My Page: Tonya Poole

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New West Events

Ahh, Telluride in spring. Soaring peaks. Lush, green valleys. Rich, cobalt skies. Wild poets wandering the streets...

The Telluride Writer's Guild and the Ah Haa School of the Arts present this 17-year Western Slope tradition at the historic Sheriden Opera House and other locations around Telluride, Colorado. Participate in a little spring rejuvenation with high-energy performances and inspiring workshops throughout the festival, including regional poets and storytellers, singers, actors, dancers, writers and wanderers sharing their exciting, sublime and sometimes provocative work in a variety of venues. [more]

New West Living

I fold laundry when I’m under stress. Any other time and I avoid all things domestic like the plague, but when the going gets rough there’s little therapy like simplicity. For Shane, it’s cooking. After a long and grueling phone conference with a client he’ll head straight for the kitchen where he’ll spend the next hour on yet-untried recipes as a way to unwind. Things that once felt like menial chores have become sanctuaries in our house, in part, I think, because they involve and engage parts of us we’re not used to using anymore. And very likely because they’re delightfully low-tech and far removed from the constant deluge of communication we’re navigating all day, as two small business owners reliant entirely on technology in the rural west. [more]

Four Corners Events

Few things are more powerful in combination than dance and community. Add spirituality, food and the pursuit of peace to the mix, and you’ve got the ingredients for a very special event. This month Alamosa hosts the internationally-popular Dances of Universal Peace – an event inspired by the traditions of tribal and village cultures to renew a connection with the earth and cosmos through ritual celebration. Dance leaders Sky Majida from Durango and Stuart Allen from Crestone will be present for the event. [more]

Natural Living in the New West

The requisite Three Little Pigs reference might be lost on anyone who grew up after my generation, but recent home building trends – once reserved primarily for the dry and sun-drenched southwest – are cropping up (no pun intended) all over, punching holes in the old fairy tale and suggesting that if they had put their heads and materials together instead, they could’ve licked the big, bad wolf.

Today we’re the Three Little Pigs: energy-hungry, self-serving Americans, to wide varying degrees, who love their consumption and conveniences and the competition with our neighbors to build and to be the biggest and best in town. Our big, bad wolf has shape-shifted into rising energy costs, supply shortages, depleted natural resources and, many believe, a looming threat to the way of life we’ve become accustomed to over the last 50 years. [more]

READY, SET… ACTION!

The Durango Independent Film Festival (DIFF) is gearing up to turn the spotlight on some of southwest Colorado’s finest filmmakers this year, taking the ball on court from the financially troubled Durango Film Festival last year when it announced it would not put on a festival in 2006. Successfully rallying more than 50 staff and volunteers, many from the previous Durango Film Festival staff roster, the newly-formed organization was able to pull together resources and gel a knockout festival set to roll March 1st – 5th. [more]

New West Living

This weekend I packed my teenage son in the truck and drove down from Crestone to central New Mexico to his girlfriend’s birthday party in the tiny town of Torreon. Long distance relationships among adults aren’t terribly uncommon – but for in-the-moment, in-your-face teens to whom hanging out, image and attention are of paramount importance? Seems like it's becoming increasingly common, despite the drawbacks, and I blame it on the romance of technology: email, instant messaging, web cams, digital photos, blogs and the occasional steal-away on a sympathetic parent’s cell phone (or, for some more privileged than mine, their own).

Even as recently 15 or 20 years ago, most anybody in Crestone or Torreon, both with populations under 500 and both an hour’s drive from the nearest metro area, had challenges keeping in regular contact with, let alone being in love with, anyone more than a few miles out of town. And for those who did find love close to home, moving away often meant leaving it behind, or, at the very least, promises of undying devotion across the miles, followed by an exchange of love letters than inevitably dwindled out over time during the growing-apart process. Out of sight, I’m afraid the saying goes, out of mind. [more]

Southern Colorado Travel

As states go, Colorado has never had a shortage of tourists and travelers abuzz on its flanks. The fertile ski culture, the lure of fall aspens, and the metro Denver city swing are big draws for the state, and mean big tourism dollars at state and local levels. But wander south of Telluride or Colorado Springs and you’ll watch the flood of out-of-state dollars progressively slow to, in some areas, little more than the drip of a rusty spigot.

Too far south to draw day-trippers from the front range and central Rockies, and too far north to attract attention from Santa Fe and Taos visitors, southeastern and south central Colorado have in many ways suffered from (or enjoyed, depending on your point of view) Little Sister Syndrome – pretty and charming, full of potential, but nonetheless tucked behind the shadow of her bigger, bolder sibling. [more]

CULTURAL (R)EVOLUTION

I sat at my desk and watched a dust storm form on the western horizon yesterday morning, collecting itself over the San Juans and tumbling down into the valley. At first we thought fire, or fog, but then the warm wind flickered on and we were pretty quickly surrounded by it and the coarse, blinding dust it brought with it. And so the day went, draped in dust and unable to make out anything beyond the herd of elk perched at the end of the road – in a view that might normally extend for fifty miles or more.

This morning, we woke up to four inches of snow.

And so it goes in the high desert alpine confluence of the San Luis Valley: a reliable even if shape-shifting dance between extremes. [more]

Alternative Education

One afternoon three years ago in Albuquerque, we learned from the back of a brown paper grocery bag that my then nine-year-old daughter Sarah has autism. We unloaded groceries as we read, putting fewer and fewer cans and breads and teas away as we made it further down the list: vocal ‘stimming’ or chanting; extreme resistance to and/or distress at change in routine; ‘flapping’ arms and/or hands; becoming easily and markedly distressed for no visible reason; unusually focused fascination on specific subjects or objects; frequent repetitive behaviors; coordination and motor difficulties; noticeable lack of natural fears and presence of unnatural fears; delay in and difficulty following set of instructions …

By the time we reached the end we were sitting at the table, bag in hand, looking across the room at Sarah on the floor playing and wondering why Albertson’s knew more about my daughter than her comprehensive interdisciplinary team at school seemed to. Even her pediatrician had never mentioned a word or suggested an evaluation. So for nine years, Sarah had been a compelling mystery to her doctors, her school system and, admittedly, to us too. [more]

Four Corners Events

Since history began, at least as Hallmark and See’s Candies would have it, February has been singled out for lovers and for chocolate. This year is no different, so sweethearts and sweet tooths alike can come take part in a day of decadence at Durango’s 20th Annual Chocolate Fantasia on Friday, February 24th. Sponsored by the First National Bank of Durango and the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, the event benefits the Volunteers of America Southwest Safehouse and the Durango Community Shelter. [more]

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