Horizon Magazine Spring 2019

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

◀◀◀ THE BLOOMING ISSUE

• spring 2019

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CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Experience Maverick stories and stay up-to-date on university happenings. @ColoradoMesaU Use #CMesaU to possibly be featured on CMU’s social media channels.

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

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Letter from the Editor I can confidently say that creating this magazine has been one of my most valuable experiences of college. The countless hours put into photo shoots, interviews, meetings, ad sales and launch party planning have been some of my most cherished times at Colorado Mesa University. I’ve been involved in the production of Horizon Magazine for four semesters—first as a contributor, then a practicum student, next as photo editor and now as the Editor in Chief.

My background is heavily focused in photography—not writing—which is different from past editors in chief. Journalism is still the heart of this magazine, but this semester, we wanted to extend that focus to the visual aspects of the magazine as well, giving each article enough space that we don’t compromise any element of the stories. We hope the photography and design of this issue gives you a deeper perspective into each story.

This time of year represents new beginnings and growth. For our spring issue, I couldn’t think of a more fitting theme than Blooming.

Everything around us is blooming and growing, whether it be flora of the Grand Valley, our community’s expansion, or our own personal growth and accomplishments.

This is The Blooming Issue. I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as we enjoyed making it.

FRONT COVER: Photographers: Editing Staff Designer: Logan Wagner BACK COVER: Illustrator: Alex Cohan

Editor in Chief, Megan Dirksen

Contributors Elisa Bianchi - writer

MEGAN DIRKSEN Editor in Chief

Ryan Brock - writer Ethan Lovelace - writer Jazmine Ruiz - writer Mia Shumway - writer

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

Editors

Megan Dirksen - writer, photographer Jenna Kretschman - writer, photographer Lohgan McClung - writer, photographer

JENNA KRETSCHMAN Managing Editor

Kacie Sinton - writer, photographer Matt Thornton - writer, photographer Tony Archuleta - photographer Kasia Kucera - photographer Jorden Manuel - photographer Brenna Rhiness - photographer Austin Draving - photographer, designer

LOGAN WAGNER Art Director

Logan Wagner - photographer, designer, illustrator Bree Bell - designer Tristan McMorran - designer Leah Ward - designer Esme Contreras - designer, illustrator Sage Meyer - designer, illustrator Gabrielle Bode - illustrator

BRENNA RHINESS Photography Editor

Alex Cohan - illustrator Alek McArthur - illustrator Jessica Todd - illustrator

Contributors: Raymond Hamer

ALEXANDER LOPEZ Advertising Director

Riley Kane Jack Leitzke

◀ CONTRIBUTORS

Canon Willbanks - illustrator

Sarena Wells Advisors: Dr. William Wright Eli Marco Hall

MEGAN RAMSTETTER Social Media Director

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FEATURED STORIES:

07 07 31

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TAKE A HIKE Local man catalogs more than a thousand hikes on GJhikes.com GROWTH IN ADVERSITY Setting down roots in the Grand Valley’s harsh conditions

36 36 63

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NOT YOUR TYPICAL TATTOO Arlo DiCristina uses technology and artistry in body art WILDFLOWER FIELD GUIDE A guide to the Grand Valley's spring blooms

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

Table of Contents

Advice from our readers

◀ TABLE OF CONTENTS

The bUZZ ON BEES

agriculture outdoors

wellness

Red alert

social media

Who to follow

EspaÑol to English

community

Kalani Pe'a

56 58 60 63

language

On his grind

alumnus

the great divide

43 46 51 52

business

Not your typical tattoo

finance

campus

GROWING pains

Growth in adversity

art

campus

Building the FUTURE

The purrfect employee

biology

agriculture

Green Junction

26 31 36 22

pets

Take A HIKE

outdoors

07 13 16 19

Wildflower FIeld Guide

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“Spring is the greatest metaphor.

It’s that place in your life where you’ve been depressed, where you’ve been trapped, where you’ve been stuck, where you’ve been uninspired, where you’ve been heartbroken.

Where everything seems hopeless, when suddenly, this glimmer of life springs up inside of you.”

— Duncan Trussell

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019 ◀ TAKE A HIKE

Writer/Photographer: Matt Thornton Illustrator: Gabrielle Bode Designer: Logan Wagner

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RIGHT: Nye documenting rock art at the Kane Creek Petroglyphs #2 site.

Many hiking adventures on the Western Slope often start with research at GJhikes.com, the brainchild and decade-long work of a single man. It’s typically known as the go-to website for local trail-related information and directions. The site catalogs more than 1,000 trails from across Colorado and surrounding states, and it all started with one man's frustration of not finding trailheads that were labeled in his guide book.

Rex Nye, 65, began posting his hiking endeavors in August of 2009, beginning with Ute Canyon and a point-and-shoot camera.

Nye wanted to accurately detail trails for their distance, difficulty, scenery and how to realistically find the trailheads. To this day, the website remains a one-man operation with no intention for profit.

As of March 2019, there are 1,538 trails listed on GJhikes.com. “Even down to Tucson, there aren't any hikes on there that I

— Rex Nye, GJhikes.com

Like many of his site’s visitors, he enjoys searching for dinosaur tracks, wildlife, rock art and Native American ruins. He always makes sure to bring his camera along so he won't miss an opportunity to capture nature’s breathtaking moments.

Since his early days with the point-and-shoot, the photography gear he brings has gradually improved, and he now uses professional equipment. However, no matter what camera Nye brings, he attests to it being an immensely worthwhile experience.

“If you carry a camera on a hike, you tend to see more things. You realize that you might have seen yellow flowers before, but when you have a camera you realize that you’re seeing seven or eight kinds of yellow flowers,” Nye said.

You would expect a man who has been everywhere to have a favorite trail or area to hike, but this man does not. He is humble and

◀ TAKE A HIKE

didn't do,” Nye said.

Nye works diligently to ensure accurate distances by recording each trail himself via GPS. He is driven to accurately prepare visitors for what they would be getting into, even with his photos. All but two of the photos on the site were taken by Nye. After years of hard work, his website has accumulated millions of hits, with some trails receiving thousands by themselves.

“I get emails regularly from people all over the world who are planning their vacations and they’re looking for places to go,” Nye said. “Once I realized that was happening, I changed the ratings that I did for the hikes.

Now I usually only give five stars to a trail that I think would be worthwhile for somebody to do if they came all the way from Europe or elsewhere in the world. If they did that trail, they wouldn't go home disappointed.”

Hiking has turned Nye into a naturalist.

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

“Even down to Tucson, there aren’t any hikes on there that I didn’t do.”

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hikes with purpose. His mission is to document the trails better than anyone before him and to provide accurate information about each trail.

For newcomers to the valley, he recommends acclimating with a hike somewhere on the Colorado National Monument. There lies a variety of difficulties and views that promise not to disappoint.

At least two people have moved to the valley because of the content found on Nye’s website.

Although Nye insists he did not encourage them to move here, his work continues to inspire visitors and locals alike to get outside and experience the Grand Valley’s beauty for themselves. Originally from Kansas, Nye has lived here and elsewhere, but he was ultimately drawn back to the scenic offerings of Grand Junction.

The one-man operation makes no profit from the website—he refuses to, even from his

photos. “If people think it’s a business, they are sadly mistaken,” he said.

The photography he has produced has been featured in various publications, and each time, he refused payment. All he asks is that he is properly cited. The money the site generates pays for the storage required by Google to host the site’s information.

Nye simply wants to provide the public with an easily accessible database for hikes that doesn't ask for an email address or other personal information. GJhikes.com is free to use and will remain so as long as Nye is behind it.▲

RIGHT: Though the bright BELOW: Rex Nye treks

sun had Nye seeing stars, the

ahead, eager to investigate

beauty of Courthouse Towers

the Double Arch in Moab, UT. kept him smiling.

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

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970.640.6796 Hartmann Farmhouse @hartmann_farmhouse thehartmannhouse.com 2259 Broadway Grand Junction, CO 81507

How a local farmstead is changing agriculture in the Grand Valley

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

JUNCTION Writer/Photographer: Lohgan McClung Designer/Illustator: Sage Meyer

In the past five to ten years, there has been an emergence of farmsteads springing up in the Grand Valley that produce local, nutrient-dense and in-season produce.

“The industrial [agriculture] system is failing environmentally, and we want to be quite different from that,” Brian Adams, co-owner of Green Junction Farmstead, said. “Our goal when we set out was to produce nutrient-dense food that stays in the valley and enhances the space we cultivate.”

Green Junction Farmstead is a small patch of land located on the outskirts of Palisade. Since five summers ago, the farm has grown more than 50 varieties of vegetables, which are made available to customers through memberships or food-for-trade volunteering.

“People just really want to be involved in where their food comes from,” Dawn Trujillo, the farm’s other co-owner said. “A lot of the people that work with us either have farms of their own and want to learn how we’re doing things, or they just really want to get out and get involved.”

The duo’s main goal is not to make money, but to educate their community and change

◀ GREEN JUNCTION

Since the beginning of the 21st century, agriculture has changed in tremendous ways. Production and demand have continued to increase, while local agriculture continues to slowly die. Our infrastructure has gotten to the point where an individual can walk into a grocery store in the middle of January to buy a pineapple and not even question how it got there.

One thing industrial farming lacks, however, is sustainability. Industrial farms focus on feeding the masses with short-term productivity, which leaves little room for long-term sustainability. A typical farm focuses on growing one or two crops and then distributes them across a broad distance. Monoculture and long-range food transportation leave an immense carbon footprint, deplete the areas being cultivated and take money from local communities by monopolizing the industry.

Large-scale farming leaves no room for future generations to enjoy the benefits of locally grown, lasting agriculture.

There is, however, a community of people who are standing up to challenge that reality.

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people’s perception of agriculture. “As much as we want to grow and feed this entire community on our own, we know that’s not possible, so we aim to educate people so they can do it themselves,” Trujillo said.

Since it began, Green Junction has aimed to reach the community in a variety of ways. It currently participates in farmer’s markets, provides food for restaurants and even serves the homeless through nonprofits such as Homeward Bound and Grand Valley Catholic Outreach. Both owners have also taken classes through Colorado Mesa University’s sustainable agriculture program, which has helped to form a strong foundation for their dream.

“I got a real broad look at a lot of the components of agriculture, which helped us in

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

“Our goal when we set out was to produce nutrient-dense food that stays in the valley and enhances the space we cultivate.”

— Brian Adams time to reach out and see how their food is grown. Go visit your local farm to get a taste of what local agriculture is like.”

As a part of their goal to educate the community about the benefits of local farming, Trujillo and Adams stressed that the best way to learn is to get involved.

“Grow something—anything,” Adams said. “Even if it’s just basil in your window or you’ve got a little 4-foot-by-4-foot raised garden bed in your backyard. Anything you can nurture, grow and taste for yourself will be more meaningful.”▲

◀ GREEN JUNCTION

finding our niche and how we want to approach food production in a way that lines up with our values and is financially sustainable,” Adams said about his experience with CMU’s agriculture program.

The pair also expressed the value and importance of their volunteers.

“Volunteering has been our biggest help since season one,” Trujillo said. Without the help of volunteers, Green Junction would not be able to produce at the capacity it currently does.

“It’s been a huge benefit for us to have all those extra hands out on the field, and it’s also been a really great experience for the community. I think everyone should take the

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Writer: Jazmine Ruiz ∙ Illustrator: Canon Willbanks ∙ Photographers: Brenna Rhiness & Logan Wagner ∙ Designer: Logan Wagner

CMU plans new buildings as programs expand

IN

the past ten years, Colorado Mesa University has expanded and changed dramatically.

Ten years ago, most of the major buildings on CMU’s campus did not exist as we know them today. The University Center, Escalante Hall, the Maverick Pavilion, Confluence Hall and several residence halls were built from the ground up within the past decade, not to mention the many renovations on existing buildings since then.

A lot has changed—even the school’s name, changing from Mesa State College to Colorado Mesa University.

In 2009, the school had 7,042 total students, according to CMU’s website. CMU now has an enrollment of more than 11,044 students—and that number is only increasing each semester.

In the future, CMU plans to occupy the entire block from 12th Street to Seventh Street and North Avenue to Orchard Avenue with more residence halls, academic

buildings and parking.

The university is currently in the process of building an on-campus hotel, a new residence hall and the newly-opened Outdoor Program building. In addition, CMU President Tim Foster has plans for further projects once the funding is available.

“Across from the hotel, we’re talking about our physician assistant occupational therapy [building],” Foster said. “Then there is the completion of … the Maverick Pavilion ... into an actual building, which is high up on the list, and we hope to get funding this year.”

The 60-room, 45,000 square foot Hotel Maverick will serve as a training facility for hospitality and culinary arts students. It will be located just east of Confluence Hall, will be open to the public and will include a full-service restaurant and bar. CMU has partnered with Mars Hospitality, a hotel management company that also manages the Holiday Inn on Crossroads Boulevard, to manage the hotel.

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019 ◀ BUILDING THE FUTURE

Students involved in hospitality, culinary arts and even other majors like business will have opportunities at the hotel to gain realworld, hands-on experience in their fields.

“The hotel will have professional staff and management, but the intent is to hire students who can do paid internships and be able to work the front and back of the house. This will give them experience, and [they will] get paid at the same time,” Foster said. “There is a classroom space, and [Mars Hospitality is] very much in tune with a teaching hotel.

Part of it is because they are looking for good people, because they have a number of hotels, and so it’s a great opportunity for employees to grow in the future.” The hotel will be completed by February 2020.

On the other side of campus, CMU’s Outdoor Program moved into their newly-renovated building on North Avenue in March,

Students involved in hospitality, culinary arts and even other majors like business will have opportunities at the hotel to gain real-world, hands-on experience in their fields.

RIGHT: An excavator sits in the dirt lot of the future Outdoor Program building off of North Avenue.

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which was previously occupied by Little Mavericks Learning Center. The renovations cost the school $400,000.

“We’re centrally located to the students [in the old building near Tolman Hall]. We [had] great access to the dorms, ... but it’s really hard for the community and even for the students to get in there with their vehicles. It’s hard to find, and with the new building we have a lot more access,” Ryan Dutch, coordinator of the Outdoor Program, said.

Now that the organization has moved facilities, they plan to advertise more in the community to continue expanding their business to non-students.

“In the past four years, the Outdoor Program has changed to be more community-based, so that even non-students can rent certain equipment,” Dutch said. With more of the public renting from the Outdoor Program, student fees will decrease so that it’s cheaper to rent equipment for both students and the public.

The new building will allow the Outdoor Program to be more noticable and accessible to the public, as well as gain much more space to store equipment.

“It’s not healthy for the gear to be so confined in a small space, because then our longevity goes down, which raises our costs for replacement. So, with having more space, it will decrease the cost, and then we can ask for less money from students,” Dutch said.

In addition to the school’s many physical expansions, the student body is also expanding.

Student enrollment is at an all-time high.

According to a regional impact study released

by CMU in February, the school saw a 56.7 percent increase in student enrollment from 2006 to 2016, which makes CMU the fifth fastest-growing baccalaureate institution in the country.

CMU is expanding rapidly in every aspect, and it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.▲

GROWING PAINS

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

Writer: Mia Shumway ∙ Photographers: Kasia Kucera & Brenna Rhiness ∙ Designer: Logan Wagner

Increasing student population creates housing strain on and off campus ON CAMPUS

year ever at CMU. Correspondingly, student housing felt the strain. Jody Diers, director of residence life at CMU said her department aims to keep housing at 95 percent capacity.

“Anything more than that, if you’re having a bad experience in the situation you’re in, we have no place to move you to,” Diers said.

Last fall, CMU opened the residence halls at 97 percent capacity according to the profile, which means the expansion comes just in time.

Laura Glatt, vice president for finance and administration, said the needs and wants of older students are what has driven the design of the new residence hall.

"What does that space need to look like so that potentially we can retain and bring back some of those students perhaps that have moved off campus?" Glatt said.

Currently, juniors and seniors only make

◀ GROWING PAINS

Two new projects are underway on campus to address Colorado Mesa University’s growing student population.

In the fall of 2019, the first floor of Piñon Hall will open once again to house residents.

This will add 22 beds in place of the Maverick Innovation Center, which recently moved into a building off of Seventh Street.

Plans to build an additional housing facility near the current Garfield residence hall are also in the approval process, and the new hall will break ground as early as this summer.

The proposed hall would add approximately 120 new beds and tentatively open in the fall semester of 2020. Rooms will be geared toward upperclassmen, with single-style bedrooms and large communal kitchens and living areas.

According to the Colorado Mesa University student profile, 2018 was the largest enrollment

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up 15 percent of students living on campus.

The university recognizes the challenges these students face and wants to give them variety of choices.

"When you look at other options off campus, they're not cheap,” Glatt said. “Having juniors and seniors on campus … certainly adds to the quality of student life."

“We are also really interested in retaining more students on campus to live because of the evidence that suggests it really helps with student retention and completion,” Glatt said.

With more than 140 new beds to be made available in the coming years, CMU hopes to keep its ever-growing population right in the heart of campus.▲

OFF CAMPUS For many Colorado Mesa University students, living off campus is the true sign of adulthood, but off-campus housing can be difficult to find.

Cameron Seele, a senior engineering student, is one of these students. He has lived off campus for the past five years and says housing has been a stressor from the beginning.

Seele transferred to CMU in his second semester of college. "I had no contacts in Grand Junction when I came here; I came completely blind," Seele said. "My very first night I stayed in the car because I didn't have a place to live."

Now Seele and his two roommates live a fifteen minute drive from campus. This is the shortest commute he’s had in five years, but it’s more affordable than other places he’s stayed.

In Seele’s experience, looking for housing can be extremely difficult. One resource for students like Seele is the Grand Valley Catholic Outreach program, Almost Home. Almost Home is a nonprofit service that provides an

and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability.” The problem is that students are not considered a protected class. As long as a landlord refuses all students equally, it’s legal to deny them housing.

"Grand Junction is not a bad place to live, and if [landlords] are nicer to students, they won't leave," Seele said.

Without more accessible and affordable off-campus housing, CMU students may eventually outgrow the housing in Grand Junction and move on to more accommodating cities.▲

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

updated list of available rentals in Mesa County weekly. While the list is exhaustive, few rentals are less than $1,000 per month.

There are several other barriers to finding a place to live, including age and even student status. A consulting firm hired by CMU found that since 1999, there has been only one housing facility built off campus specifically geared towards students.

“There were lots of great, affordable places decently close to the college, but they refused to house students and they refused to listen to any sort of appeals," Seele said.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Fair Housing Act “prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental,

◀ GROWING PAINS

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RIGHT: Each semester’s textbook purchase can leave students with nothing left but spare change.

THE GREAT

DIVIDE How receiving financial aid can make or break the college experience Writer: Lohgan McClung ∙ Photographer: Matt Thornton ∙ Designer/Illustrator: Logan Wagner

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

R

◀ THE GREAT DIVIDE

Receiving a post-secondary education is a privilege not many possess; having that education paid for is something that even fewer can obtain. Americans currently owe $1.5 trillion in student debt, according to CNN. Of all people who attend college, 42 percent take out debt, and on average, a new graduate owes $28,400.

A survey by ABODO using government census data found that only 11 percent of students reported not being responsible for any college costs, while 24 percent reported being entirely responsible for all costs.

Additionally, 70 percent of full-time students paying for their own education must work while attending school.

Self-supported college students face more financial challenges than students who have assistance from a third party, and those challenges can influence their overall educational experience.

“I always feel emotionally and physically exhausted,” Cody Sebring, an environmental science major at Colorado Mesa University, said. “This whole semester has been full of seven-day weeks with 16 to 18 hour long days.”

Sebring is a junior who works full time to pay for his education.

“Generally, I’m pretty appreciative that I’m able to work and do everything I have been able to do to pay for college, but it also makes me a little bitter,” Sebring said.

Although supporting oneself may create divided feelings toward receiving an education, it also elicits a sense of ownership toward schooling.

“Overall, paying for my own school has created a more positive outlook, because it requires that I participate in school and not just live on campus,” Sebring said. “It has also motivated me to try harder. Even if it’s not something I’m very good at, I still try my best to pass, because I don’t want to take it again since that’s just more money out of my pocket.”

On the other side of the financial divide are students who have their school completely funded by a third party. According to Public Agenda, a nonprofit research organization, the primary reason students give for dropping out of college is that they couldn't afford to continue attending school. Students who aren’t faced with the challenge of supporting themselves in college do not have the same financial concerns.

However, just because they stay in school does not mean they perform at a higher rate. A 2013 study by Laura Hamilton in the American Sociological Review found that “larger contributions from parents are linked to

“I’m pretty appreciative that I’m able to work and do everything I have been able to do to pay for college, but it also makes me a little bitter.”

— Cody Sebring

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65%

lower grades among students.” Students whose educational costs are completely paid for tend to participate in more leisure activities and spend less time studying.

“I thought I had more important and fun things to do [than schoolwork], and I didn’t want to waste my time in class,” Ryan Brock, a sophomore environmental science major at CMU, said. Brock receives a substantial amount of financial aid from his parents and was put onto academic probation his first year of college. “I now realize how expensive college is, and if I had been paying for myself, I definitely would have put in the effort to get out of it what I put into it.”

However, not all students supported by their parents take on that mindset.

“Having my tuition paid for gives me a different attitude toward school than most students probably have,” Matt Thornton, a senior mass communication major at CMU, said.

“I owe my family if I fail, who will hang me, unlike a bank or scholarship organization.”

Thornton’s mom saved up for his education since he was born, and for that, he is eternally grateful. “If you ask me, that is the most admirable thing anyone could do for their child, and I’ll be damned if I don’t do the same for

mine. I don’t think I would have ever been able to get this far on my own; I don’t think I would have even tried,” Thornton said.

The great divide between students who pay for their own school and students who don’t can reveal itself in different ways, but it is nonetheless present at every college campus.

From the prospect of actually earning a degree to one’s attitude towards their education, it can impact the entire outcome of one’s college experience in profound and lasting ways.▲

24%

Who pays for school?

65% of students pay some tuition 24% of students pay all tuition 11% of students pay no tuition

“I don’t think I would have ever been able to get this far on my own; I don’t think I would have even tried.”

— Matt Thornton

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WELCOME TO CMU-TV www.enstrom.com

Opportunities include,but are not limited to:

Directing Hosting Social Media

Audio Production Design

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT OUR GENERAL MANAGER: qthamilton@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

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The

Employee

Local businesses love their live-in pets Writer: Jenna Kretschman Photographers: Kasia Kucera, Logan Wagner, Jenna Kretschman & Matt Thornton Designer: Tristan McMorran BELOW: Minxi the cat, Veterans Art Center

ABOVE: Sweetiebelle the dog, Veterans Art Center

BELOW: Doc the dog, Veterans Art Center

◀ THE PURRFECT EMPLOYEE

The Veterans Art Center is a place where veterans come to heal through art, but not without the help of several furry (and feathered) therapists.

Sweetiebelle the Australian shepherd mix and Doc Holliday the German shepherd, who are both 4 years old, spend almost every day at the center with their owner, Dallas Hanson, who is a director at the center.

“Sweetiebelle knows when people are suffering, when they’ve got depression or [post-traumatic stress disorder]. She’s aware, and she will come and put her head or paw on your knee, or she will jump up on you and put her paws on you, called grounding,” Hanson said. “We had a lady that came in, we gave her a tour, and she started getting very emotional and was on the verge of a breakdown. I don’t even know where Sweetiebelle was, but she came trotting in there, went straight to her, hopped up and put her paws on her and just pulled her attention down to her, and she grounded her.”

The dogs spend their days greeting visitors and relaxing under tables during workshops.

Doc, who is affectionately known as Hanson’s “5-foot tail,” prefers to stay close to his owner and is always within arm’s reach.

Minxi the cat, who is estimated to be 3 years old, is a full-time resident at the center. She spends most of her time sitting atop the office chair of Wendy Hoffman, the nonprofit’s founder.

“She will literally enforce breaks for our founder. She will either sit in front of the desk and reach up and grab her wrist and claw her, or she will get on the desk and bat her hand off the mouse. She’ll lay on the keyboard,” Hanson said. “Minxi is our relaxation enforcer.”

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

Sweetiebelle, Doc, Minxi and Sunny at Veterans Art Center

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Minxi also enforces relaxation for the center’s members seeking healing therapies.

“Minxi is constantly on the massage table, and depending on who’s on there, she may be laying on the person helping with her own energy.

When we do community acupuncture, you’ll see people laid back, totally covered in needles, and she will very gingerly hop up and lay on their lap. She’s our relaxation cat.”

In addition to the furry friends in the building, a frequent visitor is Sunny the 18-year-old umbrella cockatoo, who enjoys perching atop each member’s shoulder to supervise their creative processes.

“People love the animals. There’s a lot of relaxation and calmness having them here.

We’ve had people that have come in a bad mood and one of the dogs or the cat picked up on it, and they left with a smile on their face. So there is a lot of therapy just from the presence of the animals,” Hanson said.▲

Smokie and Nobby at Western Colorado Botanical Gardens Among the plants in the tropical rainforest at Western Colorado Botanical Gardens lives a true jungle cat. Since showing up at the gardens as a stray more than 14 years ago, Smokie has made himself right at home.

“We were thinking that he would be a great addition to keep our mouse population down, but Smokie is afraid of mice, so he is not there to work; he is there to vacation,” Doug Sorter, vice president of STRiVE, said. STRiVE is an organization that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and oversees operations at the Botanical Gardens.

“The master gardener who used to work here, her name was Margie, she named him

ABOVE: Nobby the tortoise, Botanical Gardens

Smokie because he looked like a little puff of smoke,” Sorter said. “Some of the smoke bushes have that color, so he reminded her of the smoke bush.”

Smokie enjoys spending time outside in his hay-insulated cubby in the back of the building, but he prefers to spend most of his time hanging out near the resident tortoises in the tropical rainforest room.

“He likes watching those guys and just hangs out around there. He does like to sit on the ridge that is in the tropical rainforest and watch the fish and the turtles. They’re pretty good size, so he’s interested in them,” Sorter said.

Socializing with visitors is one of Smokie’s favorite pastimes, but children are his favorite guests. “He really likes little kids,” Sorter said.

“The kids are always drawn to him because he is so friendly to them. He always wants to come

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

ABOVE: Smokie the cat, Botanical Gardens

Snuggles at True Value She sleeps among boxes in the back room, knocks over merchandise for fun and spends her free time stalking mice, yet she’s in charge of every employee in the store. Her name is Snuggles and she’s the shop cat at True Value Hardware on 12th Street in Grand Junction.

Three-year-old Snuggles spends most of her time sleeping in her bed, which sits directly beneath a heater vent in the ceiling, atop a tall stack of boxes in the back room of the store—a space which seems to be entirely dedicated to Snuggles. A large scratching post and a tin full of cat food occupy the back corner of the room. Allegedly, Snuggles rips open cat food bags, so her food is kept in an aluminum tin labeled “bad kitty cat food.” Judging by the many photos of Snuggles pinned to the fridge, she is much admired.

“She’s a mouser and a lover, very simply. Once in a while she doesn’t do her job so well. The

◀ THE PURRFECT EMPLOYEE

out and see them and interact with them.”

Smokie isn’t allowed in the butterfly pavilion, which houses another friendly resident of the gardens: Nobby the 14-year-old tortoise.

“Nobby is an interesting animal. He’s very smart, and he listens and responds to you rubbing on his shell. He’s almost like a dog,” Sorter said. “He hangs out in the butterfly area, but in the summertime he gets to go out on the front lawn, and he’s pretty quick. He can run around pretty good out there.”

For a place dedicated to plants, the Botanical Gardens is home to a surprising number of animals.

“We have tortoises, red-eared slider turtles; we have different types of koi and other pond fish…. We have butterflies, and in the outdoor pond there are frogs and turtles and fish,” Sorter said. Smokie has plenty of company in his jungle.▲

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loving part she does, but the mousing part she doesn’t do a whole lot of,” Brad Peterson, True Value manager, said. “She pretty much will just eat and sleep, go out and chase a mouse.

Because we have pallets of bird seed, we have a lot of mice, and she will sit there and patiently watch for hours and hours.”

Snuggles was adopted from CLAWS, a local cat shelter, after True Value’s previous shop cat of 13 years, Smudge, passed away two and a half years ago. Snuggles has some big paw prints to fill.

“They made it about two weeks after Smudge died and they had to get another one. The boss’ daughter went out and picked her out from the shelter,” Peterson said. “When they first got her from the shelter, her name was Twilight. They didn’t like that; they changed it. She likes being petted—that’s where she got the name Snuggles.”

Every once in a while, Snuggles will venture

ABOVE: Snuggles the cat, True Value

out into the main store area to socialize with customers and employees, particularly at dinner time when she searches for someone to feed her.

“Sometimes she’ll go out and get on the counter. She does tend to enter gibberish on the keyboard sometimes with her four little paws,” Peterson said.

At night, she stays in the back room, but Peterson believes that Snuggles’ life after closing time is more interesting than she lets on.

“I believe that there is a secret cat entrance somewhere in the store that nobody knows about, and she has parties at night, because we will find stuff on the floor. One time we found a couple of boxes of Q-tips scattered hither and yon,” Peterson said.

Despite her nocturnal antics, Snuggles is well loved by her family at True Value.▲

GROWTH IN ADVERSITY Setting down roots in the Grand Valley’s harsh conditions

filtered through the water to feed the plants.

Atop Wubben Hall and guarded by a fierce, eight-foot-tall praying mantis statue named Lucille is a greenhouse filled with a menagerie of plant specimens from all over the world.

Colorado Mesa University’s Dr. Margot Becktell is the caretaker of this mish-mash of leafy wards, and she takes her job quite seriously.

Because of Grand Junction’s dryness and

◀ GROWTH IN ADVERSITY

ABOVE: Aquaponics don’t use soil but instead use nitrates

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

Writer/Photographer: Kacie Sinton ∙ Illustrator: Alek McArthur ∙ Designer: Leah Ward

comparative temperature extremes, Becktell needed an artificial environment to care for and study her host of leafy patrons. She uses her carefully-maintained greenhouse to both teach her students and to grow test subjects for her own research.

Her access to the greenhouse allows her to perform research on plants that wouldn’t

33

ABOVE: The Colorado Mesa University greenhouse has a variety of unusual and stunning plant specimens such as the coleus.

“Without the river there would be no way for us to have our Palisade peaches or our Olathe sweet corn or any of that. We can have our green lawns because of irrigation.”

—Dr. Stephen Stern

normally be able to grow here, like the alien-looking desert rose and the mossy descendents of early plant life.

Virtually all of Grand Junction’s patron agriculture wouldn’t be possible without the Colorado River.

The city’s proximity to the river is intentional, and without it, agriculture wouldn’t be possible. “Without the river there would be no way for us to have our Palisade peaches or our Olathe sweet corn or any of that. We can have our green lawns because of irrigation,” CMU Professor of Botany Dr. Stephen Stern said.

The area’s aridness and high desert environment also heavily impact farmers. Some have chosen to use somewhat unconventional and

BELOW: Farm owner Rick Kenagy stands next to one of his grow beds.

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

ABOVE: Ferns are among some of the oldest plant species still in existence and spread spores instead of seeds.

sell commercially, but supplies Main Street businesses like Bin 707, Taco Party and Il Bistro Italiano as well as local families with fresh fish and greens, both of which are difficult to source freshly in the Grand Valley.

The ability to weather droughts is paramount for the local species that thrive out here, and some of the Grand Valley’s hardy flora take adversity in stride, like the genus Gymnosporangium. Commonly called juniper rust, the fungus is a parasite for both juniper trees and serviceberry bushes. Because fungi can’t survive on their own in such arid conditions, it uses the two different plants as facilitators of different stages of its life cycle.

Certain hardy flora are highly undesirable.

“Probably the very worst species we have in terms of an invasive species is called

◀ GROWTH IN ADVERSITY

highly specialized methods to counter the desert heat and restrictive irrigation systems.

Grand Junction citizen Rick Kenagy uses a combined aquaculture and hydroponic system called aquaponics to cope with the valley’s severe conditions. He has been farming aquaponics for nine seasons and owns two 3,000 square foot greenhouses in town.

Aquaponic systems use less than ten percent of traditional agricultural systems and are highly self-contained.

“We started this system about a year ago and had to do some testing on rate of growth and stuff. The system, because of the biology of it, takes a little while to get mature, to be able to grow fish and produce at the same time,” Kenagy said.

His system currently grows about 100 pounds of tilapia per harvest. He doesn’t

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ABOVE: An aphid previously infested with a wasp larva, highlighting the exit wound.

cheatgrass,” Stern said. “It’s a really bad plant, because even though it’s so tiny, it really disturbs the whole ecosystem.”

Western Colorado grasses have evolved to grow in clumps, separated by a few feet of empty ground. Cheatgrass changes all that by filling in any empty space it can find, germinating extremely early in the season, drying out, and catching fire.

“A lot of sites have a lot more frequent burns because of cheatgrass,” Stern said.

Clearing out the flammable grass is the key to maintaining and preserving the magnificent landscapes that the Grand Valley is known for.▲

Join

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

Want to be part of next semester’s issue?

HORIZON MAGAZINE

Writing Photography Design & Illustration Social media Advertising Join us on Tuesdays at 5pm in UC 211. Practicum students are welcome. Contact us for more information! @cmuhorizon

@ cmesauhorizonmagazine@gmail.com cmu students only

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Writer: Jenna Kretschman Photographers: Tony Archuleta & Kasia Kucera Designer: Leah Ward Contributors: Logan Wagner & Riley Kane

Arlo DiCristina uses technology and artistry in body art When Arlo DiCristina first learned to tattoo on his high school buddies in a small town in eastern North Dakota, he never imagined that a decade later, those skills would launch him into a wildly successful career as a worldfamous tattoo artist.

Today, DiCristina owns Elysium Studios in Grand Junction. The studio houses six resident tattoo artists with a wide variety of creative styles, including traditional, watercolor, abstract and more. DiCristina specializes in surrealistic images and face morphs, which has earned him an international clientele, the cover of Inked magazine and an impressive following of more than half a million followers on Instagram.

Eight years ago, DiCristina made the move from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to the Western Slope.

“I was looking for a cool place to move, pretty

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019 ◀ NOT YOUR TYPICAL TATTOO

much put my finger on the map and landed on Colorado. I didn’t want to live in a big city, so I was looking at populations of cities and reached out to Justin [Nordine] at Raw Canvas, … then I decided to move out,” DiCristina said.

“Grand Junction ended up fitting the description of what I was wanting.”

His surreal face morphism art is what he claims has always been his style, which has allowed him to improve his work in innovative ways over the years.

“I was one of the first people to really utilize things like Photoshop and apply it to face morph and that type of style,” DiCristina said.

“I find some imagery that I like. I’ll probably get just a handful of pictures…. I overlay them, turn the opacity down, and erase certain parts that I want to disappear and leave the parts that I want to come through on the image.”

In addition to Photoshop, DiCristina uses other tools and software to compose his tattoos.

He uses a Wacom tablet to create digital drawings and recently began experimenting with a program called ZBrush, which is used for 3D digital sculpting.

“It’s a whole new system which is way tougher, a lot more complex. With reference photos, it takes you hours to find them and then you have the image in your head of how you want it to be or what angle. This will allow you to basically just get a 3D model; you can position it how you want and you can add texture, you can color it. It’s what software they use for a lot of computer gaming and video games,” DiCristina said.

The Victorian-style interior decor of the studio starkly contrasts with stereotypical tattoo shops, which DiCristina says is intentional. He hopes to create a shift in tattoo culture that eliminates societal stigma surrounding tattoos and allows tattooing to be recognized as a fine art.

39

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

“I was one of the first people to really utilize things like Photoshop and apply it to face morph and that type of style.”

—Arlo DiCristina

◀ NOT YOUR TYPICAL TATTOO

“It just helps to change the image of the industry and get it viewed in a different light,” DiCristina said. “Doctors, lawyers, celebrities, stuff like that—are starting through a lot more social media platforms. They are being exposed to a lot more tattoos of quality, whereas our parents’ generation—the only tattoos they were exposed to were … on a biker, a gang member or a sailor, and the people doing tattoos weren’t necessarily artists.”

Keenan Tompkins, owner and president of Cornerstone Contracting Company and Colorado Timberframe, which build custom homes and commercial buildings, traveled from Boulder, Colorado, to spend a few days as DiCristina’s canvas. Tompkins actively spent two years trying to score an appointment with DiCristina for a full sleeve tattoo.

“I’m a real estate developer, so I deal with a lot of old white-haired dudes with money.

I’ve wanted to get tattoos for a long time, but I held off for it because of the business aspect.

Then there was just a shift in the last five or ten years,” Tompkins said. “If I’m going to get a tattoo, because I do have a little bit of money, I’m going to get a tattoo from one of the best artists out there. That’s what I started to do—just follow a bunch of artists I liked on Instagram and figure out which ones … I relate

41

with the most in terms of artistry, and Arlo was actually my number one.”

Once the tattoo appointment was booked, Tompkins was able to look through DiCristina’s portfolio and in-progress artwork and choose elements from each piece that resonated with him to bring into his own tattoo.

“I wanted the whole space theme, and he had done several space-themed pieces, so we combined some of that, and then he made up his own unique rendition of this for my piece. It’s pretty cool,” Tompkins said.

Because of his unique approach to tattooing, DiCristina has successfully made his mark in the Grand Valley and beyond.

“The only way I was able to get to where I am is being an idealist,” DiCristina said.

“Embrace idealism.”▲

S A L O N 970.245.8706 Harrahs Hair Skin Nails @harrahs_salon_gj harrahssalon.com 1005 N 12th St #102 Grand Junction, Colorado 81501

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HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

Writer: Ryan Brock ∙ Photographers: Jorden Manuel & Lohgan McClung & Brenna Rhiness ∙ Designer: Leah Ward

Former student finds success opening skateboard shop doing, and I was having authority issues with my assignments.”

After leaving college, he changed paths and worked as a surgery aide at St. Mary’s Medical Center for a year. He then decided to pursue a career as a fireman for a short time, but felt like something was missing.

“After the medical field, I ended up wanting to get more into the skateboarding thing, because that’s what always made me happy,” Castaneda said. “I just wanted to do something super creative.”

Knowing this, Castaneda’s mom discovered an empty storefront on Colorado Avenue and encouraged him to open Mutual Friends.

“When you skate, you always want to be able to create your own board company or own your own skate shop, so I just thought it was going to be maybe a T-shirt or two and some boards,” Castaneda said. In September of 2017, Castaneda officially achieved his dream and opened his skate shop—and his brand has been growing ever since.

◀ ON HIS GRIND

Josh Castaneda first thought of Mutual Friends in a graphic design class at Colorado Mesa University as part of a branding assignment. Today, the brand has grown into a remarkably successful skateboard shop in downtown Grand Junction.

Castaneda, 25, is the sole owner and operator of Mutual Friends, which is the only locallyowned skateboard shop in town. He opened the shop in the fall of 2017 after several years of searching for his calling in various other jobs.

Castaneda’s been passionate about skateboarding since he was 8 years old. He worked at BC Surf & Sport at Mesa Mall for five years and spent two of those years as a manager.

During this time, he was a student at Colorado Mesa University where he spent two and a half years studying graphic design, but he didn’t end up graduating.

“It was hard for me to have people judge art based on what the assignment was, not just what I was trying to do with the art,” Castaneda said. “Going to college, I was just there to party…. I kind of lost focus of the art that I was

45

As the sole employee, he rarely gets time off.

As a result, he spends a lot of time sitting in the shop, thinking of ways to improve his products and his storefront.

“Sometimes when you work and look at something for too long, you don’t see what’s wrong with it, so sometimes you have to take some time to step away and look at it like art and see what is lacking, what’s going wrong and what you can change to make it better,” Castaneda said. “Stepping back helps reboot your mental and creativity, which is essential in business.”

Although his work can be challenging, Castaneda loves what he does—especially the community of people that he meets along the way.

“The people really make it what it is. We get to host shows, and we have a mini ramp, and people are skating around,” Castaneda said.

BELOW: Josh Castaneda, owner of Mutual friends.

Mutual Friends has outstanding reviews on Google. Many customers who reviewed the shop have plenty to say about the impressive customer service they receive.

“You’ve got to be very personable. I’ve been all over the place, so I try not to judge anybody.

I try to treat everybody as the same, because what makes the business is the community around it,” Castaneda said.

One of the biggest challenges he faces is competition with larger, corporate skate shops.

To combat this, Mutual Friends sells branded products that can’t be found anywhere else.

“There are certain distributions that we [carry], like skate stuff and a little bit of streetwear, but we’re leaning toward more of our [branded] product, because the mall is so saturated with all that. It’s hard to compete with that, and the only thing they can’t get their hands on is our stuff. We actually hired two interns for videography and a graphic design intern from CMU, so we’re going to try to start pumping out a lot of our product,” Castaneda said.

He also has plans to expand his business, including reaching the online market with a website, where his customers can shop and learn about his products.

“I’m just going to grow as much as I can here.

Just stock the place up as much as possible, get a sign out front, eventually hire some people, get an online shop,” he said. “Eventually I’d love to be selling out of our stuff like crazy and get into other places.”

Running a prosperous one-man business may seem impossibly challenging, but for Castaneda, Mutual Friends shows no signs of slowing down.▲

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HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

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350 North Ave. Grand Jct. Colorado 47

Shining Star:

Writer: Kacie Sinton & Mia Shumway

CMU alumnus wins Grammy awards In the spring of 1983, on a guava farm on the eastern coast of the island of Hawaii, future Grammy Award winner Kalani Pe’a was born with a natural love of music. At age four, his parents found him serenading a mall mannequin with a toddler’s rendition of Aladdin’s “A Whole New World.”

When Pe’a grew older, he decided the guava farm was not a life for him, claiming that he wanted to set his aspirations high. He moved to Grand Junction and began attending Colorado Mesa University for a music education degree, but he decided to leave the music department for mass communication during his sophomore year.

“I did some research, and I realized that

RIGHT: Kalani Pe'a, a CMU alumnus, is a two-time Grammy winner from Hawaii.

Photographers: Allan B. Cool & Antonio Agosto Photos courtesy of Kalani Pe’a Designer/Illustrator: Logan Wagner

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

I didn’t want to get paid $35,000–$40,000 a year teaching music,” Pe’a said.

Despite the education change, Pe’a continued to make music.

His life on campus was a very full one, filling his schedule with friends, clubs and classwork. Pe’a was the Ho’olokahi Polynesian Club Alliance president before moving up to oversee the Cultural Diversity Board. He also acted in plays like “Georgeanne” and “Return to the Forbidden Planet.”

Pe’a has fond memories of his time with friends at CMU. He recalls that he liked wandering around in the snow on campus during the wintertime, much to his friends’ dismay. “My friends, they were going, ‘Kalani,

“Music brings us together, music loves all, music is free medicine, music is healing for us all.”

— Kalani Pe’a come back to Monument Hall, come back to Monument, you pineapple,’ and I’m like, ‘Why would you call me a pineapple? That’s an invasive plant!”

Pe’a is openly gay and has been engaged to his fiancé for ten years. He comes from a Mormon background, but his parents are supportive.

“They knew from the get-go when they found me serenading a mannequin,” Pe’a said.

BELOW: Pe’a during the 2017 Grammy Awards. ◀ SHINING STAR: KALANI PE'A

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He felt he wasn’t ready to come out during college and preferred to focus more on his career and schooling at the time. To Pe’a, the future was bright.

“I thought I’d wear a beautiful, purple, sequin, bedazzled suit in New York City and work for a marketing firm,” he said. Instead, he wore that purple, bedazzled suit to accept his second Grammy Award.

Pe’a has won two Grammy Awards for Best Regional Roots Music Album. The first was in 2017 for his debut album “E Walea” and another in 2019 for his second album “No ‘Ane’i.”

Pe’a says that his accolades don’t define him.

“It’s a legacy for my people,” he said. He’s now a full-time touring musician whose entire management team consists of himself and

his fiancé, Allen B. Cool. They currently live in Maui, Hawaii.

Pe’a is not part of a music label, stating that he is his own label. On average, he works 16 hours each day doing all of his own public relations work, making and selling his music and touring. He claims to be getting a lot out of his education from CMU, since his degree focused on public relations.

Much of his music has very close ties to his personal life and family. His song "Ku'u Poli'ahu" was written about his mother, and he compares her to the snow goddess of Mauna Kea. To Pe’a, music is more than just a career.

“Music brings us together, music loves all, music is free medicine, music is healing for us all,” Pe’a said. “Music shapes our identity; what you do shapes your identity.”

He is proud of his status as a Hawaiian singer and holds much pride in his identity. “I’m not Beyonce, Cardi B, but I’m happy,” Pe’a said. “I get to live my dreams as a full-time musician and carry out the teachings of what I’ve learned in the Hawaiian immersion program, what I’ve learned at Colorado Mesa University, and be a proud Maverick in what I do as a gay, Hawaiian, modern singer. That’s who I am.”▲

Scan the code to listen to our full interview with Kalani Pe'a on KMSA.

RIGHT: Pe’a stands on the volcanic shoreline of his homeland.

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019 ◀ SHINING STAR: KALANI PE'A

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Mike is Stuck in Malfunction Junction This Facebook page, which posts original memes, local history, nostalgic photos and humorous Grand Junction-related content, is run by an anonymous person known as Mike. Grand Junction natives will particularly enjoy having the entertaining, relatable content on their newsfeeds.

Historical Photos of Fruita & Western Colorado

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring2019 2019 • spring

Writer: Elisa Bianchi Designer: Logan Wagner

Managed by two graduates of CMU (then-Mesa State College), this Facebook page shares historical photos of the Western Slope. Each photo is paired with a detailed description of its history, which allows followers to view the valley in a new light.

Downtown Grand Junction @downtowngj

Featuring a variety of activities to do on the Western Slope, impressive photography and frequent takeovers by local groups and businesses, this page highlights why the West Slope truly is the best slope.

Keep up with downtown Grand Junction’s local businesses, events and initiatives. With frequent giveaways, vibrant photos, business features and a strong sense of community, this is a must-follow on Instagram and Facebook.

Love Living in Colorado @lovelivingincolorado

Horizon Magazine @cmuhorizon

Created by a Grand Junction resident, this page features stunning photography and engaging blog posts about Colorado’s natural beauty, food, hikes and activities.

Follow our magazine! Be the first to see sneak peeks of upcoming issues, behind-the-scenes content, extra photos that aren’t in the printed versions and coverage of campus-related events.

◀ WHO TO FOLLOW

West Slope Best Slope @westslopebestslope

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RED ALERT Concerns about menstrual product safety rise Writer: Megan Dirksen Illustrator: Jessica Todd Designer: Leah Ward

C

onsidering nearly half of people on the planet have periods, one would assume the products designed to manage them would be safe. Recently, the safety of menstrual products has raised concerns among activists.

There are plenty of menstrual products to choose from, and most aren’t completely

regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA categorizes menstrual products as medical devices, which are organized into three different classes. Most menstrual products fall under class one or two, meaning that the safety of the product can not be assured. “Materials and additives do not have an established safety profile” under class one and two, according to the FDA’s website. The FDA does recommend that manufacturers of menstrual products disclose information about the products’ materials, absorbance range and risks to health, but it isn’t required for companies to include.

In 2017, Rep. Grace Meng of New York introduced a bill to congress called the Menstrual Products Right to Know Act, which would require that all menstrual products include a list of ingredients on the label. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, also of New York, reintroduced another bill called the Robin Danielson

potassium salt and glyphosate isopropylamine salt. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup, was deemed “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organization.

The vagina is one of the most absorbent parts of the human body, which adds to the worry of having potentially harmful chemicals in or around the area.

“The vagina is very similar to the inside of your mouth. We often give medications sublingually because of how easily the medication absorbs through oral mucosa. The inside of

◀ RED ALERT

Feminine Hygiene Product Safety Act, which would require research on the health risks of contaminants, fragrances, colorants, dyes and preservatives used in menstrual products.

Neither bill was enacted.

Last year, Women’s Voices for the Earth, a nonprofit that advocates for women’s health, conducted chemical testing on several popular brands of tampons. Eight potentially harmful chemicals were detected, ranging from irritants to reproductive toxicants. The substances have not yet been explained by menstrual product manufacturers, but could derive from added fragrance or byproducts of the manufacturing process.

Most tampons are composed of either cotton, rayon or a mix of the two. Because cotton is not used for food, it is often treated heavily with pesticides. Pesticide residue can be detected in some cotton menstrual products, according to The New York Times.

“FDA recommends that tampons be free of ... any pesticide and herbicide residues,” the FDA’s website reads. However, this is only a recommendation, not a requirement.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the most common pesticides used in cotton production in 2015 were glyphosate

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

The FDA does recommend that manufacturers of menstrual products disclose information about the products’ materials, absorbance range and risks to health, but it isn’t required for companies to include.

55

your vagina is almost identical to the type of tissue from the inside of your mouth, so it’s very absorbent,” Jena Smith, certified midwife at Bloomin’ Babies Birth Center in Grand Junction, said. “Tampons do have processed chemicals that end up being absorbed by the vagina’s mucosa. A pad doesn’t come in contact with the mucosa, but it is still around the area,” Smith said.

One alternative to traditional menstrual products is period underwear. Period underwear are washable, leak-proof underwear made from absorbent microfiber polyester. This product is different than a pad, because the chemicals that a pad’s cotton or rayon are treated with are not directly in contact with the vulva.

Another common alternative to cotton products is the menstrual cup. This silicone, washable cup can be inserted to collect the blood, removed, rinsed and reinserted. It can be worn for up to 12 hours and, compared to tampons, reduces the risk of contracting a life-threatening bacterial infection called toxic shock syndrome.

“There have been a number of new products that have come out, [like] Thinx underwear and the Diva Cup, but there are still the taboos

that are built on those products,” Erika Jackson, history and women’s studies professor at Colorado Mesa University, said.

“I am a fan of menstrual cups. You have to make sure it is sterilized, and make sure the fit is right, but it helps keep things happy down there, and it can be a life-changer for some people,” Smith said.

Although people are beginning to question traditional menstrual products, manufacturers insist that their products are safe. Procter & Gamble, for example, which makes Tampax tampons and Always pads, has a section on their website that lists the ingredients in their tampons and assures the safety of them.

However, these listed ingredients may only be a portion of the total ingredients in the product.

Women’s Voices for the Earth encourages people to choose unscented products and products that disclose all ingredients. The use of alternative or external menstrual products may reduce the chance of adverse effects, and organic cotton tampons are on the market for those who are worried about pesticides in traditionally-grown cotton products.

While some research says that the amounts of potentially harmful chemicals in menstrual products are not enough to cause harm, there

published by the Guardian.

More research is needed in order to say for certain whether or not traditional menstrual product use is completely safe, but until then, women’s health activists encourage people with periods to be cautious about the products they choose.▲

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

is a lack of research on long-term menstrual product use. One individual tampon may only contain trace amounts of potentially harmful ingredients, but over a lifetime, a woman may use up to 16,000 tampons, according to CNN. “There is almost no data on the health effects of the cumulative use of tampons over a woman’s lifetime. Imagine if we only examined the health effects of smoking a single cigarette,” Congresswoman Maloney wrote in an article

◀ RED ALERT

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Library provides free English classes to Spanish speakers Writer: Jenna Kretschman Designer: Bree Bell

ENGLISH: Imagine living in a foreign country, unable to read or speak the language that surrounds you.

Everything is a challenge, from navigation to ordering food to asking for help.

For nearly 8,000 people in Mesa County, that is their reality. More than 5 percent of Mesa County’s population speaks Spanish but not English, according to Data USA. The Literacy Center at Mesa County Libraries offers resources to lower that number.

The Literacy Center provides free education for adults in four areas: GED or high school equivalency, adult literacy, citizenship and English as a second language (ESL). The center relies on a group of about 100 volunteers to teach English classes to non-English speakers, the majority of whom are native Spanish speakers.

The classes meet weekly for an hour and a half, which is the minimum that each ESL student is required to take, and each class contains anywhere from two to eight students.

There are currently about 250 active students in the ESL program, and nearly 200 of those students are native Spanish speakers.

“People come to us because they have something that they want to do that they couldn’t do before, because they didn’t speak English, or they couldn’t speak to the level that they wanted. So, someone wants to get that raise at their job, someone wants to talk to their kid’s teacher or their kid’s doctor, they weren’t getting the promotion they wanted or the new job that they wanted, simply because

they didn’t have the English language level they needed. That’s why it’s important on a personal level, because they come to us, their English improves, and then their lives change, because they are able to do those things that they weren’t able to before,” James Price, head of literacy services at Mesa County Libraries, said.

Mesa County Libraries is one of only two public libraries in Colorado with a federallyfunded literacy program.

“In order for people to read books, they need to be able to read,” Price said. “Better communication breeds better community.”

The program is free and accessible to all with a library card.

“The reason we have fought and kept it free is because we want to make sure we eliminate any barrier that someone may have to becoming a student,” Price said. “We don’t ask for status or identification. … Someone wants to learn English, we meet that need.”

The Literacy Center would not be possible without its fleet of volunteers, and new volunteers are always needed and welcome.

“We actually have three or four [Colorado Mesa University] students right now that are volunteers, but we could always use more,” Price said. “Somebody’s biggest concern could be like, ‘Oh, I don’t know Spanish,’ or ‘I don’t know Chinese; I don’t know Russian.’ That’s fine, because you are an English expert.

Because you grew up speaking the language, you know it inside and out. So, you are qualified simply by having that background.”▲

Traductor: Sarena Wells Diseñador: Bree Bell

◀ ESPAÑOL TO ENGLISH

su inglés mejora y luego sus vidas cambian, porque son capaces de hacer aquellas cosas que antes no podían," dijo James Price, jefe de servicios de alfabetización en las bibliotecas del condado de Mesa, dijo.

Mesa County Libraries es una de sólo dos bibliotecas públicas en Colorado con un programa de alfabetización financiado por el gobierno federal.

"Para que las personas lean libros, necesitan poder leer," dijo Price. "Una mejor comunicación engendra una mejor comunidad."

Las clases se proporcionan a los usuarios de la biblioteca sin costo alguno. Todo lo que se necesita es una tarjeta de la biblioteca.

"La razón por la que hemos luchado y lo hemos mantenido en libertad es porque queremos asegurarnos de eliminar cualquier barrera que alguien pueda tener para convertirse en un estudiante," dijo Price. "No pedimos estado o identificación. ... Alguien quiere aprender inglés, satisfacemos esa necesidad."

El Centro de Alfabetización no sería posible sin su flota de voluntarios, y los nuevos voluntarios siempre son necesarios y bienvenidos.

"En realidad, en este momento tenemos tres o cuatro estudiantes [de la Universidad de Colorado Mesa] que son voluntarios, pero siempre podemos usar más," dijo Price." La mayor preocupación de alguien podría ser: 'Oh, no sé español' 'o' No sé chino;' No sé ruso."

Eso está bien, porque usted es un experto en inglés. Porque creciste hablando el idioma, lo sabes por dentro y por fuera. Entonces, estás calificado simplemente por tener ese fondo."▲

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

ESPAÑOL: Imagina vivir en un país extranjero, sin poder leer ni hablar el idioma que te rodea. Todo es un desafío, desde pedir direcciones hasta ordenar comida o simplemente pedir ayuda.

Para casi 8,000 personas en el condado de Mesa, esa es su realidad. Según Data USA, más del 5 por ciento de la población del condado de Mesa habla español pero no inglés. El Centro de Alfabetización en las Bibliotecas del Condado de Mesa ofrece recursos para reducir ese número.

El Centro de Alfabetización ofrece educación gratuita para adultos en cuatro áreas: GED o equivalencia de escuela secundaria, alfabetización de adultos, ciudadanía e inglés como segundo idioma (ESL). El centro cuenta con un grupo de aproximadamente 100 voluntarios para impartir clases de inglés a personas que no hablan inglés, la mayoría de los cuales son hablantes nativos de español.

Las clases se reúnen semanalmente durante una hora y media, que es el mínimo que cada estudiante de ESL debe tomar, y cada clase contiene de dos a ocho estudiantes.

Actualmente hay alrededor de 250 estudiantes activos en el programa de ESL, y casi 200 de ellos son hablantes nativos de español.

"Las personas acuden a nosotros porque tienen algo que quieren hacer que no podían hacer antes, porque no hablaban inglés o no podían hablar al nivel que querían. Entonces, alguien quiere obtener ese aumento en su trabajo, alguien quiere hablar con el maestro de sus hijos o con el médico de sus hijos, no estaban obteniendo la promoción que querían o el nuevo trabajo que querían, simplemente porque no tenían el Nivel de idioma inglés que necesitaban. Por eso es importante a nivel personal, porque acuden a nosotros,

La biblioteca ofrece clases de inglés gratuitas para hablantes de español

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Designer/Photographer: Austin Draving

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019 ◀ ADVICE FROM OUR READERS

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The Buzz on Bees

How honeybees affect the Grand Valley Writers: Jenna Kretschman & Ethan Lovelace ∙ Photographer: Kasia Kucera ∙ Designer/Illustrator: Esme Contreras

Jack Moore enjoys being stung by bees more than most people do. He believes he has to enjoy being stung, because he is a beekeeper.

Moore owns Sticky-Bear Apiary, a beekeeping company. He also teaches beekeeping courses at Western Colorado Community College and is the president of the Western Colorado Beekeepers Association. In his backyard, he has 20 hives set up for teaching, as well as a wide variety of pollinator-friendly plants.

“My yard has everything that blooms from spring to fall that’s related to honeybees,” Moore said. “Those bees are improving all my neighbors’ gardens. They all see an improvement with their gardens, even I did with mine.”

The Grand Valley’s summer fruits wouldn’t

be the same without the hard work of bees in the springtime. Carol Zadronzy, owner of Z’s Orchard in Palisade, knows this well. Z’s Orchard keeps honeybees on their property not only for the honey, but also for the honeybee’s highly effective pollination.

“Bees are nature’s pollinators, and they basically increase the quantity of production,” Zadronzy said. The orchard uses the honey they collect as a sweetening ingredient in the canned goods that they make on-site.

The honeybee’s pollination method makes them popular among fruit growers. Honeybees focus on pollinating one specific type of crop at a time rather than bouncing between species of plants.

“The honeybee is a very efficient pollinator, especially when you’re doing one crop. That is a good way for producers to bring in honeybees and just do peaches, because the honeybees will stick with just doing peaches until that crop’s done blooming. And then you’re truly getting peach pollen honey,” Susan Carter, horticulture and natural resource agent at the Colorado State University extension in Grand Junction, said.

In Colorado, there are about 800 species of native bees, but the honeybee is not one of them. Because of that, there is discussion

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

Environmental Protection Agency. Moore doesn’t believe this is a crisis of honeybees, but rather of uninformed beekeepers.

“When CCD came out as a word back in 2013 or 2014, it was really thought to be management of beekeepers. We have more hives now than we had before that period, but we also have beekeepers that seem to be more informed, and they’re taking seriously the pathogens that honeybees have,” Moore said.

To help the bees, Moore suggests planting a variety of pollinator-friendly plants, not using insecticides, and if you’re a beekeeper, be a good one.

“To be a good beekeeper, that means you’ve got to be a good steward for the other pollinators,” Moore said. “For the hobbyist, it’s all about bees. That doesn’t mean just honeybees— that means all bees.”▲

◀ THE BUZZ ON BEES

about whether or not the honeybee’s popularity is hurting native bees. In the Grand Valley, there are close to 1,500 hobbyist beekeepers with honeybees.

“I get the hummingbird moths, bumblebees, cutter bees, mason bees. I get all the other bees because of the plantings I give for the honeybees. So for me personally, I don’t see it as the honeybee is driving them out of a niche.

The niche is being hurt by urbanization. They live in microclimates, and if you go and put a subdivision in, there goes that particular kind of bee,” Moore said.

Carter says that honeybees and native bees can coexist as long as there is a balance.

“The honeybees can actually overpower the native bees if there are too many of them,” Carter said. “Some of our native bees are actually endangered…. It’s good if people who are raising bees have knowledge, like actually go to classes or become part of the association, because they teach people how to do things properly. People just having bees to have bees can actually do more harm, because if they’re not doing it properly, then they could just be spreading the mites and disease.”

Moore, who teaches beekeeping classes, agrees. A phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in which the majority of bees in a colony disappear and leave behind their queen, has been observed throughout the United States, according to the United States

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END

Created by Logan Wagner

Wildflower blossoms in the Grand Valley are a welcoming sign of spring, inviting all sorts of pollinators, both native and migratory. This brief field guide outlines a few of the flowering plants one might come across on nearby trails.

Spring 2019

0 1 2 3

Opituna polyacantha

Green succulent pads form low mats that spread up to 10 feet wide. Spines are variable in size, ranging from small fibers called glochids to 7 inch needles. It has pink or yellow flowers.

The ovoid-shaped cactus has yellow or pink blossoms and grows up to 10 inches tall by 4 inches wide. Its 1.5 inch red and grey spines densely cover the green surface.

Prickly Pear

Fishhook Cactus

Echinomastus johnsonii

The cactus grows in a mounding habit, producing groups of ball-shaped and cylindrical stems. The red flowers are funnel-shaped and reach 3.5 inches wide.

Echinocerus triglochidiatus

Hedgehog Cactus

The evergreen shrub grows up to 3 feet tall. Its leaves have short, white hairs on both sides. Its red flowers have five petals that form a bowl shape.

Sphaeraclea ambigua

Desert Globemallow

Penstemon angustifolius

Penstemon Fendlera rupicola

Growing up to 2 feet tall, the perennial herb supports thick stems and long concave leaves. The long chain of flowers come in shades of purple and blue.

Cliff Fendlerbush

Dasiphora fruticosa

The deciduous shrub grows between 3 to 7 feet tall. Its woody branches are gray.

White flowers are produced at the end of short branches with one to three blossoms each. Flower buds show hints of pink.

Shrubby Cinquefoil

Ephedra viridis

With a vertical and sprawling habit, the deciduous shrub grows up to 3 feet tall. Older stems produce bark that shreds in strips like that of the juniper. The yellow flowers have five petals.

Green Mormon Tea The woody-based shrub grows vertical green stems with male or female cones. At the nodes of twig segments, male plants grow pollen cones and female plants grow seed cones that contain two seeds each.

Linum lewisii

Prarie Flax Calochortus nuttallii

Growing up to 2 feet tall, the herbaceous plant has narrow, spirally-arranged leaves.

The five-petaled flowers are pale blue, lavender, or white with blue veins.

Sego Lily Stenotus armeriodes

Growing from bulbs, the perennials have long thin leaves and one or four blossoms. The flowers have three white petals, three sepals, and yellow centers with purple or magenta stains radiating outward.

Thrift Mock Goldenweed

Zinnia grandiflora

On a nest of last year’s dead leaves, thin stems and narrow leaves hold yellow flowers at a height of up to 8 inches. Flowers typically contain six to 10 petals.

Rocky Mountain Zinnia The small shrub grows up to 9 inches tall. Slender stems covered in rough hairs support narrow and oppositely-arranged 1-inch-long leaves.

Yellow flowers contain six petals.

HORIZON MAGAZINE • spring 2019

GET YOURSELF

THERE @CMUOutdoorProgram Colorado Mesa University Outdoor Program @CMU_OP

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