THE INDEPENDENT

Debunking Fungiphobia: Don't get in truffle

By: Zoe Coughlin Indy Staff Writer

A look into mushrooms growing in the area, where to find them and why they are so important.

Have you been walking in the woods in Durango or even your yard and stumbled upon a patch of mushrooms growing? If you have, that's because mushroom season is right now.   Did you ever wonder whether these mushrooms were edible or poisonous?    Mushrooms, which are part of the fungi kingdom, are decomposers and get their nutrients from organic waste material....

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Standing on 150 million years: Dino discovery in our backyard

By: Mia McCormick Indy Staff Writer

A discovery on a hiking trail leads to a glimpse into Durango's past. 

A dinosaur died on Animas City Mountain in Durango about 150 million years ago, and in December of 2021, a local fossil hunter found its bones.    Tom Eskew, a certified arborist and amateur fossil hunter, said he had walked over them hundreds of times until one day, he looked down and realized there were fossils in his path.    “The most valuable finds in...

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Gerald Shorty: Indigenizing Psychology Gerald Shorty: Indigenizing Psychology

Gerald Shorty: Indigenizing Psychology

By Alx Lee Indy Staff Writer

FLC welcomes Shiprock local who aims to help Indigenous students succeed.

The Counseling Center added a new staff member, Gerald Shorty, assistant director of diversity and Outreach Initiatives, this semester.   Born in Shiprock, Shorty attended Nenahnezad boarding school in his childhood, he said. It was an adjustment coming from that academic setting to Shiprock High School, and later, college.  Shorty focused his studies in criminology at San...

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Bound Together by Train Bound Together by Train

Bound Together by Train

By Mia McCormick

The simple bliss of riding with strangers. 

It’s 9 a.m. on March 27 and there’s a train full of people heading to the halfway point between Durango and Silverton, Cascade Canyon. They may be lovers, friends, family or strangers who each have their own lives in different places, and yet for the next five hours, passengers find themselves at an intersection heading down the same train track.  What connects humans? More...

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The Bigfoot Question The Bigfoot Question

The Bigfoot Question

By Alx Lee Indy Staff Writer

Competing perspectives on the existence of sasquatch within the Navajo Culture

A predominant figure in the Four Corners, with merchandise and tales centered around its mysterious figure behind the brush, Sasquatch not only holds a place in the communities surrounding the region but also the Indigenous tribes spanning across the United States.  Sasquatch, also referred to as Bigfoot, walks the line between cultural beliefs and community phenomenon. This is ever so...

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