Issue 105

Fort Lewis College News Magazine

NEW TOBACCO LAW NEW AGE MINIMUM BRINGS QUESTIONS

editors

Coya Pair

editor-in-chief

Kim Cassels editor

Taylor Hutchison lead reporter

Shelby Martin design editor

Lea Leggitt

multimedia editor

Easton Verduzco

business director

REPORTING William Charles Dorothy Elder Amber Labahe Alx Lee Mandy Lorenson Charlotte Williams

DESIGN Elizabeth Anglin Brooke Munden

ADVISORS Paige Blankenbuehler practicum director

Faron Scott

content editor

COVER Claire Law of Austin, Texas has been vaping since she was 18. Although she is not 21 yet she still enjoys vaping in the beauty of Colorado.

Photo by Lea Leggitt

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dear readers, First issue of 2020, wowza! Happy New Year, everybody. The Indy sure has gone through some changes in past decades, as it will continue to do so through the next ten years. It started off as a weekly tabloid newspaper, then slowly progressed to the sleek magazine and online presence you see today. We’re very proud of this organization and how we’ve helped it grow.

A friend of mine once said, “journalism isn’t a dying field, it’s a changing field.” This is true. Some industries you get involved in, not because it will bring you money or stability, but because it excites you. For everyone on our team, it is important that we can continue to express our creativity in a way that allows us to connect with our sources and expand the minds of our readers.

If you are one of our readers who are enrolled in college, you know that this last decade has been full of exciting changes. I was eleven years old in 2010, which was the end of childhood as I knew it. The following years were full of big scary moments and figuring out who I am. Now, in 2020, it seems like not much has changed. There is so much confusion, so many firsts and lessons to be learned.

Whether you are an underclassman, a senior ready to graduate, a non-traditional student, staff member or alumni, we can ensure that 2020 will be a wild ride.

So here’s to trying new things, taking our falls graciously and learning as much as we possibly can.

Coya Pair Editor in Chief

cdpair@fortlewis.edu

In This Issue

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The Art of Dorm Nesting:

Perfecting a home away from home Charlotte Williams 3

Grand Canyon Jeff Creamer Mandy Lorenson 5

New Tobacco Law:

New age minimum brings questions as to what the law entails Dorothy Elder 7

Challanges of Change:

A look inside New Year Resolutions Charlotte Williams 9

FLC Skate Hawks Will Chavrles 11

Influenza B: Hits Colorado Earlier than Expected this Flu Season Alx Lee 13

FLC student seen skate boarding across campus.

Photo by Lea Leggitt

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THE ART OF

DORM NESTING perfecting a home away from home

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n small dorms in halls across campus, students have taken to making their space a home rather than just a dorm room. While students spend the majority of their time away from their hometowns, many have personalized their dorm rooms as a way to adjust to life on campus.

First-year student Sasha Lewis said decorating her room helped her acclimate to the new environment.

“Leaving your house and moving out for the first time is a really big step,” Lewis said.

“If you make it your own a little bit, that’s where you feel comfortable and it feels like a new home.”

Lewis, who lives in West Hall, chose a yellow sunflower theme as a way to brighten the room, she said.

Kierra McFail, Lewis’ roommate, decorated her room with a Hawaiian theme, incorporating a sunset tapestry and fishnet display of pictures, she said.

“I've always wanted to decorate my room but I never really got the chance to until college,” McFail said.

Lewis and Mcfail attempt to stay on the lower side of expenses by making some of their own decorations, they said.

Although there are a few things that are necessary and will contribute to the total cost, Lewis tried to limit her spending, she said.

The roommates coordinated their shared room by having Lewis’ side represent sunshine and Mcfail’s represent sunsets, Lewis and McFail said.

“Our rooms are still our individual selves,” Lewis said. “We made it how we wanted it, but still coordinated a little bit.”

Last semester, Ben Iverson and his roommate shared their spaces in West Hall by having desks and closets in one area and their beds in another, Iverson said.

“We learned the hard way that combining spaces doesn’t help at all,” he said. “By having separate areas, it’s like your own little nook and the design was to have a private spot.”

The roommates have since separated their spaces, and when decorating his dorm,

Iverson said he values personal space and a relaxed atmosphere.

For Iverson, decorating his room was not necessarily about design but about moving possessions from his home to FLC, he said.

“It was more efficient to not buy everything new,” he said. “I already had all of this, so it was literally like taking all my things from my old room and moving up here.”

Iverson personalized his room to have a more relaxed feel through the use of prayer flags and an essential oil diffuser, he said.

“You always see prayer flags on top of mountains, which brings you peace,” he said.

“I have a little plant, a diffuser and a salt lamp so it is very zen and relaxed. I try to be a relaxed person and decorating it like this makes me more relaxed.”

Bader-Snyder resident Bre Tucker said she centered her room around a light up peace sign that hangs on her wall.

“I went off of the yellow peace sign I have on my wall and I would search up various different room themes that would fit,” Tucker said.

Tucker said she took careful time planning her dorm to fit her personality, and advise others to do the same, she said.

Coming from a low-income family, making the decision to take out student loans to have a personal room on campus was a difficult one and decorating was an essential way for her to feel at home, Romansky said.

“Take your time planning it,” she said.

“I took all summer finding all my things.

The longer you take the happier you'll be with it.”

“My room reflects a part of me that a lot of people don't expect and I feel like it shows that aspect of me that I don't show a lot of people,” Romansky said.

Working over summer enabled her to buy the pieces in her room, she said.

For Romansky, she highlights the crystals in her room and said she has a special connection with rose quartz specifically.

“Every time I got paid, I bought something different for my dorm,” Tucker said. “I earned it so I might as well buy it, because I worked hard for it.”

To cut down on costs, Noel Romansky, a nontraditional student residing in Animas, relied on more inexpensive options and DIY projects with friends when decorating her room, she said.

Romansky recommends having friends help when you don’t know what to do, or using do-it-yourself Pinterest ideas, such as making paper butterflies.

“Rose quartz is about self-love and having love for other people,” said Romansky. “I'm very big on showing people that I care about them in a very indirect way, and I also focused on the aspect of self-love.”

By incorporating parts of her personality like crystals helps her to adjust to being in the dorms as an untraditional student, she said.

“I figured it's my home away from home,” she said. “The more I am here and interact with the community, this is my home.”

Charlotte Williams

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One One Man Canyon Photos courtesy of Jeff Creamer

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eople tend to go home for Christmas and the New Year. Some people like Jeff Creamer, a visiting instructor for geosciences at Fort Lewis College, suit up to explore the Grand Canyon on a solo pack rafting trip.

It all started when Creamer won a river permit two months before his launch date to start exploring the canyon, Creamer said.

Not many people get picked when the permit lottery happens because it is very competitive and there is a lot of competition, Creamer said.

“Typically, permits are issued between 12 and 20 months in advance,” Creamer said, “Allowing for those individuals to have a year to a year and a half to get ready for their trip.”

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What was unique in this situation was how his permit was issued to him very late, he said.

Since the trip was awarded to him so late, Creamer wasn’t given the allotted time needed in order to plan the trip and find someone that didn’t already have plans for the Christmas season.

As it was looking more and more like he was going to be setting out on this trip alone, he decided that he was going to make this trip as hard as possible on himself, Creamer said.

With seven years of paddling and skiing under his belt, and a lifelong experience of hiking outdoors, Creamer decided to combine all these elements together into what would is known as a multisport trip.

Multisport trips take form when an individual partakes in paddling, skiing, and hiking along a wilderness river much like the Grand Canyon.

“I have always viewed myself as adventurous,” Creamer said.

The Grand Canyon isn’t the first place Creamer has explored like this. He has also explored other places in Arizona, California, Wyoming, along with others rivers in western United States.

Creamer has always had an interest in the outdoors and all the activities that come with exploring it.

In order to stick to the loop route that he was given on his permit, he was going to have to paddle, then hike, then ski.

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Creamer started at the top of the canyon in a place that is known as Lees Fairy, Creamer said.

When an individual sets sail on Grand Canyon waters, it is best to use what is called a pack raft.

A pack raft is similar to a kayak, but according to Creamer, “They are inferior to kayaks.”

“It only makes sense for an individual to use a pack raft on a remote or wilderness river,” Creamer said.

Once he paddled 90 miles into the middle of the canyon, it was time to change sports and hike up a 6,500-foot climb to the high plateau of the Grand Canyon, also known as the North Rim, Creamer said.

He was either going to make it through, or he was going to get stuck and use his satellite device and call for search and rescue to come get him out.

the extra weight in his pack that would be necessary to follow the guidelines that the Grand Canyon has set in place in order for them to have a fire, Creamer said.

“I didn’t particularly enjoy that part,” Creamer said.

In order to have a fire in the winter, one must have the fire elevated on a pan and have the pan on a fireproof blanket, Creamer said.

Another challenge that Creamer faced in the 11 days and 10 nights he was in the canyon was the solitude and the aloneness he felt.

“It would have added an extra 8-10lbs to what I was already carrying,” Creamer said.

He read the book Confluence a couple of times. In the packing and preparation stage he knew he was only going to have to take what was necessary.

Creamer remembers one night when he had to set up camp 900 feet vertical from the river with the temperature dropping into the single digits after dark.

After Creamer packed up his gear and food, he estimated the pack weighed about 85lbs, Creamer said.

Creamer left that night with frostnip on his toes, he said.

“I didn’t have fun that night,” Creamer said.“I just stayed in my sleeping bag and laid there till it was over.”.

While he had originally planned for a two-week trip, it was cut short due to weather inclination and the uncertainty he had around skiing.

Creamer was supposed to exit the canyon with a 45-mile ski to the North Rim of the canyon, but ended up exiting at the South Rim, Creamer said.

He knew skiing was getting too difficult and he was unsure if he would make it.

It was time for Creamer to put on his skis and head down to the next location on his trip.

One of the most challenging things for Creamer on this trip was the skiing component.

He was already using very small skis in order to conserve space and weight in his gear bag, but the largest snowstorm hit while he was on the canyon and gave it two more feet of fresh snow, Creamer said.

He proceeded down the canyon very slowly and came upon a cliff that was giving him only 3 to 4 feet of space to pass through, Creamer said.

“I didn’t have a choice but to go through,” Creamer said.

So instead of testing it and going way past his limit, Creamer called the trip short.

But it didn’t weigh that much once he set out to descend back into the river on his skiing and hiking portion of the trip. He ate a lot of the food or he cashed it once he realized it was going to weigh him down even more on his way back down to the river, Creamer said.

Being in the largest canyons in this region, Creamer was glad he went alone because he didn’t have anyone stopping him from proceeding when most would have turned back, he said.

Once he began his descent, he estimated his pack weighed around 65lbs, Creamer said.

“I didn’t have anyone talking me out of stupid ideas,” Creamer said.

With the challenge of skiing and solitude Creamer faced, weather was another challenge.

Creamer was able to win the trip of a lifetime that he is glad he took, but would also never put himself through again.

In the 10 nights, temperatures dropped into the 30’s and lower 20’s with no fire.

Although in the winter, explorers of the Grand Canyon are allowed to have fires, Creamer decided that he didn’t want to have

Mandy Lorenson

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T

O T A B

A CO C C TA O CC B TA A O C T C CO A B

BA NEW TOBACCO C C LAW O TA BA NEW AGE MINIMUM BRINGS QUESTIONS AS TO WHAT THE LAW ENTAILS

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A O B AC C

T A T B A A B C A C

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THE US FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION RAISED DO YOU HAVE TO BE 21 TO THE MINIMUM AGE TO ENTER SMOKE SHOPS NOW? PURCHASE TOBACCO PRODUCTS FROM 18 TO Previously, before entering a smoke shop 21 ON DEC. 20, 2019. THE in Colorado, customers had to show through identification that they were at least 18. With WHAT ARE THE CRIMINAL LEGISLATIVE CHANGE this new age restriction, do you now have to PENALTIES FOR ATTEMPTING WAS LED BY SENATE show that you are at least 21? C.J. Burns, ownTO PURCHASE TOBACCO, OR HAVING SOMEONE WHO IS 21 MAJORITY LEADER AND er of Durango’s Cloud 9 Head Shop, said no.

“You only need to be 21 to buy any products BUY TOBACCO FOR YOU? KENTUCKY SENATOR that actually contain tobacco, like vape prodMITCH MCCONNEL, WHO ucts with nicotine in them,” Burns stated.

Durango Police Department’s Community Programs Sergeant Tim Dixon stated the SAID IN A STATEMENT SO, CAN ANYONE OVER 18 following fines are associated with the illegal SHORTLY AFTER THE STILL BUY GLASS PRODUCTS, purchasing of tobacco: CHANGE BECAME LAW LIKE PIPES, OR ROLLING PAPERS? $100 fine if you are caught attemptTHAT THIS NEW ing to purchase tobacco and are not at least RESTRICTION WAS Yes, according to Burns, as long as the 21 years of age along with a Class 2 Petty MEANT TO STEM THE TIDE customer is 18, they can still purchase these Offense. products, as long as the products do not conOF EARLY NICOTINE tain tobacco. Cigar wraps, for example, would $200 fine if you aid in the purchasing ADDICTION AMONG require the customer to be 21. of tobacco for a person who is not at least YOUTH IN KENTUCKY AND 21 years of age, along with a Class 2 Petty HAS THE NEW AGE REQUIRE- Offense.

ACROSS THE NATION. THIS MINIMUM AGE REVISION HAS SURELY BROUGHT QUESTIONS AMONGST TOBACCO USERS FALLING IN THE 18-20 AGE RANGE, AS THE AMBIGUITY AND SUDDENNESS OF THE LEGISLATION HAS LEFT MANY WONDERING WHERE THE LAW DOES AND DOES NOT APPLY.

HERE IS AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT EXACTLY THIS CHANGE MEANS, AND WHAT IT DOES NOT.

MENT IMPACTED SMOKE SHOP SALES?

“Yes, definitely,” Burns stated, “It was really hard for us after it changed. They [law makers] did not send us anything about what the law meant. We had to figure out everything on our own.”

ARE THERE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR HAVING NICOTINE IF YOU ARE UNDER 21?

With other FDA controlled substances, such as marijuana, being underage and in possession of the substance can mean a Minor in Possession charge, accompanied by a court date and fine. However, if you are a minor caught in possession of nicotine, no such penalty exists. The absence of any such penalty can be found in the updated version of Colorado’s Revised Statute 44-7-103 (3), pertaining to tobacco law.

HAS DURANGO SEEN AN INCREASE IN FAKE I.D.’S SINCE THE TOBACCO MINIMUM AGE CHANGE TOOK EFFECT?

“It is too early to say”, Dixon stated, “Previously, we didn’t see a lot of fake ID’s being used to purchase tobacco.”

Dixon explained the Durango Police Department is not yet enforcing the law until March of 2020, but it is still illegal for any business in Durango to sell tobacco to anyone under the age of 21.

“I’ll be curious to see, if by April, we will see an increase in that,’’ Dixon said.

Dorothy Elder

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CHALLENGES OF CHANGE: A LOOK INSIDE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

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hange is difficult, yet it is a common tradition for many individuals to participate in setting New Year’s resolutions every year. By creating new lifestyle changes and new goals at the beginning of each year, participants aim to better themselves and grow.

For some people, maintaining their goals over a period of time is rather difficult, and some fail to make substantial changes. Dr. Megan Wrona of the psychology department argues that failing, or relapsing from your goal is completely normal.

“Failing to make the change is actually part of the process, and can really help with moving you forward with making that change down the road,” Dr. Wrona said. “We call it a relapse in psychology. It’s a very normal part of the change process, and it’s about what do you do after that.”

FLC professors, Dr. Wrona and Dr. Brian Burke, teach two courses at FLC that are centered around change. Dr. Wrona’s class, health psychology, guides students through the six steps by having students work towards a goal of personal change throughout the semester, she said.

“The health psych class is all about behavior change that we can make to better physical and mental health,” Dr. Wrona said.

“We talked about the barriers to change, what makes it hard, the process of change, and how to support people who are making change.”

Dr. Brian Burke teaches a course called motivational interviewing, which is a way for students to learn real world applications of how to help people reach their goals by meeting them where they are, he said.

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“The motivational interviewers are not giving you advice, they’re not telling you how to make the change there, and they’re certainly not telling you that you should make the change,” Dr. Burke said. “It’s really much more about the person, and what they want to do, and we help guide them towards that.”

Halfway through the semester, both classes convene for a joint session, where the motivational students practice working with the students that are changing their behavior, Dr. Wrona said.

“After they’ve been working on their goal for a little bit, they meet with one of my students for a half hour, and my students will ask them a lot of questions about their change process,” Dr. Burke said.

When looking at change, psychologists use the Transtheoretical Model of Change which has six different stages of change that can help people walk through those changes, Dr. Wrona said.

The first stage is pre-contemplation, where somebody does not recognize a need to change some kind of problem or behavior, Dr. Wrona said.

The next stage is contemplation where somebody’s starting to think about the possibility of change without committing to it, she said.

After that is preparation where somebody recognizes a problem, and they’re starting to take steps to move towards the change, she said.

“The next one is action, so working towards the goal,” Dr. Wrona said. “You’re working towards it on a pretty regular basis, but it’s not fully routine yet.”

The fifth stage is maintenance, which is sustaining the change over time as a routine, Dr. Wrona said.

The last stage is relapse. It’s important to recognize that at any point of the chain, you can relapse. What you want to do is think about how you come back into that cycle, Dr. Wrona said.

Jodie Miller, a nontraditional psychology student, took both Dr. Wrona and Dr. Burke’s courses at the same time last semester and became knowledgeable of the six stages of change, including relapse she said.

In an effort to avoid struggling with diabetes as family members have, Miller chose to cut sugar from her diet as her behavioral health change for the semester.

“I am a non traditional student. I have three kids, a 91 year old grandfather who lives with me and I’ve been married for 17 years,” Miller said. “My life is a little complicated and chaotic. Sometimes it’s easy just to grab the first thing you find.”

Each week, Miller began prepping around six meals per day to limit grabbing something against her goal, she said.

At the beginning of the semester, Miller’s change journey started off great, she said.

“At the beginning of the process, I was really good,” Miller said. “I did really well and I could tell the difference in my body. My skin was clear, I had more energy, all the good things were happening.”

For Miller, her goal became difficult to maintain as things in her life became more busy, she said.

“All of a sudden, things got chaotic and busy,” Miller said. “I had a hard time maintaining not touching carbs and not having sugar, because I needed something really fast, to eat and go. I beat myself up so bad over it and that’s not good either.”

Having the idea that her change needed to be perfect made it difficult to address relapsing into old habits, but after going through the process, some things are just not going to work out, she said.

“It’s okay if you mess up,” she said. “Try again, get back up. By the end of the process, it’s going to happen, and I have to be okay with that. The less pressure I put on myself, the easier it got.”

Another psychology student, Allison Young, took both classes as well, choosing positive journaling as her change, she said.

The behavior change is meant to push and challenge students to improve some aspect of either their physical or mental health, Young said.

“I journal all the time, but I noticed that a lot of it was ranting and my negative thoughts,” Young said. “I would look back in my journal and it captures a part of myself that’s not necessarily my whole self.”

Young tried to focus on action and maintenance of her positive journaling goal to focus on gratitude to appreciate the good in her life, and not be consumed by the things that are hard, she said.

For Young, maintaining a space of gratitude became difficult when things became stressful, she said.

“It would be really stressful time and I had a ton of pressure on my shoulders,” Young said. “I would sometimes go back to old patterns of ranting and getting into this space where I was so mad at the world. I was not giving myself space to feel gratitude.”

Although positive journaling became rather difficult, Young said it helped her to learn how to have patience with herself, she said.

“The positive journaling, it worked out a lot for me,” she said. “There were also times that it was hard to do it and I was forcing it a little bit. I would have a bad day and I would come to my journal and all I wanted to do

was write about how bad it was. The realization that I’m human, we’re all human, and we’re going to have these goals for ourselves and set these goals that we may or may not complete.”

Relapsing into old patterns is not a failure, but rather a natural part of the change cycle, Dr. Wrona said.

“It’s hard to change,” she said. “Especially with some of those big lifestyle changes, even when we really want to do them. We have all kinds of things that make it tough, whether that’s time commitment or exposure to different things. There are some things that we can do to try to get us on track a little bit sooner, and one of those is to recognize that relapse can be part of the process and plan for it.”

View the relapse as a way to get back into the change cycle, Dr. Burke said.

TIPS ON ADDRESSING NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS: 1. UNDERSTAND THAT RELAPSING IS A PART OF THE PROCESS. Falling back into old patterns is apart of the change process, and the best way to address that is to plan for it. “There are some things that we can do to get us on track a little bit sooner. One of those is to recognize that relapse can be part of the process and to plan for it,” Dr. Wrona said.

2. GET A PARTNER

“The main goal is to frame the relapse not as a failure but as an experiment,” he said.

“You tried the experiment and you learned something from it. So instead of saying, why did you fail in your attempt, I would say, what did you learn from that attempt?”

Having accountability for your goals can be crucial. “It’s hard to tell people, and yet it’s a very powerful motivator to have other people in your corner,” Dr. Burke said. “Social support is important for all of us.”

It is key to get back into the change cycle and recommit yourself so that you can succeed after relapsing, Dr. Burke said.

Making a SMART goal can help you stay committed to goals by making it more specific and more likely to achieve. “A SMART goal is about trying to break the goal down so that it’s specific, that you can measure it, that you can reasonably attain it, that it’s relevant for you and that has a timeframe to it. So instead of making a goal that’s like, I want to eat better next year,” Dr. Wrona said.

“Have patience with yourself to know these are hard changes, and to have a really good plan in mind that’s flexible, that changes with new things you’re noticing,” he said.

“Keep coming back to this plan, and possibly have some sort of reward that you’re going to do for yourself when you actually succeed.”

3. SMART GOAL

4. PERFECTION ISN’T THE GOAL

New Year’s resolutions, and behavioral change in general, is a very difficult task, Dr. Wrona said.

“Some things are just not going to work out and there are some things I cannot control,” Miller said. “It’s okay if you mess up. Try again and get back up.”

“The reality is that it’s hard to make substantial change, and a lot of New Year’s resolutions that people make tend to be big changes,” she said. “Failing to make the change is actually part of the process, and it’s just about what you do after that. How do you jump back into changing.”

Having a tool or a way to help you follow steps towards your goal can be useful to sticking to your goals over time. “Some kind of tracking can be useful so you can see your progress and change over time,” Dr. Wrona said.

5. HABIT TRACKING

Charlotte Williams

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Durango’s Skate Scene: How Boards make an Impact

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kateboarding is more than just a hobby, it’s a culture in which people can express themselves through extreme sport while sending a positive message.

“Skating, for me, allows all the bad energy to escape,” Nathen Yellow-Horse, a transfer-student studying Biology, said Yellow-Horse uses an old-school skateboard, which he admires for its asymmetrical design and wider nose, and isn’t afraid to carry its heavy design into the modern world of skating, he said.

He has a passion for transition skating, also known as bowl skating, and has stuck with it ever since he learned his first ollie.

Ollies, which is a basic trick involving the rider and board to leap into the air, are a right of passage into the complex and dangerous world of skating.

Two years ago, he learned how to successfully complete a backside aerial, a skill that would prove to come with a rewarding but costly price, he said.

This is a trick that throws the body out of a pool-sized bowl. With enough speed, the body is in the air long enough to spin around, and as gravity sets in, he lands back onto the board and back into the bowl.

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“You need lots of speed, so that you have enough air-time to do the trick,” Yellow-Horse said. “I went for it, but my body got stuck in the air. I lost my board while my body fell straight towards the center of the bowl, where it’s flat.”

The fall damaged his knee ligaments, resulting in him recovering in a bed for a month.

Even with a feeble knee, Yellow-Horse still skates to this day, he said.

Transition skating emerged from southern California in the 1960’s and 1970’s and is where people started skating in backyard pools, Tyler Singleton, freshman psychology major, said.

In highschool, Singleton and his friends began learning how to ollie at the skate park right next to campus in Evergreen, Colo., he said.

Singleton prefers a thin width popsicle-shaped board, because in the modern world of skating, it’s the most ideal, he said.

Popsicle boards are the shortest style boards, usually symmetrical, and are the more popular boards seen by general audiences.

On Fort Lewis College’s campus, he likes skating at the “bricks” in front of the Student Union, or he’ll go to the curbs at the soccer field.

and not just the bigger brands,” he said. “A lot of those smaller brands are skater owned, so if they sell those then it lets you know that they are supporting the community,” The Boarding Haus is a Durango skate and snowboard shop that has been operating for 25 years since its opening in 1995, owner John Agnew said.

The novelty of skateboarding in the 70’s is how Agnew got started, and has been a skater ever since, Agnew said.

In this years of owning The Board Haus, Agnew has seen young skaters grow up to become parents who then teach their own kids to skate, he said.

“It’s a steep learning curve, but it’s rewarding,” John Agnew, the owner of The Boarding Haus, said about encouraging people to try skating.

This is a form of street skating, which is another common way to skate in Durango, Singleton said.

Street skating includes approaching just about every obstacle that could be found on the streets like stairs, ledges, or manual pads, Singleton said.

Singleton has friends that skate so much that they have to buy skate shoes once a month, so it’s important that stores in Durango offer more to the skate culture than merely Vans or online shopping, he said.

“A lot of skateboarding stuff is expensive, but when you are looking out for each other then it doesn’t seem as bad,” Singleton said.

When shopping for skate supplies, one important thing he looks for in a skate shop are the types of brands it promotes.

“It’s nice to go into a skate shop and see that they are really supporting the core stuff,

“We’re provided with a cool place, and it’s an opportunity that people don’t have, so we want to keep the skate culture a positive place,” Singleton said. “Don’t leave trash lying around, be respectful because we represent how the city looks at skate culture,” he said.

Singleton said that Schneider Park includes a variety of different sized bowls including one that reaches up to a 10ft vertical transition.

Yellow-Horse said that skateboarding is a great way to reach out to people who offer new learning ideas and as well as to those who are just starting out.

“It’s fun because you don’t have it and I don’t have it, but by the end of the night we are going to have it,” Yellow-Horse said.

Two local skateboarders who are friends of Agnew, Jeff Markman and Tim Schaefer, began the Boards for Brazil fundraiser on a GoFundMe account in 2019, Agnew said.

Agnew has helped the fundraiser by providing over $6,000 worth of skateboards for orphans in Brazil, he said.

Agnew said that the skate community is also going to be hosting a memorial skate competition for the late Tyler Valencia, who was killed in a car accident in the winter of 2006 at the age of 16 and was a strong advocate for a new skate park.

“I love to give back to our snow and skate communities, they have provided me a great way to make a living in the 25 years that I’ve done this, and I’m appreciative to our local crowd,” Agnew said.

Singleton said he admires some of the youth who have taken up skating and encourages them to keep at it, but always keep safe.

Will Charles

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HITS COLORADO EARLIER THAN EXPECTED THIS FLU SEASON

INFLUENZA B 13

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olorado locals have been hit with irregular timing for a strain of the flu, making it months ahead of when the virus usually circulates.

This type of behavior for Influenza B is unusual, as the Colorado Department of Health and Environment typically has reports of Influenza A this time of year.

The Fort Lewis College Student Health Center started seeing Influenza B back in October, Jane Cobb, an FLC Nurse Practitioner, said.

“Influenza B/Victoria viruses have not circulated widely in the United States during the past three influenza seasons, but it’s not unprecedented to have a season where they are the predominant strain,”Deanne Herbert, Communications Unit Manager at the CDHE, said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Influenza A and B, commonly known as the flu, are similar but both have distinguishing characteristics.

Influenza A being broken down into subtypes based on the protein found on the surface, and Influenza B is categorized based on genetics.

Despite the conception that it’s a mild illness, Influenza may very well cause severe symptoms to patients, she said.

“With Influenza B, people are getting stomach problems like diarrhea and vomiting,” Cobb said.

The Student Health Center recommends for students to discuss their health situation with professors and stay out of class until 24 hours after their fever comes down.

VACCINATIONS A vaccine shot is still beneficial to those who have not received one this flu season, Herbert said.

It takes about two weeks for the vaccine to become effective, Cobb said.

One vaccine covers a broad spectrum of patients, with the exception of patients who experience chronic immune conditions, typically those who are elderly, Cobbs said.

“The flu vaccine can vary in how well it works from year-to-year, but vaccination is still the best way to prevent the flu and its potentially serious complications,” Herbert said.

When a flu strain shows up each year it is studied and treated with vaccines, Cobb said.

“That’s why you have to get it every year because that flu vaccine is tweaked just a little bit,” she said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two studies are conducted each year to determine the effectiveness of the flu vaccine.

Randomized controlled trials, in which volunteers are randomly injected with the vaccine or placebo, and Observational Studies that bring case studies to scientists to observe and test.

FLU ON CAMPUS Traffic at the Student Health Center increases during flu season, said Cobb.

Cobb said the two providers at the Health Center can see 30 students a day, each.

The flu can be spread with others, therefore campus can pose a very vulnerable environment, she said.

Residential living, dining halls and small classrooms all have crowded environments in which people can spread the flu, said Cobb.

“If somebody’s sick with the flu and going to class, they’re going to communicate that to other people who are not immunized or unhealthy,” she said.

Cobb recommends to first get vaccinated, drink plenty of water and wash their hands to protect themselves from the flu.

The Student Health Center is located by the SkyHawk Station, open from Monday-Friday and take walk-ins daily.

Alx Lee

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