As the festival starts its new life this weekend, will Visit Estes Park’s mission to “professionalize it” improve it or ruin it?
culture
Nature and diverse cultures gave Kathy Taylor’s short stories their underpinnings
“Trees and Other Witnesses” author Kathy Taylor explains how an appreciation for nature, and a background living in other countries,, combined to produce standalone stories with some common threads.
What the staff at Out West Books suggests for your next great read this January
Out West Books owner Marya Johnston suggest four books: a Chinese family history plus three others that delve into Chinese culture — and lots of food — to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Laura Pritchett: Reconnecting with nature at Aldo Leopold’s early home
For Laura Pritchett, a month living in the former residence of the author of an enduring “land ethic” prompted reflection on both landscape and cultural heritage.
Adrian Miller drew on oral histories of enslaved people to address origins of barbecue
While exploring Black cultural ties to barbecue cuisine, author Adrian Miller’s research for “Black Smoke” also revealed its Native American foundation.
Laura Pritchett: When it comes to rites of spring, bring on the Bear Dance
As someone not particularly fond of the last miserable, windy throes of winter, I’ll take any spring ceremony I can get. I need to release my grumbles, need to rev up my energy for all the exploring warmer months will bring. And as someone who is fascinated by bears, particularly the whole wonderful idea of […]
Nicolais: Twitter locked me out — for a ubiquitous cultural reference
Forget Skynet or The Matrix. Social media algorithms have already come for me. Last week Twitter officially suspended one of my accounts. Generally, I support social media companies cleaning up the cesspools of bile that proliferate on their platforms. I have been an ardent opponent of bloodlust rhetoric, support efforts to combat dangerous disinformation and […]
Movshovitz: “The Day the Earth Stood Still” still speaks to us, if we’re willing to listen
“Gort, KLAATU BARRATA NICTO” A loose translation of this famous line spoken near the end of the brilliant 1951 movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (forget the splashy, nowhere 2008 version with Keanu Reeves) would go something like “Gort, Klaatu says don’t incinerate the Earth — yet.” To go backwards in the story, Gort […]
SunLit interview: Pemba Sherpa had a story to tell but little time to write it. Enter James McVey.
Pemba Sherpa was born in the remote Khumbu region of Nepal, where he distinguished himself as a mountain guide. At 19, he migrated to Boulder and founded Ascent International. He is the owner of Sherpa Chai Tea Company and Sherpa’s Adventurer Restaurant in Boulder. Pemba has been able to devote his life to helping his […]
Movshovitz: The coronavirus pandemic will inspire filmmakers, but we’ll have to wait a while to see
Movies are not a popular art for nuthin’. They may not appear to take on serious aspects of our lives at the moment they hit the screens, but what’s going on in the world registers in all sorts of ways, both obvious and opaque. Great and traumatic events — hot world wars, cold wars, financial […]