It’s being called the Great Resignation. A record 4.3 million workers up and quit in August. A variety of reasons have been cited, from lousy working conditions and low pay to increasingly hostile and obnoxious customers. COVID has made people realize that life is short and if you are working full time at a job […]
Diane Carman
Special to The Colorado Sun
Twitter: @dccarman
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Take it from a former vaccine skeptic, COVID is the “real deal”
In the dark vortex of the urban-rural, blue-red, vaxxeed-unvaxxed chaos that is America right now, Dusty Jensen stands as a tall, burly, good-natured unicorn. He’s a man who isn’t afraid to admit he’s changed his mind. Imagine that. I met him in a remote place at the end of a gnarly dirt road. It was […]
Posted inNews, Opinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Buckle up! Wild and crazy California politics likely will be on full display in Colorado in 2022
The absurdly undemocratic election to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, which cost taxpayers some $300 million and exposed them to relentless campaigning for months in what was supposed to be an off-year respite from political browbeating, finally ended last week. Nothing changed. Ah, but … wait for it … it’s not really over. Is it […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: A mother’s grief turns to long-overdue action in justice for Elijah McClain
When Attorney General Phil Weiser stood behind a microphone to announce the indictment of three cops and two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain on Wednesday, his tone was somber and resolute. “Our goal,” the grave-faced Weiser said, “is to seek justice for Elijah McClain, for his family and friends, and for our state.” […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Apocalypse now — Washington keeps dithering while the West suffocates
In the same week that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report, Denver achieved the dubious distinction of being the city with the most dangerous air in the world for a few hours. Our Air Quality Index on Aug. 7 was 167. I was on a road trip across the Pacific Northwest […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Simone Biles’ gold medal-worthy performance a lesson for all of us
Like Simone Biles, last week I started feeling like I had a “bit of the twisties.” I’ve been rolling along, tumbling happily through life for the past five months, hugging my grandchildren and smiling again without my mask, and suddenly it seems I might be heading for a crash. The Centers for Disease Control and […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: In the war on reality, Westminster, Colorado, is Everytown, U.S.A.
For decades, we’ve heard that a reckoning was coming. Climate change would threaten our fundamental way of life in the West. After years of neglect, essential parts of our infrastructure would fail. The bills for the costs of maintaining our essential services — kicked willy-nilly down the road to a murky unidentified date in the […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Fourth of July is a chance to finally face some not-so-self-evident truths
It’s Independence Day, a celebration of the declaration that inspired a scrappy people to rise in opposition to their colonial oppressors and establish a great nation. On this, there is little controversy. Beautifully written and lofty in its ideals, the Declaration of Independence not only establishes that “all men are created equal,” but beseeches people […]
Posted inOpinion Columns
Carman: An examination of rural Colorado’s coronavirus vaccine resistance
The heat shimmered from the pavement and a smoky haze from Western wildfires made the sunsets a vivid orange on our road trip to Mancos last weekend. We hiked, reconnected with friends after a long time apart and toasted with local cider to the miracle of vaccination. This was freedom. For us, COVID was mostly […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Carman: Life is a highway, but the legislature keeps finding nothing but dead ends
It’s at this point in every legislative session with the deadline for adjournment looming that you realize just how hard it is for human beings to make progress … in anything. Pick a problem — educational opportunity, access to decent housing, affordable health care, criminal justice, systemic racism — the list goes on. If you […]