Matterhorn: Apocalypse

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free  :  a  quarterly  print  supplement  :  fall  2012

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questions,  curiosities,  &  resources  :  fort  collins,  co  :  free

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EXTRA! Â EXTRA! Â APOCALYPSE Â UPON Â US!

THE  NEW  NORMAL  For t  C olli n s ’  Emergency  M a n a g ement  O pera t ion s

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By Molly McCowan A rescue worker struggles to keep his balance, chest-deep in rushing, murky currents of Ă RRGZDWHU 6ORZO\ FDUHIXOO\ KH VWHSV XS WR D PRELOH KRPHÂłDQ HOGHUO\ ZRPDQ OHDQLQJ out of the window, watches him approach. He reaches up and pulls her onto his shoulder, careful not to bump her head on the window’s plastic awning. He turns, glancing towards us as he carries her, step by step through the raging currents, to safety. As we pull back, we see that the elderly ZRPDQ¡V PRELOH KRPH LV RQ Ă€UH ,Q IDFW WKLV LV D PRELOH KRPH SDUNÂłPDQ\ RI WKH WUDLOHUV DUH HQJXOIHG LQ Ă DPHV VXEPHUJHG LQ EODFNLVK liquid, being pushed around like bath toys in a swirling wall of water. A man clutches a tree trunk as the water drags his lower body out from under him, his eyes white with fear. Next, more scenes of the water’s GHVWUXFWLRQÂłD GHUDLOHG WUDLQ WHHQDJHUV SXVKLQJ D VWDOOHG FDU IURP D Ă RRGHG intersection. A college campus: blackened water pouring through broken windows, VZLUOLQJ LQ JLJDQWLF SRROV %RRNV Ă RDW E\ Then, a chained door bursts open on what any Fort Collins resident would recognize as Colorado State University’s Lory Student Center. The CSU emblem, barely visible on the door’s glass paneling, is quickly hidden behind dark, rushing water. This was Fort Collins on July 28, 1997, on the night of the Spring Creek )ORRG 7KH VWRUP WKDW FDXVHG WKH Ă RRG dropped 10-14 inches of water in 31 hours. Between 8pm and 10:30pm that night, Fort Collins experienced the heaviest sustained rainfall on record— upwards of six inches per hour. Five people were killed, 54 were injured, more than 200 homes were destroyed, and approximately 1,500 other homes and businesses were severely damaged. The City of Fort Collins ... continued on page 3

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Graywater Soup for the Apocalyptic Soul

How to Survive the Seven Deadly Apocalypses

By Todd Simmons

By John Major Jenkins, Ph.D (Prophet of Doom)

Our graywater bucket started out white, but faded to a milky, almost translucent hue through years of use. It usually had a slimy coating on the inside, due mainly to soap and grime from washing dishes. On an average day, our three-person IDPLO\ ZRXOG GXPS WKH ÀYH JDOORQ bucket twice—usually near a shade tree or in our garden (away from the root vegetables). Graywater is water generated from domestic activities such as washing dishes, showering, and washing clothes, whereas blackwater is water that has been used in toilets. Our bucket became a tool and sacred symbol of how to live a less guilty life in this arid region. Installing it was easy—I removed the drainpipe under the kitchen sink and slid the bucket underneath. Hauling the 40 lbs. of graywater became part of my daily, utilitarian workout. There were a few mishaps with friends not knowing about the bucket, but for the most part it was easy and simple, something...

During my own personal apocalypse, I found myself strolling down the red carpet in Hollywood next to Mickey Rooney and George Hamilton (he once played a vampire, by the way). There were scary monsters, blinking Ă DVKEXOEV EULJKW WHHWK DQG ELJ KDLU What was I doing there? How did I get there? It was late 2009, and the movie 2012 ZDV Ă€QDOO\ RQ WKH PDLQVWUHDP radar. With seven books on the topic under my belt, Sony Pictures had invited me to the premiere of Roland Emmerich’s 2012 disaster movie, which many have called “apocalypse porn.â€? I was well aware of this, having had to watch it three times, but I was determined to spread the gospel:...

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The  Lost  Art  of For g ot t en  Foods By Rico Lighthouse I recently discovered a garden growing right here in Fort Collins that I’d never seen before. I had heard myths and rumors of its existence, but it had always seemed so distant, so elusive, like a childhood dream that you want so much to believe in but are barely able to recall. This garden has been abandoned and neglected longer than... continued on page 16

FORT COLLINS WITHOUT US Our World Left to th e E lem en ts By Charles J. Malone

By John Calderazzo

The waterlogged foundation of the First National Tower gives way. The north side of the building slides like a calving glacier into the grassy, spindly grove of Trees of Heaven (ailanthus) that grew where Oak Street used to be in a cloud of dust and shattered glass. The smells of plaster and decaying acoustic WLOH ÀOO WKH DLU³D EULHI UHPLQGHU RI XV 7KH cascade topples a mature cottonwood that we planted more than eight decades earlier, pulling up irregularly shaped blocks of forgotten sidewalk from a tangle of mullein and goatheads. From the tower in 2012, A person could look out their window through the leaves to City Hall and then back to the items personalizing their desk. Now, the bank, opened like a sliced pepper, shows its rotten guts. Floors sag, vines and even shrubs creep through broken south-facing windows; the basement is a black pool of drowned rodents and mosquito larvae. Mule deer grazing on the remains of Mason Street spin their ears and scatter, a split hoof clinks on a steel rail. The once omnipresent train horns are long silent.

Let’s look at the bright side of the Apocalypse. Not nearly as many people do this as should, in my opinion. They read about hurricanes or overpopulation or climate change, and then they’re up all night obsessing about Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. But, practically speaking, any number of End Times scenarios can take a while to get up to speed, and in the meantime we all have to eat, pay the rent, etc. So shouldn’t we give those Four Horseman and their animals some rest? Besides, in...

Alan Wiesman’s 2007 book, The World Without Us, is an ambitious thought experiment, one that has some bearing on this issue of ending, changing, and reinvention. After any of the apocalypses pondered in these pages— after the Second Coming, a worldwide epidemic, or an alien harvest— Wiesman wonders what happens next; what happens to the world we leave behind? Drawing from Wiesman, applying his thinking and doing more research locally, this is one idea of what might happen to Fort Collins without us. First, there are some questions about ...

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E m ploy ment  O p p or t u n it ies  of  t he  Ap o c a ly p s e

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Seed  Saving,  Edible  Wild  Plants,  The  Apocalist,  Survival  Letters,  &  More

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EDITOR’S NOTE It’s over. What “it” is, and what “over” means are the questions of this issue. It’s clear to us at Wolverine Farm Publishing that the status quo is unsustainable and intolerable. The line between apocalypse and revolution is best kept indistinct. So, what if the world as we know it changed suddenly and irrevocably? And, why would it take such an event to get us to look more closely at our world? Dinosaurs once looked up to a dark shadow moving across the sky—our brains are bigger and we hope that makes them better. Why are we waiting for catastrophe to change? We started out having fun with our collective fascination with 2012, misconceptions of the Mayan calendar, and doomsday prophecies—then the foothills caught fire and our outlook changed. Ends of things felt more real. The resulting issue of the Matterhorn is about change: the reasons for it, different forms it might take, and what the results of change might look like. And yes, zombies. wolverine farm publishing ’ s

MA T TE RHORN

A Quarterly Print Supplement # 7 fall 2012

managing editor Charles J. Malone contributing editor Molly McCowan contributers Jenna Allen Michael Bussmann John Calderazzo Jason Hardung John Major Jenkins Beth Kopp Amy Kousch Rico Lighthouse Heather Manier Rico Moore Matthew Sage Meg Schiel Lisa Zimmerman intern Kate McHargue publisher/designer Todd Simmons board of directors Anne Macdonald Bryan Simpson Nate Turner Gary Wockner

special thanks

Area 51, break dancers, zombie hunters, apples, fractivists, Kevin Landolt, goat heads, The Bean Cycle, CSU Library Archives, and hardware stores. The Fell Types used in this newspaper were digitally reproduced by Igino Marini (www.iginomarini.com). Cover photograph © Charles J. Malone

Everything herein © 2012 Wolverine Farm Publishing. All rights held by the individual authors and artists unless otherwise noted.

Send monetary donations, comments, questions, story pitches, books and/or music to review, agricultural tools to try out, bicycles to ride, etc., to: Wolverine Farm Publishing, PO BOX 814, Fort Collins, CO 80522

Especially seeking letters to the editor. Please send in by November 1, 2012. Letters 1-­5 will be published and rewarded. For more info visit: www.wolverinefarm.org.

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intriguing one. Who knew that the City of Fort Collins had such in-depth emergency preparedness plans? This isn’t the only major emergency plan that WKH FLW\ KDV RQ Ă€OH 7KHUH DUH DOVR GRFXPHQWV OLNH WKH Continuity of Operations Plan, which details how the city is going to continue to do business after they lose a major resource, like water or electricity. The Emergency Operations Plan is the binder \RX¡OO ZDQW WR JUDE LI \RX QHHG WR Ă€JXUH RXW ZKR WR FDOO DQG ZKDW WR GR LQ DOPRVW any emergency situation. There are also plans in place for terrorist or weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attacks on Fort Collins. These kinds of in-depth plans are in place for most U.S. cities, and yet this is something the unsuspecting public takes for granted. One never pictures teams of city employees and private companies spending their lives planning for the worst—until the worst actually happens. That’s where people like Mike Gavin come in. Meet Mike Gavin ´0XUSK\¡V /DZ VD\V WKDW EDG WKLQJV DUH JRLQJ WR KDSSHQ , VD\ Âś0XUSK\¡V DQ RSWLPLVW ¡¾ Âł0LNH *DYLQ

/DEHOHG D ´ \HDU HYHQWÂľ E\ WKH PHGLD DQG FLW\ RIĂ€FLDOV DOLNH D Ă RRG WKLV catastrophic was only forecasted to hit this area once every 500 years or more. This event was “extremely unlikely,â€? but it happened. It impacted peoples’ lives. Fifteen years later, it left us, and the City of Fort Collins, with one major question. Should We have Been More Prepared? Camp Collins was established on July 22, 1862 by soldiers sent from the 9th Kansas Cavalry at Fort Laramie to what is now Laporte, Colorado. Their mission? To protect the Cherokee trail and guard the Overland Stage Line. The name “Camp Collinsâ€? was given to the post in honor of Lt. Col. William Oliver Collins, a popular commander of Ohio Cavalry troops headquartered at Fort Laramie. Even though Fort Collins exists in a semi-arid, or “steppeâ€? climate, its historical WLPHOLQH LV KHDYLO\ QRWFKHG ZLWK UHFRUGV RI PDMRU Ă RRGV 7KH RULJLQDO WRZQ D military outpost called Camp Collins, was located near what is now Laporte, Colorado. On June 9, 1864, Camp Collins was hit by a 20-foot wall of water. The 3RXGUH 5LYHU KDG Ă RRGHG ZDVKLQJ DZD\ FDELQV OLYHVWRFN DQG VXSSOLHV ,W ZDV EHFDXVH RI WKLV Ă RRG WKDW &DPS &ROOLQV TXLFNO\ UHORFDWHG WR KLJKHU JURXQGÂł present-day Old Town, Fort Collins. 2WKHU ODUJH VFDOH Ă RRGLQJ HYHQWV RFFXUUHG LQ )RUW &ROOLQV¡ FXUUHQW ORFDWLRQ in 1891, 1902, 1904, 1938, 1951, 1977 and 1992. So why wasn’t the city ready for what happened on July 28, 1997? As a ZKROH FLW\ RIĂ€FLDOV ZLOO RSHQO\ DGPLW WKDW WKH\ ZHUH QRW SUHSDUHG IRU WKH HYHQWV that took place that night. In a 2011 YouTube video entitled “Fort Collins Flood Warning System,â€? Marsha Hilmes-Robinson, Fort Collins’ current Floodplain Administrator, says, “The Flood of ’97 really changed the history of Fort Collins and the history of the Stormwater Utility [‌]. People became aware that Fort Collins is prone to Ă RRGLQJ DQG WKDW WKHVH NLQGV RI ODUJH HYHQWV FDQ KDSSHQ ULJKW KHUH We didn’t KDYH D VHULHV RI JDXJHV IRU UDLQIDOO RU VWUHDPĂ RZ WKDW WROG XV KRZ PXFK ZDWHU was actually out there that night.â€? In the same video, Chris Lochra, an engineer at the Stormwater Division of the City of Fort Collins, points out that the city has learned from past mistakes. ´7KH Ă RRG ZDUQLQJ V\VWHP LQ )RUW &ROOLQV LV >QRZ@ WKH GHQVHVW QHWZRUN RI JDXJHV LQ D FLW\ VHWWLQJ LQ WKH 8 6 Âľ /RFKUD VD\V ´7KH Ă RRG ZDUQLQJ V\VWHP allows us to monitor events in real time, and to set up alarms so that we can react EHIRUH ZH UHDFK WKH NLQG RI Ă RRG VLWXDWLRQ WKDW ZRXOG FDXVH GDPDJH WR OLIH RU property.â€? But even with this state-of-the-art technology, there is always a chance of a GLVDVWURXV Ă RRG KLWWLQJ )RUW &ROOLQV DJDLQÂłZH NQRZ QRZ WKDW ZH FDQQRW WUXO\ control our natural environment, no matter how hard we try. But we can lessen the impact of, or mitigate, a possible disaster. The Northern Colorado Hazard Mitigation Plan Mitigate, v. \mi-tΊ-gĆ—t\ 1.  To cause to become less harsh or hostile 2.  To make less severe or painful Source: Merriam-Webster Every city is vulnerable to certain “hazards,â€? be they manmade (acts of terrorism, FLYLO GLVWXUEDQFHV RU QDWXUDO HDUWKTXDNHV Ă RRGV 7KH OLVW RI KD]DUGV YDULHV IRU each city, depending largely on its climate, resources and proximity to dangers such as fault lines, the ocean, nuclear power plants, etc. Fort Collins’ hazards are outlined in a document entitled The Northern Colorado Hazard Mitigation Plan (2009), which is available online for public viewing. This document names more than twenty hazards, or contingencies (future events that are possible but cannot be predicted with certainty). Some of these hazards DUH GHĂ€QHG DV ´ORZ IUHTXHQF\Âľ KD]DUGV PHDQLQJ WKDW WKH\ RFFXU YHU\ UDUHO\ Earthquakes, avalanches, aircraft accidents, nuclear waste spills, dam failures, etc. fall into this category. Other hazards are labeled as “high frequencyâ€? hazards— KD]DUGV WKDW WKLV UHJLRQ LV SURQH WR 7KHVH KD]DUGV LQFOXGH ZLOGODQG Ă€UHV GURXJKW Ă RRGLQJ OLJKWQLQJ ZLQWHU VWRUPV DQG ZLQGVWRUPV The Northern Colorado Hazard Mitigation Plan lists all of these hazards one by one, and then proceeds to discuss the plans in place to mitigate them. At 184 pages, the document is by no means an easy read. But it is an

If there were an emergency, you’d want Mike Gavin on speed dial. As the (PHUJHQF\ 0DQDJHU IRU WKH &LW\ RI )RUW &ROOLQV¡ 2IĂ€FH RI (PHUJHQF\ Management (OEM) and a Battalion Chief for the Poudre Fire Authority, Gavin is one of the most knowledgeable emergency operations folks in town. Gavin has PRUH WKDQ \HDUV RI H[SHULHQFH LQ HPHUJHQF\ VHUYLFHV (06 Ă€UH SUHYHQWLRQ suppression, arson investigation and more) under his belt, and has served as the OEM’s Emergency Manager for the past six years. A bright-eyed, mustachioed man, Gavin talks a mile per minute. Ask him anything and he has the answer for you, often complete with visual aids and pamphlets. He is exactly who you would imagine an emergency management RIĂ€FLDO WR EH DQG KH KDV DQ REYLRXV SDVVLRQ IRU KLV ZRUN “This job is enjoyable,â€? Gavin says. “It’s enjoyable because it’s constantly changing. It’s a challenge.â€? Gavin is quick to point out that his work has one primary goal: saving lives. He is the person who will get the call in the middle of the night and instantly be in emergency management mode. He is the person who has to know who to call and what to do in an emergency situation. “Sometimes I feel like I’m an orchestra director. All of the players are out there; it’s a matter of when do you bring those players in. I need to know who to FRQWDFW WR Ă€OO WKRVH JDSV DQG EULQJ HYHU\WKLQJ WRJHWKHU WR PDNH VXUH WKDW WKH ULJKW resources, the right people, and the right plans are implemented to get the city back on its feet.â€? As the Emergency Manager for the OEM, he is the lynchpin in Fort Collins’ emergency management team. He’s the person who puts the plans in motion to get Fort Collins back up and running—before, during and after a disaster. Inside The Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Responsibilities of the OEM: 1.  Preparedness 2.  Mitigation 3.  Education 4.  1RWLĂ€FDWLRQ 5.  Response 6.  Recovery 6RXUFH 0LNH *DYLQ DQG WKH 2(0 ZHEVLWH The primary goal of the City of Fort Collins’ OEM is to prevent loss of life in the event of a disaster. To do this, the OEM closely follows the list of responsibilities above, focusing heavily on educating the public on disaster awareness and response, training the emergency responders, and employing upWR GDWH HPHUJHQF\ QRWLĂ€FDWLRQ V\VWHPV “The key [to emergency management] is to make sure that plans are in place, people understand the plan, they’ve trained on the plans, exercised the plans, and that they have the equipment they need to respond to the hazards that have been LGHQWLĂ€HG ZLWKLQ WKH FRPPXQLW\ Âľ *DYLQ VD\V The OEM is just one of the links in a chain of command, however. Emergency regulations start at the top of the chain with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and work down through state, county, and then city government. FEMA sets the standards and regulations with which everyone else on the chain must comply. FEMA offers comprehensive training programs and a wealth of emergency management resources, and also mandates regularly updated Hazard Mitigation Plans, like the one written by the OEM in 2009. These plans must be re-researched every few years—even if the hazards don’t change, the mitigation plans might. In addition to its close relationship with FEMA, the City of Fort Collins’ OEM works closely with Loveland, Greeley, and other cities within Larimer County. There is also a lot of involvement with the State of Colorado’s Division of Emergency Management. Public education is a major responsibility of the OEM. ´7KH Ă€UVW VWHS >LQ DQ HPHUJHQF\ VLWXDWLRQ@ LV WR OHW WKH SXEOLF NQRZ ZKDW¡V going on,â€? Gavin says. “The other big issue is that the public needs to know, ‘Okay, now what do I do?’ That’s where the educational component comes in.â€? The OEM works with the City of Fort Collins to provide educational seminars, resources and materials to the public. Much of this information is available on the city’s website, at www.fcgov.com/oem. Other primary goals of the OEM include the “responseâ€? and “recoveryâ€? objectives. ´)RU JRYHUQPHQW WKH ELJ TXHVWLRQ LV QRZ WKDW ZH¡YH QRWLĂ€HG WKH SXEOLF

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High Park Fire as seen from Overland Trail

The New Normal, continued from the cover

and they know what’s going on, how do we respond to it?â€? Gavin says. “Even more importantly, how do we get our community back on its feet? How will the community adjust to the ‘new normal’ after a major disaster?â€? This question in particular has been put to the test much more recently than we could have imagined. The New Normal ´,W WDNHV D FRPPXQLW\ WR GHDO ZLWK D GLVDVWHU LQ D UHVLOLHQW ZD\ Âľ Âł0LNH *DYLQ As the Spring Creek Flood demonstrates, Fort Collins has experienced disaster before. More recently, the High Park Fire broke out in the foothills west of WRZQ $IWHU PRUH WKDQ WKUHH ZHHNV RI Ă€UHĂ€JKWLQJ E\ RXU YHU\ RZQ 3RXGUH )LUH $XWKRULW\ DQG ODWHU 7KH $UP\ 1DWLRQDO *XDUG WKH Ă€UH ZDV Ă€QDOO\ FRQWDLQHG ,W left in its wake destroyed homes and businesses, and more than 87,000 acres of once lush forest, now decimated. (PHUJHQF\ HYDFXDWLRQ SODQV ZHUH VZLIWO\ LPSOHPHQWHG DV WKH Ă€UH UDFHG towards homes and businesses. The Northern Colorado chapter of The American Red Cross set up a large-scale evacuation center at The Ranch in Loveland. But the Fort Collins community wasn’t just going to sit around and watch while friends and neighbors were forced to leave their homes. Within hours of WKH LQLWLDO HYDFXDWLRQV GRQDWLRQV EHJDQ WR Ă RRG LQWR WKH VKHOWHU 5HVLGHQWV IHHOLQJ powerless and wanting to help, brought everything they could think of to help the evacuees. Facebook pages dedicated to connecting evacuees with free services and donations began to pop up. Strangers invited strangers into their homes, let them use their garages for storage, offered free childcare. Restaurants and bars started IRRG DQG GULQN WDEV IRU Ă€UHĂ€JKWHUV DQG HYDFXHHV (YHU\ HYHQLQJ DV WKH Ă€UHĂ€JKWHUV OHIW WKHLU EDWWOH VWDWLRQV DQG SRXUHG GRZQ Overland Trail, people from all over Fort Collins and the surrounding areas stood EHVLGH WKH URDG ZLWK KRPHPDGH VLJQV ´*RG %OHVV WKH )LUHĂ€JKWHUV Âľ ´7KDQN <RX )LUHĂ€JKWHUV Âľ ´:H /RYH <RX )LUHĂ€JKWHUV Âľ ,W RIWHQ WRRN PRUH WKDQ WZR KRXUV

IRU WKH H[KDXVWLYH OLQH RI Ă€UH WUXFNV DQG VXSSRUW YHKLFOHV WR SDVV E\ JUHHWHG E\ cheering, smiling faces the entire way. The High Park Fire was a stark reminder that as much as we try, sometimes we can’t stop a disaster from happening. We can prepare for it, try to prevent it, educate the public and train our emergency responders, but we can’t force nature to comply with our rules and guidelines. Disasters don’t care about our 3-ring binders and best-laid plans. Mike Gavin knows this—he doesn’t walk into work believing that his team can stop a lightning storm or tell a tornado to go away. But Gavin does believe in the six tenets of emergency management: SUHSDUHGQHVV PLWLJDWLRQ HGXFDWLRQ QRWLĂ€FDWLRQ UHVSRQVH DQG UHFRYHU\ +H believes that we can do everything in our power to save lives in the face of disaster and get back on our feet after one. ´:H FDQ¡W PDNH WKH Ă RRGV DQG RWKHU KD]DUGV JR DZD\ Âľ *DYLQ VD\V ´%XW FDQ ZH LQFUHDVH HGXFDWLRQ" $OZD\V &DQ ZH XSGDWH WKH WHFKQRORJ\ RI RXU QRWLĂ€FDWLRQ systems? Always. If we can educate and warn the public, we can save lives.â€? The Spring Creek Flood taught us to respect our natural environment—to UHFRJQL]H WKDW PXFK RI )RUW &ROOLQV OLHV LQ D Ă RRG SODLQ DQG WR SUHSDUH DV EHVW ZH FDQ IRU WKH FHUWDLQW\ RI Ă RRGLQJ LQ WKLV DUHD 7KH +LJK 3DUN )LUH WDXJKW XV that we already have the most important weapons to deal with disaster: a resilient, loving and generous community, and people willing to do their absolute best to keep it safe. We can’t always stop disasters from happening. But we can make the “new normalâ€? easier to bear.

0ROO\ 0F&RZDQ LV D SURIHVVLRQDO ZULWHU DQG HGLWRU DQG RZQV ,QNERW (GLWLQJ //& LQNERWHGLWLQJ FRP %RUQ DQG UDLVHG LQ &RORUDGR 0ROO\ ORYHV à \ ÀVKLQJ camping, hiking, stargazing, and roasted marshmallows. She is usually accompanied by her 14-year-old Shetland Sheepdog, Misty, who enjoys long walks in the country, followed by even longer naps.

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14 4  N.  COLLEGE  AVENUE  :  970.221.296 4  :  T HEBEANCYCLE.COM the  new  normal:  fort  collins’  emergency  management  operations

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Fort Collins Without Us, continued from the cover

this question. Wiesman’s book spent 26 weeks straight on the New York Times Bestseller list, which tells us something about our interest in the subject. I opened here with a dramatic scene, but it is hard to say how much calamity we would—or LQ WKLV FDVH ZRXOGQ¡WÂłVHH :RXOG )RUW &ROOLQV DIWHU XV EH Ă€OOHG ZLWK FDWDVWURSKLF collapse; would failure of one of the reservoir’s dams swiftly erase the eastern HGJH RI WRZQ ZRXOG D OLJKWQLQJ VWULNH RU JDV OHDN ODXQFK D Ă€UH OLNH WKH RQH WKDW broke out after the San Francisco Earthquake and obliterated hundreds of city blocks? Or, would our built environment face a slow decay, like the crumbling of an asphalt driveway with each freeze and thaw, with grass slowly taking root? The other question is, which outcome are we more drawn to, and why? g

To answer the main question we must look to our past. What did Fort Collins look like before General James Craig and Lt. Colonel William O. Collins set up shop here? In an interview, Dan Manier, an expert studying ecosystem dynamics, describes Fort Collins before us this way: “Most of the Fort Collins area was shortgrass prairie for the past several thousand years, until tillage and urbanization busted the sod (soil and root infrastructure that forms the base of a grassland ecosystem) replacing the grassland with agriculture and urbanization— modernization. American bison likely visited occasionally, the native grasses of the shortgrass prairie, especially blue gramma and buffalo grass, produce more below ground biomass than above ground (more roots than leaves) but are nutritious and resilient to grazing; this may have been an important seasonal stopover.â€? One glimpse of our early effect on the landscape is seen in Ansel Watrous’s 1911 History of Larimer County, Colorado. Watrous writes, “Prior to 1870, agriculture had not assumed commanding proportions in Colorado, but since then it has advanced by leaps and bounds until at the present time, through the construction of vast irrigation systems, supplemented by water storage and the bringing under cultivation of extensive areas of productive land, tilling of the soil has become the dominating industry of the state. At this time the value of the products of the farms, orchards and gardens is more than double the value of the mineral productions of the state, so that agriculture is now far in the lead of mining so IDU DV QHW Ă€QDQFLDO UHVXOWV DUH FRQFHUQHG Âľ Manier further explores the dynamic relationship between our culture and the land when he states, “Pavement, homes, fences, border-to-border delineation of private property and, in general, modern society, has placed itself at odds with those prior systems. First, by removing the soil infrastructure and magical photosynthetic energy engine (vegetation), then by slicing and dicing it into pieces IRU LQGLYLGXDO RZQHUVKLS DQG Ă€QDOO\ E\ FRQYHUWLQJ WKHVH DUHDV WR SDYHPHQW structures and infrastructure. Of course, pavement can’t win; it can’t stop the decay of the universe (entropy); and it can’t stop vegetation, animals, and all living things from bucking that trend.â€? From one perspective, Watrous, more than 100 years ago, and Dan Manier, writing today, can be seen to be describing not the beginning of Fort Collins, but the beginning of the end of something else. This move, turning backward in time to think about the future, is at the core of this inquiry. If we all disappeared in an instant (insert willing suspense of disbelief here) this history gives us a basis to consider what would happen to the land we leave behind. g

2012. The end of us. Gone in an instant. Choose your own apocalypse. The purpose of this piece isn’t to dwell on what erases us, but what follows. Let your imagination answer the 2012 question. g

A female wolf leaps onto the back of young bison in front of Super Target. The rest of her VPDOO SDFN FLUFOHV URXQG DV WKH DGXOW ELVRQ à HH WKH VFHQH 7KH FDOI ÀJKWV IRU LWV OLIH NLFNLQJ and crying and eventually shaking the wolf. The bison began moving through here shortly after WUDPSOLQJ WKH IHQFHV DW 7HUU\ %LVRQ 5DQFK RQ , +RUVHV JUD]H LQ WKH SDUNLQJ ORW EHVLGH D partially collapsed Hughes Stadium resembling the Roman Coliseum. The natural drama of

predator and prey that millions of tourists drive to Yellowstone to see each year would play out in a snow-covered Cathy Fromme Prairie, perhaps even before our vacant windows fell to the ground. g

,Q WKH ÀUVW WKLUW\ \HDUV WKH SUHGDWRU SUH\ KLHUDUFK\ ZLOO KDYH D ORW WR UHVROYH $QLPDOV QRW ÀW WR JHW E\ ZLWKRXW XV DUH HDV\ SUH\ :LWKRXW UDQFKHUV WR SURWHFW livestock, a population of wolves migrating in from the Northern Rockies could grow quickly on the large populations of unprotected domestic animals and booming herds of elk, soon numbering in the several hundred to over one thousand. For comparison, in 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began reintroducing wolves into parts of Idaho and Wyoming. In 2007, there were more than 1,000 wolves in this region. Indigenous animal populations resettling and reestablishing a natural equilibrium is one way that the landscape will turn back the clock two centuries. g

By 2062, the roofs of most of our residential buildings will be compromised by weather and cave in. Overlooking the city from the buttes lining the east edge of Horsetooth, the even grids of our neighborhoods, boxes within boxes become less even. Roofs are collapsing, pulling walls down, warping them into strange shapes. It’s as if every building, every humble house was reimagined by Frank Gehry. Or, more accurately, each home and business structure reveals exactly how dependent on us they are. +RPHV WKDW DUHQ¡W EXLOW RI VWRQH EORFN DQG DUHQ¡W ORFDWHG LQ WKH Ă RRGSODLQ ZRXOG OLNHO\ IDFH DQ DOO WRR IDPLOLDU WKUHDW Ă€UH :H NQRZ WKLV DOUHDG\ 7KH SRZHU DQG QDPHV RI Ă€UHV DUH IUHVK LQ RXU PLQGV High Park, Hewlett Gulch, Waldo Canyon, the Crystal Fire, Four-Mile Canyon. /LYHV OLYHOLKRRGV DQG KRPHV DUH DOO DW ULVN ,W¡V HDV\ WR VHH KRZ Ă€UH FRXOG TXLFNO\ change Fort Collins without us. 7KH &LW\ RI )RUW &ROOLQV¡ 2IĂ€FH RI (PHUJHQF\ 0DQDJHPHQW¡V ZHESDJH VWDWHV ´7KH SRWHQWLDO IRU D ODUJH VFDOH GLVDVWURXV Ă€UH H[LVWV LQ VRPH DUHDV RI )RUW Collins. The downtown area consists of many turn-of-the-century heavy timber and masonry buildings. While quite a few of these buildings have been renovated, WKHUH DUH VWLOO DUHDV LQ QHHG RI UHVWRUDWLRQ $QRWKHU FRQFHUQ LV WKH XUEDQ ZLOGODQG interface. More and more, large estates are being built in the foothills area, and WKXV DUH YXOQHUDEOH WR WKH WKUHDW RI ZLOGĂ€UHV Âľ We see effects of human activity through forest management, or PLVPDQDJHPHQW DQG FOLPDWH FKDQJH $OVR ZH VHH WKH KDUG ZRUN RI Ă€UHĂ€JKWHUV WKH HIIRUWV DQG UHVRXUFHV DW KDQG WR FRQWDLQ DQG Ă€JKW Ă€UH ,I ZH ZHUHQ¡W KHUH things would be much different. The city reports, “In the past decade there have been more than 15,000 OLJKWQLQJ LQGXFHG Ă€UHV QDWLRQZLGH 7KHVH ZLOGĂ€UHV KDYH UHVXOWHG LQ VHYHUDO hundred million dollars of damage each year, as well as the loss of two million acres of forest annually.â€? 2XU UHFHQW ZLOGĂ€UHV KDYH EHHQ ERWK KXPDQ DQG OLJKWQLQJ FDXVHG )LUH LV D natural part of our ecosystem. Leaving our current concern and compassion for WKRVH ZKR KDYH ORVW PXFK LQ WKHVH Ă€UHV LPDJLQH WKDW ZH DUH QRW KHUH WR IHHO WKH danger and threat of loss. Consider instead the tension between our architectural legacy and the empty husk of our consumer culture standing trial against the elements. In tightly packed neighborhoods where imported deciduous maples and oaks give up without us to water them and dry out to stand as skeletons over FULVS PDWV RI GHDG EOXHJUDVV Ă€UH FDQ PRYH TXLFNO\ DQG IDU 2XU IUHTXHQW VWURQJ ZLQGV FRPELQHG ZLWK QR RQH WR RSHUDWH RXU Ă€UHĂ€JKWLQJ HTXLSPHQW FRXOG UHFODLP more acres than any other catalyst. (YHQ ZLWKRXW RXU FOXPV\ EHKDYLRU Ă€UH LV OLNHO\ DQG OLNHO\ WKH IDVWHVW ZD\ WR return the Fort Collins without us to something resembling Fort Collins before XV 7KRVH ZKR¡YH ZDWFKHG WKH IRUHVWV UHWXUQ IURP Ă€UH DORQJ WKH KLNLQJ WUDLOV DW Wild Basin in Rocky Mountain National Park—where in 1978 the Ouzel Fire burned just over a thousand acres—notice that the land is again lush and green.

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Fort Collins Without Us, continued from previous page

Similarly, the 1994 Hourglass Fire at Pingree Park recovers more each year. Soon the unobstructed views of Mummy Mountain from Denny’s Point will be less and less unobstructed. Many residents believe we are too close to the Front Range to have to think about tornadoes, but the night prior to writing this there was a watch in effect for Weld County, and Windsor, where in 2008 a mile-wide EF3 tornado with winds up to 165 mph swept through the center of town, less than 17 miles east of Fort Collins. I glimpsed this when I worked in Windsor in 2008: I saw both the power and the aftermath of tornadoes. I was caught in the open when the storm came through, and I came back each day that summer to work. The koi ponds turned black, covered with algae. Mosquitoes bred everywhere, in even the smallest pool of standing water. Within weeks nature was creeping in. It was a lot of labor and a lot of cost for that community to undo not just what the tornado had done, but what a summer of neglect did. We feel the wind’s presence daily, not just when it snaps tree limbs and rattles windows. The Pawnee Buttes are a testament to its slow sculpting power. In some ways, our steady wind is the hardest element to project. It’s easy to imagine it clearing the landscape of dried rose bushes, peeling roofs from sheds, but slow, sand-laden erosion is hard to place within the context of other forces. There’s a house out past Crow Creek Campground on the way to Pawnee Buttes. The wooden barn lists badly to one side. Another outbuilding has vanished, leaving its asphalt-shingle roof sitting in the grass like an abandoned hat. From the outside, the house looks sound. Inside, the walls and roofs have been picked apart by squirrels and raccoons. Insects move in and begin to dismantle the home from the inside. I don’t know when it was abandoned but in a few years the roof will sag, then collapse. And in a few decades, only rusty metal nails and still-shiny aluminum appliances will remain tangled in the roots of shrubs—the more immediate danger comes from the now well-tamed Poudre River and Spring Creek.

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Colorado: the ghost town drowned at the bottom of Horsetooth in 1946. It’s harder to predict what will happen to our canals. There are three major irrigation canals west of the Old Town Drainage—one diversion remaining permanently open would throw a kink in the Poudre’s reclamation. A vast, temporary wetland could form over dozens of acres in what is now Campus West each June when snowmelt hits its peak. Since we’re too lazy and cheap to conserve water by lining, paving, or covering our irrigation ditches, without our usual maintenance and regulation, the complicated network of irrigation ditches will collapse returning the river to its original channel. In “The Lady’s Last Dance,â€? from Pulse of the River, Mark Easter follows surveyors who visited this area in 1869. Ferdinand V. Hayden saw our valley this way: “This stream, from the point where it issues from the mountains near Laporte, to its junction with the Platte [...] which averages, perhaps, two miles or more in width.â€? Hayden’s descriptions show us a Cache la Poudre narrow when LW H[LWV WKH FDQ\RQ DQG Ă RZV WKURXJK /DSRUWH $V LW Ă RZV HDVW WKH ULYHU ZLGHQV over the plain. Two miles in width at College Ave would reach north to Willox and south almost to Laurel St. ,Q RQO\ D IHZ GHFDGHV WKH 3RXGUH WDNHV FRQWURO RI LWV RULJLQDO Ă RRGSODLQ Roads, bridges, houses, farms—acres and acres of land—are scrubbed and swept to the Platte River. Across the plains this same story would be playing RXW RXU GHEULV MRLQLQJ RWKHU GHEULV FORJJLQJ Ă RRGLQJ DQG Ă XVKLQJ RXU OHDYLQJV over decades to the Gulf of Mexico. Banks widen; foundations become ponds. Fighting against our engineering, erosion happens quickly and dramatically. What WKH ULYHU GRHVQ¡W WDNH VHGLPHQW EXU\V 6OLFN PXG Ă€OOV LQ DURXQG WKH UXVWLQJ FDUV DW the auto salvage by Shields and Taft. Parking lots along Riverside collect enough ULFK VRLO WR WXUQ LQWR JUDVV\ Ă€HOGV WR ZHOFRPH PHDGRZODUNV DQG RWKHU VSHFLHV -XVW as the Cache la Poudre damaged the original Camp Collins in 1864, it plays a key role in erasing the city as it stands now. g

*UDVVHV EORZ LQ WKH ZLQG PDVNLQJ WKH VWLUULQJ RI RQFH GRPHVWLF FDWV VWDONLQJ LQ D ÀHOG WKDW ZDV a parking lot. There’s no one to remember heat radiating from black top, no one to worry about potholes; and no potholes to worry about. Just grass, birds, and grasshoppers with their electric clatter. g

In 100 years our roads will largely be broken or buried. In 200 years they are gone. Our overbuilt arch bridges constructed with freight trains in mind might last 1000 years, but our standard beam and rigid frame car bridges will give way in 300-400 years. There are a number of great books that document the human history of this city. One way to think about the few hundred years without out us would be to pick one of these books, like Walker’s Visions Along the Poudre Valley DQG Ă LS from back to front. Watch the streets roll up, the Avery Block undevelop, the river corridor go wild, and the high plains go dry and sparse as they were before we got here. In geologic time we built this city quickly; almost as fast the land could restore itself to something resembling 1860. In 2212, Abner Loomis and Horace Greeley might almost recognize the area where the Arapahoes allowed Antoine Janis to set up a trading post in and grow hay to sell to other settlers. Dan Manier describes the process this way: “If we abandoned our cities

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-XQH DORQJ WKH HGJH RI WKH ULYHU ,Q WKH LQVHFW Ă€OOHG KHDW RI VXPPHU WKH VPHOO RI GHFD\ ZRXOG EH VWLĂ LQJ LI DQ\RQH ZDV KHUH WR EUHDWKH LW 'DPV DQG GLYHUVLRQV DOO RXU HIIRUWV WR FRHUFH WKH ULYHU LQWR D VXSSRUWLQJ UROH LQ DJULFXOWXUDO DUH JLYLQJ XS 7KH 3RXGUH Ă RRGV DV LW XVHG WR From the great mud slick spring grasses, cattails, new willow thickets. With a less-regulated, PRUH QDWXUDO F\FOH RI Ă RRGLQJ WKH ULSDULDQ HFRV\VWHP UHWXUQV JUDGXDOO\ 5HGZLQJ DQG \HOORZ headed blackbirds compete for territory in lush swamps. Vibrating with wings and sounds, it is beautiful; the kind of rich valley that would draw settlers. The Northern Colorado Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan RU 1&5+03 GHĂ€QHV dams as “installations containing dangerous forces.â€? Seaman, Halligan, and the RWKHU UHVHUYRLUV WXFNHG DZD\ LQ WKH IRRWKLOOV ZRQ¡W KROG LQGHĂ€QLWHO\ ZLWKRXW hardworking staff. The NCRHMP predicts a 1% chance of one of these dams failing in any given year, a 10% chance over ten years, or “at least one chance in the next 100 years.â€? These odds factor in our maintenance. In other words, in 50100 years, the dams will fail. Consider this historic example. On June 15th, 1982, the Lawn Lake dam failed— sending 29 million gallons of water at 18,000 cubic feet per second down the Roaring River Valley toward Estes Park. The lake emptied in one minute. 7KH Ă RRG GHVWUR\HG EULGJHV GDPDJHG URDGV DQG DIIHFWHG KRPHV DQG businesses—75% of Estes Park’s commercial activity. Halligan Reservoir is nearly ten times the size of Lawn Lake, Seaman is about nine times larger. The NCRHMP estimates that a collapse of Horsetooth would reach downtown in less than two hours. Its 151,000 acre feet is 224 times the size of Lawn Lake. A rapid dam failure would be catastrophic for not only Fort Collins, but Loveland, and much of Larimer County. Still, our water systems are FRPSOLFDWHG $FFRUGLQJ WR .DUD /DPE ,QIRUPDWLRQ 2IĂ€FHU IRU WKH %HDXUHDX of Water Reclamation, “Without the daily maintenance at the dams, nature would be left to run its course. Over time, the dams would slowly erode, mostly from precipitation.â€? Still, Lamb predicts that the dams would last a long time: Their girth will make them wind resistant, and they are built to tolerate seismic activity. However, Lamb points out, “The water behind the dams is another story. Roughly 90% of the water in Horsetooth Reservoir is imported from across the Divide, from the upper reaches of the Colorado River. Without people opening and closing gates, running power plants and pumps, that water would cease WR PRYH IURP ZHVW WR HDVW ,W ZRXOG UHVXPH LWV QDWXUDO FRXUVH³à RZLQJ GRZQ the Colorado River to the Sea of Cortez.â€? In other words, welcome to Stout

and farms, homes and yards, the plants and bugs would slowly take over, walls would crumble, pavement would crack and seedlings would emerge. Where there LV ZDWHU WKH EDWWOHV DUH GLYHUVH FRPSHWLWLRQ LV ÀHUFH ZHHGV UXOH WKH GD\³QHWWOHV spurge, thistle. Concrete structures are nothing in the face of entropy; nothing compared to life and the resilience of DNA, adaptation and evolution. The new community might not look anything like the prairies of the past [...] Slowly, ZLWKRXW SHRSOH ÀUVW GHFD\ DQG UHFRORQL]DWLRQ E\ SODQWV DQG DQLPDOV ZH VHH HYHU\ day, but over time, as the infrastructure is lost, the real survivors and determinants of the next era will emerge based on their ability to deal with the climate, substrate and disturbance pressures of that new landscape. The mixture may be new, but the mission is the same: Perpetuate life by sequestering the energy of the sun and use it to replicate. Sustain life to sustain the process of resisting entropy—not in a simplistic, human sort of way, but real resistance, real life.� g

By 2512 all of our modern buildings are gone. Think of the old town site at Hessie in Indian Peaks, or Ashcroft near Maroon Bells. Think of the buildings preserved at the Fort Collins museum.

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WOLVERINE FARM PUBLISHING CO. & BOOKSTORE WOLVERINE FARM PUBLISHING is proud to preesnt our new CSP program—Community Supported Publishing. We offer five levels of CSP shares creating a variety of options for those seeking our books and publications. Each year we release four issues of our community-driven news magazine, Matterhorn, an annual Matter Journal to feature work from great local writers and artists alongside contributions from all over the world. Twice each year we release the next installment of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac, and we love surprising our readers with single-author works like our recent Logodaedaly, or, Sleight-of-Words, or limited edition broadsides. We strive to make beautiful and meaningful books and publications; when we find quality literature and art that mindfully engages us with the world, we want to share it.

They’re built, and well-built, of the most common materials on our landscape. But even they wouldn’t last without restoration and maintenance. Wood, plaster and adobe would all have crumbled by 2512. Wrought iron and steel would stay: our dishwashers, and the skeletons of our bikes and husks of our cars would be scattered over every dry place slowly corroding. What we have that rainy places don’t is excessive sun. Intense, persistent ultraviolet rays break down plastics that elsewhere would linger for thousand of years. Quite soon after our departure plastics start to crack and split. In 500 years they’re mostly gone. :LHVPDQ DVNV ´$QG ZKDW RI RXU Ă€QHVW FUHDWLRQVÂłRXU DUFKLWHFWXUH RXU DUW our many manifestations of spirit? Are any truly timeless, at least enough so to last until the sun expands and roasts our Earth to a cinder?â€? Some of us would be gone quickly, some of us would linger centuries, but, in about twice the amount of time it took to build this community, most of what was here before us would be back. In some ways, the plants and animals would always wrestle with the poisons and global changes we’d left behind because the clock can’t roll back. We can’t load the world in a Delorean or TARDIS and undo; we can only move in one direction, actively or passively. There’s some hope that we haven’t damaged the landscape beyond repair. If we actively aid in its restoration there’s even greater hope. Finding better harmony with between our building practices, consumer culture, and our ecosystem; between agriculture, lawns, and the life of the river; between protection of the DHVWKHWLF TXDOLWLHV RI RXU IRUHVWV DQG WKH QDWXUDO UROH RI Ă€UH 7KHVH LVVXHV DUH complicated, the roots of the problems are deep, but it shouldn’t take the end of XV WR Ă€QG VRPHWKLQJ KHDOWKLHU As Dan Manier suggests, “While the line between humanity and nature is a false one, the conscious and unconscious efforts of humans and humanity to separate ourselves from nature, reduce its complexity and attempt to homogenize its cycles, creates the barrier that you seek to remove. We can certainly take little steps, reducing our ‘material and energy’ footprint, growing our own food, bypassing complicated urban-industrial bureaucracies and replacing them with local networks, but in the end, I fear that the best prayer for wild-nature is a prayer against proliferation and prosperity (at least as some see it).â€? Manier comes to a conclusion that bends this whole experiment toward hope and opportunity: “And maybe this is really the root of the problem. If [we are] really going to able to ‘right its course’ and claim back our Humanity, what people, at least many or most people, have to change are values. But this is fundamentally the most challenging, and potentially problematic philosophically (unless you endorse the methods of missionaries and evangelists), because values are personal, well-guarded and often entrenched in history and tradition [...]. As the Buddha said, the answers are within, the universe is within, that’s where we start—but next we need to reduce urban footprints and restore open spaces, rebuild the soils, grow drought-adapted food, restore migratory herds on JUDVVODQGV UHVWRUH Ă€UH DQG EXLOG D VRFLHW\ WKDW YDOXHV SODFHV DQG SHRSOH PRUH and stuff less.â€? The strange desire to see our legacy abruptly, even violently erased is married to this sensibility. At the same time, it is not hard to understand why we, as the builders of this city, would want to see something endure; something stand the test of time and tell our story. Some beautiful stone fragment among the buffalo grass, remembering.

Charlie Malone is glad to face the end of the world in the Fort; when the end comes KH¡OO EH WDNLQJ ZLWK KLP SLOHV RI XQĂ€QLVKHG ZULWLQJ SURMHFWV DQG KDSS\ PHPRULHV RI teaching college writing. He has thoroughly enjoyed working with Wolverine Farm Publishing as an editor to bring this issue to print. Also, thanks Susan.

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How to Survive the Seven Deadly Apocalypses, continued from the cover talked about, is how the insurance companies are screwing most of the people who lost their homes. Change the channel, citizen. Move along. These are not the the button I made and attached to my lapel read “The End is ALWAYS Near.â€? droids you are looking for. This was my hopeful invitation to engage reporters ranging from MTV to the BBC in an extended dialogue on the paradoxical nature of postmodern end4. Media Apocalypse times existentialism. It didn’t go well. The MTV girl shoved a mic in my face and , KDYH D ORW RI SHUVRQDO H[SHULHQFH ZLWK WKLV RQH /HW¡V KDYH D Ă€UHVLGH FKDW asked me what I would miss most about the earth when 2012 arrived. “Uhh,â€? I shall we? Pull up a chair. My conclusion: The media is a vampire. It dumps stammered, “umm ‌ MTV?â€? toxic, nihilistic, unsustainable values and created wants into our heads, through Nearby, I heard Mickey and his wife reacting to the dire Maya prophecy. She viscerally manipulative imagery. Sigmund Freud’s cousin, corporate America’s summed it up: “I certainly hope the Maya were wrong!â€? She obviously assumed, advertising guru Edward Bernays, manufactured our consent. Google The Century like most people, that the Maya actually did predict the end of the world in 2012 of the Self by Adam Curtis. (which they didn’t). But this got me thinking. All my research has pointed to the conclusion that the Maya didn’t believe in an apocalypse in 2012. But what if they What to do: Divest from the beast. Stop buying stuff you don’t need; see The Four WERE wrong? What if they didn’t anticipate that a violence-addicted global Cable Stations of the Apocalypse, below. civilization sick with its own excesses and greed would be ruling and ruining the planet? In all my twenty years of proselytizing about the Maya’s “transformation 5. The Personal Apocalypse and renewalâ€? doctrine, I had overlooked the Power of Not Now: the endless Well, we’ve all been there. It feels like the walls are caving in, even though DELOLW\ RI PRGHUQ KXPDQV WR GHOD\ UHVSRQVLELOLW\ WR Ă€GGOH ZKLOH %HOOYXH EXUQV WR RQ VRPH OHYHO \RX NQRZ LW¡V MXVW KDSSHQLQJ WR \RX 2XU OLYHV DUH GHĂ€QHG E\ continue sitting on the couch munching potato chips while reptiles keep getting these primal personal tragedies. It all began when Bobby pulled your hair in elected. the playground. You were 27; he was your second husband. The cops came. A And there I was, schmoozing on the red carpet. Suddenly, the skies were domestic abuse charge was unavoidable. Courts, lawyers, bankruptcy. I hate it rent asunder. In a shimmering vision that shattered my misguided resolve, a when that happens. crazy-eyed Charlie Frost, a.k.a. Woody Harrelson (playing the movie’s long-haired “apocalypse prognosticatorâ€?), sauntered up to me with a lit spliff and whispered What to do: Bobby, don’t pull Sally’s hair! in my ear, “Never hesitate to procrastinate.â€? That was it. I’d been converted. It was like a Zen koan awakening a new 6. Spiritual Apocalypse realization. Hollywood had given me my much needed epiphany.1 I had a vision Just send $29.95 to my Paypal account and I’ll send you my easy 12-step guide to of all the many different types of apocalypses, unfolding before my eyes like handling your spiritual apocalypse! (Yeah, I learned a D YHU\ EDQNDEOH VHYHQ VHTXHO IUDQFKLVH ,¡G Ă€QDOO\ UHFHLYHG P\ 3K ' ,¡G JUDGXDWHG WR WKH Ă€VFDOO\ In all my twenty years of few things in Hollywood.) promising status of Prophet of Doom. My mission proselytizing about the Maya’s 7KH 6HOI )XOĂ€OOLQJ $SRFDO\SVH was clear: help guide other unrealistically optimistic “transfor mation and renewalâ€? This one is for the creative types. Choose your fools through the unavoidable seven deadly apocalypses. doctrine, I had over looked the poison. You could choose to visualize whirled peas, Power of Not Now: the endless but where’s the fun in that? Let your hair down, get crazy. You know who you are. The paradox with this The Seven Deadly Apocalypses, and How to ability of moder n humans to delay RQH LV WKDW ZH GRQ¡W RUFKHVWUDWH RXU VHOI IXOĂ€OOLQJ Deal with Them responsibility, to fiddle while apocalypse from a conscious part of our minds. 1. The Running in Molasses Apocalypse Bellvue bur ns, to continue sitting It arises out of deeply ingrained fears and dreams, This is the slow, drawn-out apocalypse, not the on the couch munching potato driven by watching the Four Cable Stations of the Apocalypse (see below). Don’t be a follower! Invent sudden global explosion. You’ll be wishing for the chips while reptiles keep getting your own apocalypse. For example, if you meditate sudden termination version after a few years of elected. long enough, and sincerely enough, on a deluge of this one. It’s the piece-by-piece whittling away at delicious craft beer covering the earth, it just might happen. What a way to go. \RXU GLJQLW\ DQG VHOI HVWHHP D PLOOLRQ WLQ\ QLFNV DQG FXWV LQĂ LFWHG E\ XQVHHQ DQG unstoppable pests. It’s like that old, grizzled prospector in the movie Little Big What to do: ,W GHSHQGV RQ ZKLFK VHOI IXOĂ€OOLQJ DSRFDO\SVH \RX FKRRVH ,Q WKH Man, who reappears to Dustin Hoffman at long intervals throughout the movie, above example (a craft beer deluge), I’d say throw a party. each time with one less body part. Time is slowly cutting him to pieces. It begins with an eye patch and proceeds, years later, with the hand stump and the next Buzz kill warning: We will all experience our own ultimate personal apocalypse, time he appears, the peg leg – what could possibly be next, and how long can he because we are mortal beings and will all die one day. Now let me candy-coat JR RQ" 6DGO\ WKLV LV WKH VLWXDWLRQ 0D (DUWK Ă€QGV KHUVHOI LQ +RZ ORQJ FDQ VKH JR this a little. The original meaning of the etymology of the Greek word apocalypse RQ DV ZH WKH VZDUPLQJ YLUDO SHVWV NHHS LQĂ LFWLQJ PLOOLRQV RI WLQ\ QLFNV DQG FXWV" is “the revealingâ€? or “the unveiling.â€? In other words, what gets destroyed is the YHLO RI LOOXVLRQ WKDW SUHYHQWV XV IURP VHHLQJ WKH WUXH HWHUQDO LQĂ€QLWH *URXQG RI What to do: Adjust your goals. Stop driving a car and stop buying food wrapped in All Manifestation. Okay, don’t get me started. When we contemplate apocalypse, sixteen packages like Russian nesting dolls. Adapt. Let go. It’s all good. however, we may wish to recall its partner-principle, the thing that the apocalypse reveals: apokatastasis. The return to the original condition. 2. Zombie Apocalypse This is the favorite apocalypse of many otherwise normal people. Zombies! The Four Cable Stations of the Apocalypse Ahhhhh! You’ve seen them, drooling and lumbering through the streets of slanted B-movie urban landscapes. I think this is the way we all secretly wish it Riding roughshod over the postmodern landscape, relentlessly driving home will happen. It’s actually the sub-text of those romance novels that women of their message of impending doom with nightly programming (read: mind control), D FHUWDLQ DJH GHYRXU 7KH %HHI ,QGXVWU\ ZRXOG GR ZHOO WR KDYH D Ă HVK HDWLQJ the Four Cable Stations of the Apocalypse have arrived. They are in your ]RPELH DV WKHLU VSRNHVSHUVRQ 7KH\ ZRXOGQ¡W HYHQ KDYH WR SD\ KLP KHU LW living room. These deviousness emissaries of doom invert facts and truth to EHFDXVH KLP KHU LW LV GHDG +H\ ZK\ QRW" &RPPHUFLDOV IRU LQVXUDQFH FRPSDQLHV manufacture fear and lies. The History Channel, the Discovery Channel, National and banks use cavemen and Vikings. Geographic, and NBC’s Syfy Channel are a united front. The executive producer , KDYH D FHUWDLQ DIĂ€OLDWLRQ ZLWK WKH ]RPELH WULEH , ZDV RQH P\VHOI <HV , of the Ancient Aliens program also produces Kendra and New Jersey Housewives. As am a recovering zombie. For four years in the late 1990s I ‌ I ‌ oh, the shame a minor theological point, these Four Heralds of Doom are merely secondary ‌ I worked in a cubicle. Dilbert was my hero. I stumbled death-like through the PDQLIHVWDWLRQV RI D GXDO GHLW\ FDOOHG ´6RQ\ 3LFWXUHV :DUQHU %URWKHUV Âľ $QG KDOOV RI FRUSRUDWH $PHULFD GURROLQJ JUHHWLQJV WR P\ FRPSDWULRWV DV WKH\ VKXIĂ HG above that dual-deity is the One Holy God, also known by the name of “Money.â€? by. Bleary-eyed, sleep-deprived, hungry for just a little taste of the living. I am a According to the *RVSHO RI 0RQH\, ancient aliens will return in 2012, land recovering zombie. in crop circles, prepared to give us a DNA tune-up as scheduled long ago by Quetzalcoatl’s brother, Jehovah. How exciting. How convenient. And I don’t What to do: Lighten up. We all have a little zombie inside of us. Invite one to even have a warranty. Wait a minute! I don’t want no aliens takin’ my genes! We dinner or coffee. They’re just people, too–even though they are dead and will better buy some guns, raise the borders very high, and get our zombies mobilized try to eat your brain. On the other hand, be afraid. Be very afraid. Even our lickety-split. Amen. government warns us to study the ways of Zombies in preparation for the =RPELH $SRFDO\SVH VR , GHIHU WR RXU WD[ VXSSRUWHG JRYHUQPHQW RIĂ€FLDOV DW WKH CDC on this one. Surely they know what’s going on. 1. Every article should have at least one footnote. Here’s mine. You can enjoy my red carpet escapade at www.youtube.com/user/mandalay37. Be forewarned that 3. Localized Apocalypse my “renewalâ€? message has now been revised. I’ve been converted. Now, I’m This is the non-universal type of apocalypse, which nevertheless seems like a pretty sure that the world will someday end. Really. universal apocalypse to those involved. Think of the tsunami in Japan; Katrina in New Orleans; the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Or the drought and famine in Africa in the 1980s, or the genocidal holocaust of Jews in Germany or the Maya LQ *XDWHPDOD :HOO )RUW &ROOLQV MXVW JRW WKLV RQH ZLWK WKH +LJK 3DUN Ă€UH ZHVW RI town.

What to do: Well, what did \RX GR" 7KH XQLYHUVDO FRQà DJUDWLRQ RU HNS\URVLV PLJKW QRW EH VR XQLYHUVDO +RZHYHU D UHDO FULPH UHJDUGLQJ RXU ORFDO ÀUH QRW PXFK

-RKQ 0DMRU -HQNLQV LV D &RORUDGR UHVLGHQW VLQFH +H LV QRW D UHDO GRFWRU EXW KH GRHV SOD\ one on T.V. He will be speaking at SPRE in Fort Collins on November 16, 2012. He is the 'LUHFWRU RI 7KH &HQWHU IRU 6WXGLHV DQG KLV ERRNV LQFOXGH Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 and The 2012 Story. Find him online at www.Alignment2012.com.

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11

THE APOCALIST Eight Rules to Live By Article by Kate McHargue

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hat did you have for dinner last night? Where did you sleep? Have you showered with hot water in the last few days? And, when was the last time you spent the night outdoors? I don’t know about you, but I had a grilled cheese and soup for dinner, I slept comfortably in my queen bed, I showered just this morning with steaming hot water, and the last time I spent the night outdoors was with my girl scout troop at age eight. I admit that, like many people today, I am a creature of comfort. If and when an apocalypse occurs I think it’s safe to say that I will be woefully unprepared. I have no idea which plants are edible and which could kill me, or at the very least cause some very uncomfortable nights. I can’t tell you how to make D VKHOWHU RU Ă€QG GULQNDEOH ZDWHU , FDQ EDUHO\ VWDUW D Ă€UH ZLWK PDWFKHV DQG WKH only knot I know how to tie is the one for my shoelaces. And I certainly can’t see myself handling the solitude or even the terrible responsibility of helping another person survive. I have always been the person that jokes about the apocalypse, the person who plans an “End of the Worldâ€? party because if the world does end I’d rather just go out with a bang than face the hardship of having to survive in a world that I no longer recognize. I won’t speculate as to the nature of the apocalypse—it could be anything from aliens to zombies to an environmental disaster for all I care. What I care about is maybe learning a little more about the basics of keeping myself and my loved ones alive. In my journey down the survivalist rabbit hole I came across colleges, local survivalists, reality shows, movies, books, and even online forums. All this information was a lot to process as a beginner, so I organized the basics into an easy to remember, comprehensive survival list for if and when an apocalypse strikes. So without further ado, I present‌..

THE APOCALIST RULE #1: WATER Find it, clean it, drink it‌ lots of it. Staying hydrated may seem obvious, but Ă€QGLQJ ZDWHUÂłDQG ZDWHU WKDW LV FOHDQ HQRXJK WR GULQNÂłFDQ EH PRUH GLIĂ€FXOW WKDQ RQH PLJKW WKLQN , IRU RQH DP XVHG WR WKH %ULWD ZDWHU Ă€OWHU VLWWLQJ LQ my fridge. There are a few options for cleaning your water, though. Boiling the water is the one everyone thinks of and it works, but it requires building a Ă€UH VRPHWKLQJ \RX PD\ QRW DOZD\V KDYH WKH WLPH RU OX[XU\ RI GRLQJ $QRWKHU option is to add a few drops of iodine to your water supply, so maybe pick up a few bottles of iodine before the end of the world hits. You can always collect rainwater, but this is highly dependent on rainfall in your area (which as we know, is not much in Colorado). The last “easyâ€? and emergency option is to make your RZQ Ă€OWHU RXW RI VRPHWKLQJ DV VLPSOH DV D VRFN RU W VKLUW , ZRXOG UHFRPPHQG using clean articles of clothing). Obviously this will not keep out toxins or bacteria—boiling your water is the most effective way to purify it—but any of these options will help keep you relatively safe and hydrated.

The Alderleaf Wilderness College in Washington gives step-by-step instructions on their website on the art of bow and drill friction, and even lists the best wood IRU WKH MRE /HDUQLQJ WR EXLOG D SURSHU Ă€UH PD\ PHDQ WKH GLIIHUHQFH EHWZHHQ OLIH and death when it comes to water, food, and keeping warm. RULE #3: THE RULE OF THREE A human being can go three minutes without air, three hours without stable body temperature, three days without water, and three weeks without food. So just UHPHPEHU WR EUHDWKH VWD\ ZDUP FRRO GULQN DQG HDW )DLUO\ VLPSOH RULE #4: CLOTHES & SHELTER For your clothing, I recommend anything that is lightweight and also waterproof DQG KHDW UHĂ HFWLYH <RX ZRQ¡W EH ERJJHG GRZQ LQ WKH KHDW VRDNLQJ ZHW LQ WKH rain, or freezing cold in the snow. Also, get yourself a pair of good, sturdy boots with the same characteristics. Without your feet you aren’t going to get much done, so let’s keep those feet nice and cozy. As for shelter, having a tent with you would be ideal, but if the apocalypse hits without warning you might not have your supplies ready at hand. This ZLOO OHDYH \RX ZLWK WZR RSWLRQV EXLOG D VKHOWHU RU Ă€QG RQH ,I \RX SUHIHU WKH Ă€UVW FKRLFH , ZRXOG DGYLVH \RX WR YLVLW D certain local boookstore for their next Yurt Building Workshop and maybe pick up a book or two. Yurts originated in Mongolia and are the equivalent of a mobile home for nomads. They are essentially a round tent with a wooden frame and a skylight. Not a bad shelter if you ask me, especially since yurts are insulated against rain, wind, and cold and can be built wherever you deem is the safest location. Not to mention the yurt’s DELOLW\ WR EH HLWKHU D SHUPDQHQW RU QRPDGLF UHVLGHQFH ,I WKH FKRLFH WR Ă€QG UDWKHU than build a shelter strikes your fancy, you should familiarize yourself with the FDYHV LQ \RXU DUHD &DYHV DUH WKH EHVW QDWXUDO VKHOWHU \RX FDQ Ă€QG EXW PDNH VXUH WKH\ DUHQ¡W LQ D NQRZQ Ă RRG ]RQH ,W¡V EHVW WR Ă€QG FDYHV RQ KLJKHU JURXQG LI \RX can. RULE #5: FOOD I’m used to staring at my fridge for ten minutes and trying to decide what to eat, but in a survival setting this really isn’t an option. If you are planning for the day the Apocalypse sends us all running for the hills then by all means, stock up. Pack as many dried goods, canned goods and nonperishable foods as you can carry. Even if you are the person who has been waiting for this day for years, you can’t

RULE #2: FIRE Learn to make one right because even if you are lucky enough to have a lighter RU VRPH PDWFKHV LI WKH Ă€UH LVQ¡W EXLOW FRUUHFWO\ RU PDLQWDLQHG \RX ZLOO VSHQG D lot of your time relighting it. You don’t just need wood, you need kindling. Dry leaves and grasses and such are the best choice. And always remember to use dry wood and no green leaves or grasses, as these produce an awful lot of smoke. If \RX GRQ¡W KDYH WKH OX[XU\ RI D OLJKWHU PDWFKHV HWF OHDUQ KRZ WR XVH D Ă LQW DQG steel. Or even better, learn the “Bow and Drill Frictionâ€? technique. This is a more GLIĂ€FXOW WHFKQLTXH EXW LW DOVR UHTXLUHV QRWKLQJ PRUH WKDQ LWHPV IRXQG LQ QDWXUH

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rely on saved food to last you. You need to learn to hunt and gather. Hunting doesn’t necessarily mean you need to take down a hundred-pound deer. If you learn to make some quality snares and traps you can live very well off of rabbits, IR[HV VTXLUUHOV HWF +XQWLQJ LV WKH PRUH GLIÀFXOW RI WKH WZR EXW QRW QHFHVVDULO\ the most dangerous. You might wear yourself out trying to catch that rabbit, but one bite of the wrong plant could leave you bedridden for weeks, or worse. The math of calories captured minus energy expended is one part of the picture. It is also incredibly important to know what is edible and what is not. Just because Mother Nature grows something, that doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat. )LQG \RXUVHOI D ERRN RI ORFDO à RUD SUHIHUDEO\ RQH ZLWK SLFWXUHV DQG VWXG\ LW I recommend Linda Kershaw’s Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies. Rico Lighthouse’s piece in this newspaper also offers some good advice. The book SURYLGHV FRORUHG LOOXVWUDWLRQV GHVFULSWLRQV RI ZKHUH WR ÀQG SODQWV DQG KRZ WR cook them, and details on which plants are poisonous (and therefore off-limits if you like living). Keep it with you wherever you go gathering and double check that what you are eating will not be your last meal. Don’t be afraid to go vegetarian; I like my hamburgers and chicken as much as the next girl, but if it’s a choice between survival and death I will gladly turn to what Mother Nature has provided. Most grasses are edible and full of juices that provide some nutrition; the inner bark of conifers contains starches and sugars (the exception being Yew, which is poisonous); and nearly every part of the Cattail plant is edible. Enjoy the feast Mother Nature has provided but keep a wary eye out. RULE #6: WEAPONS This rule applies to both hunting and self-defense. I will tell you right not that guns are an impractical choice unless you have a lifetime supply of bullets. Better to get yourself some good knives, a hatchet, and maybe even a few spears. Either that or pull a Katniss Everdeen and get handy with a bow and arrow. This will PDNH JHWWLQJ PHDW DQG SURWHLQ D ORW HDVLHU EXW DOVR KDV WKH DGGHG EHQHÀW RI keeping you safe, whether from wildlife or the zombies that will be rampant after the end of days.

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in the right mindset. Stay positive, stay proactive, and stay alive. No one ever got anything accomplished by giving up. Survival is as straining mentally as it is physically, so as you take care of your body, take equal care of your mental state. I personally will be packing a few of my favorite books (maybe some Rowling and Austen) to keep my spirits up. Find your happy place and make frequent visits. ,Q P\ UHVHDUFK IRU IRUPLQJ 7KH $SRFDOLVW , LQWHUYLHZHG D ERQD Ă€GH Colorado survivalist from Boulder. Ryan Van Duzer’s list of survival experience is both extensive and diverse, and he graciously answered my questions about how to cope with the culture shock of leaving a life of luxury to survive in the wild. Van Duzer has never had formal survival training, but explained that he received “a crash course in jungle survival from a group of Indians in southern Venezuela called the Pemon. They taught us how to build shelters, showed us which bugs we could eat without getting poisoned, [and taught us] how to build D Ă€UH DQG FDWFK UDLQZDWHU Âľ $IWHU WKLV OHDUQ RU GLH VXUYLYDO WUDLQLQJ 9DQ 'X]HU competed in the Discovery Channel’s Out of the Wild reality show in October 2010, where he and eight companions were dropped in the wild of Venezuela and told to get to civilization with only the help of their instincts and ability to survive. I asked Ryan Van Duzer for his best piece of advice for beginner survivalists. He replied, quite simply, “It’s all mental! The human body can endure extreme hardship if your mind stays in the game. Stay positive, sing happy songs and keep moving—when you sit down, you get lazy and demoralized.â€? Attitude is everything when it comes to survival. You have to think like a survivor: Never focus on the problem, but rather on the solution. Van Duzer also explained that where and how you survive can have a lot to do with your mental well-being. When asked whether he would prefer surviving in one place or nomadically, Van Duzer preferred the nomadic lifestyle because “you can move with the seasons as to avoid weather and also follow animals. Not to mention [that] it’s a lot easier on your psyche to move your body and see new things.â€? A fresh perspective can really do wonders for your attitude. On a lighter note, Van Duzer also admits that survival is a far cry from the creature comforts we are all so accustomed to. He confesses that if the Apocalypse happens he will sorely miss his Fat Tire Beer. But if and when the Apocalypse strikes, Ryan Van Duzer adamantly states, “I would have to stay home in Boulder. if I’m going down, I wanna go down near Illegal Pete’s burritos!â€? g

I am still not the Man vs. Wild type by any means, and I will probably be like Ryan Van Duzer and toast to the end of the world with some good food and drink. %XW LI SXVK FRPHV WR VKRYH QRZ , WKLQN , KDYH D ÀJKWLQJ FKDQFH RI VXUYLYLQJ With my newfound knowledge and laminated copy of The Apocalist, I may just have the makings of a survivor after all.

Kate McHargue is an intern with Wolverine Farm Publishing. Photographs by Charles J. Malone.

RULE #7: FIRST AID I have known from a very young age that I am a klutz. I think it’s safe to assume that I will be injured in one way or another after the Apocalypse forces me out RI P\ FRPIRUW ]RQH , FRXOG EXUQ P\VHOI VWDUWLQJ P\ Ă€UH RU IDOO DQG KLW P\ KHDG (I’ve already done this twice before), or even break something like my leg or my HJR 7KHUHIRUH , ZLOO LQHYLWDEO\ QHHG WR NQRZ KRZ WR Ă€[ P\VHOI XS ZLWKRXW WKH DLG RI 0RP¡V PHGLFLQH FDELQHW RU WKH ( 5 7KLV PHDQV OHDUQLQJ EDVLF Ă€UVW DLG DQG natural means of healing. I learned CPR when I took the Red Cross Babysitting course at age eleven, but I really doubt that will come in handy for head trauma and broken bones. I did a little research and found that the Front Range Institute RI 6DIHW\ KHUH LQ )RUW &ROOLQV RIIHUV QXPHURXV Ă€UVW DLG SURJUDPV IURP VWDQGDUG WR DGYDQFHG DOO WKH ZD\ XS WR ZLOGHUQHVV Ă€UVW DLG 7KH ZLOGHUQHVV SURJUDP RIIHUV HLWKHU D RQH GD\ RU WZR GD\ FRXUVH ZLWK KDQGV RQ WUDLQLQJ DQG D ZLOGHUQHVV Ă€UVW aid guidebook. ,W DOVR FRXOGQ¡W KXUW WR JHW \RXUVHOI D FRPSUHKHQVLYH DQG SRUWDEOH Ă€UVW DLG NLW 7KH LQWHUQHW LV D ZRQGHUIXO WKLQJ LQ WKDW \RX FDQ Ă€QG DOPRVW DQ\WKLQJ \RX want at a convenient price. After a bit of searching, I found several fully stocked Ă€UVW DLG NLWV IRU RQO\ WKLUW\ EXFNV 6R FRPH SUHSDUHG WR WKH $SRFDO\SVH SDUW\ RULE #8: MIND OVER MATTER We can only speculate about causes and dates of an apocalypse, but survival alone is stressful enough without the added hardship of whatever we will face after the “end of the world.â€? So no matter what happens, remember to keep yourself

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Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut Reviewed by Matthew Sage

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy Reviewed by Lisa Zimmerman

I feel that one can only laugh a little to lighten the weight of the end of the world. Not a jaded snicker, but the full belly laugh of a Buddha, starved and maybe a little delirious. Firstly because no one could ever really bear the psychic weight of any apocalypse alone (in fact, it is all of our weights to bear), and secondly because the end of human history may not necessarily mean the end of all histories. Just ours. That is something to laugh about, because that is how history works. Cat’s Cradle is not the only work by Vonnegut to address the end of human history per se, but I feel it is his most poignant. Vonnegut is as delicate as a razorsharp cynic can be without cutting the jugular. He is monastic in his dedication to ZU\ RQH OLQHUV Ă€UHG DW WKH H[SHQVH RI KXPDQLW\¡V GHVRODWH QDWXUH DQG GHVWUXFWLYH patterns, and it is brilliant. It embraces no desolation, rather it sees matter(s) shifting from one state to another. Cat’s Cradle LV E\ QR PHDQV D GD]]OLQJ PDVWHUIXO ZRUN RI Ă€FWLRQ 7KH VHQWHQFHV aren’t languid. The dialogue is choppy, and at times forced. Passages are littered with off-the-cuff psalms. It is gritty, caustic, and generally defeatist in attitude (on WKH VXUIDFH 7KH ERRN¡V Ă RZ UDFHV WR D IDXOW DQG VRPHWLPHV IHHOV OLNH LW FDQ¡W quite slow down to address the large ideas it presents. This is to say, Cat’s Cradle is Vonnegut producing a novel in one of its rawest states—buoyant as a Buddhist, furrowed as a scientist’s brow, tampering with atomic structures. Flawed, but full of insight. The characters and locations in this tale are classic Vonnegut: an eccentric, chain-smoking writer, writing a novel about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, meets the children of an atomic scientist (a midget, a large woman and a borderline SV\FKRWLF 7KH\ WUDYHO WR WKH 6RXWK 3DFLĂ€F ZKHUH WKH\ HQFRXQWHU WKH SHRSOH RI San Lorenzo: a small island home to a distinctive (imaginary) religion, a sugar cane LQGXVWU\ DQG D EHDXWLIXO LVODQG SULQFHVV ([LVWHQFH DQG LWV HQG Ă€QGV WKH FKDUDFWHUV amidst a power struggle, questioning any practicality of law and order in the face of the truest, realest ending to any story. It is satire at the expense of all of human history; it is bittersweet; it is full of sorrow and great jokes. It is exactly how I feel the apocalypse will be. Hopefully our civilization’s history can be more than what has been insinuated in modern media. But Cat’s Cradle asks, would it all be so tragic if it were just a fond and sublime turn of a page? The end. Only “memories for mud to have.â€?

Cormac McCarthy was born in 1933 and is the author of ten novels. My husband has read them all. Back in the ’90s I opened a couple of McCarthy’s books but found them too gritty, too violent, too male. When The Road came out my KXVEDQG ERXJKW D Ă€UVW HGLWLRQ KDUGFRYHU He said it was one of the saddest books he’d ever read. I read it a year later. It broke my heart. The Road is a harrowing, unrelenting story about a nameless man and his young son walking a road across the “cauterized terrainâ€? of a post-apocalyptic America. “He thought the month was October but he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t kept a calendar for years. They were moving south. There’d be no surviving another winter here.â€? We do not learn what catastrophe has rendered the world “barren, silent, godless.â€? We are told that the “clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions.â€? The man and the boy are starving. They push what little they have in a shopping cart. There is no true sunlight; the natural world is dead. The nights are EODFN DQG Ă€HUFHO\ FROG 3DJH DIWHU SDJH GHVFULEHV WKH DVKHQ ODQGVFDSH WKH ELWWHU hunger, the fear of encountering other survivors who do terrible, terrible things. The man has a pistol, two bullets. His single purpose is to keep his son alive until they reach the coast. “He lay in the leaves holding the trembling child. Clutching the revolver. All through the long dusk into the dark. Cold and starless. Blessed.â€? The Road is a love story about a father and son. The writing is rich, fragmented, lyrical, seamless. Be brave. Read it.

Matthew Sage is a musician, writer, artist and current Co-Poet Laureate of Fort Collins. He skateboards sometimes, and runs Patient Sounds (intl), a cassette tape label.

Lisa Zimmerman is an assistant professor at the University of Northern Colorado. She has a new chapbook, Snack Size: Poems forthcoming this fall.

10% OFF SUSTAINABILITY BOOKS NOW THROUGH DECEMBER 21st, 2012 Discount applies to in-store purchases only.

book  reviews

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The Waste Land, by T.S. Eliot Reviewed by Michael Bussman

After the Plague..., by T.C. Boyle Reviewed by Jason Hardung

Is T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land an apocalyptic poem? I’m not sure. But when I heard there were going to be apocalyptic book reviews in the Matterhorn I went through my choices with the editors and it’s what I came up with. That discussion with the editors went as follows:

After the Plague – and other stories by T. C. Boyle is a collection of sixteen short stories. I have never read any of his novels, but I can say as a short story writer, Boyle is one of my absolute favorites. At times he can be very dark and depressing, but that’s what I like to read. For me, the short story is the most elusive genre of writing. Every word must be in the right place, every word must push the story forward, there is no room for mistakes. Of the sixteen stories in this collection, my favorite was probably the title story of the book, After The Plague WKH Ă€QDO VWRU\ in the collection. So I will concentrate on that. ,W¡V DERXW D YLUXV VRPHWKLQJ OLNH (EROD RU WKH 6ZLQH Ă X WKDW LV VSUHDG through kissing, sneezing, hand to mouth, mouth to mouth, any way possible. The virus kills most of the world’s population, except for a select few that were in places like the wilderness, away from human contact when it hit. It only took a few days to sweep the earth. The protagonist is a 35 year old writer, named Francis who was up in the Sierra Madres when it hit. A woman named Sarai knocks on his door one day. She had gotten lost in the woods, separated from her boyfriend and didn’t know about the plague until Francis tells her. They move to a mansion in Montecito, California together and try to get along but they can’t. She is a nasty, mean person. She moves into a mansion down the street and survives on her own. One day Francis is out shopping for food, or other free stuff when he runs into Felicia, a girl not very beautiful in the looks department, but a girl he can get along with. One day Sarai gets wind that Francis is living with another woman and trashes their mansion. Francis and Felicia decide to leave to get away from her. They get a place on the beach and spend their days having sex, eating and drinking wine. It ends with a man approaching them. The man turns out to be the boyfriend that Sarai was separated from months earlier. I wish this is the way the apocalypse would play out. I mean, if I was one of the survivors. The characters in the story have free reign over all the stores, gas station, they can drive any car they want, “prance through the streets in a new pair of Italian loafers and throw them in the gutter each night and get a new pair in the morning.â€? I think Boyle does a good job of describing the urban landscape evolving back into nature, especially with the animals. I would recommend this book if you are into average men on the verge of something disastrous. His stories are dark, but they are also full of compassion. As for the other stories in the book I would recommend: .LOOLQJ %DELHV 'HDWK RI &RRO and &DSWXUHG E\ ,QGLDQ

Me: Oh, apocalypse books, great! I’ll do The Road! Editors: You’re a bit late to this picking party; The Road is spoken for. Me: Shit. What about The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Editors: Really? I’m not sure how apocalyptic that book is‌ Me: Fine, The Waste Land. That poem is bound to have some apocalypse stuff in it. I mean really, it’s called ‘The Waste Land.’ Editors: Sure, that sounds good, do that one. Just pick something already. g

So back to the question, is T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land an apocalyptic poem? Seriously, I’m not sure. This poem is huge, confusing, and complicated, with lots of GHVWUXFWLRQ LPDJHU\ DQG VRFLHWDO VRFLDO IUDJPHQWDWLRQ ,W VSHDNV WR ELEOLFDO GHDWK and rebirth, some transgender politics and a fair bit of sexual indifference. The blind seer, Tiresias (transgendered in his own right), is described in the author’s notes as “a mere spectator and not indeed a ‘character’, [and] yet the most important personage in the poem, uniting all the rest.â€? Sure, Tiresias played a big role as the de facto narrator of section III, ‘The Fire Sermon,’ but a unifying force? Again, as with the apocalyptic nature of the poem as a whole, I’m not sure, I’m just really confused. Deep down, I like this poem, a lot. Whether I understand it is not really important, I guess. And, I have a feeling that The Waste Land is somehow about the DSRFDO\SVH 7UDGLWLRQDOO\ ´DSRFDO\SVHÂľ LV GHĂ€QHG DV WKH UHYHODWLRQ RI VRPHWKLQJ KLGGHQ $QG LQ WKDW UHJDUG LW Ă€WV SHUIHFWO\ There is a lot hidden in The Waste Land (you know, everything from the speaker to the theme to the overarching meaning) but it’s a matter of who it is revealed to, and that person is not me. I give it an A-‌

Michael Bussmann is the (co) Poet Laureate of Fort Collins, Colorado. His work has appeared in Matter Journal, Boneshaker, and a few other places that most people have never heard of. He loves his family and enjoys drinking and reading (at the same time).

Jason Hardung’s work has appeared in hundreds of journals and magazines including: 3AM, Chiron Review, Evergreen Review, Word Riot, Thrasher Magazine, New York Quarterly. He has been nominated for the Pushcart and Best of The Web. His ÀUVW IXOO OHQJWK ERRN RI SRHWU\ The Broken and the Damned, came out on Epic Rites Press in 2009. His second, The Names of Lost Things was released in June of 2012 on Lummox Press (www.lummoxpress.com/lummoxpress/hardung.htm).

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The Lost Art of Forgotten Foods, continued from the cover

I’ve been alive. Actually, unsuccessful attempts have been made to eradicate it. But thankfully, it’s still here, growing food without, and in spite of, the hand of man. Most of the plants growing in this garden cannot be bought at the grocery store, or the farmers markets, even though it’s local. This garden also grows the widest variety of food types of any garden I’ve ever seen. There are spring greens growing before most farmers are even thinking about planting (I know, I know, farmers are always thinking about planting‌), and some of these are tender and good enough to eat into late august, after my garden lettuce has turned to a bitter, EROWHG JUHHQ 7KHUH DUH HGLEOH Ă RZHUV ZLWK Ă DYRUV too good to be true. Vegetables ripen all summer long. Berries begin ripening in June and last well into autumn. There are fruits and nuts that fall to the ground by the bushel-full, only to be despised for disturbing our hard-earned landscapes. There are beans. There are seeds, and grains, and pollens to be PDGH LQWR Ă RXUV DQG EUHDGV DQG FHUHDOV )UHVK WXEHUV can be had all the winter long, so long as you can dig the ground, from Nature’s best root cellar. Herbs to be dried for teas and medicines abound, begging somebody to pick them, use them, love them. There are wild animals to be seen. Foxes, deer, squirrels, VNXQNV KDZNV RZOV DQG HDJOHV 7DQDJHUV Ă LFNHUV robins and hummingbirds. Frogs, toads, turtles and snakes. They all eat freely from this garden, as does my family, and still there is plenty. We come here together, for nourishment. We go there alone, for solitude. In researching the history of this garden, it seems to have been here all along, as far back as anyone can remember. No one claims to have planted it. The native peoples who lived among and travelled this region ate from it. All of their food FDPH IURP LW DV ZHOO DV WKH Ă€EHUV IRU WKHLU FORWKLQJ They say the Creator gave it to them as a gift, to shelter them and feed them, to keep them healthy, and to restore their health when they became ill. In return, they have promised to protect it, and not to destroy it. By the end of the nineteenth century KRZHYHU PRVW RI WKH QDWLYHV KDG EHHQ FRQĂ€QHG WR reservations, and their lore, history and means of living in harmony with nature had left with them. The settlers despised the natives as savages and would have none of their food. Thus, the garden was forgotten. As cities and farms grew, the garden was encroached upon. It shrank to a fraction of its original size. But it survived. Then came the Great Depression, and the people of this region—town and country folk alike—began to go to this garden, seeking its food, mostly out of necessity. Most people had long since forgotten how to recognize and eat the food they found growing in this garden—if they had ever known at all. Thus, accounts from this time often describe frustrating attempts to eat this food, ZLWK Ă DYRUV EHLQJ GHVFULEHG DV EDG EODQG ELWWHU palatable, or OK. But no one intentionally lives on food that is “palatable,â€? or “OK.â€? Eventually the Depression went away, and the people forgot the garden. Again. The same thing happened during World War II, but to a lesser degree. Remarkably, however, the garden is still here today, and you can go to it almost any day of WKH \HDU DQG Ă€QG JRRG IRRG 0\ IDPLO\ DQG , FRPH KHUH HYHU\ FKDQFH ZH JHW DQG ZH DOZD\V Ă€QG PXFK more than food. Each time, a new discovery is made: D QHZ SODQW IRXQG RU LGHQWLĂ€HG $ EXJ ZH¡YH QHYHU seen before. Deer eating the same food that we’re eating. Sunlight slanting through the branches of a

tree we’ve seen a thousand times before, making it look new. I feel like a kid again when I’m out here, Ă€OOHG ZLWK DZH DQG GLVFRYHU\ Some of the food growing here you have already heard of. Some of it may be strange and exotic. Some are common plants you see everyday, but never recognized as food. All of it is medicine. When you eat from this garden you are truly IXOĂ€OOLQJ WKH +LSSRFUDWLF RDWK ´/HW IRRG EH WK\ medicine, and medicine be thy food.â€? You begin to feel younger, to want to go outside more. When you leave your house it becomes an adventure, never knowing what you’ll return home with. You’ll become acquainted with nature in a way you never knew was possible. You will trust her. You will feel at home. You will be a part of a tradition as ancient as KXPDQLW\ LWVHOI IXOĂ€OOLQJ D GHVLUH \RX PD\ QRW HYHQ know you have. This is the forager’s garden, and it’s right outside your door. Everybody eats, and foraging is the oldest occupation known to man. And, contrary to popular opinion, it is also one of the safest. The biggest fear people have with wild foods is eating a poisonous plant, but this never needs to happen. There are a few simple guidelines to follow that will ensure you’ll never eat a poisonous plant. 7KH Ă€UVW LV QHYHU HDW D SODQW RU DQ\WKLQJ for that matter) unless you know with absolute certainty what it is, which part of it is food, and how to prepare it. Many of the foods we eat on a regular basis are harmful if these steps are not taken, but that doesn’t stop us from eating them. The most obvious example is rhubarb. The stems are food, the rest of the plant is poisonous. But we eat it anyway, because we know how, and we like it. So know a plant before you eat it, or have it prepared by someone who does. You know the difference between a strawberry and an apple, and when you go to the grocery store you can tell them apart, even if someone switches the labels on them. Know your wild foods just as well, and you’re safe. As foragers, we often eat what are commonly considered weeds, and people spray weeds. Don’t harvest any plant that is wilted, or has mutated growth. Look for evidence of spraying on the other SODQWV QHDUE\ ,I \RX Ă€QG D QLFH FXUO\ GRFN SODQW growing amongst a bunch of dead or wilted leafy spurge, don’t harvest there—move on. Use your nose too: If an area has been recently sprayed you may not see it. Plants take a while to wilt, but often you can smell it. Some places to avoid are railroad tracks and roadsides. These are almost always VSUD\HG DQG HYHQ LI \RX Ă€QG JRRG ORRNLQJ IRRG growing there, pass up the temptation and move on. It is disheartening to see the amount of poison we dump on the earth these days. If we realize that most of the plants we try to kill by poisoning are actually good for us, we may just be able to make an impact. Another rule: Know how to eat your food. Some foods, such as fruit, and young tender greens, DUH Ă€QH HDWHQ UDZ DQG HYHQ EHWWHU ZKHQ HDWHQ ULJKW ZKHUH \RX Ă€QG WKHP 3LFNLQJ \RXU RZQ IRRG LV D MR\ that can’t be bought. Other foods, such as potatoes, or black locust beans, need to be cooked if eaten in VLJQLĂ€FDQW DPRXQWV Also, when eating a new food, exercise some UHVWUDLQW WKH Ă€UVW WLPH 7DNH D VPDOO ELWH DQG LI it tastes bad spit it out. We have taste buds for a reason. If it tastes good, eat a little bit, but don’t overdo it; give your body some time to react. You can eat too much of anything and get sick. So MXVW WDVWH \RXU QHZ IRRG Ă€UVW DQG DV \RX WDVWH LW LPDJLQH ZKDW RWKHU IRRGV RU Ă DYRUV ZRXOG JR ZHOO ZLWK LW 7KHUH DUH OLWHUDOO\ WKRXVDQGV RI Ă DYRUV

KEEP TOXIC

available, and we eat only a handful of them in our regular diets. With wild food you’ll discover new DQG H[FLWLQJ Ă DYRUV \RX QHYHU GUHDPHG RI 6RPH RI these you’ll like, and some of them you won’t. Don’t DOZD\V WUXVW \RXU Ă€UVW WDVWH 7KHUH DUH PDQ\ IDFWRUV WKDW FRQWULEXWH WR Ă DYRU DQG PDQ\ IRRGV WKDW ,¡YH GLVOLNHG WKH Ă€UVW WLPH , WULHG WKHP DUH QRZ P\ favorites. Another thing to know is when to harvest your food. You don’t buy under-ripe, out-of-season produce from the supermarket (ha ha), so don’t pick it that way either. Again, this comes from knowing your food. But this gets exciting. Unlike the supermarket, where you can pretty much buy the same food in January as you can in July, foraging has its own seasons, each with its own unique array of foods. This helps break the monotony in the kitchen, and in your life as well. It is exciting to look forward to next spring, when you’ll be able to harvest cattail pollen. You sure can’t just go to the store and buy a bag of it. Yet. If you are not already a person who likes to cook, chances are you’ll become one. There are hundreds of foods that can be eaten raw, or with little preparation. Plants in this category include amaranth and lamb’s quarters—good raw when young and tender, and good as cooked greens the rest of the time. Use them just as you would spinach. Some plants make great vegetables with a little more effort, such as peeling an outer layer, or removing from a husk or a pod. Plants in this category include burdock and thistle stalks, ground cherries, etc. And alas, some plants require great commitment on your part to render them ready to eat. Plants in this category include acorns, black walnuts, and the foods WKDW \RX ZLOO XVH DV Ă RXUV 7KHVH IRRGV ZLOO OLWHUDOO\ change your life, simply on account of the amount of time you’ll be spending with them. But, like all things in life, the more time, effort, love and care you put into something, the greater will be the reward you gain from it. Foraging isn’t going into the woods and LQJHVWLQJ UDQGRP SODQWV ,W¡V Ă€QGLQJ IRRG DOPRVW HYHU\ZKHUH \RX JR DQG Ă€JXULQJ RXW WKH EHVW ZD\ to eat it. It’s like a Where’s Waldo puzzle where almost everyone on the page is Waldo. It’s a sacred adventure in a world of desecration. And it helps to restore our lost connection to nature, in all its guises. Far from being a fearful, dangerous pastime, it sets you free from fear by making you more aware of your surroundings. You’ll learn more about plants than you ever thought possible; more about the animals that inhabit your favorite haunts; more about the seasons and how they change; more about the wind and the water, the earth and the sky. And more about yourself as well. With each new discovery you’ll be made new. There’s no end of things to learn. I am by no means an expert. The more I learn about plants, the more I realize how little I know. I’m not looking to teach you about wild foods; I’m looking for people who care about where their food comes from. People who are excited to be outside; people who don’t mind putting a little, or a lot, of effort into something good. People to pick berries with. People to try new and exciting foods with— foods that I’ve never eaten, or new recipes for old favorites. People who want to learn, and never stop growing. People who will wade into a cattail marsh in November and come out wet and muddy and smiling with a handful of roots. People to spot that hawk circling in the sky, with a snake dangling from its claws. People who want to be alive. If that’s you, let’s go.

FRACKING

OUT OF THE FORT lost  art  of  forgotten  foods

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GUIDE TO EDIBLE WILD PLANTS

OF NORTHERN COLORADO Article & Photographs by Rico Lighthouse Here is a short guide to seven common wild plants of Northern Colorado. It is beyond the scope of this paper to provide thorough descriptions and usages of each plant presented, so what I have done is selected seven plants which are easy to recognize if you don’t know them already, and have no unsafe look alikes when harvested as directed. I have presented only my family’s own experience with these plants, and included any brief tidbits of information thought to be interesting, such as historical or other uses. Consult multiple guide books, or better yet, a knowledgeable SHUVRQ IRU LGHQWLÀFDWLRQ SXUSRVHV 7KHUH DUH KXQGUHGV RI ZLOG IRRG ERRNV DYDLODEOH DQG WKH\ UDQJH IURP KRUULEOH WR H[FHOOHQW ZLWK PRVW IDOOLQJ into an average medium, thus it is important to get information from multiple sources. Foraging is fun, and it will change your life. It will help you to reconnect with the natural world, it will improve your health, mental as well as physical. It will remind you that we too are a part of nature, and have a place in it. It is one thing to know that the earth provides for our every need, it is another thing to experience it. There is no other occupation I know of that can foster an attitude of caretaker of nature like foraging. Environmental Awareness can only come about by being aware of your environment, and that is exactly what you will become as you hunt for and tend to wild plants. The world will never look the same.

Chokecherry – Prunus virginia – Native.

Cattail – Typha latifolia – Native. The common cattail is a great place to begin your wild food adventures. Found along the edges of still water all over North America and beyond, food can be gathered from it nearly year round. As soon as the leaves emerge in spring you can eat them. Start at the EDVH DQG HDW \RXU ZD\ XS WLOO WKH\ JHW WR Ă€EURXV $V the leaves grow, simply peel the outer layers to reveal the leaf heart, a tender, juicy vegetable full of pure Ă€OWHUHG ZDWHU 7KHVH OHDI KHDUWV FDQ EH KDUYHVWHG XQWLO DERXW WKH WLPH WKH Ă RZHU VWDONV DSSHDU &DWWDLO SURGXFHV ERWK PDOH DQG IHPDOH Ă RZHUV RQ WKH VDPH VWDON 7KH PDOH Ă RZHUV DUH DW WKH WRS of the stalk and produce pollen, which pollinates WKH IHPDOH Ă RZHUV JURZLQJ EHORZ YLD WKH ZLQG 7KH IHPDOH Ă RZHUV WKHQ WXUQ LQWR WKH IDPLOLDU FDWWDLO Ă XII WKDW ZH DOO UHFRJQL]H :KLOH WKH PDOH Ă RZHUV DUH VWLOO encased in their sheath, they may be eaten raw or steamed for an excellent and unique vegetable. We call these “Cattail on the Cob,â€? and enjoy them year after year. Once emerged from their sheaths they produce copious amounts of yellow pollen. Collect this pollen by shaking the top of the stalks into a paper sack or gallon jug with a hole cut in it’s side. Once you get it home, sift it to remove any bugs then dry it out or store it in a jar in the fridge. The SROOHQ LV KLJKO\ QXWULWLRXV DQG FDQ EH DGGHG WR Ă RXUV for baking, or our favorite, added to your morning oats. Cattail rhizomes contain a nutritious starch, ZKLFK FDQ EH HDWHQ UDZ LQ WKH Ă€HOG RU DGGHG WR Ă RXUV 7KH VWDUFK LV LQ WKH Ă€EURXV FRUH ZKLFK LV surrounded by a rind, and must be separated from the Ă€EHUV WR EH XVHG DV Ă RXU 7KH Ă€EHUV RI WKH UKL]RPH can be twisted together to make a strong cordage. I OHW WKH UKL]RPHV GU\ Ă€UVW then pound then to separate the starch, then sift and store. Cattail leaves have traditionally been used as a weaving material for chair bottoms, hats, and other items. It is a very useful plant, and I bet you know ZKHUH WR Ă€QG VRPH

Ground Cherry – Physalis pubescens – Native. The Ground Cherry is actually a nightshade, a miniature tomatillo if you will. These were a common food of indigenous peoples throughout its range, and our early settlers made extensive use of it as food as well. Ground Cherries are sweet, peppery tasting fruits that grow in a husk that often falls to the ground before they ripen. They can be bought at Los Pichones on north College Avenue, or collected in abundance along many of Northern Colorado’s irrigation ditches. They are a great snack eaten fresh, and they can be sundried, or made into pies mixed with crab apples, or another tart fruit. They make surprisingly sweet salsas, and probably good ketchup too. They can easily be stored in their husks in a dry place where they will not mildew, just make sure they have adequate air circulation.

guide  to  edible  wild  plants

Chokecherries can be found growing as small shrubs to small trees along many of Northern Colorado’s waterways. The fruits grow in easily recognizable clusters which turn dark purple to black up to three weeks before they ripen. It is likely that people who’ve picked them and disliked them simply ate cherries that weren’t ripe. It is a consistently heavy producer of delicious fruit, and was a dietary staple of many indigenous peoples living in and around the Rocky Mountains. It was also used extensively by the early settlers. And of course, birds, bears, raccoons and my family can’t get enough of them. Chokecherries make perhaps the best fruit leather imaginable. To make fruit leather we mash them through a strainer to separate the pulp from the seed and skin, then spread the juicy pulp about an eighth of an inch thick on a baking tray in the sun. Once the top is dry to the touch, cut it into VWULSV WKHQ à LS LW RYHU DQG OHW WKH RWKHU VLGH GU\ You can also use a food dehydrator or an oven, but these make inferior leathers in my opinion. This fruit leather is so good that by the time one tray is dry it usually has a very jagged edge from us eating at it the whole time. The Lakota crushed the pits of the cherries and dried them with the pulp, and we too have eaten them in this way, though the pits do turn most folks off from eating them. Inside the pit is a seed that tastes like a bitter almond and contains a bit of cyanide. It is very delicious but not recommended to eat in quantity, though we love the taste so much that we do eat a few. The cyanide is released upon drying, so they are safe to eat as fruit leather, if you so dare. Chokecherries can also be squeezed for their fresh juice. It makes a stout cherry juice, which I like plain, but others like to mix with other fruit juices to tone it down a bit. I hear tale that they make great jams and jellies too. We, however, have never been good at making jams or jellies so we’ve never tried— but I’d love to taste some of yours! There’s probably a recipe in your grandmother’s cook book.

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Purslane – Portulaca oleracea – Non-Native. Purslane is a low growing succulent that loves hot dry weather, and appears in mid-late summer. Thought to have originated in India, it is still enjoyed there as a delicacy today. It can be gathered in great abundance, and being succulent, wilting is rarely a problem. It is a favorite summer salad base with us, being topped with fresh mint, a bit of apple cider vinegar, chopped Walla-Walla onions from Native Hill Farms, Currants, and sprinkled with the juice of a freshly squeezed orange. The larger stems, with all the leaves removed, make excellent pickles. We just add them to existing pickle jars for a type of ever-renewing pickle crock, rarely waiting till they’re fully pickled to eat them. A Mexican friend of mine grew up drinking purslane smoothies, a refreshing blended drink his dad would make on hot summer days. We like it so much fresh that we’ve never tried cooking it, but there are a host of delicious looking recipes to be found online. The seeds can also be collected and used similar to poppy seeds, or eaten by themselves. To collect the seeds leave the unopened seed pods on a sheet in the sun till they pop open, then separate from the plant matter and store them in a dry place,

Sow Thistle – Sonchus spp. – Non-Native. Sow thistle is the king of all salad plants. It’s stalks, when harvested at the proper time, are sweet, juicy, and crunchy. It’s leaves, like a good lettuce, have just the right amount of bitterness. Sow Thistle emerges LQ PLG VXPPHU DQG ODVWV XQWLO WKH ÀUVW IURVW +DUYHVW OHDYHV ZKLOH WKH\ DUH VWLOO JURZLQJ DQG à RZHU VWDONV EHIRUH WKH à RZHUV DSSHDU , KDYH UHSHDWHGO\ HDWHQ this plant from June through September and found it to be excellent, even with varying amounts of ELWWHUQHVV 7KH \RXQJ à RZHU EXGV DUH DOVR JRRG DQG make a good addition to salads. Sow Thistle is not a thistle at all, but belongs WR WKH VXQà RZHU IDPLO\ DORQJ ZLWK WKH GDQGHOLRQ ERWK RI ZKLFK KDYH YHU\ VLPLODU \HOORZ à RZHUV Find one of these plants, and you will most likely ÀQG PDQ\ PRUH QHDUE\ /RRN IRU SODQWV JURZLQJ in well watered, or shady areas for the most delicious harvest, as plants grown in full sun can be extraordinarily bitter. I say this not to discourage you IURP WU\LQJ WKLV SODQW EXW WR HQFRXUDJH \RX WR ÀQG it at it’s best, for then you’ll be hooked on it. Did I mention that it’s delicious?

such as your spice cupboard.

Salsify – Tragopogon spp. - Non-Native $QRWKHU PHPEHU RI WKH VXQĂ RZHU IDPLO\ ZLWK GDQGHOLRQ OLNH Ă RZHUV 6DOVLI\ ZDV D FXOWLYDWHG vegetable of the old world, and was brought over by European immigrants. I’ve found two species growing in Northern Colorado, one of which stays fairly small (T. pratensis), the other of which (T. dubius ,¡YH IRXQG JURZLQJ QHDUO\ Ă€YH IHHW WDOO 6DOVLI\ LV D ELHQQLDO ZKLFK JURZV DV D URVHWWH WKH Ă€UVW \HDU DQG VHQGV XS D Ă RZHU VWDON WKH QH[W ,W¡V OHDYHV DUH V-shaped and grayish green, and it exudes a white latex when broken. It is easiest to locate in it’s Ă RZHULQJ VWDJH RU LW¡V VHHGLQJ VWDJH ZKHQ LW PDNHV D JLDQW Ă XII EDOO VLPLODU WR D GDQGHOLRQV EXW RIWHQ being as large as a tennis ball. It likes to inhabit dry Ă€HOGV DQG URDGVLGHV Any part of this plant that is still growing is good for food, having a sweet, almost creamy Ă DYRU 7KH XQRSHQHG Ă RZHU EXGV PDNH DQ H[FHOOHQW salad addition. The cream of the crop with Salsify, however, is it’s root. Cream doesn’t always rise to the top. The root is best when collected from fall to spring, while the foliage is not vigorously growing, IURP Ă€UVW \HDU SODQWV 7KRXJK ZH KDYH HDWHQ WKH roots of both young and old plants. Clean the root and eat them fresh, or, for a special treat, roast them in an oven with a little olive oil, like you would bake French fries. Just be sure to invite us to dinner when you do.

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Acorn – Quercus spp. Acorns may be the most important food in the history of mankind. They were traditionally eaten by people everywhere they grow, and they grow all over the world. They have sustained people for thousands of years, yet nowadays many people believe then inedible, or even poisonous. While it’s true that acorns contain tannins, these tannins are water soluble, and preparing this delicious food is not beyond your means. Acorns are one of the most nutritionally balanced foods known to man, providing calories from starch, oil and protein. They contain most of our essential nutrients, and are a great source of potassium, niacin and B vitamins. (USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference) And just in case you didn’t know, acorns grow on oak trees. Acorns are not a snack, they take dedication to prepare and eat. But you will never eat a more wholesome food, all the while participating in an activity that humanity has practiced from it’s beginning. 7KH Ă€UVW WKLQJ WR GR LV ORFDWH DQG JDWKHU \RXU DFRUQV $URXQG KHUH WKH\ ripen in late summer or fall. They will fall from the tree when ripe, though some ZLOO UHPDLQ RQ WKH WUHH DZKLOH DIWHU ULSHQLQJ 7KHVH FDQ EH LGHQWLĂ€HG E\ WKHLU easily detaching from the cap- with the exception of Burr Oak, where the cap almost completely surrounds the nut. Gather only healthy looking acorns with no visible blemishes. Pay close attention to the “diskâ€? area, if it is detached, discolored or bruised looking, or has holes, chances are you’ve got a bad acorn. :LWK D OLWWOH SUDFWLFH \RX¡OO Ă€QG \RXUVHOI LQVWLQFWLYHO\ KDUYHVWLQJ RQO\ JRRG acorns. Once you’ve got your acorns home they need to be used right away or dried. To dry acorns we spread them evenly over the bottom of a shallow cardboard box, in a single layer, then place them outside in the sun. At night, or when cloudy, we line the boxes above our baseboard heaters. If you’ve got a woodstove you can dry acorns next to it. Drying times vary from acorn to acorn, but count on at least three weeks to a month. The nuts shrink as they dry, which often leaves a shriveled shell with a nut that rattles around inside. If you dry your acorns outside watch out for squirrels, I’ve literally had to sit outside with my acorns and fend off multiple squirrels. When your acorns are dry they’re ready to be cracked. After trying many methods I’ve settled on cracking them with a wooden mallet. One good whack is usually all it takes, remove the shell, and work your way through the pile. Each acorn is covered with a thin skin, like on a peanut, called th’ testa. You need to

get those off there, and when the acorns are dry, it’s really easy, when they are fresh, you often have to scrape them off. After you get them cracked, they’re ready to be pounded or ground. I use a QLFH URXQG ULYHU URFN WKDW Ă€WV ZHOO LQWR P\ KDQG EXW LV VWLOO KHDY\ HQRXJK WR GR some work. With a pile of acorns in front of me I simply pound and sift, pound and sift, til I’ve got them to the desired consistency, which is similar to a coarse JURXQG Ă RXU RU Ă D[ VHHG PHDO 6R QRZ \RX¡YH JRW \RXU DFRUQ Ă RXU LW¡V WLPH WR OHDFK RXW WKH WDQQLQV 7KHUH DUH PDQ\ ZD\V WR GR WKLV EXW KHUH¡V WZR HDV\ RQHV )LUVW Ă€OO D ODUJH MDU DERXW D WKLUG IXOO ZLWK DFRUQ Ă RXU WKHQ WRS RII ZLWK ZDWHU &DS WKH MDU DQG SODFH LW LQ the fridge, changing the water each day. Taste the water as you pour it off, when LW¡V QR ORQJHU DVWULQJHQW \RXU DFRUQ LV UHDG\ 7KLV XVXDOO\ WDNHV Ă€YH WR VHYHQ GD\V Another method, which works in a day, is to leach your acorns with running ZDWHU :H FRYHU D VFUHHQ ZLWK D FOHDQ PXVOLQ FORWK DQG VSUHDG WKH DFRUQ Ă RXU evenly over it about an eighth to a quarter inch thick. Then pour diffused water repeatedly over it, tasting it periodically for tannins. One way to free yourself up during this process is to set up your sprinkler with a showerhead setting to spray it for you. Or place the screen in the shower and turn it on. This takes usually from four to twelve hours and uses a lot of water, but you can do other things while the water is running, and have acorns ready in a day. When you’ve tasted \RXU DFRUQ Ă RXU DQG IRXQG LW WR \RXU OLNLQJ JDWKHU LW LQWR D PXVOLQ RU VLPLODU cloth and wring it out, making sure to remove as much water as possible, or hang it somewhere to drain. Save this last bit of water, add a pinch of maple syrup to it and you’ve got a fabulous “acorn milk.â€? 1RZ \RX PD\ FRRN ZLWK \RXU DFRUQ Ă RXU GU\ LW RXW IRU ODWHU XVH RU VWRUH LW LQ WKH IULGJH RU IUHH]HU $FRUQ Ă RXU PDNHV D ZRQGHUIXO FUXVW IRU SLHV DQG TXLFKHV makes good breads, and when cooked like grits, makes a great morning cereal. Use your imagination, the possibilities are endless. For a fascinating account of traditional acorn usage, see Julia Parker and Bev Ortiz’s book ,W :LOO /LYH )RUHYHU And many acorn recipes can be found online. g

Well, I hope this gets you started on your foraging adventure, or re-inspires you to pick up an old hobby. For more information feel free to contact me at ricoandbeth@gmail.com, or visit our foraging blog at survivalinthewasteland.blogspot.com, where you can keep up to date with local wild harvests and have access to many fascinating wild food links, as well as a list of good guide books. 6RPH RI WKH EHWWHU DXWKRUV , KDYH IRXQG LQFOXGH 6WHYH %ULOO (XHOO *LEERQV -RKQ .DOODV 7KRPDV - (OSHO DQG 6DPXHO 7KD\HU ,¡P VXUH WKHUH DUH RWKHUV EXW , KDYH QRW UHDG DOO WKH ZLOG food books out there. These people eat wild foods as a regular part of their diet, and they write IURP H[SHULHQFH , KDYH VRPH ZLOG IRRGV ERRNV QRW E\ RQH RI WKH DERYH PHQWLRQHG DXWKRUV that say things such as “The material in this book was obtained for the most part by word of PRXWK¾¾0XFK GDWD FDPH IURP YDULRXV RWKHU ZRUNVÂŤÂľ $QRWKHU VD\V ´, KDYH VDPSOHG DW least one species from most of the genera presented.â€? What these statements say to me is that WKH DXWKRU GRHV QRW HDW ZLOG IRRG DQG WKRXJK , KDYH UHVLVWHG WKH WHPSWDWLRQ WR XVH WKHVH ERRNV as wilderness toilet paper, their information should be taken with a grain of salt and thoroughly checked for accuracy. But that applies to any book. A person has no business telling others to eat food that he has not eaten himself, or that has only “sampled,â€? so read the introductions to WKH SODQW JXLGHV \RX Ă€QG DV WKHVH FDQ JLYH \RX YDOXDEOH LQVLJKW LQWR WKH LQIRUPDWLRQ FRQWDLQHG therein.

OLD  TOWN  ACUPUNCTURE  CLINIC “Earth  connected,  heart  centered,  JHQWOH DQG HĹ”HFWLYH FDUH for  your  entire  being.â€?

723  Cherry  St.  in  Old  Town  Fort  Collins,  CO  (6  blocks  west  of  College  Ave.) Our  hours  are:  Mon.-­Fri.  8  am-­6  pm Sat.  8  am-­2  pm Limited edition vintage bicycle poster Available at the Wolverine Farm Bookstore $7.50 Or online: www.wolverinefarm.org

Call  to  set  up  an  appointment:  970-­482-­3700

                                                                                                  20

matterhorn

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                                                                                                 fall  2012

AVOIDING THE DYSTOPIAN

FUTURE: THE POWER OF

SEED SAVING AN INTERVIEW WITH LOCAL SEED SAVER CYNTHIA MANUEL Introduction and interview by Amy Kousch

S

eeds are the true child of nature’s brilliant architectural planning. A single, tiny tomato seed, for example—so unassuming and simple—is packaged and bundled and ready to grow. A seed is convenient and self-sustaining. The tomato’s tiny embryo holds its parent’s genetic material in a cradle of cotyledons and radicles. Just follow the directions of most pragmatic gardeners: water LW IHHG LW JLYH LW VRPH VXQ DQG WKH VHHG EXUVWV IRUWK ZLWK OLIH $W Ă€UVW D WLQ\ VKRRW of life, and then, after patient months, glorious, juicy fruits dangle with heavy weight. Seeds are the true wealth of the land. The dizzying variety and abundance of these ubiquitous specks of life should be revered and gloried with awe. Just as any hand, when placed on the swollen, pregnant tummy of a loved one, can marvel and wonder at this embryonic miracle, so is the power of life beholden when a seed gives us food, and health, and sustains our bodies. It would behoove our collective health and nutritional integrity to keep track of these seeds. It is wise to ensure that our veggies had a good childhood and happy mama seeds, unfettered by synthetic DNA manipulation or corporate interests. Saving seeds is an economical, ecological, and agricultural practice. Bob Barnes, of Nunn, Colorado, remembers when his father Charles won the title “Wheat King of the Nation.â€? This was in 1950, and Charles had been saving his wheat seed just as his father and his grandfather before him. Another dedicated seed-saver, Cynthia Manuel of Fort Collins, has been a gardener for over four decades. When she was a child, her grandmother gave her a small garden plot and &\QWKLD VRZHG KHU Ă€UVW FURS PRUQLQJ JORULHV 6KH ZDV VR VXUSULVHG ZKHQ WKH\ actually grew, she said, laughing, that she thought it was a miracle. Cynthia has saved seeds since 1976. She said, “The process for saving seeds is different for each plant. If you want lettuce seed, you have to let that plant go XQWLO LW VHQGV XS WKH Ă RZHU VWDON DQG FROOHFW WKRVH VHHGV 6R LW¡V FROOHFWLQJ DQG drying. Drying is important. It’s better to let the seeds dry on the plant as long as possible. I keep the seeds in a cool, dry environment. If it’s too damp, they could get moldy. Storing seeds in plastic is not so good. A seed is a living entity.â€? Cynthia chooses which seeds she will save based on the most important food factor—taste. She explained, “For vegetables, since taste is important, let’s say, for example, I’m growing Black Krim tomatoes, a heritage breed, when I save seeds, I don’t want to pick any Black Krim tomato, I’m looking for an early maturity date. If I eat that tomato, if it’s really a good tomato, I’ll grab the seeds from that one and save them. The same thing goes with squash. If it’s a really tasty one, LI LW UHDOO\ KDV WKDW JRRG Ă DYRU WKDW , OLNH , FOHDQ WKH VHHGV RII DQG GU\ WKHP DQG I’ll plant them next year. For me, it always has to pass the taste test.â€? Human selection creates unique genetic lines of vegetables. Cynthia said, “Inevitably, if you are growing something out on your property year after year and you are selecting, let’s say you have been saving from the same Black Krim year after year, your tomato might be different from an Idaho gardener selecting for the same thing. You are promoting biodiversity by doing this—you are producing something that is adapted to your own area and your own growing habits.â€? It’s important to understand the complexities of the choice to save seeds. Cynthia said, “The more we lose the power to save our own seeds and grow our seeds out, the more we will have to buy from the big seed companies.â€? And isn’t selecting for traits basically the same thing as genetically modifying seeds? Cynthia explained, “GMO is a whole different thing. They are inserting genes that come from, maybe, another plant. That’s when you are messing with nature, whereas letting the plants go and picking the best, then you are working with nature. You are selecting for things adapted to your environment and taste. GMO does not look at how plants are in the environment at all. They are trying

to change the genes: to, say, make it not react with pesticides. We who naturally select are working with nature, rather than trying to alter it.� In an open letter to the public, Burpee Seeds owner and chairman George Ball said, “Burpee is NOT owned by Monsanto. We do purchase a small number of seeds from the garden seed department of Seminis, a Monsanto subsidiary, and so do our biggest competitors. We do NOT sell GMO seed, never have in the past, and will not sell it in the future.� Seminis, the aforementioned subsidiary of Monsanto, is one of the world’s largest producers of vegetable and fruit seeds. George Ball did not mention how he ensures that Burpee’s seeds coming from Seminis are in fact, not GMO. It is left for the consumer to decide whether food sovereignty is as simple as buying a packet of squash seeds from any old distributor. Even seed distributors that folks might assume are reliable and sound, such as Johnny’s Seeds, do sell seed varieties from Seminis. g

So, why aren’t friendly neighbors popping their heads over fences and exchanging tasty seed collections in Fort Collins? This seems like the safest alternative to buying seeds from unquestionable sources. Cynthia said, “I have some gardening friends that would rather buy seeds out of a seed catalogue because the catalogue has these pretty pictures of plants. I might have the same kind of seed, but my seeds are in little brown envelopes. They don’t have a pretty picture on them. Part of the joy, I guess, is looking at the pictures, selecting, ordering, and having a package come in the mail.â€? There’s appeal in neighborly exchanges as well, Cynthia said, “It’s always nice when you are in a friend’s garden, to be able to share seeds. I’m always on the lookout for something amazing. There’s a green-bean variety I have been saving. It’s called ‘Meralda.’ I don’t remember where I got it, but I’m probably the person responsible for spreading it all over Fort Collins. I grew them and decided they were the best tasting green beans I’ve ever tasted in my whole life, and I’ve given them out to so many people, all from seed saving.â€? Cynthia also commented on the state of food production and food sovereignty: ´,I \RX ZHUH JRLQJ WR ZULWH D G\VWRSLDQ IXWXULVWLF VFLHQFH Ă€FWLRQ QRYHO you could say the oil companies will control everything, because if they control the seeds, they control the food supply. That’s why it’s really, really important that individuals still have the power to have their own seeds and be able to grow things.â€? Cynthia guesses that the number of people who are saving seeds has to be declining. It’s the little underground groups like Fort Collins’ Home Grown Foods that will keep this practice alive. Home Grown Foods and a small garden club, Garden Fest, both host early spring seed-swapping events in Fort Collins. Cynthia said, “As long as there is a counterculture of people willing to save their seeds, share them, and grow them out, we will be okay. The important thing now is for people to pass on the desire and wisdom to younger generations and to continue saving seeds.â€?

$P\ .RXVFK ZDQWV WR EH D IDUPHU PRUH WKDQ DQ\WKLQJ LQ WKH ZRUOG ,Q WKH HYHQW RI an apocalypse, she hopes that all roadways turn into rivers and swimming Newfoundlands transport goods from town to town.

avoiding  the  dystopian  future:  the  power  of  seed  saving

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fall 2012

September 19, 2012 Krista, It’s all dead. What used to be passion is a barren wasteland—the burnt out filaments of neon lights and back-lit lettering watch over cold, processed earth pounded into symmetrical shapes. Department stores with fluorescent white aisles are strewn with imported innards that dangle from its racks and lay limp across its shelves. Dried up rivers of pavement line parking lot shores garnished with torn billboards of butter and breasts. What I find most curious, however, is how this lifeless landscape can still bear so much motion and sound. A cacophony of rattling intercoms grind above lines of shuffling consumers filling plastic sacks with plastic. Groaning engines and pounding pistons are fueled by the blood of the dead while polyrhythmic car horns lead traffic in a stop-and-go waltz before they decrescendo at their destination. Crackling power lines fire amperage between transformers reaching television sets that reverberate through cracked windows onto streetlight-stained suburb streets. Amongst all that we’ve created, standing on the apex of our achievements, I’ve never felt so cold. Days of waking up to alarms, I force limp arms to rise and guide me through automated routines of craving timed coffee machine and numbered drive-through menu sustenance. I perform repetitive tasks that train my mouth and arms to say, “How are you?” before sheepishly swiping an item over a beeping counter. I come home exhausted and turn on the television to sooth frustrations, clutching my dulled senses to make the buried, breathless questions of “what could be” quiet. We are stuck here roaming this barren wasteland. We are the walking dead. Pushing and shouting and climbing over one another, driven by political slogans, blowout sales and social norms. Unable to take a moment to step outside and question what it is we are truly craving, why it is we have so much, and why we feel so empty. Unable to see past our blunted veils into how this craving is devouring us. It is the year of 2012. Writing to you amongst the orchestrations of South College Ave., I feel the apocalypse has come. It isn’t a sudden eruption of fire and brimstone, but one that has slowly revealed itself in an erosion of health and happiness. One that has been explained to us in terms of climate change and suicide rates but has remained invisible in the stage-lit faces of those news anchors reporting it. However, in the wake of this chaos, I write this to you with hope. I believe we have reached a point of removing this veil, a point where people mistrust the images of bright white smiles and bootstraps, a point where people are taking their lives into their own hands rather than having blind faith in intangible economic charts. We have had enough with being treated as secondary to productivity, as a means to an impossible end, as parts in an invisible machine. I know you have felt this same way, Krista – a sort of disconnect, a vacancy somewhere in the chest, and a passion to find a rational solution. We have been trying to point at, and name, the source of this hollowness for years. We have been looking toward the infinite landscape of stars, dreaming of answers. But what could this look like? Are we able to rebuild amongst these packed and processed pieces? Garrett

survival letters

matterhorn

h

fall 2012

September 22, 2012 Garrett, When I received your letter I pedaled north to where the railroad tracks meet the Poudre. As I dangled my bare toes in the blackened river, my soles dancing and soaking in what this summer had swindled, it seemed so easy in that moment to map out how we got here, to this wasteland you speak of. We exist in artificial borders, imitation crab and simulated relationships. We’ve been classified, compartmentalized and castrated. And to fashion my response, I found myself sitting here, red light illuminating my burning, empty room. I see the metaphor that is this room—my compartment. I’ve invested myself in it. It’s mine... isn’t it? As I continued to think of some sort of answer, I began to observe this space I call my own. I am not locked to this land, just landlocked by the possessions that define it. What are the stories of these walls that cradle me? Can imported drywall even know something of the sacred? And these pictures are full of familiar faces, grouped together like lumped tumor and smattered with irritated smile. Are the lies behind their eyes as flagrant as the whitening of their teeth? And what of this body: stark, hungry and covetous of something genuine? I know little more of it than what I should administer to prolong its lifeless aging. Even within the modest size of my room the disconnect between these histories and stories and beings is so pungent it takes everything in me to hold down my supper. We live in a craving capital culture that is based on hunger for power; for dominion over land, over resources, over others. We sit through city hall meetings OK-ing the gentrification of north Fort Collins, then go home and peacefully rest our heads on pillows made at a 10-cent-per-hour wage. We belong to an impersonal system that turns us into fragments, crumbling with every aging step. We’re unable, or unwilling, to make the connection between our environmental issues and our consuming habits; between our dinner tables and immigration rights. We’re just shadows of what we could be. Artificial borders, imitation crab and simulated relationships. We’re terrified of genuine intimacy. We’re afraid to share. Building fences between ourselves and our neighbors, creating controversy over dog barks and U+2 violations, we become the symptoms of a larger disengagement with ourselves, our communities and our humanity. We can’t afford to be good to one another or to help each other become whole. We hurt and harness those who threaten us instead of having the courage, compassion and determination to work with them. It’s imbedded in a system rotting with flawed legislation and immoral dogmas. But are the roots of the loud and lifeless earth you reference too deep to plow? Our histories are marinated in subjugation, Garrett. It’s easy to see it on our bloodstained railroads, on our freshly drenched lawns of leisure. It’s everywhere, translatable in every language and medium. It’s infiltrated all parts of our lived realities, our identities, our deadened communities. Krista

survival letters

23

24

matterhorn

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fall 2012

September 27, 2012 Krista, I agree that we still resonate with the echoes of a gunshot-constituted past. Our egocentric foundation, one whose motivation and reasoning derives from competing to gain as much as possible, is what keeps the trains running on time. We work foremost not because we are passionate about our product or dedicated to those we serve but because we want to benefit ourselves. Within this nearsighted priority of the individual it is easy to overlook the effects we have on others and ourselves, which has created the compartmentalization, injustice, and simulated relationships you speak of. However, I do not believe these roots are too deep to plow. With the industrial advancements that first introduced the assembly line being a mere century behind us, I believe it is only recently that we have the misfortune to witness such rampant human mechanization and hyper-consumption brought by this age-old foundation. We are entering a new era, one full of potential for a thriving state of renewal, so long as we recognize the true roots of our discontent. This craving for personal gain conducts the decisions of our own town. A river thousands of years old may be dammed and directed to expanding suburbs. Thirty-minute showers, radiant lawns, and unblemished trucks are not debated when estimating how much water is pumped into a given neighborhood. When profit is the bottom line, a river has no value until it can be sold. This bottom-line-driven logic furthers as the new development will be established with the most cost-effective designs, materials, and methods. This will result in nearly identical, pastel-coated, formaldehyde-treated homes whose materials are shipped from deforested third worlds and whose energy will be provided by the local blasting of fracking chemicals into its newly acquired drinking water. The question stands: What do we do about a system that puts a person’s rights, health, and happiness second? Well, we can determine our own values that don’t support destructive effects on our environment, distant neighbors, and ourselves. Rather than letting social norms and advertisements brand us with what we enjoy, we can take a bike ride to a distant camping spot, casually read a book on a shady plot of grass, or take a late-night naked pond swim under stars. Rather than letting the cheapest products dictate our decisions, we can share the resources to help another plant a diverse garden, mend stylish clothes, or build a modest home. The realization of these values aren’t just the distant dreams we’ve traded under night’s sky. They are sprouting from the rubble as we write. They are businesses, organizations, and people who take root in retail fronts, vacant lots, and garages. They are sharing literature, expressing opinions unheard by the mainstream, giving vegetables to those who offer the sweat to grow them, providing tools to those with unique visions of what they want. They are hosting by-donation poetry readings and shows by local artists. They are making cheap, sliding scale, or trade-based materials accessible to people with little or no income. They are distributing calendars of free classes that teach anything from how to alter dresses to political theories taught and attended by anyone who shows interest. These structures are not driven by competition, but by cooperation. They do not reward with self-interested incentives, but with a community that supports them. They are providing resources and services because of the mutual understanding that, if we all need common things, then it is more rewarding to create them together. Garrett

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                                                                                               matterhorn

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fall  2012           Â

25

October 1, 2012 Garrett, Ah, yes! There are things happening that seem to offer great relief to this spreading virus! But we have to be careful. I’m afraid this virus can lie just as violently still, in the grips of our handlebars, in our fair-trade coffee shops and DIY community centers. We desperately build with good intentions, but these well-thought-out blueprints for a better future still emanate the fractured viral stories when we only collaborate with like-minded people and like-minded projects. When self-critique and accountability are lost we lose the potential for genuine transformation. So lets complicate things! These ingredients for a “better world� you speak of may not not take into account much of who I am or what my community is made of. Sure, these decisions might be more political that just “personal preference,� but, if so, then we need to be able to understand and articulate why. We have to start thinking more intersectionally. Check out these diagrams I drew:

Don’t you see? For too long now we’ve been trying to rebuild with one-dimensional perspectives, disjointed theories, and unbridged projects. But we are far more intricate beings and we live in a far more complex world than this way of thinking allows for. All of the above identities factor into how we get to and/or how we’re forced to experience the world. Our separation, then, reaches far beyond the division between the noble north Fort Collins-ites and those in the Suburban South. It swells beyond obscured dichotomies of rich and poor, good and evil. This virus has spread so discretely and fully that many of us don’t realize we have it. If we’re not mindful of all of these identities, systems, histories and perspectives, then we cultivate as much damage to our communities as fracking does to our land. Maybe my preoccupation with the virus and the infected is just a way of making sense of myself. How do I play into all of this? What privileges do I bring to the table that distort my perspectives, values and actions? And how do I begin moving forward more critically and compassionately? First off, we have to drop this Us vs. Them way of thinking. When we situate zombies in the foreground of our work, our actions of “liberationâ€? are merely adornments. In other words, if our identities, politics, business and relationships arise in pure opposition to something, we exist as nothing more than negations. By demonizing those in power (the rich, multinational corporations, etc.) or those we believe are more “zombiefiedâ€? than us (TV watchin’, Mall shoppin’ Suburbanites), we’re not only surviving as their shadows but depriving them of their humanity, all in the same breath. Uncreatively limited to the bond with our imagined foe, we feed off of this repulsive union but cannot envision a world without it because our existence depends on it. Are our claims to righteousness just a predictable playing out of this cyclical narrative? How, then, do we move forward without having an enemy, without existing as shadows of our assumed adversary? By no means do I have an end-all solution, but I’d like to offer a reprieve; starter plants of renewal if you will. I’ve been reading some brilliant minds such as David Abalos and Andrea Smith. I’ve been soaking in stories from anthologies like This Bridge Called my Back and infusing the words of beautifully minded community members and friends. Through this process I know this conversation has been happening for years. And there truly are people, organizations and communities developing a “new vocabulary.â€? We can get so wrapped up in the infectious mentality of opposition that we are incapable of understanding the small ways in which we reaffirm the virus every day. But through genuine support and compassionate communication, I truly believe we can begin moving away from the infection. A transformation of language is mandatory to describe ourselves and our vision. What if we began to recognize difference through relations and connections instead of the things that divide us? What if we forced ourselves to collaborate with unlikely allies as a means of growing deeper, stronger, more colorful roots? What would a new “languageâ€? even look like? Looking at an intricate web like the ones drawn above can get overwhelming. I suggest starting with yourself, Garrett. Map out your identities. Map out your history. How do they overlap? Do you see contradictions? (P.S. it’s ok to have contradictions! Rebecca Walker has a great piece on this in the introduction of her book To Be Real). Then I’d suggest looking at your home, family or intimate friend group. How does power play out in your relationships? How do your histories/identities aid these power relations? Is there an imbalance? In what ways can you work to restore or create balance? (P.S. the existence of power is not bad, but how you interact with it an use it is the game changer!) Next, look at your community organizations. How do you operate? Do some folks have more voice when it comes to decisions making than others? Are there ways you can share power to support others in your organization who have none? (P.S. You should check out Starhawk’s work on the consensus process! There was also a great pamphlet put out in joint effort by LA COIL and Another Politics is Possible, called So That We May Soar: Horizontalizm, Intersectionality and Prefigurative Politics. They offer suggestions far better than I could!) And lastly, what of the larger community? What is your role here and who are you forgetting? How can you collaborate with and support people and organizations you otherwise wouldn’t have? What does it mean to be an ally? What would our organizations, campaigns and communities look like if we were thinking five generations ahead? (P.S. Environmental issues share more common threads with racism than you would think! Check out Gender JUST of Chicago or Generation FIVE of Oakland. These groups are making big moves! I also suggest forming a study group with a few other organizations doing great work in a different focus than your own. Dan Berger and Chris Dixon wrote about their experience with doing this in Navigating the Crisis: A Study Groups Roundtable). We have, for some time now, understood the intricacies of the virus that we organize under and against, but in general we have not fully put into words and practice more innovative manners of transforming it. If we can begin to imagine ourselves as intricate structures that play a vital role in our own self-destruction or/and in our own creation, then we can be active players in the reformation of our own lives and communities. Anyway, I wish I had something more tangible to offer you. I know there are more questions here than answers. But check out the references. Maybe there are people out there doing this very thing in small pockets of intention and greatness. How would you like to start weaving us all together? Love, Krista .ULVWD 0DUWLQH]¡ ERRWV DUH KHDYLO\ GLSSHG LQ FRPPXQLW\ URRWHG HIIRUWV VXFK DV WKH (WKQLF 6WXGLHV 'HSDUWPHQW RI &68 +DPPHU 7LPH 3URMHFWV 7KH )DPLO\ &HQWHU /D )DPLOLD DQG WKH *RULOOHIDQWV PRWRUF\FOH JDQJ 6KH WHQGV WR EH D PRYHU DQG D VKDNHU ZKHQ LW FRPHV WR JRRG RO¡ IDVKLRQ IDPLO\ GLQQHUV UDGLFDO UHDGLQJ JURXSV DQG XQGHVHUYLQJ ORFDO GDQFH Ă RRUV *DUUHWW &DUU V ZULWLQJ FUHGHQWLDOV FRQVLVW RI JROG VWDUV RQ KRPHZRUN DVVLJQPHQWV DQG ZLQQLQJ D WHQWK JUDGH SRHWU\ FRQWHVW +H HQMR\V SOD\LQJ SXQN URFN LQ D EDQG FDOOHG (OZD\ YROXQWHHULQJ DW +DPPHU 7LPH 3URMHFWV DQG DWRP ERPE VXQULVHV DV VHHQ IURP +RUVHWRRWK 5LGJH

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fall 2012

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Graywater Soup for the Apocalyptic Soul, continued from the cover

almost anyone could use. Some friends thought our actions were a bit strange, and even fewer friends did similar things, but almost all of them understood our simple intentions—conserve water, and keep our place healthy and green. Coming into this country—as most of us have, usually from regions where rain is more abundant—one is inclined to forget that water is precious here, and that we get the majority of our water from snowmelt. We have rivers that UXQ WKURXJK WRZQV DQG LUULJDWLRQ FDQDOV Ă RZ IURP 0D\ WR 2FWREHU 7KLV \HDU we’ve only had a little over 6.5 inches of precipitation, more than four inches below average. In spite of this we have developments named “Water Valley,â€? and golf courses appear out of nowhere to stretch on and on and on, bright green meandering ribbons of hole-in-one opportunities. Water-hungry turf grass dominates as our landscaping-of-choice—no matter how out-of-place it actually is—but even bright green grass can’t hide the apocalypse we’re creating. If we get to see the veil that is lifted, we will see people using water more wisely—by law or by choice—or we will see more dams, diversions, and reservoirs where rivers used to be. Usually, it takes some time to learn that our water supply is a FDUHIXOO\ RUFKHVWUDWHG KLJKO\ FRQWHQWLRXV LPPHQVHO\ SURĂ€WDEOH EXVLQHVV RQH WKDW is governed by antiquated laws and entrenched ways of thinking. Some residents never learn these things. When a drought year hits, such as this one, more people do take notice, and think twice about watering their lawns, or try to conserve water inside the house, but for the most part it still seems like game on here in 1RUWKHUQ &RORUDGR OHW WKH ZDWHU Ă RZ /HW XV OLYH DV ZH SOHDVH g

Colorado is the only state in the Western United States that does not allow graywater, but the law is far from black and white. “You can pull a permit for a graywater system in Fort Collins, which is true,â€? said Lucas Mouttet, Water Conservation Coordinator with the City of Fort Collins. “But Colorado has chosen to not accept the graywater section of the International Building Code. Colorado essentially said no, we’re not adopting that part of the code. However, some graywater projects get approved through the Larimer County Health Department, and have State engineers’ approval on them. How do they get through those processes? They are contradictory.â€? The contradictions do not end there. A bill went before the State last year (HB-1003) regarding graywater use in Colorado. The bill aimed to establish requirements, prohibitions, and standards surrounding graywater. The bill was defeated, along party lines, preventing Colorado from joining the rest of the western states in acknowledging that graywater is a viable and effective water conservation tool. ´7KH Ă€UVW PDMRU LVVXH ZLWK JUD\ZDWHU LV ZDWHU ULJKWV Âľ VDLG /DXULH '¡$XGQH\ City of Fort Collins Water Conservation Specialist. “The water that goes down into the sewer already belongs to the next user downstream. So if we take all of our water that we are using inside, and put it outside, then basically that water doesn’t get returned to the wastewater plant, or back to the river. It could be detrimental to a downstream user when there’s less supply in the river.â€? “The other issue is under the jurisdiction of the Health & Environment Department. They have concerns about graywater. Especially with water that’s been used inside being used outdoors, that somebody might get into contact with something that is not good. So those are the two things competing against graywater at this point.â€? g

In spite of what the State of Colorado adopts or not, graywater interest is on the upswing. A multi-year study focusing on graywater use for landscaping was recently completed at Colorado State University, and a residence hall was plumbed for graywater—both for irrigation and VLQN WR WRLOHW XVH XVHG VLQN ZDWHU LV VWRUHG WR Ă XVK WKH WRLOHW 7KHVH projects, spearheaded by Dr. Sybil Sharvalle and Dr. Larry Roesner, from the Engineering Department and the Sustainable Urban Water Research Working Group, are advancing the science and the applicability of graywater. When interviewed, Dr. Roesner said that, IRU WKH PRVW SDUW WKH\ DUH Ă€QGLQJ JUD\ZDWHU WR EH VDIH WR XVH LQ most situations, and even predicted that the market would eventually drive the demand for graywater. “If a developer can utilize graywater technology, and build more homes with the same amount of water, they will.â€? He went on to say that with the predicted doubling of the population along the Front Range in the next 50 years, we will see graywater used extensively. We will have to.

                                                                                                 fall  2012

My family’s experiments with graywater took a halt with the birth of our second child. We moved into a different house and still haven’t switched over the plumbing yet. We expect to stay in this house, and want to make the graywater system more permanent (exactly why I’m not sure, since the bucket worked so ZHOO DQG ZDV VR VLPSOH /DVW \HDU , OHDUQHG WKDW D EXLOGHU , NQRZ &\QWKLD 5HIĂ HU RI &-5 +RPHV ZDV LQWHUHVWHG LQ WKH EHQHĂ€WV RI JUD\ZDWHU DQG ZDV LQYROYHG in the aforementioned study at CSU. I met Cynthia at her home near City Park DQG OLVWHQHG WR PDQ\ VWRULHV DERXW WKH EHQHĂ€WV RI LQVWDOOLQJ D QHZ V\VWHP YHUVXV UHWURĂ€WWLQJ DQ H[LVWLQJ V\VWHP DQG DERXW WKH V\VWHPV VKH¡V LQVWDOOHG 6KH explained how some people would plumb a house in anticipation of graywater, but due to the extra costs, or the family’s confusion about the laws, (or lack WKHUHRI VRPH ZRXOG ZDLW WR Ă€QLVK RII WKH JUD\ZDWHU V\VWHPV &\QWKLD ZDV energetic and optimistic about graywater and its applicability, but without a clear mandate from our legislators, or tighter restrictions at a municipal level, she was also realistic about the desire from mainstream culture. As for my family, we never cared much about the legality of what we were doing. I felt a self-righteous sort of glee every time I took the bucket out, especially in the hot summer sun. When everything else was wilting and limp, our graywater bucket was putting good water to use, again. Our garden and trees never looked so good. With what seems like the ever-present threat of massive storage projects like Glade Reservoir, coupled with changing conditions due to climate change, water conservation seems paramount. But now with a mortgage, kids, and all of the valuable excuses that look very similar to mainstream culture, how to make the switch in our busy lives, and how to make graywater part of mainstream culture? How do we move from spread-out individuals and studies at universities, to a larger audience, and get enough of mainstream culture to switch over, to the point where a project like Glade Reservoir is not even necessary? “People might be more on board [with graywater] if they understood more about it, D’Audney said, adding that, “We’d like to be able to promote it, if there was a safe, legal way to do that.â€? g

State Representative Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins, who introduced House Bill 1003, was surprised that it was defeated. In a recent phone interview, he said, “I thought we had strong support, but Speaker of the House Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, assigned it to a “kill committee,â€?—State, Veterans, and Military Affairs—where it was defeated. Why would they want to kill a bill that represents good public policy?â€? Fischer went on to add, “The bill we offered addressed all the water rights issues, as well as the public health concerns. We have two nationally recognized experts on graywater and water conservation [Larry Roesner and Sybil Sharvalle]. I’m convinced that the use of graywater is something that would provide a much needed water conservation tool to meet the needs of the 21st century.â€? Fischer noted that he would most likely sponsor another JUD\ZDWHU ELOO LQ $V WKH 6WDWH Ă€JXUHV RXW LWV FRPSOLFDWHG IHHOLQJV about graywater, I dig around for our worn-out bucket. After searching LQ YDLQ , Ă€QG D GLIIHUHQW EXFNHW WKLV RQH JUD\ , LJQRUH WKH REYLRXV symbolism and get to work. I go into my house, and loosen the bend in the drain pipe, and begin to disconnect our house just a little bit more from the system. If we’re not in the middle of the apocalypse (as I not-so-secretly hope), then all evidence shows that we are headed in that direction. Why not get to things today? In the time that it took me WR Ă€QLVK WKLV DEUXSW FRQFOXVLRQ ,¡YH UHPRYHG WKH GUDLQ SLSH XQGHU WKH kitchen sink, slid the bucket under the drain, and installed the solution.

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Todd Simmons lives in Fort Collins, CO with his wife and two children. They chase chickens, tend apple trees, and always make time for catching snakes.

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Employment Opportunities of the Apocalypse, continued from the cover

an economy so anemic (almost an apocalypse unto itself) that college graduates feel grateful to practice their dance steps behind sandwich boards at busy LQWHUVHFWLRQVÂłDQG KROG WKRVH KHDOWK EHQHĂ€WV SOHDVHÂłLVQ¡W LW WLPH WR VWDUW thinking, as our politicians and civic leaders always do, about jobs? Because the fact is, every new disaster that comes down the pike carries with it new and interesting employment opportunities. Take the Burmese python situation in south Florida. For decades, exotic animal lovers on the outskirts of Miami, noting that their ever-growing constrictors were starting to resemble predators more than pets, released them into the wild. Unfortunately, the snakes have now met, discovered they have no natural enemies, and have multiplied by the thousands. Result: Apocalypse for rabbits, armadillos and birds. Recently, deer and alligators have been found swallowed whole. You can see this on YouTube. Not good! And yet, there’s serious talk about assembling a kind of southernfried People’s Army to sweep through The Everglades, on foot and by airboat, to capture, club or blast away the invaders. This will require a cast of thousands, providing fascinating work for unemployed wilderness guides and weekend warriors. It will also boost the camo, bug spray, gun and alcoholic beverage industries. Except for the pythons, everyone wins. In this spirit, then, let me propose some job descriptions to be found inside of disasters that will soon or already have hit closer to home. :LOGODQG )LUHĂ€JKWHU No brainer. Almost 2,000 men and women battled the High Park blaze, one of eight that raged across the state in the gusty, absurdly KRW DQG GU\ GD\V OHDGLQJ XS WR WKH RIĂ€FLDO VWDUW RI VXPPHU ,Q IDFW P\ RZQ SODFH LQ %HOOYXH ZDV VDYHG IURP WKH ERXQGLQJ Ă DPHV E\ WKHVH QREOH DQG KHDUW\ IRONV More than 500 other homeowners on the Front Range weren’t nearly as lucky, LQFOXGLQJ WKUHH ZKR GLHG ,I Ă€QGLQJ DQ DVK SLOH ZKHUH \RXU KRXVH RQFH VWRRG LVQ¡W a personal kind of apocalypse, then what is? -RE DGYDQWDJHV SHUVRQDO Ă€WQHVV WKH FKDQFH WR RSHUDWH UHDOO\ FRRO equipment, eternal hero status among a grateful populace. Also, thanks to climate change, lots of work across the baking, drought-plagued Southwest during longer DQG ORQJHU ZLOGĂ€UH VHDVRQV $ JURZWK LQGXVWU\ IRU VXUH Rain Dancer. I’m thinking broadly here, so I’m including cloud seeders among the usual mix of shamans. Sense of timing is crucial—had it poured up LQ WKH IRRWKLOOV D PRQWK HDUOLHU WKH OLJKWQLQJ FDXVHG Ă€UH PLJKW QHYHU KDYH VSUHDG 7KHQ WKH KDUG UDLQV WKDW IROORZHG WKH Ă€UH ZRXOG QHYHU KDYH PDGH WKH 3RXGUH 5LYHU UXQ WKH FRORU RI SHQFLO OHDG NLOOLQJ Ă€VK SUREDEO\ DOO WKH ZD\ WR *UHHOH\ ,Q

fall  2012           Â

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the burned-over country, black landslides now threaten homeowners anew. Little known fact: In the 1940s, Kurt Vonnegut’s older brother, Bernard, an atmospheric scientist, discovered the silver iodide cloud seeding technique, which may tell you a thing or two about Kurt’s sources of inspiration. Bernard, where are you now? Surgical Facemask Salesperson. , RQFH OLYHG LQ &KLQD DQG VDZ Ă€UVWKDQG how these easy-to-manufacture masks can sell, literally, by the million. In Xi’an, the reason was air fouled by prodigious amounts of coal smoke. During the ZHHNV RI WKH +LJK 3DUN Ă€UH WKH VPRNH OD\LQJ GRZQ LQ P\ YDOOH\ RIWHQ UHPLQGHG me of that coughing year abroad. Anybody in Fort Collins could say the same. Great marketing ops. Beetle-Kill Tree Remover. We need battalions of these, folks. Now that bark beetles have chomped their way to our side of the Continental Divide, some of Larimer County’s forests west of Fort Collins feature mile after mile of the standing dead; up to 70% of lodge pole pines tinder-dry brown. Upside: You get to play outside with chainsaws. Downside: possibly massive depression. Solastalgia Therapist. Speaking of depression and environmental apocalypse of both the fast-forward and slow-motion kind, consider solastalgia, a brand new word. Coined by Australian sustainability scholar Glenn Albrecht, it describes homesickness for a place you still live in, but a place so changed as to VHHP QR ORQJHU KRPH )RU LQVWDQFH D 3RXGUH 5LYHU ZLWK OLWWOH RU QR Ă RZ WKDQNV to water diverted to giant reservoirs or Rocky Mountain snowpacks that are no more. The fact that such a word even exists can be depressing in itself, and surely PDQ\ RI XV FRXOG EHQHĂ€W IURP ZLVH FRXQVHOLQJ KHUH 0D\EH ZLWK WKH ULJKW training, you can help us deal with this growing 21st Century malady. On the other hand, who knows what your training should be? Sledge Hammerer. One person—or many, in the form of voting blocs— who will hit our civic, business and national political leaders upside the head, to get them to pay attention, dammit, to what we humans are doing to the planet. I’d OLNH WR VD\ WKDW ZH QHHG WR Ă€OO WKLV MRE EHIRUH LW¡V WRR ODWH EXW , ZRUU\ VRPHWLPHV that it’s already too late. Still, this may be the most important employment opportunity of all. Taking applications now. John Calderazzo teaches creative writing at Colorado State University and co-directs Changing Climates @ CSU, an outreach and education program. Check it out at changingclimates.colostate.edu.

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