THE INDEPENDENT

CULTURE

59th Annual Hozhoni Days Powwow 59th Annual Hozhoni Days Powwow

Friday, May 2, 2025 | Written by Junior Parrish, Photographed by Donovan Riley and Junior Parrish

59th Annual Hozhoni Days Powwow

An event that brings joy and beauty, Hozhoni Ambassadors and First Attendant said.
Home Away From Home Home Away From Home

Monday, April 14, 2025 | Anja Tabor

Home Away From Home

Exchange students at Fort Lewis shared their experiences. The ups, downs, and learning curves that come with studying abroad.
Punks Rock! Punks Rock!

Thursday, February 13, 2025 | Jimena Lopez

Punks Rock!

First-year students launch into the community of punk rock. 


Adventure for All

By:Scout Edmondson Indy Staff Writer

Outdoor Pursuits stives to provide opportunities to the BIPOC community on campus

  Nestled in between the vast deserts of the American southwest and the sky scraping ramparts of Colorado’s San Juan mountains is Fort Lewis College. Because of its proximity to some of the United States most beautiful natural settings, the college is a haven for people who want to pursue their education while also spending time outside.  One doesn’t have to look...

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....

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...

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...

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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