Summer 2011
‘Tis the season for seasonal dishes! That’s the glass-is-half-full way of saying, “What the heck do I do with all this (fill-in-the-blank)?” I’m guilty of avoiding a farmer’s market or two for fear of coming home with yet another fistful of irresistible veggies for which I’ve exhausted my culinary repertoire. That, and forcing bags of greens and zucchini the size of a healthy baby on unsuspecting friends and family. However, necessity is the mother of invention.
Summer 2011
I park behind a rusting blue Ford with a “biodiesel” bumper sticker, the official fleet vehicle of Your Backyard Harvest, a Durango-based multi-plot farming venture. Armed with a sack lunch and gloves, I’m ready to spend the day helping the owner, Brooke Frazer, till, rake, weed and water.
Winter 2010
Reactions run the gamut when I tell people I’m gluten intolerant. Not long ago a mutual friend introduced me to a woman who runs the local gluten intolerance support group. Within minutes, this stranger and I were sharing stories of epic flatulence like “rock bottom” stories at an AA meeting.
Then there’s the other end of the spectrum. A while back I was at a Durango watering hole talking to the sous chef of a prominent Main Street restaurant. When I mentioned that I had issues with gluten, his bearing turned as frosty as my non-grain based vodka and soda.
Artist brings foundry to the Four Corners
August 24, 2010
The art scene in our little corner of Colorado soon may come out of the past and into the Bronze Age. That is, if Dimitry Domani gets his way.
Domani, a Romanian born sculptor and painter, has begun the process of opening a foundry in Cortez, the only one in the area. Bronze sculptors no longer will need to ship their work to other states to be cast.
"You just give me the piece," says Domani in a thick eastern European accent, "I'll take care of the rest."
Photographer realizes vision in Silverton
August 6, 2010
Step into Sam Stevens' Silverton photography studio and you get more than you bargained for. Sandwiched between a busy Old West-style portrait studio and an even busier public restroom, the heavy log walls of the restored miner's cabin hold not just otherworldly photos but also, excuse the hyperbole, dreams and secrets.
You won't find sepia-toned images of little Johnny dressed up as Billy the Kid in here. No "Caution: Pomeranian Crossing" street signs crowd the time-stained logs.
Durango physical therapy clinic cuts the edge
July 29, 2010 (Volume 9, No. 30)
What do you get when you combine world class mountain bike trails, stellar backcountry ski terrain, hundreds of gorgeous miles of bikeable open road, and a lot of gnarly people? A lot of gnarly injuries.
Enter Jeff Katz. A couple years ago, Katz, the founder and former CEO of Mercury Payment Systems, was frustrated. Following an injury, he followed the typical road to recovery: chiropractors, doctors, surgeons, massage therapists, one after another.
Evenings on Eighth fire up next Wednesday
June 17, 2010 (Volume 9, No. 24)
Just when you thought Durango’s dance card was full this summer, another event is about to hit downtown. Evenings on Eighth, or E8, is a new community market and street fair that will be held on 8th Street between Main Avenue and the railroad tracks. Every Wednesday night this summer, the 8th Street block will light up with artists, live music, street food and a mid-week Farmers Market.
Alternatives floated for State Land Board parcel
May 27, 2010 (Volume 9, No. 21)
A dusty parcel of land north of Elmore’s corner might soon see some action. Actually, not soon. Not for another seven years or so, and even then, it’s still up in the air.
The parcel, a 558-acre tract located on the northwest corner of County Roads 234 and 235, is owned by the State Land Board, an agency entrusted with securing revenue for K-12 education in Colorado. By and large, that revenue has historically come in the form of monies collected from leases for oil and gas operations.
Cowgirl Opera takes to the Durango Arts Center stage
April 29, 2010 (Volume 9, No. 17)
An opera? In Durango? About cowgirls? When you think about it, of course it makes perfect sense. What better backdrop than a town with a Wild West past, a reputation for strong women, and a burgeoning community theater scene?
The opera, “Twenty-Four Pounds of Bullets and Steel: A Cowgirl Opera” began life 20 years ago as a song. Actually, it began as a photograph.
Four Corners Green Living Expo returns to Durango
April 15, 2010 (Volume 9, No. 15)
Green is the new black. It’s everywhere you look. On your next lunch break, rake in a federal bike-commuting tax credit and pedal on down to Wal-mart, where you can pull some organic Oreos off the hybrid diesel-electric delivery truck and wash ’em down with an organic cola.
Yup, “green” has gone mainstream. For many, it’s about time. For others, it’s business as usual.
For such local green pioneers, this weekend’s Four Corners Green Living Expo is a chance to showcase their wares and to involve as many like-minded people as possible in the green movement.
Durango tackles "crimes of silence"
April 1, 2010 (Volume 9, No. 13)
No one wants to talk about it. No one wants to hear about it. Sexual assault, the “crime of silence,” is a topic best left behind closed doors.
It’s precisely this attitude that has caused domestic violence to become one of the most chronically underreported crimes in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice. A staggering 60% of sexual assaults go unreported to the police.
It’s also the attitude that makes it so hard for victims to speak out about their experience.
Incentives, education makes energy efficiency accessible
March 11, 2010 (Volume 9, No. 10)
It’s refreshing to hear Tim Keuski, a certified energy auditor, speak about his job. He uses terms like “fun” and “cool” to describe things like spray-foam insulation and combustion analyzers. You can just picture him outside his house in his pajamas at night, taking a bead on his own home with an infrared camera, taking notes on just where all his heat is going.
Durango Food Bank weathers difficult year
December 17, 2009 (Volume 8, No. 50)
The Durango Food Bank’s motto of “Working to Feed Our Neighbors in Need” has taken on new meaning this season as the line between “neighbor” and “needy” becomes increasingly blurred. Despite Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s September declaration that “the recession is likely over,” an increasing number of La Plata County residents are struggling just to put food on the table.
Durango's new charter school is off and running
October 8, 2009 (Volume 8, No. 40)
The new Animas High School is quietly taking shape, sandwiched between a Chinese buffet and a SCUBA shop in an unassuming Durango strip mall. The renovated space, formerly a maze of partitioned medical offices, is now home to 10,000 square feet of classrooms – classrooms in which 75 freshmen are being exposed to a new kind of education.
Micro-distillery boom hits Colorado
January 1, 2009 (Volume 8, No. 0)
It’s two o’clock in the afternoon, two hours before the official opening time of the tasting room at Montanya Distillers in Silverton. The place is already filling up.
Delena Aseere, assistant distiller and barkeep, is serving a trio of bedraggled, weather-beaten snowboarders lined up at the bar. Anywhere else, they might be clutching apres-ski PBR tallboys. But here, they each pull on a colorful, custom crafted, decidedly more foo-foo cocktail featuring the house specialty – Montanya’s own brand of rum.
Library features latest in LEED technology
November 27, 2008 (Volume 7, No. 48)
"The community’s living room.” That’s how Durango Public Library Director Sherry Taber describes the city’s new library. With its fireplaces, cozy lounge chairs and mountain views, it’s more than just a comfortable place to read a book. It’s downright Masterpiece Theater. Better, even. Because behind that homey, walk-around-in-your-socks, never-want-to-leave feel is another type of comfort: the comfort of knowing that every brick, lightbulb and earth-toned wall is part of a master plan to go green.
Local veteran reflects on Iraq's past, present, and future
November 13, 2008 (Volume 7, No. 46)
In February of this year, the war in Iraq was the top issue concerning Americans. In October, the economy moved to the top of that list, according to a USA Today-Gallup poll. So much has seemed to trump the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past few months, pushing what many consider foreign policy fumbles out of the limelight.
September 1, 2008
The sun was about to dip behind the Vermillion Cliffs as I pulled up to the edge of Marble Canyon. In five minutes, I would have been pronounced someone’s wife. I had imagined spending my would-be wedding night playing minor chords on my guitar, befriending a box of wine, lamenting love lost. But Badger Point was more popular these days, and a group had already made camp. Smoke billowed from the barbecue, kids milled around, a woman carried a baby on her hip. My mind wandered downriver to another spot I had camped at a few years ago.
Durango looks for the effects of the Economic Stimulus Act
August 21, 2008 (Volume 7, No. 34)
It’s been more than a month since the last of the rebate checks were sent to the waiting hands of hard pressed American taxpayers. The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 was intended to give a shot in the arm to a troubled economy. In a country where consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic growth, President Bush saw the move as putting “faith in the American people.”
Local athlete reflects on competition vs. activism on eve of her third Games
July 31, 2008 (Volume 7, No. 31)
If you’re an athlete going to the Olympics in Beijing this summer, you have plenty to think about. Not just the usual seeds, millisecond finishes and grueling training schedules. In the wake of worldwide protests over China’s human rights record, athletes this year have been caught in the middle of a political tug-of-war.
Sustainable remodels boost sagging housing market
June 19, 2008 (Volume 7, No. 25)
Depressed housing market Economic downturn. Mortgage crisis.These are the buzz words of the current state of the American Dream. So many people in Durango yearn to be able to afford a house in the town they love, but in the end, it seems like an uphill battle. Especially for those who want to do right by the environment and by the health of their families by going “green.”
Durango Women’s Climbing Club leaves the ground
June 5, 2008 (Volume 7, No. 23)
How many women climbers out there learned to rock climb because they became a belay slave to a boyfriend? How many of those still have that boyfriend? How many still climb? Ask a lot of gal climbers, and they all sing the same song: their initial foray into climbing invariably involved a male counterpart. For some sad souls, the frequency with which they lace up their La Sportivas drastically diminishes with the lack of said male.
Spring Creek Horse Rescue aids equines in distress
May 1, 2008 (Volume 7, No. 18)
A shaggy horse roots incessantly in its bare pasture for something green, pronounced hips and ribs belying a life of hardship and suffering. Everyone’s seen it, and most feel compassion. Some wish they could do more. For the past 32 years, Diane McCracken, of Spring Creek Horse Rescue, has been doing just that.
