after a lonely night patrolling the desolate reservation, he is only able to offer theories that raise more questions than answers. It is his belief, due to the ephemeral nature of his paranormal occurrences, that they are not only of another world, but another dimension. Milford postulates that rips in the fabric of the space-time continuum make it possible for such beings and spirits to travel between the various planes of existence. Furthermore, he talks of “paranormal hot spots” – like the haunted government building in Window Rock, a town where there was abject suffering and death
According to Milford, each paranormal event has brought him “closer to the truth and to the deep meaning of the world.”
Whoa.
Truth be told, this may be a little heavy to fathom, even for the biggest mystics, sci-fi nerds or Trekkies out there, let alone a humble occasional book reviewer. But it is intriguing food for thought, contemplating other realms that exist right under our noses. If nothing else, it makes for a good spooky season read. And maybe it will keep you extra vigilant next time you drive across the reservation at night or see an unusual light streak across the sky. After all, the universe’s mysterious, strange and awesome truth is out there, if only we are willing to look for it.
Stanley Milford will be at Maria’s Bookshop from 6-8 p.m. tonight, Oct. 10, to read from and sign copies of his book, “The Paranormal Ranger.” ■
Stanley Milford Jr.
Thursday10
Recovery Yoga, free class series, 4:30-5:45 p.m., thru Nov. 21, Smiley Building. Register at innerpeaceyogatherapy.com
Trivia Night, 5-7 p.m., EsoTerra, 558 Main Ave.
Community Apple Harvest for Apple Days, 57 p.m. Info and RSVP at: www.goodfoodcollective.org
Animal Safety, what to do if confronted with wildlife, presented by City Open Space Ranger Tosh Black, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Durango Rec Center
AskRachel Lost booty, survey says and hot & moth-ered
Interesting fact: The most expensive earrings in the world sold at auction for more than $57 million. Maybe don’t pawn those if you find them.
Dear Rachel,
I found a lost earring in my apartment. Not mine. Presumably an ex’s. Not very many options from the three or four years I’ve been here. It would be a simple task to send each of them a picture to see if it’s theirs. Administratively simple. Emotionally complex. I’d just toss it except it looks like a really valuable piece. What would you do?
– Ear to the Ground
Dear Pawn Star,
Are you telling me you haven’t ever lost a personal item in a breakup? A hoodie you knew you’d never see again? A book you loaned? Your second-favorite toothbrush? This is the cost of doing the business. If that earring meant the world to one of your exes, they would have called you. Instead, not calling you was worth more than the earring. Let it drop. Maybe polish it up and stick it on eBay. I’ll split the proceeds with you. – Pierced, Rachel
Dear Rachel, I. hate. taking. marketing. surveys. And
Literary Festival: Ramona Emerson Author Talk and Book Signing, 6-8 p.m., Durango Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Adam Swanson plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Randy Crumbaugh plays, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Wednesday16
“The Brain in Our Wisdom Years: Myths and Facts,” free talk, 12 noon-1 p.m., Durango Public Library upstairs conference room, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
here I am with a job that is now requiring me to send out customer surveys. They’re getting really poor response rates, and I’m certain this is because I hate doing it. What’s a good way for me to pretend I enjoy this horrible work so my (fake) excitement is more contagious than my (very real) grumpiness? – Just Two Minutes
Dear Survey Monkey,
There’s no such thing as an enthusiastic survey. Nor an enthusiastic survey-taker, unless that person is out for blood. But you know what does make your audience enthusiastic? Gift cards. Triple-digit gift cards. Or discount codes. I’d take a really good discount code. I’m talking 40% and up. None of this 10% garbage. – Likely to recommend, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
You know how a moth will slip in the door, and you have a moth in your lights for the night? I don’t like it, but it’s not a big deal. Apparently not everyone thinks that way. My aunt and uncle were here and one of them started screeching over a moth. Then I got judgment as if the outdoor bugs slipping in reflects my inner moral state. Am I bad person? – Bugged Out
Adam Swanson plays, 5:30-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Literary Festival: Local authors
Scott Graham and John Peel, 6-8 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
BoomBox with Future Joy, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E College Dr.
Clearly you are a heathen and a schmuck and generally unclean. Any respectable human will not have an insect within 30 feet of their walls. Your aunt and uncle are well within their high-and-mighty rights to be so judgy-judgy. That said – if either of them lost an earring while screeching, you’re within your own moral right to sell that sucker for whatever you can get. – Mothballed, Rachel Email
Dear Infestation Central,
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In coming weeks, you may be tempted to spar and argue more than usual. You could get sucked into the fantasy that it would make sense to wrangle, feud and bicker. But I hope you sublimate those tendencies. The same hot energy could just as well become a driving force to create robust harmony and resilient unity. If you simply dig further into your psyche’s resourceful depths, you will discover the inspiration to bargain, mediate and negotiate with élan. Here’s a bold prediction: Healing compromises hammered out now could last a long time.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Question #1: “What subjects do you talk about to enchant and uplift a person who’s important to you?” Answer #1: “You talk about the feelings and yearnings of the person you hope to enchant and uplift.” Question #2: “How do you express your love with maximum intelligence?” Answer #2: “Before you ask your allies to alter themselves to enhance your relationship, you ask yourself how you might alter yourself to enhance your relationship.” Question #3: “What skill are you destined to master, even though it’s challenging?” Answer #3: “Understanding the difference between supple passion and manic obsession.”
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1819, Gemini entrepreneur Francois-Louis Cailler became the first chocolatier to manufacture chocolate bars. His innovation didn’t save any lives, cure any disease or fix any injustice. But it was a wonderful addition to humanity’s supply of delights. It enhanced our collective joy and pleasure. In coming months, I invite you to seek a comparable addition to your own personal world. What novel blessing might you generate or discover? What splendid resource can you add to your repertoire?
CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Ayurnamat” is a word used by the Inuit people. It refers to when you long for the relaxed tranquility that comes from not worrying about what can’t be changed. You wish you could accept or even welcome the truth about provocative situations with equanimity. Now here’s some very good news. In coming weeks, you will not just yearn for this state of calm but will also have a heightened ability to achieve it. Congratulations! It’s a liberating, saint-like accomplishment.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Healing will be more available to you than usual. You’re extra likely to attract the help and insight you need to revive and restore your mind, soul and body. To get started, identify two wounds or discomforts you would love to alleviate. Then consider the following actions: 1. Ruminate about what helpers and professionals might be best able to assist you. Make appointments with them. 2. Perform a ritual in which you seek blessings from your spirit guides and sympathetic ancestors. 3. Make a list of three actions you will take to make yourself feel better. 4. Treat this process not as a somber struggle, but as a celebration of your mounting vitality.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The Beatles were the best-selling and influential bands of all time. Their fame and fortune were well-earned. Many of the 186 songs they composed and recorded were beautiful, interesting and entertaining. Yet none of the four members could read music. Their brilliance was intuitive and instinctual. Is there a comparable situation in your life? A task or skill that you perform well despite not being formally trained? If so, the coming months will be a good time to get better grounded and fill in the gaps in your education.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In 2010, Edurne Pasaban became the first woman to climb the world’s tallest 14 mountains, reaching the top of Shishapangma in China. In 2018, Taylor Demonbreun arrived in Toronto, completing a quest in which she visited every sovereign nation on the planet in 18 months. In 1924, explorer Alexandra David-Néel pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of visiting Lhasa, Tibet, when that place was still forbidden to foreigners. Be inspired by these heroes as you ruminate about what frontier adventures you will dare during the next six months. Design a plan to get all the educational and experimental fun you need.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Alnwick Garden is an unusual network of formal gardens in northeast England. Among its many entertaining features is the Poison Garden, which hosts 100 species of toxic and harmful plants like hemlock, strychnine and deadly nightshade. It’s the most popular feature by far. Visitors enjoy finding out what’s not good for them. Use this as an inspirational metaphor as you take inventory of influences that are not good for you. Every now and then, it’s healthy to acknowledge what you don’t need and shouldn’t engage with.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian Tom Rath is an inspirational author who, at age 49, has managed to stay alive even though he has wrangled with a rare disease since he was 16. He writes, “This is what I believe we should all aim for: to make contributions to others’ lives that will grow infinitely in our absence. A great commonality we all share is that we only have today to invest in what could outlive us.” That’s always good advice for everyone, but it’s especially rich for you in coming months. You will have a special capacity to dispense your gifts to those who need and want them.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn writer Susan Sontag was a public intellectual. She was an academic with a scholarly focus and an entertaining commentator on the gritty hubbub of popular culture. One of my favorite quotes by her is this one: “I like to feel dumb. That’s how I know there’s more in the world than me.” In other words, she made sure her curiosity and open-mindedness flourished by always assuming she had much more to learn. I recommend this perspective to you in coming weeks.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The Salem Witch Trials took place in Massachusetts in 1692-93. They were ignorant, superstitious prosecutions of people accused of practicing witchcraft. The modern holiday known as Freethought Day happens every Oct. 12, the anniversary of the last witch trial. The purpose of this jubilee is to encourage us to treasure objective facts, to love using logic and reason, and to honor the value of critical thinking. It’s only observed in America now, but I propose we make it a global festival. You Aquarians are my choice to host this year’s celebration of Freethought Day. You are at peak ability to generate clear, astute, liberating thoughts. Show us what it looks like to be a lucid, unbiased observer.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A YouTuber named Andy George decided to make a chicken sandwich. But he wanted to make the sandwich from scratch. Over six months, he grew wheat, and used it to bake bread. He milked a cow to make cheese. He got sea salt from ocean and grew a garden of lettuce, cucumber, tomato and dill. Finally, he went to a farm, bought a chicken, and turned the bird into meat for the sandwich. I’m not suggesting you do something similar. Rather, I’m encouraging you to be thorough as you solidify your foundations in coming months. Gather resources you will need for longterm projects. Be a connoisseur of the raw materials that will assure future success.
Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon. Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum. Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.
(Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.) Ads can be submitted via: n www.durangotelegraph.com
n classifieds@durango telegraph.com
n 970-259-0133
n 679 E. 2nd Ave., #E2
Approximate office hours:
Mon-Wed: 9ish - 5ish
Thurs: On delivery
Fri: Gone fishing; call first
Classes/Workshops
"The Brain in Our Wisdom Years: Myths and Facts,” free workshop Wed., Oct. 16, 12 noon - 1 p.m. at the Durango Library, upstairs conference room. Empower yourself for a gentler and more grateful life experience
Wanted
Books Wanted at White Rabbit
Donate/trade/sell (970) 259-2213
Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970259-3494.
HelpWanted
Heartwood West Tree Service LLC seeks skilled trades people. ISA Certified preferred. Send letter of interest to: Heartwoodwest@gmail.com
Nonprofit Seeks FT Coordinator
Wildfire Adapted Partnership seeks a full time Operations & Outreach Coor. to work out of WAP’s Durango office, assisting the Executive Director with the dayto-day operations of the organization and conducting wildfire preparedness outreach. For the full job announcement please visit: www.wildfireadapted.org or call 970-385-8909 .
ForSale
Reruns Home Furnishings
Lots of new furniture/cool furnishings
for home, office or dorm. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.
Metal
99.9% silver Canadian Mapleleaf coins and bars for sale. 970-759-2869
ForRent
Functional Medicine Office
Seeking professionals to join our Integrative Clinic. View of Buckley Park, natural sunlight, licensed and insured only. $900 970.247.1233
BodyWork
Massage by Meg Bush
LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.
Lotus Path Healing Arts
24 years of experience. To schedule call Kathryn, 970-201-3373.
Services
Parent Coach
Helping to build a strong family team. 970-403-3347.
Chapman Electric
Mike, 970-403-6670. Colorado licensed and insured. 25 years serving the Four Corners .
Inside/outside storage near Durango and Bayfield. 10-x-20, $130. Outside spots: $65, with discounts available. RJ Mini Storage. 970-259-3494.
Boiler Service - Water Heater
Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917
CommunityService
Durango Area Association of Realtors is accepting grant requests from local nonprofits. Deadline to submit is Fri., Oct. 18. For more info., call 970-247-9604.
Two silver foxes chase down a hopped-up kid clad in tighty-whities –
Engaging Volunteer Opportunity
Alternative Horizons has been empowering and supportive survivors of domestic violence since 1978. Become a volunteer hotline advocate. Flexible to fit your schedule. Training and ongoing support provided. Please call 970-247-4374 or visit our website at alternativehori zons.org.
