Weirdly wonderful Tariff tradeoffs
The Salton Sea’s kitschy and beautifully morbid allure
POACHERS SUCK
Instead of stealing our hard work or robbing your neighbors of the joy of reading the Telegraph every week, here are a few things other than a brand new stack of Telegraphs you can use to start your fire (courtesy Explore.com):
1. Egg cartons and dryer lint (we’re sure belly button and pocket lint would work just as well)
2. Cotton balls and petroleum jelly (think of the fun you could have!)
3. Hand sanitizer (not just for COVID anymore)
4. Waxed paper and dryer lint (twist both ends of the paper to look like a doobie, we know you know how to do that)
5. Chips (the greasier the better, think Hot & Spicy Pringles, Spicy Nacho Doritos and, of course, Flaming Hot Cheetos.)
6. Duct tape (yet another use for duct tape. We’re not sure if this sounds 100% safe, but hey, if in a pinch ...)
A day in chair-adise
Salty dogs
The quirky allure of the Salton Sea draws a certain snowbird clientele by Dennis Hincamp / Writers on the Range
Chairlift mates – you can’t pick ’em, so just be sure to watch your head by Addyson Santese 8 Tit for tat
Get up to get down
Pole studio offers empowerment, fitness and good, cleanish fun by Missy Votel
EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel missy@durangotelegraph.com
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STAFF REPORTER: Scoops McGee telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
The Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky singletrack or mon-
Unpacking the consequences of Trump’s tariffs near and far by Jonathan P. Thompson / The Land Desk On the cover Call it what you will – graffiti, street art or silent protest – but a painted message on a bridge in Durango kind of sums up the general mood right now./ Photo by Missy Votel
CAST: Addyson Santese, Jonathan P. Thompson, Missy Votel, Jeffrey
P.O. Box 332 Durango, CO 81302
PHONE: 970-259-0133
E-MAIL: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
AND SUBSCRIPTIONS: $3.50/issue, $150/year
Ear to the ground:
“I don’t understand – I keep getting flipped off.”
– When the glow of your new cyber truck starts to tarnish
Getting soaked
Floating the Grand Canyon could get a lot more expensive for private boaters. The National Park Service is seeking public input on a proposal to increase the per-person cost for rafting Lees Ferry to Diamond Creek from $90 to $310. The cost of floating Diamond Creek to Pearce Ferry, now free, would increase to $55/person. The $25 lottery permit fee would remain unchanged.
The NPS said the increase is needed to cover restoration, mitigation, monitoring, emergency response, river patrol, private boater check-ins and associated costs. The fees have not changed since 1998.
“Funds from this proposed increase will allow the park to better cover the expenses needed to protect the Colorado River corridor and mitigate and restore the corridor after recreational use,” Dana Sullivan, River Operations Chief, said on the NPS website. As expected, the news has roiled the private boater community like the canyon’s infamous rapids themselves. Some boaters express concern that the increase will price out regular boaters. “It’s already hard to get a permit and then foot the bill for some of these trips,” Kestrel Kunz, protection director of the Southern Rockies Program at American Whitewater, told SFGATE.
Kunz said while her organization does not directly oppose the increase, it raises many questions. Private boating comes in at a lower entry point than commercial trips, which can run $5,000 - $8,000, she said. “That has allowed more types of people of different economic backgrounds to experience what is truly the trip of a lifetime,” she said.
Kunz also pointed out that families will suffer the brunt. “All of a sudden that’s $1,200 or $1,500 of an increase, when originally, it was going to be a couple of hundred dollars, and that’s just for the fee to the park,” she said.
However, at least one prominent group, the Grand Canyon Private Boaters’ Association, is onboard with the increase. “Obviously, we’re not happy about $220 per person increase but realize the necessity of funding the park’s operation,” John Vrymoed, president of the association, said in a statement provided to SFGATE. He pointed out that spread over 16 days – the typical length of a Grand trip – the increase comes to about $14 a day.
NPS is soliciting public comment through Feb. 15. You can put in your 2 centavos (or more) at: tinyurl.com/yckddccc. If approved, the new fees would go into effect March 1, 2025.
opinion
LaVidaLocal
Chairlift chat
Nothing kills the powder day vibes faster than a bad chairlift companion.
• The SnowSnob: You could be looking at a gorgeous bluebird day with 10 inches of untouched, fluffy pow, free refills on the horizon, and this chairlift seatmate couldn’t be less impressed. Honestly, they think it’s cute that you’re excited about this little “flurry0”. Last winter, they skied Niseko in Hokkaido and it snowed 27 feet every single day, but that’s par for the course in Japan. No matter the conditions, the SnowSnob has seen better.
• The Polar Opposites: This one’s a double whammy. You’re squished between a guy who’s a walking Arc’teryx ad and a man with a beard that goes to his knees, gas station sunglasses and wooden skis old enough to be hung as decoration over a cabin fireplace. They have diametrically opposing beliefs about the need for helmets and want you to moderate their squabble.
• The Drunk Dad: Since stopping off for an 11 a.m. beer break at the Powderhouse, this man has seen at least a dozen Montucky Cold Snacks, but what he hasn’t seen in a while is his wife or kid. Don’t worry though – his wife’s had two whole ski lessons and their kid is 5 years old. Practically an adult! Or wait. Is he six? Whatever. Remembering their kid’s age is Mom’s job, just like it’s her job to be the only parent on babysitting duty all day. No friends (or family) on a powder day, right?!
• The Bar Slammer: Your butt is barely in the seat before this person decides to drop the bar on your head, zero warning. Good thing you’re on the pro-helmet side of things. In fact, this person loves the bar so much, they typically tend to wait until the absolute last second to lift it back up, causing you and everyone else to scramble to get off the lift. Enjoy going through the rest of your day with a Grade 2 concussion and remember: safety first!
chair ahead of you has been ripping fat bowls the entire ride, their smoke drifting directly back into your face, and now you’re high as a kite. Hey, at least your head feels a little better, right?
• The Litter: Any chance you had of ending the day without a violent migraine vanishes the moment you get squished onto a lift with five tiny ski racers. These kids talk as fast as they ski, which is to say at Mach speed, and their coach is nowhere to be seen. In the seven minutes it takes to get from the base to the top of the mountain, they imprint on you. You’re their mother now.
• The Miffed Mom: Maybe you’d like to take care of her kid for a few hours? She’s seen how good you are with children. Ha ha, just kidding! It’s just that her husband ditched her with their 5½-year-old this morning and has been completely MIA ever since, but she’s not mad. Unrelated question: did your parents get divorced and, if so, how did it affect you mentally as a child?
• The Influencer: Give this person a wide berth because whether they’re on the slopes or on the chair, they’re gonna be swinging around a GoProMaxInsta360SelfieStick with a 6-foot wingspan. Their inability to get down the mountain safely is irrelevant because their goal is to produce “content,” which generally means standing in the middle of the run, snapping pics of their ’fit until it’s time to head to the base for après bevvies. The only thing bigger than their need for attention is their wildly impractical fox fur cossack hat. A few of the hairs will inevitably fly into your mouth.
• The DJ: What you really need toward the end of a long day on the slopes is some peace and quiet, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find either of those riding alongside someone with a JBL speaker. They love to share their highly refined musical palette with the world, yet somehow this person exclusively manages to play songs you hate. It’s always “My Humps” and Imagine Dragons, never “Freebird.”
• The Contact High: Finally! Four runs in, you’ve hit the jackpot: a chair all to yourself. Time to sit back, relax and enjoy the zen of solitude. The sun is shining on you like a warm hug. Snow falls like glitter confetti from the sky. Birds chirp to the tune of Lipps Inc.’s “Funkytown.” This day is perfect! A little too perfect … You grow suspicious. That’s when you realize the person on the
Thumbin’It
After six years, the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche reached an agreement to air games on Comcast, which began this week. Does anyone even have Comcast anymore? We don’t know, but we guess this is good news for sports fans somewhere.
Beyoncé finally got her Album of the Year Grammy for “Cowboy Carter” – given to her by T. Swift no less. She was one of many women who slayed at this year’s awards. All the single (and married) ladies, put your hands up …
• The Kevin McCallister: You’ve reached your “two more skip the last” lap of the day. Thankfully only one (mercifully quiet) kid is on the chairlift with you. Except, hmm, they seem a little young to be riding the lift alone ... How old could they be? Five, maybe six? That’s when the kid turns to you with a big, missing-front-tooth smile and says, “Can you help me find my mom and dad? I’m lost.”
– Addyson Santese
SignoftheDownfall:
Early morning, heavily armed ICE raids of immigrant communities in Denver have begun. This doesn’t sound so “great.” (And we thought the FBI was being dismantled, anyway.)
It was 65 degrees this week and the San Miguel-Dolores-Animas-San Juan basin is at 67% of the 30-year median heading into February. Sure, we knew we were overdue for a bad snow year, but this also isn’t so great.
Is your “check liver” light on? Ours, too. But not to worry, Snowdown is over for another year. A good time was had by all, as far as we remember.
Elon Musk. If we see his face or hear his name one more time, we’re going to throw up. Can someone please make him go away?
OnlyFarts
25-year-old Rhiannon Evans, of Wales, was convicted last month for sending six videos of herself farting to her boyfriend’s ex. Butt in her defense, she was drunk all six times. This was the UK’s first recorded case of “cyber fart harassment,” so the magistrate wasn’t sure how to punish Evans for reeking havoc, but ultimately, Evans was forced to attend 15 rehabilitation sessions, abstain from drinking for 60 days and avoid contact with her boyfriend’s ex for two years. Evans was also slapped with a $350 fine, which is super European, because if this had happened here in the states, Evans’ fart videos would’ve gone viral and made her rich.
Just weird enough
The quirky, kitschy and beautifully morbid allure of the Salton Sea
by Dennis Hinkamp
Fascinating and fetid, the Salton Sea in southern California lures me back, every year. Driving south from Utah, I take bits of historic Highway 66 and then skirt Joshua Tree National Park to cruise through little known Box Canyon to Mecca, Calif. When the landscape opens up, I see the beautiful wreck of the Salton Sea, created by the collision of geology and bad luck.
The sea occupies a much smaller footprint of what used to be Lake Cahuilla, which disappeared in the late 1500s. Then, in a wild spring runoff in 1905, the Colorado River blew out a diversion dam, and for the next three years, the mighty Colorado drained into the Salton Sink. Agriculture runoff replenished the shallow lake over the following decades, though recently lined canals in the Imperial Valley have resulted in diminished flows.
If the lake were to completely dry up, there would be a horror to behold. While at shrinking Lake Mead a few gangster cadavers showed up in the mud, the Salton Sea contains crashed planes and practice bombs, the targets simulations during the 1940s for the real atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
The lake is bracketed by opulent Palm Springs to the north and the arty squalor of Slab City to the south, home to about 150 full-time residents but temporary home to as many as 4,000 in the winter. In between, there are hot springs RV resorts, date palm groves, geothermal energy plants and the town of Bombay Beach sitting atop the San Andreas fault.
Is the diminished sea worth saving? It’s too late to ask the question because, like the Great Salt Lake, the cost of not saving it is likely higher than the rescue. Like many invasive species around the West, there is no easy way to get rid of it. Yet most of its fish are already dead and migrating birds have little to eat.
Dust is the issue, and most conservation programs attempt to mitigate dust
The 1950s and ’60s brought out the excesses of post-war revelers to the Salton Sea. You can see the salt-encrusted remains of former resorts and second homes of the Los Angeles fancy people. You can imagine the ghosts of boat races and cocktails.
Those folks even named the local wildlife refuge after swinging Sonny Bono, but what came next was toxic salinity and decay as less water came in and the water that remained increased in salinity.
Still, the sea persists. Its salt-encrusted shores circle about 340 square miles of sea. A silo-full of conspiracy theories features the Salton Sea: The military may have accidentally dropped a real bomb that did not explode. The bomb might even be under the water along with hundreds of other dummy bombs and fallen planes. Bodies may still sit in the planes. We know for certain that Slab City is what’s left of a decommissioned military base built about 70 years ago.
Most of the people I meet around the lake seem happy. The place brings pleasure to pre-apocalyptic people like me and those creating outsider art on the actual beach near Bombay Beach. Thousands of Canadians migrate there each winter, because the highest temperatures rarely top 80 degrees.
I look forward to my week at the hopefully named Fountain of Youth Spa RV Resort. I joke that I have been coming there since 1906, so it must be working.
It attracts so many Canadians that the resort hosts U.S. vs. Canada Games featuring geezer sports of pickleball, horseshoes, bocce and karaoke. Poutine and box wine flow freely, and people sometimes stay up into the double-digit hours of the evening.
The Salton Sea will likely remain a curiosity and hiding place for the weird until some real monster beneath the sea emerges, which could be a rush to start mining lithium made by the sea.
On the other hand, the San Andreas fault might just swallow the whole thing in one glorious gulp. Meanwhile, it’s my refuge, my winter solace away from anxious headlines and just strange enough to be hospitable.
Dennis Hinkamp is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, the independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He writes in Utah. ■
Hay bales near Bombay Beach and Salton City are a project meant to reduce dust and save bird habitat. At first glance, they look like an art project./ Photo by Dennis Hinkamp.
Speak up for wildlife
Although Proposition 127 to ban trophy hunting of mountain lions and trapping bobcats was not passed in November, many people spoke at the January meeting of CPW in support of the two commissioners who are being sued by Safari Club for speaking in favor of Proposition 127. The issue was raised that trophy hunting of mountain lions where dogs chase a mountain lion up a tree and then the guide (who can be paid up to $8,000) waits till the “hunter” gets there to shoot the cat is against CPW guidelines of fair chase. Trophy hunting taking 47% females is also against CPW guidelines.
Scientists state that mountain lions self-regulate their populations and that trophy hunting increases conflict with livestock since mature, experienced lions are killed leaving immature inexperienced lions. Mountain lions also help reduce chronic wasting disease.
Hunting mountain lions in California was banned 52 years ago, and the reasons given should also ban hunting of mountain lions here. If there are conflicts, CPW still can use lethal measures where needed. Unlimited numbers of bobcats can be trapped in Colorado and then strangled or bludgeoned so their fur can be sold in Russia and China. I find this abhorrent. I routinely would see bobcats and evidence of mountain lions in the national parks where I worked, which was a joy.
Both mountain lions and bobcats have essential roles in our ecosystems and deserve respect to go about their lives. Please educate yourselves at Catsarenttro phies.com, help educate others and speak at CPW meetings. Be an agent of change. The next one is in the spring in Cortez.
Regarding wolves, please ask your congressperson to reject Rep. Lauren Boebert’s bill to delist wolves and to reject Trump’s delisting of wolves. Also ask to outlaw the killing of wolves in barbaric ways such as running them down with snowmobiles, dynamiting dens, snares, etc. as in Wyoming and Montana. Speak up for wildlife.
–
Margaret Mayer, conservation lead, SW Sierra Club, Durango
Fighting fires and fixing forests
A bipartisan bill intended to manage and improve forests on federal land, increase resilience to wildfires and boost forest restoration projects, H.R. 471 Fix Our Forests Act, was passed recently in the House with a vote of 279 to 141. It has now moved on to the Senate.
The bill supports reducing community wildfire risks, carrying out forest restoration and stewardship activities (including watershed protection and restoration), conducting biochar demonstration projects, advancing technologies to address forest wildfires, and assisting wildland firefighters and their families.
Healthy forests contribute to our community
by providing essential resources like clean water, air purification, food sources, recreation opportunities and by regulating climate, thus impacting the overall health and economic well-being of the people living within that area. They also serve as important habitats for wildlife and can even improve our mental health through access to nature.
Thank you to Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Grand Junction, for supporting and co-sponsoring this vital legislation, especially in our area, which is vulnerable from more frequent heat and drought events.
– Susan Atkinson, Durango
Some alternative news voices
We are living in an era where it is commonplace to be told and to widely believe that we are a divided populace living in a polarized political environment. There is surely some truth in that. And yet, consider this list of some of the things on which there are clear majorities of opinion in America, most of which were never acknowledged let alone debated in the recent election.
Sixty percent of Americans say that the federal government must ensure health care for all citizens. Twothirds are deeply concerned about climate change. Sixty percent favor stricter gun laws; 62% favor higher taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations; 69% do not have confidence they are receiving reliable information from the media; and 75% do not trust the gov-
ernment “to do what is right.”
A significant majority believe that America’s “endless wars” are eroding governmental ability to provide essential infrastructure and social services here at home. Increasing numbers of Americans believe that the media is too often acting as a mouthpiece for the government as opposed to doing critical analysis and commentary of the issues.
George Orwell said that journalism is printing what the government doesn’t want you to know: everything else is just public relations.
Fortunately, we now live in a time where alternative news outlets are widely accessible to those wishing to avail themselves of it. Because I believe we are being lied to and misled on many fronts, I include the following list of news sources and analysts who you will not hear even on PBS or NPR let alone CNN, MSNBC, Fox, the NY Times, etc. Here is a list of people, experts in their field, easily available on YouTube, where I think you will find a closer version of truth than in the mainstream media. You will not generally be able to hear from these individuals on the mainstream media. They are unofficially banned, their voices not allowed:
• Lawrence Wilkerson (retired Army colonel, chief of staff to Colin Powell when he was Secretary of State, Professor of Government and Public Policy);
• Jeffrey Sachs (developmental economist);
• Scott Ritter (former Marine, U.N. weapons inspector, military analyst);
• Larry Johnson (former CIA intel analyst);
• Ray McGovern (former CIA);
• Matt Hoh (former Marine, former State Depart-
ment analyst);
• Chas Freeman (former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, State Department diplomat, Assistant Secretary of Defense, translator for Richard Nixon when he negotiated opening relations with China);
• Alastair Crooke (former MI6 British intelligence officer);
• Nima Alkhorshid (journalist and podcaster host for many of these individuals);
• Richard Wolff (economist);
• Andrew Napolitano (former federal judge, former Fox News host, podcaster);
• John Mearsheimer (political scientist, geopolitical analyst);
• Chris Hedges (journalist, war correspondent)
– Brian Clark, Durango
Landing a man in a room
On March 17, 1930, construction began on the Empire State Building. On May 1, 1931, one year and 45 days later, the building was completed and tenants moved in.
On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy vowed to Congress that before the end of the decade, the United States would land a man on the moon and return him safely to the Earth. Eight years later, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong did the moonwalk and returned to Earth soon after.
In 2014, the Durango City Council approved future hotels on East 2nd Avenue across from Gazpacho. Excavation didn’t begin until 2019. In 2025, the hotel is
unfinished and shabby. With 200 rooms and 201 parking spaces, future staff, if not deported, will have to share one space or park on 3rd Avenue.
Walking past the continuing construction, I hear mostly Spanish voices. In light of recent short-sighted executive orders, I wonder if the hotel will ever be finished. Perhaps some recently pardoned MAGAs, accomplished scalers of Capitol walls and smashers of windows, would step up and be willing to climb the scaffolding, install windows and do something productive in their lives.
Too late to match the Empire State Building schedule, but if one pretends that the start of excavation is the real beginning of the project, the hotels have one more year to put Apollo to shame and “land a Texan in the Hampton Inn and return him safely to Earth.”
– Rhys Shrock,
Durango
Solutions to plastic problem
Thank you, Telegraph, for publishing Karen Mockler’s “Writers on the Range” piece about plastics (Jan. 23, 225.) In the piece, Mockler writes: “Like a growing number of folks, I’ve concluded that instead of recycling.”
We must return all plastic packaging to merchants, businesses and stores peddling this pollution.
At WeFill, located in Durango, we can use one container over and over for years. We can use laundry strips – 30 loads are plastic-free and the size of a slice of bread.
–
Susan Hutzler, Durango
TheLandDesk
Trade war fallout
Unpacking the consequences of Trump’s tariffs, near and far
by Jonathan P. Thompson
Iused to live in Bulgaria, and one of the things that always struck me was the ubiquity of American whiskey there. Bars often sported big Jack Daniel’s signs, and most stores sold Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam and even Bulleit Bourbon. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, given the globalized market, but I did find it notable that such a distinctly American product took up so much shelf space in a Bulgarian market.
Donald Trump’s tariff frenzy, however, could threaten the European thirst for American booze. Last week Trump slapped sizable tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China, and has threatened to do so on the European Union, as well. So far, Mexico and Canada have retaliated with their own tariffs on U.S. imports, and the EU will surely follow suit if provoked. That will mean Bulgarians will have to pay a lot more for that good ol’ Kentucky Bourbon than for Rakia, their national, highoctane spirit.
Meanwhile, Americans will pay more for tequila, avocados, tomatoes, cars and lumber. Some parts of the country will see gasoline prices increase, as well. To what end? Who the hell knows? It seems even the Trump administration is confused, blindly lobbing trade-warheads at some of our closest allies to achieve vague political ends without considering the consequences.
Tariffs can serve a purpose. They are a form of protectionism – that is, they can protect American industry – that were once used to push back on the rising tide of globalism. Targeted tariffs can help U.S. companies by slapping a tax on imported goods so they are no longer cheaper than domestic ones. Retailers are then more likely to purchase domestic goods, thereby supporting U.S. manufacturers.
Let’s say, for example, that a Chinese company starts selling electric vehicles in the U.S. market. Because China has low labor costs and many companies are owned by or subsidized by the government, they can sell those cars far cheaper than U.S. manufacturers, cutting into Tesla’s market share (or forcing Tesla to lower its prices to compete). A
tariff on those vehicles would increase the price Americans pay for it, thereby making Teslas cost-competitive once again. Freeze the frame there, and it would appear that tariffs are good for Tesla, for the people who work there, and for American manufacturing – albeit not so great for consumers looking for an affordable EV.
Yet this false sense of triumph relies on a simplistic worldview, in which shipping containers full of imported products flood American ports and then return empty to their points of origin. That’s not the case. In fact, goods move back and forth across a complex – sometimes illogical – global web. Chinese consumers, for example, buy a lot of Teslas: More than 650,000 last year. If China retaliates and puts a similar tariff on American products, increasing the
cost there for Teslas, it will inevitably hurt the company’s sales.
The U.S. imports 8 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products each day, then turns around and exports more than 10 million barrels of the same stuff overseas. American producers ship seafood to China for processing, and then it’s sent back to American consumers in the form of fish sticks and other products. The U.S. imports huge amounts of produce from Mexico, but exports 19 million metric tons of corn to Mexico each year. Tug on one strand of the web, and it inevitably reverberates in unforeseen ways, ultimately hurting both U.S. suppliers and consumers.
Trump seems to think he can replace Canadian crude by turning some valve and rerouting Permian Basin oil to Midwest and Rocky Mountain refineries. As
is often the case, Trump fails to understand the way things work. Many U.S. refineries, particularly in the Midwest, are set up to process heavy (high density), sour (high sulfur) crude oil, like the kind that comes from Canada’s tar sands, rather than the light, sweet crude emanating from the Permian Basin. Also, the pipeline system is set up to bring crude from Canada to those U.S. refineries, meaning they can’t just decide to shift over to U.S. crude just because Trump doesn’t like Justin Trudeau. Even if targeted countries don’t retaliate, U.S. consumers still pay more in the form of higher prices. That means people will buy fewer of those goods, and that eventually hurts U.S. distributors, transporters and retailers. A tariff on imported solar panels, for example, is good for the nascent domestic PV
Potash evaporation ponds near the Colorado River downstream from Moab, Utah. Tariffs on Canada – which supplies more than 75% of the potash used in the United States – could ultimately spur more potash mining on public lands in Utah and Arizona. / Source: Google Earth.
manufacturing industry. But it ups prices for folks who want to put solar panels on their roof or build utility-scale arrays, and for the companies that sell and install those panels.
In some cases, the negative effects ripple even farther down the supply chain. Tariffs on imported clothing, for example, can hit U.S. cotton farmers, since many “Made in China” shirts are woven from American cotton – the U.S. ships $1.5 billion worth of cotton each year to China, and another $4 billion to other overseas markets. So not only will your clothes cost more, but Arizona cotton farmers will lose sales.
The tariffs could even trickle down to the West’s public lands. U.S. farmers rely on potash imports from Canada, and utilities get a lot of reactor fuel from Canada. The tariffs will up prices, ultimately leading to higher food and electricity prices, but also making domestic uranium and potash production more profitable. And that will spur more mining in potash and uranium-rich areas such as southeastern Utah’s Paradox formation.
Democrats are being somewhat disingenuous when they condemn tariffs outright, just because they are being pushed by Trump. Tariffs are a tool that, if wielded properly and precisely, can yield positive outcomes. But using them
as a bludgeon-like weapon to punish our most important trading partners for things that are out of their control will only harm American consumers and businesses. Which is a bit ironic since many people voted for Trump, because he would lower grocery prices.
For Trump, however, that’s beside the point. He values political theater over his constituents’ wellbeing. Just days after imposing the tariffs he delayed the ones on Canada and Mexico, because they agreed to send troops to their respective borders to try to stop the flow of fentanyl and undocumented migrants. Thing is, Mexico did exactly the same thing in 2019 and 2021 when Biden was president, without the threat of tariffs.
Some numbers to consider:
• Trump’s tariffs, so far, are 25% on all imports from Canada and Mexico, except for Canadian energy products, which will get a 10% tariff. Both countries have levied retaliatory tariffs on American products. Imports from China will be hit with a 10% tariff; that country’s leaders have vowed retaliatory measures but haven’t been specific.
• 156 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum were imported to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico in November 2024. U.S. refiners and consumers will now pay at least 10% more for these
products, which will likely ripple out to other goods. The good news is higher prices tend to dampen demand, meaning people will drive less, pollute less and look to purchase more efficient cars.
• 68 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum from the U.S. were exported to Canada and Mexico in November 2024. These will also be hit with tariffs from the respective countries.
• 5.1 million barrels of Canada crude were processed at the Denver-area Suncor facility, Colorado’s only petroleum refinery, in 2023.
• 178 billion cubic feet of U.S. natural gas was exported to Mexico in November of last year. Retaliatory tariffs from Mexico would make this more expensive for consumers there, driving them to import from elsewhere and hurting U.S. natural gas drillers, who are already struggling.
• $45.38 billion in agricultural products were imported into the U.S. from Mexico in 2023, which includes 5 million metric tons of avocados, 1.8 million metric tons of tomatoes, 3.7 million metric tons of beer, and 248 million metric tons of tequila. Prices on these goods will increase by 25%, potentially harming Mexico’s economy and driving more people to migrate northward.
• $28.38 billion in U.S. agricultural
products were exported to Mexico in 2023, which includes 18.6 million tons of corn, 4.77 million tons of soybeans, and 1.1 million tons of pork products.
• $886 million in U.S. distilled spirits were exported to the E.U. in 2023.
• 25% of U.S. consumed softwood lumber is imported from Canada. The tariffs, layered atop existing import duties, will likely increase already steep building costs in the United States. That will make it even more expensive to rebuild the thousands of homes destroyed in the L.A. fires. But it also may push builders to use different, less flammable materials.
• 10.5 million tons of potash was from Canada in 2023, making up about 89% of all potash imports. U.S. mines produce just 400,000 metric tons per year.
• 27% of uranium used in the U.S. in 2023 was imported from Canada. This is likely to rise as the ban on uranium imports from Russia takes effect.
Data sources: Energy Information Administration, World Bank, USGS, USDA Foreign Agriculture Service, International Trade Administration.
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 ■
LocalNews
Pole power
Durango Pole Dance offers safe space for fitness, fun and being youself
by Missy Votel
Forget everything you’ve ever known – or thought you’ve known – about pole dancing: the seedy nightclub, the tawdry music, Tony Soprano and anything else fed to you by Hollywood.
Pole dancing 2.0 has entered the fitness and dance mainstream – there is even an annual “PoleCon” for pole dancing aficionados – and it has now come to Durango. (Technically we should say “returned to Durango.” There was a pole dancing studio here, Eden Pole Dancing, owned by Eve Pressler, in the early 2000s.)
Durango Pole Dance, which opened in mid-January at 3600 Main Ave., is owned by Maddalena Tumminaro and Desiree Trujillo. Tumminaro has pole danced for about five years, and Trujillo, who lives in Dolores, has taught classes in the area for years with her portable poles (yes, there is such a thing.) Prior to opening the studio, Tumminaro said she would dance at home or invite fellow pole dancers over for a pole-dancing party. But the time finally came to make the leap to an official studio.
“I think Durango’s ready now,” said Tumminaro, who worked as a chef for 27 years before starting DPD. “We just decided we didn’t want to cart poles around anymore and that Durango needed a dedicated pole space. It’s kind of gutsy, but I think it’s what we needed to really build the pole community.”
Along with a handful of pole instructors – many of whom have dance backgrounds and/or are members of the local acrobatic troupe San Juan Circus (including one man) – Tumminaro and Trujillo are seeking to provide a safe space for, as Tumminaro puts it, “dancing around in your underwear.”
Of course, she is being cheeky (no pun intended), as modern pole dancing is more than that. Much more. It’s a space to be vulnerable, take risks, reach goals and, if you so wish, let that freak flag fly. And as for the underwear part, Tumminaro said it is not done so much out of the need to be sexy – although that is perfectly fine –but that bare skin just sticks better to the slippery poles for doing tricks.
“You are dancing around in not a lot of clothes and already in a pretty vulner-
able space,” she said. “It’s a chance to connect with parts of yourself that you don’t get to connect with. You can play around with being sensual in front of other people in a safe space.”
Tumminaro, who moved to Durango 12 years ago but is originally from the Bay Area, said she turned to pole dancing during a tough time in her life. Although a self-confessed fitness buff and outdoors enthusiast (“I do all the things”), she did not have a dance background. However, after experiencing the challenge of her first pole class, she was hooked.
“I’d been through some hard times and started using dance as medicine, and that’s when I found pole dancing,” she said. “Pole dancing is a really wonderful motivational force in my life. It’s a source of a lot of emotional healing but strength, too.”
When she says “strength,” she is referring to not only mental strength but physical strength. See, most of those tricks, like inversions, high swings, and (gracefully) scaling the 14-foot pole, requires the strength of an acrobatics goddess.
“It is the hardest sport ever,” said Tumminaro. “You are really using your whole body. It’s a workout for sure.”
But don’t worry if you’re not Simone Biles. According to Tumminaro, with pole dancing, “everyone sucks in the beginning,” unlike, say, pickleball (just kidding! Don’t come after me with your paddles).
“Nobody’s good at it at first,” she said. “But for some reason, a lot of beginning pole dancers – just like I was – are like ‘I want that. I want to climb to the top of that pole,’ or whatever their goal is.”
Which is where the empowerment comes in. “It’s such a wonderful feeling when you say, ‘How do I do that?’ And you train and train and train and it becomes effortless, or almost effortless,” she said. “It’s empowering.”
And pole dancing is not just for the young, sporty types, she said. “I am the demographic of most pole dancers,” she said, “in my 40s, a mom and definitely wanting to get strength back.”
In fact, she said it’s especially great for women in their “menopausal years,” since it incorporates body weight work and short bursts of power. “It fuels me to be able to do cool sh*t with my body in
my 40s,” she said. “Sometimes I want to feel sexy, but sometimes I just want to feel the music, feel my strength.”
And although pole dancers are predominantly women, she said Durango Pole Dance welcomes all body types, shapes, ages and genders. “Whether you want to take it to fitness heights or play around low on the pole and be sensual, there’s something for everyone,” she said.
There are even some stilettos for those who want an even uh, taller, challenge, although Tumminaro said she prefers to dance barefoot. “They are fun, and I do feel dope and sexy when I’m wearing them, but I dance way better without them,” she confessed.
In keeping with the community spirit, in addition to daily classes for all levels and occasions, Durango Pole Dance also offers personal cubbies for members, a fridge stocked with coconut water, tea and a min thrift store of pole dancing
wear. There is even a sitting area with velvet couches, a bowl of mandarin oranges and, of course, chocolates.
Tumminaro and Trujillo really want the space to reflect the uniqueness of the local pole dance community – and, hopefully, watch that community grow.
“We feel really good about it, the people that are coming to the classes,” said Tumminaro.
And down the road, the studio has plans to bring in instructors from Seattle and Portland to help the instructors hone their skills even more.
“We are really bringing in a lot of talent to train the teachers,” she said.
But most of all, it’s about having fun.
“It’s a space to come together,” Tumminaro said. “It’s way funner to dance together. It really amplifies the whole experience. This fitness community is the funnest; dancing around in your underwear with people being silly.” ■
Durango Pole Dance owners Maddalena Tumminaro, left, and Desiree Trujillo pose inside the studio. DPD opened in mid-January at 3600 Main Ave. and offers classes for all abilities./Photo courtesy Kyla Jenkinson, Photo Divine
MurderInk
Broken in Brooklyn
A must-read from the best author you’ve probably never
by Jeffrey Mannix
William Boyle is the author of eight books set in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The population of Brooklyn hovers around 3 million, as compared with the resident population of Manhattan at around 2 million and The Bronx at a million and a half. The three are the most populated boroughs of New York City and home to concentrations of immigrants from everywhere in the world.
Boyle’s eighth book is named after his Brooklyn street in the southwestern corner of Long Island: Saint of the Narrows Street. It’s a screwy title and an unfortunate dust jacket, but it’s a treasure of a book written by the doyen of American crime fiction.
I’ll go out on a limb and say that William Boyle may well be the most skilled, nuanced and underappreciated American novelist working today. No matter how highly esteemed he is by those who’ve been exposed to his flawless presentations and many awards, he remains in the shadow of marquee nobility.
I’ll also confess that I have been brooding over just how to present Boyle’s “Saint of the Narrows Street” to “Murder Ink” readers.
I was stunned by the story of 28-year-old Risa Taverna and her unfortunate choice of husband, Sav Franzone, their infant son, Fab, and Risa’s younger sister, Giulia. They illustrate how small dreams can turn into large problems, and good people can get trapped in poverty, hopelessness and violence. They seem to find themselves on an emotional and legal ledge with abominable exits that will change who they are and why they pray to an unhearing God. Bad things happen to good people, and minds are ruined and futures obliterated for want of simple comforts and basic honor.
“Saint of the Narrows Street” is the story of Brooklyn, and Brooklyn has history, diversity and personality. And Brooklyn has rules of bad behavior bred in the brownstones. I found myself stunned by the perfect confluence of dread and hope. I sat for hours with my fingers hovering over the keyboard, not knowing what to say about my view of Brooklyn through the eyes of William Doyle.
You must read this book, even if it’s the first or last book you read, in its free-verse poetry in narrative form. You will never forget your hours in Gravesend,
the oldest Brooklyn neighborhood, settled by the English in 1645. The book begins in Risa’s kitchen, where Giulia has come to com- fort her sister over Sav’s open courting of Sandra Carbonari and the drunken battering Risa is subject to when Sav gets home from the bars each night.
Without plot-spoil ing, Boyle’s book be gins with Sav’s sloppy drunken entrance with a handgun he bought from a guy at the bar. He boast fully points the gun at Risa, tells her what a piss-poor woman she is, then points the pistol at 3-month-old Fab and pulls the trigger on an empty cylinder. Next, Sav announces that he and Sandra are leaving Brooklyn the next day for a life to gether in a better place where he’s not always looking over his shoulder for the bookie to whom he owes a staggering few hundred thousand.
Sav throws a handful of damp, wrinkled hundreds on the vinyl kitchen table, tells Risa he never wanted the pest of a kid anyway, pulls his macho gun from his waistband and slaps it on the table, daring Risa to shoot him. He laughs when Risa recoils and begs him to leave. Sav sneers then staggers into the closet to ran-
One-stop Valentine’s Sh Shopppping
Amazing
sack some of his clothes for his getaway and comes back to find his gun missing. He demands to know where it is. Giulia tells him she threw it down the sewer outside. Sav points out that she hadn’t the time, then begins to paw clumsily at her chest and nuzzles her neck. Risa is so enraged she takes hold of a cast iron skillet from the stove, comes up behind Sav and swings it at the side of his head making an awful, echoey thud that stuns Sav into falling backwards, smacking his head on the corner of the table, making an indentation on his temple and falling onto his back with blood streaming across the linoleum as if a faucet had been opened. What to do now? Calling the police is their first thought, their second is that the police are always a source of trouble in Gravesend. But these two are on an upper floor of a tenement building. I’ll leave you with this
Henry Wise, author of “Holy City,” is quoted in the book’s front few pages saying, “William Boyle’s ‘Saint of the Narrows Street’ is incisive, beautiful, brutal – a book that examines what happens in a small world when big secrets are held down. Set in a neighborhood you will smell and feel as if it’s your own, this novel presents a cast of characters you’ll swear you’ve known or known about for years, and yet they’ll find a way to surprise you. Death echoes, rumors kill and the living are cursed on ‘Saint of the Narrows Street.’”
Buy this book; you’ll be impoverished if you don’t. And ask Maria’s Bookshop for their generous 15% “Murder Ink” discount. ■
get 10% off Book your private party/event for the 2025
Thursday06
Spanish Conversation Hour, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
“Outdoor First Aid Basics,” taught by City Parks Ranger Tosh Black, week one of two-week class, 5:306:30 p.m., Durango Rec Center, 2700 Main Ave.
Bluegrass Jam, 6 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
Tim Sullivan plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Andrew Schuhmann plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Trivia Night, 6:30-9 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center, 1333 Camino del Rio
Ailey II: The Next Generation of Dance, 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC
Drag Trivia Night hosted by Aria PettyOne, 7:309:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Open Mic Night, 8-11 p.m., The Tangled Horn, 275 E. 8th Ave.
Friday07
First Friday Art Crawl, 4-7 p.m., downtown Durango
“The Source is Within You” exhibit by Robin Jones, 5-7 p.m., Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave, unit B
“Voices Inside My Head” premiere party and augmented-reality art exhibit, 5-7 p.m., Create Art & Tea, 1015 Main Ave.
“Vintage Visions” artwork by Erin Clyne, opening reception, 5-8 p.m., The Recess Gallery at Studio &, 1027 Main Ave.
Deb Rogers Pottery Clay Ring Dish Demonstration, 5:30 p.m., The Smiley ArtRoom Collective, 1309 E 3rd Ave.
Larry Carver and friends play, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Dustin Burley plays, 6-9:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Oscar-nominated film “Sing Sing,” 7 p.m., Sunflower Theatre, Cortez, sunflowertheatre.org.
The Roast of Bailey Carlson, 7 p.m., EsoTerra, 558 Main Ave.
“What the Hell Happened in San Francisco” dance theater performance by Malinda LaVelle and Emmaly Wiederholt, 7 p.m., The Light Box at Stillwater Music, 1316 Main Ave., Ste. C
“Swing State,” presented by Merely Players, 7 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Helter Smelter plays, 7-10 p.m., Tangled Horn, 275 E. 8th Ave.
Saturday08
“Learn from the Pros Ice Fishing” hosted by Five Rivers Trout Unlimited, 10 a.m., Vallecito Marina, 14772 CR 501
From the Heart Arts & Crafts Fair, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., La Plata County Fairgrounds & Event Center, 2500 Main Ave.
English Conversation Circle, 10-11 a.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Second Saturday Seminar Series honoring Black History Month with composer Joseph C. Phillips, 1 p.m., Animas Museum, 3065 W. 2nd Ave.
Yarn Meetup, 1-3 p.m. Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Snow Science and Social Snowshoe hosted by San Juan Mountains Association and Mountain Studies Institute, 1-3 p.m., Andrews Lake Winter Parking Area
Euchre Night, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.
Karaoke, 6 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
Matt Rupnow plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Joel Racheff plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
“What the Hell Happened in San Francisco” dance theater performance by Malinda LaVelle and Emmaly Wiederholt, 7 p.m., The Light Box at Stillwater Music, 1316 Main Ave., Ste. C
“Swing State,” presented by Merely Players, 7 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Oscar-nominated film “Sing Sing,” 7 p.m., Sunflower Theatre, Cortez, sunflowertheatre.org.
“How to Embarrass Your Immigrant Parents,” Abby Govindan live stand-up comedy, 7-9 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.
Live Music, 8 p.m.-12 midnight, Sky Ute Casino, Ignacio
Sunday09
Irish Jam Session, 12:30-3 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
“Swing State,” presented by Merely Players, 2 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Board Game Sundays, 2 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Peter Miyamoto Artist in Residence piano concert, 3-4 p.m., Fort Lewis College, Roshong Recital Hall
Weekly Peace Vigil & Rally for Gaza & Palestine, every Sunday, 4 p.m., Buckley Park
Funk Jam Sessions presented by Jimmy’s Music & Supply, 5-7 p.m., 11th Street Station, 1101 Main Ave.
Blue Moon Ramblers play, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Charlie Henry plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.
Monday10
Mahjong Mondays hosted by the SW Mahj Club, 5-7:30 p.m., Lola’s Place, 725 E. 2nd Ave.
Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.
Adam Swanson Ragtime plays, 5:30-10:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Comedy Open Mic, 8 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Swing & Brewskies dance lessons, 7-9:30 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.
Tuesday11
Great Decisions “International Cooperation on Climate Change” presented by the League of Women Voters, 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
Cowboy Tuesdays, 12-3 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Durango Independent Film Festival’s 20th Anniversary Beer Release Party, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing World HQ, 225 Girard St.
Community Resources Speaker Series: Smartphone 101, 6-7 p.m., Sunnyside Library, 75 CR 218
Jason Thies plays, 6 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Open Mic Night, 7 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
AskRachel Run for the border, Super Bore and photo opps
Interesting fact: Duolingo boasts more than 83 million monthly active users, and its avatars look more attractive than most dating app photos. Maybe that’s the place to start looking for amore.
Dear Rachel,
Right now, the only thing I have any control over whatsoever is my Duolingo streak: 284 days! It started off as a way to feel good about spending time on my phone. Now I’m wondering if maybe it’s not good preparation for fleeing the country. Everyone is gonna head to Spanish-speaking countries, so I wonder if you have suggestions for any alternative destinations and languages.
– MonoLingo
Dear Speaker-Upper,
Yeah, why learn the language spoken in most every country in the Western hemisphere, one of the globe’s more dominant tongues, with the most options to choose from when you GTFO? Total hipster vibes here, my friend. There is no language that no one’s learned yet. But I might recommend learning the language of resistance, so that you can speak truth to power and make things better right where you stand.
– Owl be watching, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
Are we really going to pretend the world isn’t falling down around us? Not talking pol-
“Swing State,” presented by Merely Players, Feb. 78, 11,13-15, 7 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Wednesday12
Internet Safety for Parents, 5-7 p.m., ELHI Community Center, 115 Ute St., Ignacio
Donny Johnson plays, 5:30-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.
Alpine Bank Full Moon Howler, 6-9 p.m., Durango Nordic Center, 49786 U.S. 550
Open Mic with Leigh Mikell, 7 p.m., EsoTerra Ciderworks, 558 Main Ave.
San Juan Basin Archaeological Society meeting and presentation, 7-8:30 p.m., Fort Lewis College Lyceum Room
Karaoke Roulette, 8 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave.
Writers & Scribblers Writing Group, 6:15-7:45 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
itics, of course. I’m talking the NFL. The rigging of games is getting out of hand. Super Bowl? Try super obvious. I refuse to even use the name of the teams clearly lined up for a repeat. Or the singer whose fans the league is catering to, except to call her Saylor Twift. Who’s with me in a boycott?
Dear Bush League,
– National Facepalm Losers
Great question. Does it count as a boycott if I haven’t watched a full game since the year before the Broncos lost to Seattle? I watched the first minute and a half or so of that game, then when we all realized it was over we spent the rest of the day huddled around the crock pots of party wieners and nacho cheese, from which my GI tract has still not fully recovered. That’s the day I swore off football for good.
– Hut one, hut two, Rachel
Dear Rachel,
What’s the statute of limitations on a profile picture taken by an ex? If the ex is in the picture, it needs to come down as soon as the relationship does. But taken BY the ex has to have some grace period, right? Especially if all your good photos from the last couple years were taken by this person, it wouldn’t be ethical to put up more dated pictures, right? And what about using these pictures on the dating apps?
– Profiles in Courage
Ongoing
“Vintage Visions” artwork by Erin Clyne, thru February, The Recess Gallery at Studio &, 1027 Main Ave.
“Given Time: Sensory Aesthetics of Reclamation,” exhibit exploring Indigenous relationships to land, FLC Center of Southwest Studies. Show runs thru April 24, 2025.
Heartwood Cohousing 4th Friday Potluck, 6:30 p.m., 800 Heartwood Lane, Bayfield, heartwoodcohousing@gmail.com to reserve a tour
Upcoming
Brett Dennen: Night One, Thurs. , Feb. 13, 8-10:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.
Crafternoons Journal Making, Thurs., Feb. 13, 45:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.
“Outdoor First Aid Basics,” taught by City Parks Ranger Tosh Black, week two of two-week class, Thurs., Feb. 13, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Durango Rec Center, 2700 Main Ave.
Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com
Dear Headshot,
You’re due for a photo shoot. Get yourself a haircut and a glam-up. You deserve it. Enlist some hungry photographer who you’re interested in paying well for their work, because artists deserve to be paid. Get a full suite of new photos for all your uses. Location matters, too – why not get these set on whichever tropical beach you’ve decided to move to with your American dollars, while they still have value, and your 10 words of functional Spanish?
– Say queso, Rachel
“Swing State,” presented by Merely Players, Feb.1315, 7 p.m., Merely Underground, 789 Tech Center Dr.
Solas Celtic ensemble, Thurs., Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC
Winter Bike to Work Day, Fri., Feb. 14, 7-9 a.m., Main Avenue in front of Studio &
Valentine’s Day Showdown hockey game fundraiser for girls hockey, Durango Betties face off against the DAYHA Girls U19 Team, Fri., Feb. 14, 5-7:15 p.m., Chapman Hill Ice Rink
Deadline to submit items for “Stuff to Do” is Monday @ noon.
Please include:
• Date and time of event
• Location of event
E-mail your stuff to: calendar@durangotelegraph.com
Feb. 6,
FreeWillAstrology
by Rob Brezsny
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The world’s largest mirror isn’t an actual mirror. It’s Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni salt flat. After rain, a thin layer of water transforms the surface into a perfect reflector that can be used to calibrate observation satellites. In these conditions, it may be almost impossible to tell where the earth begins and the sky ends. I foresee metaphorically similar developments for you in coming weeks. Boundaries between different aspects of your world – professional and personal, spiritual and practical – might blur in interesting ways. A temporary dissolution of the usual limits may offer you surprising insights and unexpected opportunities for realignment. Be alert for clues about how to adjust the way you see things.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): From day to day, glaciers appear static. But they are actually slow-moving rivers of ice that have tremendous creative power. They can make or reshape valleys, moving tons of dirt and rock. They pulverize, grind and topple trees, hills and even mountains. New lakes may emerge in the course of their activity. I invite you to imagine yourself as a glacier in coming months, Taurus. Exult in your steady, transformative power. Notice and keep track of your slow but sure progress. Trust that your persistence will ultimately accomplish wonders and marvels.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In recent weeks, have you stirred up any dynamic fantasies about exotic sanctuaries, faraway places or mercurial wild cards? Have you delivered enticing messages to inspiring beauties, brave freedom-fighters or vibrant networkers? Have you been monitoring the activities of longshots, future helpers or unification adepts who might be useful to you? Finally, have you noticed I’m suggesting that everything important will arise in threes – except when they come in twos, in which case you should hunt for the missing third? PS: When the wild things call to you, respond promptly.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Archaeologists found two 43,000-year-old flutes in Germany. Constructed of mammoth ivory and bird bone, they still produce clear notes with perfect pitch. They were located in a cave that contains ancient examples of figurative art. Some genius way back then regarded art and music as a pleasurable pairing! I propose we make these instruments your power symbols for the coming weeks,. May they inspire you to resuscitate the value of your past
accomplishments. May you call on the help of melodies and memories that still resonate – and that can inspire your future adventures! Your words of power are regeneration, revival and reanimation.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): It’s your unbirthday season – the holiday that’s halfway between your last birthday and your next. During this interlude, you could benefit from clarifying what you don’t want, don’t believe and don’t like. You may generate good fortune by going on a quest to discover rich potentials and possibilities that are hidden. I hope you will be bold enough to scan the frontiers for sources of beauty and truth. During your unbirthday season, you will be wise to gather the rest of the information you will need to make a smart gamble or daring change.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Austrian playwright Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004, and RomanianGerman author Herta Müller earned it in 2009. But garnering the world’s most prestigious award for writers did not provide a big boost to their book sales. In some markets, their famous works are now out of print. In 2025, I hope you Virgos do in your own spheres what they only half-accomplished in theirs. I would love for you to gather more appreciation and attention while simultaneously raising your income. According to my reading of the astrological omens, this is a reasonable expectation.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): By day, Libraborn Forrest Bess (1911–77) worked as a fisherman. By night, he created paintings inspired by symbols that appeared to him in between sleeping and waking. Other influences in his art came from alchemy, the psychological philosophy of Carl Jung, and Indigenous Australian rituals. His life was proof that mystical exploration and mundane work could coexist. I’m hoping he might serve as an inspiration. You are in a phase when you have the power to synergize seemingly opposing aspects of your world. You would be wise to find common ground between practical necessity and spiritual aspiration. Are there ways you can unite your head and heart? Of your need for safety and your longing for adventure?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The first emperor of China arranged for himself to be buried after death with an army of 8,000 soldiers made from terracotta,. Joining the gang below the earth’s surface were 770 horses and 130 chariots. For over 2,000 years, this assemblage was lost and forgotten. But in 1974, farmers found
it accidentally. In this spirit, I am predicting that sometime in the next five months, you will make interesting discoveries while looking for something other than what you find. They won’t be as spectacular as the terracotta army, but I bet they will be fun and life changing.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Author Zora Neale Hurston said, “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” I will adjust that counsel for your use, Sagittarius. According to my astrological analysis, the first half of 2025 will ask questions, and the second half will answer them. For best results, I invite you to gather and polish your best questions in the next five months, carefully defining and refining them. When July begins, tell life you are ready to receive replies to your carefully wrought inquiries.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Hemoglobin is an iron-bearing protein that’s crucial to most life. It enables the transportation of oxygen in the blood. But one species, the icefish of the Antarctic seas, lacks hemoglobin. They evolved other ways to obtain and circulate enough oxygen in the frozen depths, including larger hearts and blood vessels. The system they’ve developed works well. So they are examples of how to adjust to an apparent problem in ways that lead to evolutionary innovations. I suspect you’re now in the midst of your own personal version of a comparable adaptation. Keep up the good work!
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Born under the sign of Aquarius, Clyde Tombaugh discovered the heavenly body known as Pluto in 1930. This was years before he earned advanced degrees in astronomy. His early education was primarily self-directed. The telescopes he used were built from tractor parts and old car components from his father’s farm. During the coming months, I surmise there will be elements of your life resembling Tombaugh’s story. Your intuition and instincts will bring you insights that may seem unearned or premature. (They’re not!) You will garner breakthroughs that seem to be arriving from the future.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): One of the world’s deepest caves is Veryovkina in the nation of Georgia. At its lowest, it’s 7,257 feet down. There are creatures living there that are found nowhere else on Earth. I propose we make it your symbolic power spot for now. In my astrological opinion, you will be wise to dive further into the unknown depths than you have in quite some time. Fascinating mysteries and useful secrets await you. Your motto: “Go deeper and deeper and deeper.”
Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.
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Announcements
Applications for Advanced Standing
MSW Program Students with a bachelor’s degree in social work (BSW) are eligible for a one-year Masters of Social Work program through the University of Denver. The program starts summer 2025 and classes are taught in Durango. Stipends for child welfare, integrated behavioral health care are available. Native American tuition support to eligible students is also available. For more info contact Janelle.Doughty@du.edu or www.du. edu/socialwork.
Notice of Public Sale
To enforce self-service storage facility lien. “Personal Property,” stored at Unit C12 of The Animas Mini Storage at 20995 Highway 160, Durango, CO 81301, described as: Misc housekeeping supplies, which are stored under a Rental Agreement between The Animas Mini Storage and Irvin Lopez, will be sold to the highest cash bidder unless all rents and fees are paid in full prior to the auction. Date and time of sale: February 22, 2025, at 10:30 AM. Terms of sale: cash. Place of sale: The Animas Mini Storage, 20995 Highway 160, Durango, CO. All bidders must present a valid state-issued picture ID to place bids .
HelpWanted
The Conservation Lands Foundation (CLF) is seeking a Development Associate to join its dynamic fundraising team. CLF is a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Durango, Colorado, with
team members nationwide. Founded in 2007, CLF operates on the principle that our public lands are best protected when supported by a national network of local advocates working collaboratively to advance a shared conservation vision. To learn more about the position and to apply, visit www.conservationlands. org/job_posting_development_associate
Public Works Director – Silverton, CO
The Town of Silverton seeks a qualified leader to serve as Public Works Director, overseeing vital infrastructure and operations including water, wastewater, streets, and sanitation. This position requires strong management, planning, and technical skills, with responsibilities in budgeting, compliance, staff supervision, and quality control. The Director will ensure the proper operation of critical systems and work closely with town officials and the community. Competitive salary of $85,000-$95,000 with excellent health/ dental/ life/ short-term disability/ and retirement benefits and a housing stipend. Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience preferred. CDL required within a reasonable time frame. Apply by sending a cover letter, resume, and 3 references to: mmarks@silverton .co.us and deputyclerk@silverton.co.us by February 24th, 2025. For inquiries, call 970-880-4087 and for a full job description please visit town ofsilverton. colorado.gov/employment
Lost/found
My Cat Cid is Missing
Long hair, white with black spots, green eyes. Last seen near 18th St. and E. 2nd Ave., by St. Columba. Reward. Call 970-403-6192
ForSale
For Sale
1917 Model 12 Winchester Pump and ammo, $250. 50-cal. Flintlock Thompson center fire + accessories, $350. Felt-bottom water shoes, brand new, never worn, men’s size 9, $75. 970-501-9111
Two 17’ Kayaks
With rudders, bib and back seating. Paddles and accessories incl. $450/ea. 303-522-6798.
Vintage Balloon Tire Bicycles from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Prices range from $100-$500 per bike. Call Bicycle Bob in Aztec at 970 769 9955
Dry Firewood
Pick up or delivery. Call Gabe, 970403-2784.
Classes/Workshops
Learn Nonviolent Communication!
Learn to speak your truth, understand others, and resolve conflict. Join Rachel Turiel for a 5 week series Tuesdays 5pm7pm, March 25 - April 22. More info: www.rachelturiel.com
Aikido Crash Course
Try Aikido! Experience self-refinement through self-defense. Boost focus, reduce stress, have fun! $8 weekly crash course 5:30-6:15pm every Monday starting Feb 10. Register online at durangoaikido.com.
Free English Classes
Quieres aprender o mejorar tu Ingles sin costo alguno. Brian, 970-779-5304
Wanted
Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970259-3494.
Books Wanted at White Rabbit Donate/trade/sell (970) 259-2213
‘Kneecap’ Fun, raucous ride through heritage preservation with a sick soundtrack – Lainie Maxson
BodyWork
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
Chapman Electric 970-403-6670
Specializing in all things electrical. Colorado state licensed and insured
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.
Repair
