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A drag performer in a pink dress and sequined jacket on the cover of Colorado Sunday, with the headline "We are not going away" addressing anti-LGBTQ threats. Additional text highlights local stories.

Good morning, friends!

I’ll make this quick, today, as our cover story by Kari Dequine Harden has left me with a lot to think about. Her reporting from a drag show in Steamboat Springs captures the joy of kings, queens and in-betweens performing, but also tells the story of how much work goes into creating community and describes the necessity of finding compassion even for those who mean them harm.

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Fresh Drag Show cast member Jack Darling watches Axel Rod put on makeup before their performance Wednesday night. (Matt Stensland, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Following threats of gun violence at the July Fresh Drag Show in Steamboat Springs, the August show went off Wednesday without a hitch — and, as promised, was bigger and better than ever.

I wanted to cover what started as a negative story — a young man threatening to shoot up a bar specifically because a drag show was being hosted that night — because it had transformed into the tale of a community rallying around the cast and the larger LGBTQ community and using the incident to create awareness and take a stance of solidarity.

It was truly a beautiful thing to witness. I’ve seen drag performances but had never been to a late-night show. Compared to the many other concerts and shows I’ve seen in bars, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a more joyful crowd. It was infectious. And as one woman said “it’s all about love.”

I cried when the whole cast sang “This Is Me.”

Yes, it was also irreverent and not suitable for young children. But it was all in the name of celebrating differences and having fun and a good sense of humor.

Even the weather in Steamboat that evening seemed to be on the side of love and diversity — with one of the brightest rainbows I’ve ever seen, followed by a spectacular orange glow at sunset.

I still am working on increasing my own awareness and understanding of what it means to be gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender, especially in the current political environment. I made progress on that in 2022 when I covered the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs for The Guardian. The experience of visiting the city and the scene of the crime just hours after it occurred was both devastating and inspiring — through the course of writing three stories I talked to so many incredible people and learned so much.

Seeing that story up close made me very grateful this week that the Steamboat Springs community and police took this young man’s threats so seriously — regardless of what he actually was capable of doing.

READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE

August is coming to a close, but people continue to soak in the light of the remaining days of summer. Here are recent scenes from both sides of the Continental Divide from the Colorado Sun photo team.

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Paralympian Lacey Henderson will be heading to Paris for the Paralympics as part of the NBC crew. (John Leyba, Special to The Colorado Sun)
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Three-year-old Brooks Quinlan and his father, Marc Quinlan, 42, of Golden, wave at the Firehawk helicopter operated by Colorado’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control as it descends Wednesday near the Golden Community Garden to refill for another water drop on the Goltra fire that burned in nearby Clear Creek Canyon west of Golden. (Andy Colwell, Special to The Colorado Sun)
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U.S. 550 crosses through the San Juan Mountains on Red Mountain Pass Monday near Ouray. The stronger colors in Red Mountain Creek emerged due to runoff from heavy rainfall. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
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For several weeks a large black bear prowled the tiny community of Almont in broad daylight, wreaking havoc on unprotected garbage cans, eating bicycle seats, raiding grills and stealing at least one pair of shoes left on a porch to dry (mine.) On Wednesday, after raiding the garbage one last time, the bear strolled right into a waiting Colorado Parks and Wildlife trap. (Dean Krakel, Special to The Colorado Sun)
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A groundskeeper does his morning maintenance routines on a fairway at Cherokee Ridge Golf Course on Aug. 17, in Colorado Springs. The course is owned by the Cherokee Metropolitan District, which is working on ways to reuse water for purposes such as irrigating turf. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
Park on the Plaza, between the Jeppesen Terminal and Westin Hotel, at Denver International Airport offers a spot to chill during the summer. And on a clear day, you can see Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. (Dana Coffield, The Colorado Sun)

It seems like every storm that has rolled across the Front Range this summer has resulted in some kind of flight foo at Denver International Airport. Every news alert I get that talks about ground stops and cancelled flights leaves me wondering what all those people stalled on their journey from point A to point B are supposed to do with themselves until the weather clears and the planes get back on schedule.

DIA has long been trying to market itself as more than just a transit hub, adding fine dining and shopping, nice art and interesting rotating exhibits on the walkover to the A gates. But one of the best assets of the whole place is Park on the Plaza, a vast expanse of astroturf flowing from the Jeppesen Terminal south to the outer edge of winged glass-and-steel Westin Hotel.

It’s a weirdly calming space, with curvy benches to sprawl out on, cornhole games and a glorious balcony that offers expansive and unobstructed views all the way to Pikes Peak.

The airport also programs the space. This summer’s free Concerts on the Fly series still has two shows remaining, including one this afternoon at 2 p.m. with jazz saxophonists Paul Taylor and Michael Lington headlining.

The park is outside security, so mind the time and don’t forget your boarding pass.

CONCERTS ON THE FLY AT DIA

EXCERPT: In this excerpt from a short story by Theodore McCombs, artificial intelligence reveals itself to be a life–saving boon — but the ultimate truth is insidious. “Talk to Your Children About Two-Tongued Jeremy,” part of a collection titled “Uranians,” reveals both the author’s sharp wit and his unblinking take on the double-edged blade of A.I. The collection took the Colorado Book Award this year for short stories.

READ THE SUNLIT EXCERPT

THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: McCombs, an environmental lawyer when he’s not writing, explains how a couple of writing workshops helped him “cut loose” his creativity. But his thoughts on many other topics — including a hilarious take on which writers he’d like to host for a literary discussion —make this Q&A a cut above and well worth reading. He’s a small sample:

SunLit: If you could pick just one thing — a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers would take from this book, what would that be?

McCombs: Coming to understand one’s self and one’s relation to the larger world isn’t about “identity politics,” “virtue signaling,” or any of the other contemptuous labels used to dissuade us from thinking critically about integrity and justice. To confront the real evils of the moment, we have to understand where we’re getting our ideas from, how they shape our decisions, which ones we carry forward and which ones we need to jettison.

READ THE INTERVIEW WITH THEODORE MCCOMBS

A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.

An outdoorsman driving slowly down a dirt road recorded the first publicly shared view of three wolf cubs born to gray wolves released in Grand County in December. Click on the photo to see the video by Mike Usalavage and read about the encounter. (Screengrab)

🌞 We’ve all heard the claim that beef production is a major contributor to the greenhouse gas pollution problem in the U.S. A Cargill-funded study at Colorado State University is working to identify ways to reduce the amount of methane belched from cattle on feedlots. Tracy Ross visited the lab to see — and smell — how that is going.

🌞 Denver Water customers are advised to sprinkle lawns and gardens early in the morning and just three days a week. Jerd Smith learned that people are complying with the recommendation, but most people have set their systems to run on Monday at 5 a.m. and that’s causing big trouble for the utility.

🌞 Audubon Society is the latest big nonprofit where employees are trying to unionize. Michael Booth checked in with a Denver-based worker who explained how badly shrinking benefits and national labor law violations sting, especially when executive compensation is taken into consideration.

🌞The second special legislative session called in the last 12 months starts Monday. Many people wonder whether there will be actual negotiation to cut property taxes, or if the talking has already gone on behind closed doors. Brian Eason reports on how a law passed this year letting legislators do more behind closed doors is causing frustration.

🌞This just in: The fall general election ballot is going to be crowded with both consequential and controversial measures. Two more qualified last week. Jesse Paul reports on the one that would lengthen the amount of time people convicted of violent crimes must serve before becoming eligible for parole. And Erica Breunlin reports on the measure that seeks to protect school choice in the state constitution.

🌞 The bad news we reported last week has gotten worse: Biologists have confirmed the Colorado River west of Grand Junction is infested with invasive zebra mussels larvae. Shannon Mullane explains why this is such a problem.

🌞 The records of more than 100,000 people convicted of low-level crimes are being sealed under a new state law. Jennifer Brown reported on how this is expected to help people applying for jobs and housing.

🌞 Ski hill for sale. Close to fun college town. Jason Blevins has all the details — except for the price Powdr wants for Eldora Mountain Resort.

Thanks for being with us today. We’ll meet you back here next Colorado Sunday.

— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun

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