Columnists - The Durango Herald

Reducing the barriers to pet adoption

Over time, the adoption process for pets has become more and more complex. Lengthy and often arduous applications, home visits, reference checks and inquiries with landlords all contribute t...

DATE: Feb 23, 2024 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

‘Pain a minor reason patients choose PAS’

Compassion for individuals confronting a terminal illness drove the efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide, or PAS (also known as medical aid in dying), in Colorado in 2016. Compassi...

DATE: Feb 23, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Medical condition leads to marriage’s breakup

DEAR ABBY: I suffered an injury that caused internal bleeding, which then gave me iron deficiency anemia. I was battling its symptoms of depression and anxiety before I was diagnosed. Never ...

DATE: Feb 22, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

A.J. Lee and Blue Summit happy to play music

A.J. Lee’s foray into bluegrass music started with her mom and a pizza place. Her mom was a big fan of country music as well as a vocalist, playing out now and then while also coming up with...

DATE: Feb 21, 2024 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Man weighs revealing health status

DEAR ABBY: I am a gay man who came out late in life. I have three grown, married children and five grandchildren. They are my world, and we are all very close. I’ve had one partner. My famil...

DATE: Feb 21, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

A love letter to the American West

Forget chocolate candies and flowers that fade. My heart belongs to the Great American West, to its history, folklore and unhurried, yet wild ways. From grandpas to outlaws, I come from a l...

DATE: Feb 18, 2024 | CATEGORY: Sports

Solar planning and development underway

Rapid deployment of utility-scale solar projects is a critical piece to addressing climate change impacts associated with electricity generation. Utilities throughout the West are particular...

DATE: Feb 18, 2024 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Parents refuse to keep boy under control

DEAR ABBY: I host holiday meals for my out-of-town family. During the last one, my cousin’s 5-year-old son ran up and down the upstairs hallway pretty much nonstop the entire time. The floor...

DATE: Feb 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Efforts to connect are met by silence

DEAR ABBY: I am engaged to an amazing guy. We have been together a little more than two years. During our first year, his family was great to me. They acted as if they liked me. However, thi...

DATE: Feb 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

League of Women Voters ‘help voters wade through noise’

With a national election on the horizon, the fire hose of information has increased, flooding us through our computers, phones, televisions and mailboxes. It is often difficult to separate f...

DATE: Feb 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Surfrajettes bringing surf rock to Durango

Coastal regions aren’t the only places that can pump out surf bands. There’s great instrumental surf-rock bands everywhere, many coming from landlocked states, some even formed and reared in...

DATE: Feb 14, 2024 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

‘Benefit in bears acting like bears, not raiding ranches’

Is there any habit harder to break than harboring a grudge against an old adversary? Yet burying hatchets is exactly what it might take to conserve our wildlife, in the face of ever-increasi...

DATE: Feb 14, 2024 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns