Durango Diaries, the biweekly storyteller series hosted by
The event will be held at 6 p.m. at the Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Speakers will include:
Ann Butler, a former award-winning staff writer and columnist for the Herald. Through her 17 years at the newspaper, she wrote the popular Neighbors column, spent more than a decade documenting community members’ deaths in obituaries and covered the nonprofit, police and courts and education beats. Butler spent her early career working in international business. A family tragedy – a car accident where her mother was killed and her father seriously injured – led her to reinvent her life and end up in a new career in journalism. By telling the community’s stories, she changed her own.
Esther Belin, a writer and multimedia artist. Her writing is widely anthologized, and her latest volume of poetry, “Of Cartography,” examines identity politics, checkerboard land status and the interplay of words (abstraction) and image (realism.) In 2000, she won the American Book Award for her first book of poetry, “From the Belly of My Beauty.” She holds degrees from Antioch University, the Institute of American Indian Arts and the University of California at Berkeley. She is a Navajo Nation citizen and lives in Bayfield with her four daughters and husband – all of whom are artists, too.
Sarah Syverson, co-founder and co-producer of The Raven Narratives. The narratives are a live storytelling event and podcast that she and her fellow co-producer, Tom Yoder, started three years ago. It showcases storytellers from La Plata and Montezuma counties. In 2018, they also showcased storytellers from San Juan County and worked with youths to tell stories. Syverson studied Improvisation and Sketch Writing at Second City in Chicago and has written, produced and starred in humorously poignant, original one-woman shows throughout the Southwest.
Season 3 of Durango Diaries will continue at 6 p.m. Wednesdays at the Durango library through May. Upcoming event topics will be:
Feb. 20: Durango 2040. What will our town look like in almost 20 years? More chain retails? Continuous development? Speakers will be Greg Hoch, former city of Durango planning director; Richard Grossman, a doctor and columnist about population issues; and Sarah Lemke, a forward-looking educator.
March 6: Adrenaline rush. Self-professed adrenaline junkies Sean Englund, Bee Alaine Mathis and Dave Farkas will talk about chasing the next natural high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
March 20: Women breaking norms. Our speakers will talk about working in professions that have long been dominated by men. They will be: Kerry Siggins, CEO of Durango-based StoneAge Inc.; Donna Emenegger, a retired Colorado Department of Transportation employee who maintained miles of highway in Southwest Colorado; and Leah Starr, a welder and fabricator for Ska Fabricating.
April 3: Second acts. Sometimes, we need a shift in life. Our speakers will talk about how and why they switched professions – and the joy and pitfalls that came with it. They will be: Nancy Utter, a former land-use planner and now naturopath; Sean Jackson, a former journalist and now car shop foreman for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad; and Nicolas Cofman, former pilot and now dentist.
April 17: Bullying. A pervasive social problem, experts and victims of bullying will talk about how we as a community can work to prevent it. Speakers will be named at a later date.
May 8: People with a passion. What makes people join groups or play team sports? Our three speakers will talk about why they do what they do for fun – and how to get others involved. They will include: Daryl Hinderer, pickleball player; Scott Gibbs, train buff; and Gloria Macht, member of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
May 22: War veterans. Veterans of five U.S. wars will talk about their service. They will include: Wayne McGee, World War II; Eric Greene, Korean War; Stan Crapo, Vietnam War; Shoshona Burrows, Desert Storm; and Nathaniel Burford, Iraq/Afghanistan.
The podcast of each Durango Diaries, including past seasons, can be listened to or downloaded on the Herald’s website at durangoherald.com/durangodiaries.
To receive the Durango Diaries newsletter, email durangodiaries@durangoherald.com.
