The Durango Telegraph - April 2, 2026

the durango

Reining in Flock Normal day at Purg

Proposed city law would set up limits, oversight

Reinterpreting solemn ritual through a modern lens

A casual stroll becomes a wildlife encounter and reminder to keep your distance by David Feela

Missy Votel

Local artist puts modern spin on solemn Christian story by Jennaye Derge

EDITORIALISTA: MISSY VOTEL missy@durangotelegraph.com

PIT CREW: JENNAYE DERGE jennaye@durangotelegraph.com

STAFF REPORTER: SCOOPS MCGEE telegraph@durangotelegraph.com

The Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, tacky singletrack or mon-

Local skier’s mid-air maneuver racks up views and sparks safety discussion by Missy Votel

David Feela, Jennaye Derge, Jeffrey Mannix. Jesse Anderson, Lainie Maxson, Rob Brezsny & Clint Reid

On the cover

The flowering canopy of trees at the FLC Chapel was in all its glory earlier this week./Photo by Missy Votel

Squawk and roll

Road cycling action is returning as the annual Squawker Road Classic rolls into downtown Durango this weekend, April 4-5.

Events will kick off with the popular Neighborhood Criterium on Saturday, followed by the road race Sunday. The six-turn criterium course is .75 miles long and will start/finish will on 4th Ave. & 8th St. Sunday’s road portion is described as a mixed-surface lap on the Florida Mesa with “smooth mag chloride gravel,” pavement and a punchy climb just prior to the finish line. (Both courses can be viewed on Strava.)

Race organizer and FLC Cycling Director Chad Cheeney both races are USAC-sanctioned, so riders will need a license to race in their category. Racers without a license can sign up in their respective open category.

“We are looking to integrate more with USAC in the future leading up to Worlds, so plan on more local racing being USAC including the local cyclocross series this fall,” Cheeney said.

In addition to the races, FLC will be hosting an alumni block party from 2-6 p.m. Sat., April 4, at the corner of 8th St. and 4th Ave. the first 20 alumni to stop by the FLC Alumni tent get a free food and drink ticket.

“It'd really help our local road cycling culture if you can come show support by racing or volunteering,” said Cheeney.

And speaking of volunteering, course marshalls are needed for 2-3-hour stints throughout the weekend. If interested, email btcowan@fortlewis.edu.

For more info. or to register (deadline is midnight tonight, April 2) go to www.bike reg.com/squawker-road-race-26#Register

Back on the rack

Arts Perspective announces the release of its newly relaunched Arts Perspective: Arts & Culture Guide to the Southwest, now available throughout Durango, Cortez, Mancos, Bayfield, Ignacio, Pagosa Springs and Silverton.

This annual print edition marks a meaningful return for the publication, offering more than listings – it’s a collection of stories, according to editor and publisher Denise Leslie. Through artist profiles, features and reflections, the guide highlights the people and places shaping the region’s creative voice across visual, performing, literary, culinary and healing arts.

“Arts Perspective has always been about connection through story,” Leslie said. “This print edition is something to spend time with – and hopefully something you’ll pass along.”

ster powder days. We are wholly independently

In addition to the print publication, listeners can hear artists’ stories through the “Eye on the Arts Minute,” airing Saturdays beginning in April on KSUT.

The print edition is available at racks and other locations across Southwest Colorado.

LaVidaLocal opinion

Living the wildlife

Officially I’m a Cortez resident, but when I drive 46 miles to Durango, I become a tourist. My favorite attraction? A self-directed sidewalk tour along historic E. 3rd Avenue, admiring the million-dollar mansions. Once while gawking at the architecture, I nearly bumped into a trio of statuesque deer with impressive velvety racks. Two were grazing on the lawn and in the flowerbeds adjacent to a busy College Drive intersection; the third stood nibbling fresh suckers and leaves off a tree beside the sidewalk. At first I didn’t notice them; I was paying attention to traffic as I crossed at the signal. Thankfully, a stranger waved to me to redirect my attention. We both stood motionless and stared at the trio. The deer did the same, staring back at us before resuming their residential salad.

Even as I stood gaping, the experience reminded me of an old Monty Python spoof about aristocrats who sit in the conservatory while the Lord of the Manor says various silly words out loud, sparking an absurd debate about the words, whether they sounded “woody” or “tinny.” This skit appeared on British television more than five decades ago. I doubt if a dozen Telegraph readers remember it, but basically, woody words supposedly have a pleasing, confident sound, like “gorn” or “sausage” while tinny words have a cheap sound, like “newspaper” or “litter bin.” When the Lady of the Manor shouts the word “caribou” everyone’s startled. She apologizes and explains that she just spotted an actual caribou on the lawn, pointing at it and announcing “it’s nibbling the croquet hoops.”

An Instagram video from Rocky Mountain National Park reveals the folly of this behavior. Parents were filmed allowing their child to feed a roadside elk. Instead of saying cheese and smiling, the elk bit the child’s fingers. So much for a few nibbles.

Recently a headline from the L.A. Times also caught my attention: “Turns out the ‘most dangerous animal in Yosemite National Park’ doesn’t even have claws.” Mule deer cause more injuries at Yosemite than any other animal.

It wasn’t the mansions that prompted my flashback. It surfaced from the shock of seeing three deer so calmly nibbling on landscaped trees, bushes and flowers. I wondered, what’s out of place in the universe that manifests precocious deer at a bustling intersection like this, or were they waiting for me?

Wildlife in the city limits alter the way people think about undomesticated animals. They become “urban wildlife” like geese, coyotes and even bears that defy the sanctity of property lines. All too often they can thrive in an environment within densely populated human settlements. Residents are often pleased to encounter a “wild” animal in their yards. They may try to get close enough for a good picture, even by offering, say, a handful of nibbles – not realizing they are doing what ought not to be done.

A federal judge ruled this week in favor of CPR, Aspen Public Radio and KSUT in a challenge to the Trump administration’s executive order to “End Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media” on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment.

An impressive 3,200 protestors turned out on a sunny afternoon in Durango for the third No Kings rally on March 28. The protest was just one of thousands held throughout the country. Alas, there was no visit from The Boss at the local event.

A personal experience taught me the same lesson decades ago when a friend who managed the Denver Zoo took me on a tour. African lions, Siberian tigers and grizzly bears – oh my –paced within their enclosures. Monkeys, giraffes, elephants and leopards, napped, ate or even contemplated the behavior of sightseers moving past their viewing areas.

After the tour I thanked my host, and he smiled before asking me, “So which animal in the zoo do you think is the most dangerous?”

“Not including the visitors?”

“Nope, just the resident animals.”

“I’d say the pacing panther or possibly the leaping leopard.”

“Wrong. Follow me and I’ll re-introduce you.”

He led me back the way we’d come, to the deer enclosure.

I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No, just watch that buck with the enormous rack.”

Moving forward, my friend raised his arms above his head, as if he’d grown human antlers, wiggling his fingers to mimic shaking his makeshift rack. The buck instantly snorted, dropped his massive head and began pawing the dirt, as if preparing for battle. It was a believe-it-or-not moment, that such an instinctual reaction could surface with so little provocation or understanding.

The deer I nearly stumbled into on 3rd Avenue seemed more docile, but I don’t think they’d answer to a name like Bambi. After putting a wide circle between us, I turned to see if they’d noticed me as slipped past, or worse, were following me. No, they just continued pruning the vegetation. My thoughtful stranger still standing beside the traffic light signaled me with a thumbs up. I started to wave goodbye but stopped short of raising my arm, stuffed my hand into a pocket and moved on.

– David Feela

SignoftheDownfall:

Durango City Councilor Shirley Gonzales, alongside civil rights and advocacy organizations, is proposing a city law that would set up new guidelines and oversight for Flock cameras, in an effort to safeguard citizen’s rights and privacy.

Looks like another step back into the dark ages. The Supreme Court overturned a Colorado ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ minors – an unproven and dangerous therapy meant to change a youth’s sexual orientation or gender identity. God forbid we just let kids be who they are.

In yet another attempt to suppress the vote in left-voting states, Trump enacted new state mandates and restrictions on mail-in voting this week. Still waiting to hear where all the supposed “widespread voter fraud” is.

The CDC has “paused” testing for rabies and pox viruses and whittled the corresponding staff to one. What could possibly go wrong?

Weapons of Ass Destruction

Everybody knows you’re supposed to fight fire with fire, but the effectiveness of fighting dicks with dicks is just now being discovered. There’s a sex shop in Minneapolis called “Smitten Kitten” that started selling $5 dildos during last month’s protests, and they sold out quickly, because nobody can afford Molotov cocktails given the price of gas. And throwing rubber dongs at ICE worked so well that “Operation Dildo Blitz” is spreading across the country – it’s even being reported that the FBI has started investigating “dildo delegation centers.” But they just walk away empty-handed, because distributing sex toys is 100% legal. But the point here is that ICE always retreats in fear when someone throws a dildo, most likely because it’s way bigger than anything an ICE agent has seen in real life.

WritersontheRange

Unmasking ICE

Transparency, not secrecy, is essential to public safety and democracy

by Benjamin James Waddell

Under the Trump administration, agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, have been wearing masks while detaining people. Denver’s decision to prohibit this practice marks an important step in protecting the city’s residents. The rest of Colorado – and the nation for that matter – should follow suit.

Across the country, we have watched as ICE officers roam the streets like rogue paramilitaries, covering their faces as they arrest suspected “illegal” immigrants, sometimes at gunpoint. The Department of Homeland Security claims that agents must conceal their identities from the public due to the inherent risks of their jobs.

But just how dangerous is ICE’s work?

According to government data, not very. Between 1915-2025, 76 immigration enforcement agents died on the job. The last officer to die from a gunshot wound, James Holdman Jr. in 2021, had accidentally discharged his own weapon. Jaime Jorge Zapata died in the line of duty in 2011, but he was gunned down in Mexico while assisting narcotics investigators.

A handful of other officers have died since 2011, but from medical complications unrelated to their work as federal officers. According to the Cato Institute, the likelihood of an ICE or Border Patrol agent being killed at work is “5.5 times less likely than a civilian being murdered.” In fact, ICE agents are more likely to die from COVID-19 or cancer than from a violent attack at work.

The risks of ICE’s work seem pedestrian when compared to those of other professions – including education. As a professor at Fort Lewis College, I walk into the classroom every day acutely aware of the threats facing me and my colleagues. Sadly, we know that shootings remain a clear risk to all educators, and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, violence against teachers is higher than for any other nonpolicing occupation.

Despite this, teachers across the nation don’t step

into classrooms wearing masks, though some politicians have urged them to arm themselves to “level the playing field.” Educators understand that success in the classroom depends on building relationships, fostering trust and helping young people maintain a sense of connection with others.

Can you imagine it any other way? Envision, for example, a college professor lecturing on chemical reactions or best business practices in a ski mask with a loaded 9mm strapped to their hip.

Democracy lives and dies on the hill of transparency. I think we all realize that any public entity that attempts to operate anonymously undermines the community’s trust.

Our system of governance relies on checks and balances that melt away when public servants hide their identities. Masks make it more difficult to hold individuals accountable for their actions, which increases the likelihood of misconduct. This is particularly concerning in the case of law enforcement officers, as they alone are entrusted with the use of deadly force

When officers can be clearly identified, they are more likely to act with humility and responsibility, as they know that their actions are subject to public scrutiny and the law.

Educators understand the power of visibility like few others. It is not just about being seen, it is about being responsible. In the classroom, we model behavior, build rapport and create safe spaces where students feel valued and heard. This should be a universal standard for all public officials, including ICE officers.

But let’s be honest. ICE officers don’t wear masks because their job is risky. They wear masks to instill fear while shielding themselves from the public they are supposedly protecting. Masks allow agents to cross constitutional lines without their friends and neighbors knowing what they do during the day. Hidden under their masks, ICE agents routinely rough up, and even kill, migrants and protesters while violating constitutional rights such as due process and protection from unlawful searches and seizures.

It’s time to unmask ICE. If teachers across the United States can walk into classrooms unprotected, then surely federal officers – armed with bullet proof vests and deadly weapons – can perform their duties with a name, a face and a badge number.

Benjamin Waddell is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He lives in Durango. ■

SoapBox

Lower the legal DUI limit

I agree with Durango Police Chief Brice Current in his recent letter (Telegraph, March 12) on drinking alcohol and then driving when he wrote: “In a town with rideshare services, taxis, designated drivers and friends who will gladly pick you up, there is simply no excuse anymore.”

Exactly.

However, the problem is that the law itself still enables a drinking-and-driving culture with the legal blood alcohol volume of 0.08%.

Research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), among many other similar studies, shows that impairment begins much lower than this 0.08% legal limit.

At even just 0.02%, drivers are shown to experience some decline in visual functions and the ability to multitask. At 0.05%, research shows that coordination is reduced and tracking moving objects becomes more difficult.

And yet, we are OK to allow driving with further worsening conditions at 0.08%?

Culturally, we need to move beyond seeing this BAC as a legal upper limit because with it, the law continues to tell people “It’s OK to drink and drive” –even while we know what damage “a 2-ton weapon” (to quote Current again) can do to people’s lives. Now, take Utah, for example.

According to the Utah Highway Safety Office,

which pulled data from a NHTSA study (highwaysafety.utah.gov/05-bac-law) published some years after Utah’s lower BAC of 0.05% went into effect in 2019, the state experienced a 19.8% decrease in its fatal crash rate and an 18.3% decrease in its fatality rate.

Additionally, the study found that 22.1% of those who drank alcohol changed their behaviors once the law went into effect.

(Relatedly, NHTSA found none of the economic impact that had been predicted with the lowering of the BAC from 0.08% to 0.05%, as the American Beverage Institute and others feared in their ad campaigns.)

The point of a lower BAC limit has never been about reducing drinking. It has been about changing the culture, so that those who do drink do not drive, especially given all the available alternatives, which Current pointed out.

What needs to be understood, culturally, is that drinking – regardless of how much – does not go with driving. But we are saying otherwise with our current 0.08% BAC.

– Jonathan Bowers, Durango

SAVE act solves nothing

The Heritage Foundation is a leading conservative think tank. Its vision reads “Building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flour-

ish.” Based on its credentials, its election fraud study ought to be trusted, especially by conservatives (see elec tionfraud.heritage.org/).

This Heritage Foundation study lists numbers of election fraud cases from 1982-2024 for every state. During these 42 years, Colorado had 24 cases, Georgia 36, Arizona 40, Texas 113 and Florida 93, to list a few. Yet, most

of these are based on individuals with a past criminal record seeking to vote. Almost none are illegal immigrants! Florida, Texas and other southern states have spent millions in voter integrity enforcement, yet all came up empty handed.

Unfortunately, President Trump’s “Save the Vote Act” will disenfranchise millions of voters not having the required documentation. Despite this act being based on a nonexistent problem, the Republicancontrolled House of Representatives passed it, which included Jeff Hurd, our own CD 3 representative.

The “Save the Vote Act” is a deceitful solution to a nonexistent problem! With Congressman Hurd having voted for it, talk to your family, friends and whoever will listen and let them know that our voting system is safe and secure!

– Werner Heiber, Durango

A treatise on consciousness

I submit thus hoping to try an experiment and challenge philosophically minded people and to find out if these notions can trigger any pushback or feedback.

Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” might be the most profound sentence written.

It is a quintessential crystalized conception regarding our human condition, psychology and introspective human mind – but, it has zero to do with the physical biological world that we are embedded within and that created our body/brain, which in turn produces our mind full of thoughts.

Think about it, Descartes lived and died before real sciences existed! Descartes and his philosophy are em-

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bedded within the theological world dominated by the Catholic empire, which he bowed to.

Today, David Chalmers is a genius professor of that intellectual tradition. A tradition that can’t seem to see past the bubble of our human mind. Chalmers and supporters insist that biology will never bridge the gap between matter and thought, at least not without admitting to some metaphysical something.

For support of their “Hard Problem” belief, they have beautiful arguments with opinions and words piled on top of words, insisting the gap between matter and thinking cannot possibly be found upon 100% pure physical, biological, scientific evidence. It requires, well … it requires something extra, they insist.

Then they look for consciousness within the brain and neurons, without explicitly recognizing that our introspective mind is but the extreme end of the consciousness spectrum.

Human introspective consciousness would be impossible without the support and substance of all those older, lower layers of consciousness that permeate our body but we aren’t directly aware of.

Serious science has been busy learning about these revelations and sharing with all who are curious.

We live in a new world reality, scientists have evidence mitochondria communicate and coordinate with each other – and they live within each cell! Intercellular awareness and communication are also a documented thing. Research into independent single-celled creatures are recording the same behaviors being documented in complex animals.

There has been a paradigm shift in biological

sciences that smashes through all those quaint medieval ego-driven notions of human exceptionalism, oh which theological and philosophical thinking are built upon.

Physical science has even unraveled the mystery of “vitalism,” and it isn’t sprinkled down upon Earth by God or anything else. It turns out to be a product of Earth herself!

“Vitalism” was invented over 4 billion years ago by chemistry in partnership with Earth and time, it is found in the Krebs cycle, where quite literally, geology and chemistry figured out how to harness electricity, thereby inventing biology. That is what life sprang from.

For details, read Nick Lane’s “Transformer” and his previous books, among others.

All of this requires a modern philosophy brave enough to blast through the entrenched faith-based platitudes, to vocally grapple with our human mindphysical reality divide and begin appreciating all that unfolds from that recognition.

Within our body, each of us possesses a genetic heritage going back over half a billion years. Our body is the product of all those untold successful generations piling on top of the previous one, living, learning, surviving one day at a time, leaving offspring behind to take up the gauntlet. As they, in turn, transform heritage into legacy.

Science is making it clear that the best way to understand consciousness is to look at the inside reflection of our body communicating with itself. When are those realities going to start getting enthusiastically discussed within philosophical circles?

– Peter Miesler, Hesperus

Quick’n’Dirty

Law would rein in Flock

Durango could be tightening the rules around its Flock camera system. This Fri., April 3, City Councilor Shirley Gonzales, along with civil rights and advocacy organizations, will announce the proposed “Protect Our Privacy Ordinance,” which would set limits and safeguards around the controversial license-later reader cameras around town.

“This is common-sense regulation that would provide important safeguards for our community while allowing our police department to continue to use the Flock Safety system,” Councilor Gonzales said in a news release.

If passed, the ordinance would create judicial warrant requirements for any agency wanting to access data captured by the cameras. It would also limit the baseline retention of footage to 72 hours and create a community oversight board that would ensure the provisions are being followed. The ordinance includes exceptions for “exigent circumstances” and a process for parties to request specific data be preserved for a limited period.

The ordinance was developed by community advocates, with support from the ACLU of Colorado, Colorado Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (CIRC) and Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center.

“If passed, this ordinance would create critical protections that would protect the civil liberties of everyone in Durango. This is a crucial regulation needed to ensure that law enforcement and government agencies cannot abuse this developing technology,” Anaya Robinson, of the ACLU of Colorado, said.

To debrief the community on the proposed ordinance, Gonzalez, along with the ordinance’s supporters will hold a press conference from 12 noon – 1 p.m., Fri., April 3, at the Windom Room at the Durango Community Recreation Center.

Enrique A. Orozco-Perez, Co-Director of Compañeros, said the ordinance as an important step in protecting the constitutional rights and civil liberties of everyone who lives in and travels through Durango.

“For immigrant communities in particular, unchecked surveillance systems create real fear and risk,” Orozco-Perez said. “Making strong protections, such as judicial warrant requirements, strict limits on data retention and community oversight, safeguards against misuse of personal data. We are deeply grateful to community members, advocates and organizations who worked to develop this important legislation.”

8 n April 2, 2026

Tri-State split official

La Plata Electric Association announced that its long-awaited breakup with TriState Generation and Transmission became official Wed., April 1. The local co-op has now joined the Southwest Power Pool Regional Transmission Organization.

With this transition, LPEA said it expects to achieve an additional 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions while delivering lower wholesale power costs, greater reliability and increased local control for its members. This transition marks a new chapter for LPEA, according to CEO Hansen, one focused on local control, innovation and long-term value.

“This is a defining moment for our cooperative,” Hansen said in a news release. “We’ve built a power supply portfolio that is more flexible, more local, more resilient and more affordable while staying grounded in our mission to serve members.”

The transition follows a multi-year effort by LPEA’s Board of Directors to sever ties with its longstanding provider. On March 25, 2024, directors voted to exit the co-op’s contract with Tri-State. LPEA was the fifth largest of Tri-State’s 42 members, responsible for 5.7% of the total demand over a three-year period. Although at the time LPEA declined to disclose a buy-out price, Tri-State, in a statement after the LPEA decision, said the estimated value of LPEA’s contract termination was $209.7 million.

Through its new power supply strategy and participation in the Southwest Power Pool, LPEA said it expects to realize more

“We are building the future grid for Southwest Colorado,” Hansen said. “And we’re doing it in a way that puts our members first.”

To help members better understand the transition, LPEA will host a “CommunityPowerX” forum on from 6-7:30 p.m., Thurs., April 23, at the Durango Arts Center. The public event will bring together regional energy leaders to discuss the future of the grid, new energy resources and what members can expect moving forward.

Seating is limited and participants are required to reserve a spot in advance at lpea.coop. A $5 reservation fee will be donated to the LPEA Round Up Foundation.

You shall not pass

than a 10% reduction in wholesale power costs. It is hoped that these savings allow LPEA to hold base rates stable for 2026, even as broader power supply costs across the region have increased.

“This is exactly why we made the decision to leave,” Board President Nicole Pitcher said. “I was proud to be part of that Board vote, and we’re already seeing it pay off for our members with lower costs, stable rates and a cleaner, locally controlled power supply.”

In its exit, LPEA joins a growing number of electric cooperatives that have transitioned away from Tri-State in recent years including: Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (NM), which departed in 2016; Delta-Montrose Electric Association (departed in 2020); and United Power (CO) (departed in 2024.)

By joining SPP, LPEA said it will gain access to a broader, multi-state market and transmission network, thus enhancing reliability, efficiency and flexibility. It will also help the co-op maintain local control over rates and resource decisions. This was one of its main points of contention with Tri-State, which historically has been heavily invested in coal.

“This move gives us access to tools and flexibility we simply didn’t have before,” Hansen said. “It strengthens reliability today and positions us for the future.”

Looking ahead, Hansen said members can expect continued investment in local energy resources, expanded programs to manage energy use and costs, and a system designed to adapt to the region’s evolving needs.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife reminds local trail users that seasonal closures on specific areas managed by CPW, the Bureau of Land Management and the City of Durango are in effect through April 30, despite the warm winter.

Each year, several areas around Durango are closed from Dec. 1 - April 30 to provide winter habitat for mule deer and elk. In addition, early spring is a period of heightened stress on the animals, and disturbance from people or dogs can cause them to expend critical reserves.

This year, all partners agreed that extending the full closure period is the best approach. While the 2025-26 winter was hot and dry, the lack of snow alone does not signal that deer and elk have moved on to higher ground, according to CPW District Wildlife Manager Luke Clancy.

“Deer especially do not migrate based on conditions,” said Clancy. “The months of February, March and April have the highest winter mortality due to poor body conditions and poor forage availability.”

The BLM and City of Durango also announced their original closures dates will remain, despite warm, dry conditions.

Closures include:

• Bodo and Perins Peak State Wildlife Areas

• Smelter Mountain Trail is open for foot access only from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Dogs are prohibited

• Big Canyon, Sale Barn and Three Springs trailheads in Grandview

• Upper loops of Animas City Mountain and Twin Buttes (closed until May 1)

Those found in violation of CPW closures are subject to a $139.50 fine. For updated conditions and closures, visit durangotrails.org.

– Missy Votel

LocalNews

Just a normal day at Purg

Local skier recounts terrain park incident, life after going viral

by Missy Votel

Ever wonder what it’s like to be an overnight internet sensation? Just ask local skier Dave Sugnet, whose viral video of him narrowly missing a young snowboarder in the landing zone of Purg’s Pitchfork Terrain Park nearly broke the internet (at least locally.)

As of Monday, Sugnet, 35, said the video – which was filmed March 21 by his buddy, local digital creator “Shred” Ned Daly – had more than 3 million views.

“The original video posted by Ned on Instagram got up to 1 million views the first day, and now it has 3.2 million,” said Sugnet. “There’s comments in Russian, Spanish and French, from all over the world. It’s just been crazy to see it blow up as much as it has.”

For those who are not among the 3.2 million worldwide viewers to marvel at Sugnet’s prowess in a last-nanosecond epic spread eagle over the child’s dinosaur-bedecked helmet, here’s a play-by-play.

“It was just a normal day at Purg,” Sugnet began, adding that Daly was filming the action at the park, as he often does, using his Insta 360 camera. Sugnet said on his fifth or sixth run, trouble brewed as he hit the last jump. “As I’m just about to take off into the air – literally, at the end of the jump – I see the kid,” he said.

Since Sugnet was already committed to his jump, an inverted flat spin 360 –something he describes as an off-axis flip – he couldn’t see the kid until he spun back around.

“I did that flip extra fast, so I could spot him, and I thought I was going to be able to avoid him to the left,” Sugnet recalled. “But he kept cutting left, so he ended up right below where I was about to land. So last second, I was somehow able to spread my legs, and at the same time, twist and rotate my left ankle to keep my ski from clipping him.

“It was a miracle for sure. It was way too close for comfort, but I’m so thankful it worked out,” he added.

Needless to say, Sugnet’s “normal day at Purg” was about to become everything but. As social media views piled up, so did calls from friends and news organizations from around the world. Within a few days, Sugnet and Daly signed an agreement with Sportful, a company that licenses videos to news organizations, and clips started appearing on everything from Fox and ABC News to People Magazine and Unofficial Network, a ski industry site. The two even did a short interview with “Inside Edition.”

“One of my buddies was at the gym in Denver, and he sent me the video on TV. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Well, that happened fast,’” he said.

Sugnet’s mom, Leela, even saw it on ABC News in California. “My mom’s like, ‘I’m not surprised you went viral.’ It’s funny because I’ve been posting so many videos, probably 1,000s over the last few

decades of skiing … but I’ve never had anything get that much attention,” he said.

Of course, underscoring all that popularity is a message about safety. Although downhill skiers and riders typically have the right of way on the ski hill, Sugnet, who grew up in Durango, said rules are different in the park. There, the uphill riders has the right of way, and it is proper protocol to avoid hanging out in landing zones or where one can’t be seen from above. He said there is a bright orange sign at the narrow entrance of the park, informing riders of the rules. Granted, the child – who Sugnet estimated to be 6 or 7 – even if he could read the sign, likely came in below it, via an adjacent run where there is no fencing to separate the run from the park.

Sugnet said the child did not appear to be with his parents or an adult. He also did not seem to know he was entering a terrain park, which leads Sugnet to believe he was not local.

“Afterward, he kind of scooted by us,

and I just said, ‘Sorry, buddy, that was a really close call,’ and I told him, ‘Please be aware that people do fly off these jumps all day … so just avoid going into the landing zone so you don’t get hit.’”

Since the incident, Sugnet – the 2013 National Slopestyle champion who skied competitively and professionally for years – said he has received untold comments on the video, most of them positive.

“I’ve gotten so many comments from people who are like, ‘That’s the most athletic reaction I’ve ever seen in my life.’ Some people are like, ‘You should be a fighter jet pilot.’” (Or a stunt man, as I suggested. For the record, he said he will keep his day job as a real estate photographer.)

Sugnet chalks it all up to luck and quick reflexes from doing the same tricks on repeat.

“I attribute it to the repetition of skiing aggressively for so many years,” he said. “I think I’ve built up quick reaction time to stay on my feet and ski another day.”

And, since this is the Internet, there were some negative comments, as well. To those folks, Sugnet would like to set the record straight.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve also coached kids. I’ve done avalanche safety training, and I consider myself a pretty safety-conscious person,” he said. He added that it “makes his heart happy” to see little kids at the terrain park, progressing safely and, of course, following the rules.

“I just want people to know that I don’t feel like I am entitled to the terrain park. I don’t think I’m the cool guy that needs the video clip over the kid’s safety,” he said. “If I would have seen him, I would have let him go first and said, ‘Good job, buddy.’ But it was just one of those weird situations.”

Perhaps even more important that all the media coverage and attention, Sugnet feels like it was a teaching moment for all. For his part, he said he will be using a spotter in the park from here on out.

“Overall, it’s just a good safety lesson for everyone to be a little more alert, including myself,” he said. “I want everyone to be out there enjoying it. I’m just thankful that no one got hurt.”

Check out the viral video on Instagram @shredned. ■

ArtistinResidence

Jesus in the loft

Mike Brieger reimagines ‘Stations of the Cross’ through moody, modern lens

by Jennaye Derge

“Jesus Christ” is usually what I say when I’m surprised, in shock or my dog gets into the garbage. It’s also the exclamation going through my head climbing up the ladder into Mike Brieger’s art studio at his house in downtown Durango to discuss his upcoming art show “Stations of the Cross,” opening Fri., April 3, at Studio &.

Aside from being a form of verbal expression, for local artist Mike Brieger, Jesus Christ is an expression of art.

When I visited Brieger’s studio in the loft above his garage, Jesus was looking at me from various angles. He was depicted on large canvases hanging on the wall and in a couple smaller paintings on the floor. The paintings were mostly in dark tones, although some had brighter accents, giving me a sense that I’d just climbed into the studio of Edvard Munch.

The bodies in Brieger’s paintings have the same wispy vantage that made Munch’s “The Scream” popular and give a sense of dark spirituality, mixed with modern – a little like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” meets Romanticism’s “The Nightmare,” by Johann Henry Fuseli. The paintings depict the darkness and solemnity of the day, but at the same time feel light and uplifting. It’s hard to explain, but Brieger is happy to share his work with us at Studio & beginning on Good Friday, the day that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Brieger has been working on the 16 pieces for a year now, and my nonreligious brain was intrigued as to why.

Jesus and religion have been a part of Brieger’s life since he was a kid, he said, but the journey to where he is now – an artist of the infamous Stations of the Cross – is less religious and more spiritual.

Brieger’s lifelong artistic journey covers the spectrum, beginning as a 7year-old drawing biblical stories in class and growing into a self-proclaimed “teenage punk.” All the while, Brieger was always interested in churches: attending them, singing during services and, most intriguingly, their interior aesthetic. He has always paid attention to church’s depictions of the Stations of the Cross but didn’t think to actually draw them until last year.

“This kind of snuck up on me. I was just doing drawings of a Station or two. I thought it was cool, you know?” Brieger said.

He showed me his first sketch, which was really good but very different from his final product that will be on display at Studio &. The original was colorful and almost cartoonish, and after he drew that first one, Brieger started sketching more. Soon he’d painted all 14, plus two extras.

Walking into his studio as an agnostic, I had to ask, what are Stations of the Cross?

Well-known in the Christian world, and specifically among Catholics, they are the separate “scenes” of the day Jesus was hung on the cross and crucified. The 14 Stations are subsequent moments, from his condemnation to the long, grueling walk carrying the cross to his ultimate death.

Brieger doesn’t mean for the art show to be so heavy, but he does hope to con-

vey the message of suffering.

“It’s like redemptive suffering. You suffer for other people. It’s a way to clean yourself spiritually when you suffer,” Brieger said.

As Brieger leaned into the notion of cleansing through suffering, he said he also became closer to Jesus and became more empathetic toward humankind.

He began hearing stories of people’s personal spiritual experiences with seeing images of Jesus, many times in moments of struggle. Recently, Brieger said he looked out the window and saw the face of Jesus in a nearby tree.

“It was really cool. And I took it (as Jesus saying) ‘You’re doing good’ … I got a little feeling like an ‘attaboy,’” Brieger said.

He said it felt like Jesus was giving him a thumbs up to the work he is doing, which Brieger said is important because he is aware of religious blasphemy or potentially using the subject in vain.

He himself used to throw side jabs and jokes about Jesus and religion in his “punk” days. But now, as an adult, spending time meditating on the subject, going to church, learning about religions and talking to people, he knows that religion and spirituality can be one in the same. But it can also be two separate things.

“I love churches. I love church art. I love church architecture. I love singing in church, I like going to church. But I’m not religious because of the normal system of it,” he said.

For Brieger, what’s important is the spiritual aspect and belief system that everybody is created equal. “Everybody has the same value … I believe that love is the ultimate kind of medicine and currency,” he said. “And that doesn’t have that much to do with religion. It can be part of a religious thing or not.”

Brieger said his day job as an addictions councilor brings out the spiritual connection even more.

“When I have a client that comes in, and I talk to Jesus with them, I have no problem with that,” he said.

Addiction counseling also helps Brieger reflect on the idea of suffering and cleansing – the theme of his upcoming show and maybe why he takes a special interest in both.

For the show, Studio & will blend the dark, heavy tones of Jesus’ last day with the cheekiness the studio is known for. In addition to Brieger’s 16 pieces, there will also be a temporary “gift shop” mimicking real church gift shops (yes, this is a thing) where Brieger will have smaller, more “fun” biblical paintings, drawings and knickknacks like small crosses that he metalsmithed as well as items from other artists.

Brieger said the gift shop is meant to serve as a counterbalance to the darker themes of the paintings.

“It’s a difficult subject … I think for most people, they’re probably like, ‘Oh man, this is some heavy sh*t,” Brieger said of the show.

But above all, Brieger said he wants to convey the message of joy and gratitude. “(Jesus) came down and suffered for the well-being of others. It’s a joy, you know?” he said.

Brieger’s ‘Stations of the Cross’ will be on display through Sun., April 12, with an artist talk at 2 p.m. on the closing day. ■

Cheap thrills

At just cents a page, ‘Cemetery Road’ a sweeping Southern saga of murder, money and power

by Jeffrey Mannix

It’s going to cost you three cents a page to read Greg

Iles’ 524-page paper-bound “Cemetery Road” released in hardback six years ago this month. But a few cents a page for Iles’ big-screen chimera will be a bargain if you’re looking for some time off from the bewildering state of world affairs. “Cemetery Road” is a luscious story built by a writer who knows better than most how to use the English language.

Cemetery Road is indeed a road in Iles’ story, so you needn’t anticipate anything distasteful, and it doesn’t matter why it’s called that. Iles’ characters are as real as the life we never notice around ourselves for the constant chatter in our heads, and his tableaux will leave you breathless.

Iles is from Mississippi, and his stories are rooted in that part of the country. They are full of proud generations of benighted, particular and dissolute adults who believe that laws are made to delineate a place for minorities, women and the underclasses, same as always. And the men, those of the black sedans, bespoke suits, and manicured nails and shirts, are the arbiters of society.

In New York City or Chicago, they would be called mobsters, but in Bienville, Miss., they are the glorified men of The Poker Club. They meet often as a hierarchical coterie, sipping whisky, smoking cigars and talking investments. Between the half dozen or so of them, they own everything but what they don’t want. They carry on with tradition: patronage, lending, and taking what and who they want. You

wouldn’t want to know these men, but if you lived in Bienville, you would.

It’s the men of The Poker Club who welcome home Marshall McEwan after 35 years gone. An internationally celebrated journalist in Washington, D.C., Marshall put his career on hold to assist his mother with the failing health of the father, Duncan McEwan. A fourthgeneration newspaperman and publisher of the Bienville Watchman, known as the “Conscience of Mississippi,” Duncan, was too grandiose to be much of a father. So it’s with a wince of resignation that Marshall comes home to close down the wheezing, centuryold paper and wait to bury the flag bearer of a small, backwater Southern town.

And then, just as you don’t want it to turn out, Marshall’s boyhood mentor, archaeologist Buck Ferris, is murdered at the river’s edge where The Poker Club grandees are in negotiation with the Chinese to rebuild a paper mill. Everybody knows that Buck has found ancient Indian bones at the site, and it’s

unspoken but clear that the Chinese are concerned with a low-profile deal to repatriate. It seems, though, that nobody told the unctuous profiteers that you never pick a fight with a man who buys ink by the barrel.

What transpires after Buck’s murder is the genius of Greg Iles and the reason to read “Cemetery Road.” This is a rich, textured story of the South and the lives of people who might as well be from Palermo, Sicily. “Cemetery Road” is the cheapest high you can get without risking prosecution.

Iles died at 65 in April 2024. This review of “Cemetery Road” on the two-year anniversary of the death of one of America’s finest novelist is an extolment of his courage and enormous talent.

HarperCollins Publishers has “Cemetery Road” in paperback for $15.99 right now. Amazon of course has the paperback for $10.99, and Maria’s Bookshop will surely source the book for you and if shipping isn’t too prohibitive, offer their usual 15% “Murder Ink” discount. ■

Thursday02

Fly Fishing Film Tour 2026, 5:30 p.m., Animas City Theater, 128 E. College Dr.

Dart Tournament, 5:30-9 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.

The Climbing Zine Vol. 26 release party, 6-8 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Gary Watkins plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Bluegrass Jam, 6-9 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.

Andrew Schuhmann plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Open Mic Night, 6-9 p.m., American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.

Powerhouse Trivia Night, 6:30-8:30 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino Del Rio

“The Old Man and the Old Moon,” 7:30 p.m., FLC Mainstage Theatre

Friday03

Veterans Friday Morning Coffee, 8-10:30 a.m., American Legion, 878 E. 2nd Ave.

Leadership Circle, 9-10 a.m., FLC Center for Innovation, 835 Main Ave., Ste. 225

Durango First Friday, 4-7 p.m., downtown Durango

“Outer Range” solo art exhibition by Matt Clark, with music by Oblee, 4-9 p.m., 2980 Main Ave.

Sandpainting demonstration by Navajo artist Bilson Kee with music by Jenny Winegardner and Joel Denman, 4:30-7 p.m., Toh-Atin Gallery, 145 W. 9th St.

Artist’s Reception, featuring various local artists, 5-7 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.

Jesse Littlebird and Chris Pappan, contemporary Indigenous art, opening reception, 5-7 p.m., Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main Ave., Unit B

Artist Meet & Greet with Kylee Firlit, 5-8 p.m., The Subterrain and Durango Winery, 900 Main Ave.

“Gathering the Bones” by Mary Ellen Long and Sarah Lemcke opening reception, 5-8 p.m., Durango Creative District Community Gallery, 1135 Main Ave.

“Stations of the Cross” solo exhibition by Mike Brieger opening reception, 5-9 p.m., Studio & Gallery, 1027 Main Ave.

“Mutualism” by Sloan Gingg, opening reception, 5-9 p.m., Studio & The Recess Gallery,1027 Main Ave.

Larry Carver and Jack Ellis play, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

The ArtRoom Collective Paper Flower Making and Artist Social, 5:30-7 p.m., Smiley Building 1309 E. 3rd Ave.

Trivia Fridays, 6-8:30 p.m., Durango Beer & Ice Co, 3000 Main Ave.

Dustin Burley plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Mr. B’s Vaudeville: An Interactive Comedic Variety Show, 6:30 p.m. doors, Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.

Charlie Craven Fly-Tying Demonstration and Q&A, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Doubletree Hotel

Desiderata with special guest Safety Meeting, 7 p.m. doors, Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Carute Roma plays, 7 p.m., Sunflower Theatre, 8 E. Main St., Cortez

“The Old Man and the Old Moon,” 7:30 p.m., FLC Mainstage Theatre

Saturday04

Spring Fly Fishing Festival, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Duranglers Flies and Supplies, 923 Main Ave.

Family Egg Hunt, 9-11 a.m., Cafe Au Play, 495 Florida Rd.

Easter Egg Scramble, 9:30-11 a.m., Santa Rita Park, 149 S. Camino del Rio

5RTU Casting Clinic, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Santa Rita Park, 149 S. Camino del Rio

Easter Egg Hunt, 10-11:30 a.m., Durango HarleyDavidson, 750 S. Camino Del Rio

11th St. Station Job Fair, 12 noon-4 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.

Olympic Skier Charlie Mickel meet-andgreet, 1-2 p.m., Purgatory Sports, 2615 Main Ave.

Birth Partner Workshop with doula Abbie Downing, 1-2:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.

Spring Fling, 3-6:30 p.m., Summit Church, 2917 Aspen Dr.

Neurodivergent Night, sensory-friendly alternative dance night hosted by AuDHDbliss, 4-7 p.m., The Hive, 1175 Camino Del Rio

Euchre, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Union Social House, 3062 Main Ave.

Adam Swanson plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Matt Rupnow plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Karaoke with Kimmy, 6-9 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.

“The Old Man and the Old Moon,” 7:30 p.m., FLC Mainstage Theatre

Neil Berg’s 50 Years of Rock ‘n’ Roll, 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC

Jason Leech with SayWhat? Perform, 8 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Sunday05

Easter Brunch, 9 a.m.-12 noon, VFW, 1550 Main Ave.

Irish Jam, 12 noon-3 p.m., Durango Beer and Ice Co., 3000 Main Ave.

Blue Moon Ramblers play, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Monday06

Sign Waving peaceful gathering, 4 p.m., corners of Camino del Rio and College Dr.

Happy Hour Yoga, 5:30 p.m., Ska Brewing, 225 Girard St.

Terry Rickard plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Joel Racheff plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Tuesday07

Women + Wealth, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.

“Our Power, Our Future,” conversation about energy independence and clean energy, 5:30-7 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino del Rio

Author Event & Book Signing with R.E. Burillo, 6 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Rotary Club of Durango presents LPEA Board Member Ted Compton, 6-7 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.

Book Club “Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden,” 6-7:30 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.

AskRachel Tackling fur, tech and tired jokes

Interesting fact: Dogs can have up to 25 hairs growing out of each follicle. Blowing coats, blowing minds.

Dear Rachel,

This is one of the deep philosophical questions of our time: Does shedding feel good to dogs? On the one hand, they might feel miserable with fistfuls of fur falling out and going through big changes. On the other hand … how could it not feel satisfying to have clumps of fur sliding out and new fur coming in? Might be like popping a zit. Where do you fall on the debate?

– Fur or Against

Dear Fuzzy Wuzzy,

I don’t know how it feels to them, but it feels good to me. The second I see those butt floofs, I just want to get my fingers on them. I will follow around strange huskies and German shepherds this time of year just for a chance at grooming their fluff. Those big clusters that slide out all together? Man. That’s better than sex and ice cream put together.

– Feeling plucky, Rachel

Dear Rachel,

The worst part of being a small businessperson isn’t all the hours and all the stress and all the uncertainty. It’s all the tech.

Tuesday Trivia, 6-8:30 p.m., 11th St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.

Jason Thies plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Sean O’Brien plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Barbershop Tryouts, every Tues., 6:30 p.m., Christ the King Church, 495 Florida Rd.

Wednesday08

Ukulele Night, 5-7 p.m., Four Leaves Winery, 528 Main Ave.

Money Talks personal finance gathering, 5:30-7 p.m., 11st St. Station, 1101 Main Ave.

“Make a Circle,” documentary about crisis in early childcare education, part of PBS’ Everyday Democracy Series, 5:30-8 p.m., Fort Lewis College Vallecito Room

Author Event & Book Signing with Matthew Moseley, 6 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Story Circle, an evening of guided journaling and connection, 6-7:30 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave.

How am I supposed to be my own IT guy? Just found out half our emails are bouncing because we didn’t set up some appropriate code with the domain server, and that right there is the end of my tech lingo. I know we could hire people but this is America, shouldn’t it be enough to have a dream and show up every day without having to be tech masters?

– Tech Nick Lee

Dear Cousin IT, Yup, this is America, where everything good is a myth but especially ye olde bootstraps. Did you know that “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” originated as a metaphor for impossible tasks? There is no pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. You need a guy for that. Especially when the straps are digital.

– Your support ticket, Rachel

Dear Rachel,

Old men love to come up to me and try to bet me they know where I got my shoes (on my feet) and that I have a hole in my sock (how else did I get it in there?). Dudes, these jokes are older than you are, and maybe that’s an unhealthy obsession with feet. Do you have good advice for how to shut down these clowns?

– Not Laughing

Chuck Hank plays, 6-9 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Donny Johnson plays, 6-9 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave.

Alt Indie Concert with Snailmate, Josie Loner and Midnight Architect, 6:30-11 p.m., The Swarm at The Hive, 1175 Camino Del Rio

“Cotton, Intra-regional Specialization and the Hohokam Northern Periphery,” presented by the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society, 7 p.m., FLC Lyceum Room

Pilobulus: Other Worlds Collection, modern dance, 7:30 p.m., Community Concert Hall at FLC

Ongoing

Dementia/Alzheimer’s Caregivers Support Group, 1st, 3rd & 5th Wed. of each month, 10:30 a.m.-12 noon, La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.

“Stations of the Cross” exhibition by Mike Brieger, April 3-12, Studio & Gallery, 1027 Main Ave.

Jesse Littlebird and Chris Pappan, contemporary Indigenous art, thru April 24, Blue Rain Gallery, 934 Main

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com

Dear Deadpan,

Oh, the funny men! (Not to be confused with the men and other people who are actually funny.) Recycling jokes they heard once from a New Orleans street performer in 1991, thinking they are the only characters in a game designed to stroke their ego. You know what takes a funny man down a peg? Commenting on his hair loss, which (unlike a dog’s) doesn’t grow back. Keep some dog butt fluff in your pocket and pretend to pull it out from behind these men’s ears. Then see who’s laughing.

– Yuk yuk, Rachel

Guided Bird Walks every Wednesday morning, April 1-Sept. 30, 8-9:30 a.m., meet by the painted wall in the Botanic Gardens at Durango Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.

Upcoming

Theology Night, Thurs., April 9, 5:30-7 p.m., Durango Public Library, 1900 E. 3rd Ave.

Author Event & Book Signing with Mark Stevens, Thurs., April 9, 6 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave.

Fresh Bits Comedy Open Mic, Thurs., April 9, 6:309 p.m., The Subterrain, 900 Main Ave., Ste. F

Durango Bluegrass Meltdown, Fri.–Sun., April 1012, multiple venues, downtown Durango, www.durangomeltdown.com

BID Coffee & Conversation, Fri., April 10, 8:30-9:30 a.m., TBK Bank, Downtown Branch, Community Room, 259 W. 9th St.

Friday Afternoon Market, Fri., April 10, 3-6 p.m., Breen Community Building, 15300 Hwy 140, Hesperus

“Exploring Feminism,” art exhibition opening night, Fri., April 10, 5-7 p.m., Durango Art Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave.

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Unexpected deliverance? Lucky rides? Beginner’s grace? Dreamy, gleaming replacements? To the untrained eye, it may look like you are bending cosmic law in your favor. In truth, you’re simply redeeming the backlog of blessings you earned in the past – acts of quiet generosity and unselfish hardship that never got their proper reward. Serendipitous leaps? Divine detours? Shortcuts to victory? Welcome the uncanny gifts, Aries, even if they’re not what you expected.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The current phase of your destiny could disturb you if you’re not super patient. Life seems to be teasing you with promises that then go into hiding. You’ve been having to master the art of living on the edge between the BIG RED YES and the GREY MURKY NO. My advice: Imagine your predicament as an intriguing riddle, not a frustrating ambiguity. See if you can figure out how to grow wiser and stronger in response to the evasive mysteriousness. My prediction: You will grow wiser and stronger.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Why it’s always triple-great to be a Gemini, drawing on an abundance of mercurial wisdom: 1. You excel at the art of translation and are skilled at finding common ground. You can oscillate and flow between the lyrical and the pragmatic, insightful and comic, detailed and big picture. 2. You know that consistency is overrated. Your capacity to harbor multiple perspectives is a superpower. 3. You get to be both the question and the answer, proving that wholeness includes all the fragments. All these aptitudes should be your featured approaches in the coming weeks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The saga of Troy is one of the most renowned tales from ancient Greece. Yet the fabled setting of Homer’s epic tale, the Iliad, was a settlement of just seven acres. Let that detail resound for you in the coming weeks. It’s an apt metaphor for what’s taking shape in your life. A seemingly modest situation could become the stage for a mythic turning point. An experience that starts small may grow into a story of immense significance.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Many people have a favorite number they regard as lucky. Some choose it because it showed up at a major turning point in their life. Others derive it from their birthday or from

the numerology of their name. Plenty are drawn to “master numbers” like 33, 77 or 99. Personally, I give three numbers my special love: 555, the square root of -2, and 1.61803, also known as the golden ratio in Fibonacci-related patterns. I hope this nudges your imagination. Your fortunes are shifting in the direction of an unusual kind of luck, so it’s a potent moment to select a new lucky number. I suggest you also choose a new guiding animal, a fresh initiation name and a charged symbol to serve as your personal emblem.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Do you know what ignorance is causing you to suffer? Is there a teacher or teaching that could provide an antidote? I suspect you are very close to attracting or stumbling upon the guidance you need to escape the fog: maybe a therapist who can help you undo a hurtful pattern, a mentor to inspire your quest to do work you long to do or a spiritual friend who reminds you that you’re not merely your latest drama. Your task in the coming weeks is not to obsess on fixing everything at once, but to seek one or two sources of wisdom that illuminate your blind spots and educate your heart.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I’m an honorary Libra, with three planets and my lunar north node in your sign. So I speak with authority when I declare that fostering harmony, which is a Libran gift, is only superficially about smoothing away friction. More importantly, it’s about rearranging reality so beauty is a central feature. The goal is to accomplish practical wonders by stimulating grace and fluency. When I’m best expressing my Libra qualities, I don’t ask how I can please everyone, but rather, how I can serve maximum goodness. Here’s another tip to being a potent Libra: Know that your charm is a lubricant for the truth, not mere decoration. Beautify one system you use every day so it serves you with less friction.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You are potentially an expert in creative destruction. You have a knack for eliminating what’s unnecessary and even obstructive. What has outlived its usefulness? You’re prone to home in on energy drains and unleash transformative energy. And yes, this intensity of yours may unnerve people who prefer comfortable numbness – but not me. I love you to exult in your talent for locating beauty and truth that are too complicated for others. I applaud you when you descend into the darkness to retrieve dicey treasures. PS: You’re not shadowy or negative. You’re a specialist in the authentic love that refuses to enable delusion or sanction decay.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): My Sagittarian friend Artemisia bemoans “the scarcity of collective delight.” She wishes there were more public acclaim for stories about breakthrough joys, miraculous marvels and healings. Why are we so riveted by reports of misery, malaise and muck, yet so loath to recognize and celebrate everything that’s working really well? She also mourns the odd habit among some educated folks to mistake cynicism for brilliance. If you don’t mind, Sagittarius, I’m assigning you to be an antidote in the coming weeks. Your task is to gather an overflowing harvest of lavish pleasure, fun epiphanies and meaningful plot twists. Don’t hoard any of it.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Id” is a psychoanalytic term. It’s the part of the psyche where basic instincts, needs and drives reside. On the one hand, the id supplies a huge charge of psychic energy. On the other hand, it mostly operates outside conscious awareness. Consider the implications: The fierce, pulsing center of your life force is largely hidden from you. Most of the time, that veil is protective. Encountering the id directly can be overwhelming or unsettling. But in the coming weeks, you Capricorns are poised to cultivate a more interesting relationship with your high-voltage core. Do you dare? Treat your id as a brilliant but untamed creature.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): A “clerestory” is a high window that brings light into a space without compromising privacy. It illuminates without exposing. I suggest you find metaphorical equivalents for clerestories. Look for ways to let spaciousness and brightness into your world without disturbing your boundaries. Avoid swinging between total lockdown and overexposure. The best option: strategic vulnerability and selective transparency. Allow people to see selected parts of you without giving them access to everything. Be both open and discriminating.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 1903, the Wright brothers flew a primitive model of the first airplane. How did they prepare? Their workshop was a bicycle shop, not a high-tech, state-of-the-art lab. By building and fixing bikes, they learned key insights about flying machines. The lesson is that mastery in one area may be transferable to breakthroughs in another. With this in mind, I invite you to evaluate how your current skills, including those you take for granted, might be repurposed. Methods you developed in one context could solve problems in another. You shouldn’t underestimate the value of what you already know.

Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon.

Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $10 minimum.

Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check. (Sorry, no refunds or substitutions.)

Ads can be submitted by emailing: classifieds@ durangotelegraph.com

Announcements

Ready to make a difference close to home? The University of Denver GSSW Four Corners Program is now accepting applications for the 2026–2028 MSW cohort! Classes meet Fridays in Durango, so you can keep working while earning your MSW. Learn more at du.edu/socialwork/fourcorners. Change your community. Change your future. Start with DU!

Wanted

Urgently Needed Affordable, electromagnetically-quiet living space (room, ADU or RV space) to rent close to town for electrosensitive senior and two (quiet, well-behaved, indoor) dogs starting around April 1. Fenced yard for dog use a couple of times a day (or fenced dog park/area nearby) *needed*. Can also help with yardwork, housework, minor repairs, elder care, pet care, etc. Terms negotiable – please call if you'd like to discuss 970-508-0326 and leave a voice message.

Books Wanted at White Rabbit

Donate/Trade/Sell 970 259-2213

ForRent

Studio Tamarron Highpoint

$1200/mo utilities WiFi included, no pets or smoking 505/728/2057

Tiny Home Land Rental in valley. Quiet, close to town. Owneroccupied. Gated. Single-occupant. No pets. Water & electric included. Self-contained toilet required. Long-term lease. Rent negotiable ~ $1000/mo. Email info about your tiny home & living situation: aubrey.volger@gmail.com

ForSale

4 General Alta Max

RP45 225/55 R18 98H all-weather tires. Exc. shape. $200. Call Buz 970-7598095.

Reruns Home Furnishings

Furniture, mirrors, lamps, cool artwork and more! Looking to consign smaller pieces. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat.

RealEstate

2 BR, 2BA Condo at Piñon Heights, Durango $398,000. Upper level, corner unit, walkable to town, in great condition. Open floor plan, great mountain views. (970)749-0075

BodyWork

Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.

Classes/Workshops

Cool Under Fire

A workshop (for ages 8-80) treating burnout from stress & anxiety. Learn how to feel centered and keep calm despite daily dumpster fires. VFW 5:30-7:30pm on 5.15.26. Info and tickets online: du rangoaikido.com

Services

Child Guidance-Storybook Gardens 970-403-3347

Electric Repair

Roof, gutter cleaning, fence, floors, walls, flood damage, mold, heating service.

Boiler Service - Water Heater

Serving Durango over 30 years. Brad, 970-759-2869. Master Plbg Lic #179917

CommunityService

Dog Fosters Needed

Parker’s Animal Rescue needs fosters to provide temporary homes for rescued dogs. We supply crates, food, leashes, toys, support and vet visits. Apply at: parkersanimalrescue.com.

Free Tax Preparation Services

VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) will be preparing tax returns for individuals and families with income less than $68,000. The service is free, held at the La Plata County Fairgrounds Extension Building on Mondays and Saturdays, thru April 13. Volunteer tax preparers are certified by the IRS. Appointments are required. For more info. and to schedule, go to www.durangovita.org.

HaikuMovieReview

SW Community Justice Coalition

Support restorative justice in Southwest Colorado. In 2025, SCJC expanded community-based trainings and launched new pathways to promote healing-centered responses to harm. Learn more at southwestjustice.org or southwestjustice.org.

Grief Counseling

The Grief Center of SW Colorado is offering free grief counseling services for children, teens and young adults. Please contact us below if interested. griefcenter swco@gmail.com or 970-764-7142

The Maker Lab in Bodo Park Tools, learning and equipment featuring metal and woodworking, laser cutting, 3D printing, electronics and sewing. www.themakerlab.org.