Today, let’s recall some reasons to be thankful here in Colorado

Happy Thanksgiving, and thanks for opening a special and personal edition of The Sunriser.

Amid an intense political season, on top of nonstop news about war, climate catastrophes and other news of the day, it’s asking a lot for any of us to open our emails and our eyes to what’s happening around the world and around our state. Many people I know, and you likely know, have chosen to turn off the news, what some are calling “cocooning” and others are just calling burnout.

We all can reach a point where we need a break from what can seem like an endless cycle of heavy news. And while this might seem unexpected coming from a journalist, I’d like to assure you that taking an occasional breather is OK. Today I invite you to join me for something else, a collection of uplifting stories that brought us together this year — stories about connection, wonder and joy. But, first I’d like to talk a little about gratitude.

My family’s Thanksgiving tradition is to take a moment before the feast to share something that we’re grateful for. That’s particularly hard for me this year, just weeks after my mother passed away.

And yet.

I’m grateful for the decades we had together, for the love she showered on her family, and I’m glad that she was able to go out on her own terms, in her own bed, holding my hand.

Although she never quite understood what The Colorado Sun was, she was an early supporter when we launched six years ago and was proud that her son was trying to make a difference to help people stay informed.

So I’m grateful for your support, too, whether it’s as a member, a donor or a reader who has taken a moment to engage with fellow Coloradans.

And as a thanks to you today, please allow me to share some of our favorite Sun stories from the past year about Coloradans working to make our state a better place.

• After years of hard lessons and perseverance, Denver artist R. Alan Brooks is having a moment. As a kid, few took the multifaceted Denver artist’s affinity for comics seriously. Now they can visit his work in museums.
• Garlic from this Colorado farm is making neighbors give up grocery store bulbs for good. Green Acres U-Pick in Palisade cultivates a globe-spanning collection of Colorado garlic that most home cooks have never encountered.
• It’s taken 150 years, but Colorado’s deaf school finally has a superintendent who is deaf. Tera Spangler, who became deaf at age 10, became superintendent of the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind this year.

• A 20-year quest to bring back Colorado’s rarest apple that was once thought lost. A 20-year pursuit to rediscover the Colorado Orange apple is seeing the fruits of its labor. But initial taste tests have been … lackluster.
• New Denver coffee shop is serving up hand-crafted lattés and jobs for homeless teens. Purple Door, which opened near downtown in March, hires baristas who have gone through a job readiness program at an Englewood coffee roaster.

• Tiny, endangered toads transplanted to Colorado pond successfully breed after 7 years. Colorado biologists are thrilled to find endangered Boreal tadpoles in a bog in the mountains, calling it “potentially game-changing.”
• New litters of elusive, highly endangered black-footed ferrets produced in southeastern Colorado. After years of no signs, black-footed ferrets released into the wild are having wild-born kits in Colorado areas, giving Colorado hope.
• Colorado Parks and Wildlife lands a spectacular hunting and fishing ranch in South Park. After nonprofits and GOCO stepped in to aid the purchase, Colorado was able to buy an incredible $8.25 million ranch for a new state wildlife area.

• What is the “Cyclopean Cave” — and why are these guys hauling buckets of Colorado mud to find it? Outside Leadville, spelunkers are following a hunch that a pioneer journalist’s fantastical cavern could be right below their feet.
• Sara and Charles summited all 58 of Colorado’s tallest peaks. They wanted their adult son to reach the top of just one. Sara and Charles Thinger climbed the state’s highest mountains. Reed Small, who has spina bifida, summited Pikes Peak with a special hiking chair and the help of nearly 75 volunteers.

• Ghost, logging baron, burned-down mill: An enduring, lesser-known craft is keeping Colorado history alive. Josephine Lobato’s first comprehensive retrospective, which showcases four decades of her colchas, is on display on the walls of the Davis Gallery at the University of Denver.
• Small towns are getting in on the push for better Colorado playgrounds for kids with disabilities. Most Colorado big cities have at least one inclusive park for kids with disabilities. Now even Berthoud, a town of 12,000, is getting one.

​​This isn’t intended to be a comprehensive list, and I hope we produced others that touched you in the past year. Please feel free to reach out and share them, and we can share them with your fellow Coloradans in the weeks ahead.

Thanks again for reading today. All of us here at The Sun are so grateful for you — today and every day.

Larry Ryckman

Publisher

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