THE INDEPENDENT

CULTURE

Indigenous People's Day 2025 Indigenous People's Day 2025

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | Written by Mya Simon, Photographed by M'iitra Pino

Indigenous People's Day 2025

October rain does little to keep FLC from celebrating Indigenous culture 

Fiesta en la Mesa Fiesta en la Mesa

Wednesday, October 8, 2025 | Steven Ben

Fiesta en la Mesa

Members of Ballet Folklorico de Durango, a cultural arts program that promotes Mexican culture, perform Sept. 19, 2025, during Fiesta en la Mesa...
Banging Heads in Buckley Park Banging Heads in Buckley Park

Thursday, October 2, 2025 | Mya Simon and Garrett Middleton

Banging Heads in Buckley Park

Locals share an inside look into Durango's metal scene. 

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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The Powwow Returns The Powwow Returns

The Powwow Returns

By Tiara Yazzie and Cameron Maroney Indy Staff Writers

PHOTO ESSAY: Two years after a pandemic hiatus, Hozhoni Days is back.

With suitcases in hand and braids in place, people of all ages stood in line at the Whalen Gymnasium on April 1, eager to take in the excitement of The Hozhoni Days PowWow at Fort Lewis College after two years of its absence due to the pandemic. ‘Honoring those who never made it home’ was the theme for the 56th annual powwow at FLC,   in regard to the boarding schools where...

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