I’m in the process of updating my website. I’ve got a new theme—Thesis—and I’m customizing it. It may take a little while.
After that, I’ll need to revise the About page, which is now out of date.
A New Start—Almost
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Category Archives: Free for All
Time to Rethink
Eighteen months ago I started this blog with high hopes that I would make money off the Internet. Although I’ve made friends because of this blog and had a great time exploring Denver, I’ve spent at least $2,000 and have earned $11 (plus tax deductions). I want to use the time I spend exploring Denver and writing these posts to forward my ideas in other areas. So for now, this is the last post.
I’m debating whether to set up a city site about Denver as the first of many such sites about cities I visit. If I did, I would copy the review posts to that site and gussy them up a bit with SEO. I don’t see the point of taking everything off this site and breaking all the links I’ve spent 18 months getting, though, so the old reviews will stay here.
I’m also thinking of turning this site into a photography blog. That’s my passion now, and it’s been finding its way into posts here and there, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.
Whatever I decide to do, I need a break from writing posts. I’ll be using the time to recharge and catch up on all your doings, which I’ve been neglecting.
Have a great weekend. Spring is on the way.
Denver Photos: Commons Park Bridge
Looks like it will be a good weekend to be out and about. Unless, of course, you’re at home watching the X Games. Here’s a picture of one end of the Commons Park bridge over the South Platte River.
Do you like the extra saturation, or not?
Here’s a bit of news from 5280 magazine that I find disturbing. William Dean Singleton, chairman and publisher of the Denver Post, will be making more than $1 million after the restructuring of Affiliated Media of Denver, which owns the Post and more than 50 other newspapers. Apparently, the restructuring was done in such a way as to give Bank of America an 88% share in Affiliated Media. That doesn’t give me confidence in the news. What do you think?
Here’s the 5280 blog post.
Also this weekend: my husband is showing Birthday Girl, the test shoot for his film Kung Fu Sushi Chefs, at the Bug Theater at 37th and Navajo. Here is the trailer on YouTube.
The Denver Jewish Film Festival has a launch party February 2. The festival opens February 11.
Thursday: Things to Do in Denver
The National Western Stock Show comes to town this Saturday. On January 23, the champion steer will appear at the Brown Palace. Tea and steer: what a combination!
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I just discovered Indulgences, Etc. (Belvedere Belgian Chocolate) on Colfax has closed. That leaves 2 locations along the Front Range: the one in Boulder on 14th Street and the factory in Castle Rock.
Bixa has also closed its location on Colfax at Vine. It is now a medical marijuana dispensary, which somehow seems appropriate.
Destination: Anywhere: The 32nd Annual Starz Denver Film Festival
Better late than never…
My Favorite Feature: Precious
As a general rule, I see documentaries at the SDFF because I figure they’re less likely to show in theaters. And although I did see several this year, I started with Precious, which is making quite the stir in the film world. As refreshing as it is to watch a film about an obese black teenage girl (not what filmmakers think most 18-year-old boys want to see), what made the film for me was the confession by the mother at the end. It was awful and heartbreaking and completely understandable and disgusting, all at once. It took the film to an entirely new level.
Shorts from Colorado
Next was Winners and Losers, a collection of Colorado shorts. My favorite was The Unrecoverable Loss of Eugene, a hilarious take on Victorian and modern sexual mores. Perhaps my husband will have more to say in the comments (hint, hint).
Second Feature: Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
Go see Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench to watch the female lead break into song and the male lead play his trumpet. Go for the experimental take on musicals and story. Don’t spend so much time trying to follow the love story, as I did; just enjoy the music-fest.
My Favorite Documentary: Still Bill
Still Bill won the People’s Choice Documentary Feature award for its warm portrayal of Bill Withers’s decision to step away from fame. It opens with “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone” and closes with “Grandma’s Hands.” It has good cinematography, good music, and good stories. If you can’t see it in the theater, try Netflix or Video Station in Boulder.
At this point I began to notice how many of the movies I chose had to do with music.
Third Feature: Crossing
Crossing had nothing to do with music. Written by two Texans who also starred as Manuel (the lead) and Diego (his camera-toting friend), it follows a Mexican ne’er-do-well who learns his father will be executed in Texas and runs north because he refuses to let his father leave him again. His pregnant wife protests, but he goes anyway, into his own personal comedy of errors.
Second Documentary: Turtle: The Incredible Journey
According to Britta Erickson, festival director, Turtle is another March of the Penguins. I disagree. The overwrought script read by Miranda Richardson got on my nerves. I did like the use of “she”; it’s nice that not all moviemakers feel adventures belong solely to male creatures. And there were beautiful images, especially the opening shot of the hatchling leaving its egg.
Third Documentary: Two Spirits
Like Turtle, this movie showed at the King Center across the parking lot from the Tivoli, where Starz’s main theaters are located. I used my membership privileges to get to the front of the huge line, though I’m not sure it really made a difference; I think all the seats there are pretty good. A documentary about the murder of Navajo teenager Fred Martinez, Two Spirits explores the traditional Navajo concept of gender (there are 4) and notes that it was common for Navajos to celebrate the lives of gay and lesbian children because they were thought to embody both genders and thus to represent the balance of life.
At the panel afterward, an activist from New York who came to Cortez, Colorado, to investigate the murder said this kind of hate crime happens every week. You can find more information at the Fred Martinez Project or the Two Spirit Society of Denver (a performance by several members is pictured here).
Fourth Documentary: The Duke of the Bachata
Made by local filmmaker Adam Taub (La Quinceañera), The Duke is about a Dominican musical genre dismissed as vulgar by the musical elite of that country. I wish I could say more about it, but it was my third film of the day, and I couldn’t stay awake. It was preceded by an amusing short, The Eighth Samurai, which Todd thought was a dead-on parody of Kurosawa.
Yet ANOTHER Documentary Seen After the SDFF: The Yes Men Fix the World
If you’re a liberal, and the idea of playing a prank on a multinational corporation makes you drool, go see this movie. Very amusing. I couldn’t believe that these guys kept getting away with their media stunts.
Denver Photos for September 11
Here’s a scene from Capitol Hill in Denver. Note the structure on the far right of the picture.
Here’s a closer shot.
Happy Labor Day!
In celebration of all who work in whatever capacity, I present these pictures.
These two noticed me taking this picture and shouted, “$10 a picture!” I didn’t pay up. I think they were checking that the panels on the side of the Hyatt Hotel were screwed in securely.
After going through half my pictures, I finally found a good one of a woman working—in Chattanooga! This is from Niedlov’s Bakery in downtown Chattanooga. In the future, I’ll make a point of taking more pictures of people working. Until now, I’ve generally taken photos of the places they work instead.
And this glassblower was doing his thing at the South Pearl Winterfest in Denver.
DNC Revisited
Lovely, gentle readers,
I began this blog a year ago, during the Democratic National Convention. In my “What This Blog Is About” post in July, I noted that the city expected to make $160 million from the DNC. On August 24, 5280 magazine claimed the convention netted $266 million in direct and indirect spending. It’s nice to know the predictions were somewhere in the ballpark.
Here is a timely image of late senator Ted Kennedy from the convention (actually, it’s from The Place for Politics that MSNBC set up near the Millennium Bridge at Riverfront Park):
But my favorite image from the convention may just be this one:
Have a good weekend, y’all!
Denver Summer Festivals: EarthWorks Expo
Saturday afternoon I visited EarthWorks Expo at the Denver Merchandise Mart on 58th and I-25, expecting an event much like the Denver Green Festival. And they were quite similar, though EarthWorks Expo was smaller and in an older venue.
The talks at EarthWorks Expo were much better, however. I enjoyed learning how to garden in the winter using a cold frame (and plan to try it out again this fall, if I can manage to plant everything in the next 2 weeks), but the best speaker was Albert Bates, whom you might call an optimist-environmentalist. Yes, they do exist. His vision of the future: Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
But just in case things don’t work out the way Bates wants, at least you can go out in an eco-friendly way.
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Today I turned 47 years old at 12:47 am (the witching hour). At my request, Todd got me a cake reading “Happy 45th Birthday,” because that was the last birthday I greeted with enthusiasm.
Transition Colorado
Over the last few years, “transition” movements have been popping up all over the country. Their long-term goal is to strengthen the local economy to the point at which it can provide for the needs of local people. Their short-term goal is to enhance security by producing more food and other goods locally.
I believe that in Colorado, 1 percent of our food is produced locally, but I couldn’t find a source. If anyone can find a source, I would appreciate it.
There is a Transition Colorado group that has about 1,000 members, 130 of whom live in the Denver area. When I was at the Local Flavor Fest last Saturday, I met up with my friend Dana, who is very involved in Transition Denver. She told me about Denver Urban Homesteading Local Market and Reskilling Center down on Santa Fe. According to Dana, it’s one of only a few such organizations in the United States. I went to their website and read this: “Click to help decriminalize Denver’s chickens.” That made me laugh.
To some people, this movement may seem a bit apocalyptic. Peak oil! What if the food distribution network breaks down and we can’t get our peaches in the winter?!!
But Transition Colorado appeals to me because of its focus on encouraging local farmers, especially urban farmers, and local businesses. I believe that Americans do need to reestablish food distribution networks at the local level to supplement the national distribution network on which we now rely.
Whether peak oil will happen in the way some people predict, only time will tell. In the meantime, I’ll let someone else raise the chickens and keep planting my little garden and going to the farmer’s market.
Dana said that Will Allen, of Milwaukee Growing Power (the only land within Milwaukee city limits zoned as farmland), will speak in Denver in November. I definitely want to go see him.
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There’s a fine arts festival in Golden this weekend.
My Plans for Living the Mile-High Life
I started this website 11 months ago, with coverage of the Democratic National Convention, and now it’s time for a small course correction. In order to free up time to work on other Internet projects, I’m dumping the MonHaibuns and Crazy About Denver features. I’ll post every day, but reviews of Denver restaurants and shops will be less frequent and more like photo-essays. The remaining posts will feature photographs and brief commentary.
Posts will still be categorized by neighborhood, but I won’t be spending a fixed amount of time in any neighborhood, and if I venture beyond the borders of the City and County of Denver, those trips may find their way into this blog as well.
I spent last weekend at a Summer Garden Photography course at Denver Botanic Gardens, which is in full bloom this time of year. I learned that I know a lot less about flower photography than I thought I did. This photograph was taken during that course, which was taught by Jim Steinberg.
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Civic Center Park hosts its weekly market tomorrow, from 11 am to 2 pm.
On Friday, you could attend a Skyline Park Concert at noon or one of several First Friday art walks in the evening.
The Local Flavor Festival takes places this Saturday at the Lowenstein Culture Plex, from 11 am to 4 pm.
BrewGrass is also this Saturday on South Pearl, from noon to 10 pm.
The last concert in the City Park Jazz series is Sunday, August 9 from 6 to 8 pm.
Crazy About Denver: The Fifth Manliest?
Denver is the fifth manliest city in the USA? That’s great for all you guys, but what am I supposed to do with it?
This hilarious article ranking Denver in Westword tells you all about what I could do with all these manly men. Here’s a teaser: “We’re like the state version of Lance Armstrong (if Lance knew how to use a condom).”
Read it and discover what being manly has to do with cheese-filled pretzels. Because you knew the two were intrinsically linked, didn’t you?
Crazy About Denver: Have a Heart
When I was visiting the booths at the Denver Black Arts Festival, I noticed a charity I had never heard of: Valentine’s Heart.
According to the website (which needs a little help), “Valentine’s Heart assists individuals in underserved communities identify social issues by finding solutions, but not just through public assistance or education alone.”
When I chatted with the woman at the booth, she said their latest effort was the 3rd annual Back to School Giveaway at the Montbello Recreation Center on August 15. They’ll be collecting supplies for kids returning to school.
You can call Valentine’s Heart at 720-436-0536.
Crazy About Denver: Politicians Save Money!
My state representative is Dianne Primavera. Her most recent newsletter contained this note:
COLORADO HOUSE TO RETURN $900,000 TO STATE FROM GENERAL ASSEMBLY BUDGET
We take seriously the idea that the taxpayers are our bosses, the money we spend is theirs, and we are accountable to them. The Colorado House of Representatives—including the Majority Democrats, the Minority Republicans, and the administrative divisions—will return approximately $900,000 from its operating budget to the State’s General Fund for the last fiscal year which ended June 30th. House staff and leaders have consistently been wise stewards of the budget.”
Crazy About Denver: Fest with the Locals
There’s a new Denver Black Arts Festival this year, planned by a new management team. It’s taking place in City Park July 10-12. I went last year and especially enjoyed the Over the Hill Drill Team. Maybe they’ll be back this year.
If it’s blues you want, don’t miss Blues and Brews, on Saturday, July 11, in the 1200 block of Old South Pearl.
On Monday, you can go to Cherry Creek Whole Foods and learn about local vendors in Denver and Colorado.
Crazy About Denver: Good-bye, Alto and ESPN Zone
Perhaps 10 days after I first visited Alto Restaurant and Lounge on June 17, it has closed. I was looking forward to spending more time in the bar.
ESPN Zone in the Tabor Center will also close its doors, laying off 100 employees. And the Red Room on Capitol Hill closed some time ago.
In this recession, as in the previous one, Colorado felt the effects later than other parts of the country.
My thoughts are with all the employees who lost their jobs.
Crazy About Denver: Capitol Woes
According to the Denver Post, the state Capitol dome is in serious need of repair. And because of a lack of funds, officials are thinking of asking for donations from corporations.
It’s sad when the state government can’t afford to repair one of the major symbols of government in Colorado. If they’re going to ask for private donations, I think they should ask individual Coloradans to contribute.
My posts on my tour of the Colorado Capitol building are here and here.
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Pridefest is happening this weekend at Civic Center Park on Saturday and Sunday. There is a parade Sunday morning from Cheesman Park to Civic Center Park.
The Cherry Blossom Festival takes place at Sakura Square, between Lawrence and Larimer and 19th and 20th Streets. I went last year and had a good time.
Crazy About Denver: Way Tall Buildings on 15th Street
Public service announcement: In 2009, Gateaux (1160 Speer) celebrates its 10th anniversary by donating 10 percent of cookie sales to a different charity each month. In June, they’re giving money to Work Options for Women. Go buy some cookies and help women enter gainful employment in the culinary field. (Gateaux’s iced sugar cookies, two of which are pictured here, are the absolute best I’ve ever had. Don’t miss them!)
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As I wandered down 15th to Leela’s on Wednesday, my path was o’ershadowed by several massive buildings.
The Hyatt building is adorned with this quote from John Ruskin: 
Mountains are the bones of the earth, their highest peaks are invariably those parts of its anatomy which in the plains lie buried under five and twenty thousand feet of solid thickness of superincumbent soil, and which spring up in the mountain ranges in vast pyramids or wedges, flinging their garment of earth away from them on each side…
And then it just stopped at another wall.
I stopped too, to take this picture of two workers screwing, or unscrewing, panels into this tower. One of them shouted, “$10 a picture!”
At Champa and 15th, I noticed the texture of these two buildings next to each other. 
The one on the right is the Gas and Electric Building, which lights up beautifully at night.
And then I saw the sign, as the song goes. Or rather, I should say, the signs. 
At 15th and Arapahoe, across from 4 restaurants (Le Château, formerly La Fondue; Hickory Prime Steak House; Lone Ranger Steakhouse; and My Express Grill and Café), rose this building. 
Just looking at the 12 cement balconies below the streetlight (still unfinished, I hope, surrounded by only a single railing, and difficult to make out in this picture) gave me the willies. Why is it that looking up can make me as afraid of heights as looking down?
Crazy About Denver: Cows at the Fair
One of Denver’s recent public art projects was to install some painted cows around the city.
I guess Denver decided it couldn’t shake its cowtown image, so it would celebrate it. Those of us in the know, of course, prefer “Bovine Metropolis.”
This particular cow guards the edge of Skyline Park, one of the Skyline development projects of the 1960s and 1970s that aimed to clean up Denver’s Skid Row (now Larimer Square) and other parts of downtown.
The park behind it used to be a greener space, but apparently too many homeless people made use of it, so they covered it over. 
If you’re in the mood for a walk in the park this weekend, check out the People’s Fair in Civic Center Park.
I’ve never been, and I’ll miss it this weekend as well, since I’ll be in Chama and Antonito and Buena Vista (pronounced “Byoona Vista” by the Anglo locals, thank you very much).
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There’s a mutiny happening at the Denver Film Society. Check out the latest developments here.
Crazy About Denver: Get Foxy
I took these pictures Tuesday while out with a friend, one in downtown Denver after we had to get off the shuttle to walk around an area blocked off because of a fire,
which reminds me of the Denver Firefighter’s Museum, and one at the Denver Art Museum exhibit Fox Games by Sandy Skoglund.
My friend and I loved this exhibit, which is in the Hamilton Building.
Crazy About Denver: Gardens Everywhere
Denverites are making gardens as if our food supply might run out tomorrow, according to Westword. There’s even a garden going in at 15th and California in downtown Denver.
And the owner of Common Grounds wants to build greenhouses all over Denver.
And what will we do with all that produce, if we can’t sell it? Barter!
Barter System Booms in Colorado
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I have to say, I’m not so crazy about this law that requires people arrested for felonies to give a DNA sample. I think it should be required only of convicted felons.
This article gives some information about how results of DNA tests will be expunged if the accused is acquitted.
Denver Wines on Wednesdays
Last night I attended my first wine tasting at Park Hill Golf Course, an event arranged by Argonaut Liquor on Colfax to benefit the Positive Project, which uses the stories of people infected/affected by HIV/AIDS to raise awareness.
Not only were there dozens of wines from Chile and Argentina to try, including grapes I had never tasted such as Torrontes, but also the people pouring the wine provided some free entertainment.
And having two companions (Denveater and From Argentina with Love) to giggle with helped. Go read Denveater’s inspired take on this same event, along with actual wine research, which information you can find via the link above. Her comments are in italics below.
As Monsignor said long ago, “A little wine is good for the stomach.” So I tasted about 16 wines, and each pour provided about 3 sips, except for my self-serve on Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc ($9.99) when the table-mistress wasn’t looking. Denveater notes: I can vouch for the fact that Beth was a very generous self-server. Unfortunately, the strong lychee aroma made me “think pink,” and I couldn’t get past it while drinking my extra-large pour. At that same table I found the wine with the best name: Oops Voluptuous Beauty ($10.99). But the flavor didn’t quite live up to the name: it was drinkable but dry.
I had better luck at Table 19 (maybe it was the prime number?), where I found two good Malbecs. All three of us liked Altosur Malbec ($10.99), a spicy yet velvety wine from the southernmost wine-growing region in Argentina. And the Baqueano Malbec Reserve was also good, if more smoky and pricier ($13.99) than the Altosur.
My favorite among the many Torrontes wines offered at this tasting was the Santa Julia Torrontes Organica, named after the vintner’s daughter. It smelled strongly of grapefruit and was a steal for $9.99. Apparently the Torrontes grape grows well in South America but not really anywhere else, or at least, that was the opinion of the man who advised us to try the Santa Julia.
Speaking of men, we met one I swear was a used-car salesman turned wine salesman. His hair defied gravity, and he was very, very friendly, though thankfully not to me. Denveater notes: Don’t be so sure—it was he who saw you sneak that pour, and he made all those wink-wink conspiratorial facial gestures to show just how on your side he was.
I’ll end by praising two other Torrontes: Tamari and Colome. The Tamari ($12.49) had a strong citrus aroma, like a Sauvignon Blanc, and the Colome’s flintiness reminded me a bit of a Chablis, though with more fruit ($13.99).
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I’ll occasionally be writing about wine on Wednesdays, but I don’t plan to make it a regular feature just yet.
Crazy About Denver: Mark Obmascik, Local Writer
A few years ago I read Obmascik’s first book, The Big Year. It’s about birders who spend a year and thousands of dollars trying to see every bird that visits North America. (In birding circles, that means Canada and the United States. Lots of birds that breed in Canada and the United States spend their winters south of the border, but somehow they’re still North American birds. It doesn’t really make sense to me either, and I’ve been birding for 13 years.)
Now he’s published a book about climbing all 54 of Colorado’s fourteeners, titled Halfway to Heaven.
Want to know how many I’ve climbed? In 21 years? 1. Uno.
Mount Princeton. It’s probably the easiest fourteener. I drove up to 11,000 feet and went from there, and 13,000 feet still kicked my ass. And as my twenty-something cousin observed when I finally reached the top, why shouldn’t it?
I don’t feel the need to ever climb another. The only reason I struggled up to 14,000 feet was that I knew I’d be pissed at myself if I didn’t. In fact, I was just reading about someone climbing all of New Hampshire’s 4,000-foot peaks, and I thought, Yeah, that sounds about right. I’d rather go to the bottom of the ocean than the top of a mountain. And yet I live in Colorado. Oh well.
Check out the Denver Post‘s interview with Obmascik. One thing he says that struck me is that driving on I-70 scares him more than climbing these peaks.
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This Saturday is the Five Points Jazz Festival. The music is free, and local restaurants will be offering boxed lunches for pretty cheap.
Mourning for Lollie
Last Thursday I learned that my sister’s mother’s-in-law, Lollie, had died after a long struggle with dementia. She’s pictured here at Flatiron Crossing Mall in Broomfield, about two years ago, before the dementia had taken hold.
I’m sad that Lollie and my aunt Pat had such difficult experiences at the end of their lives. And I’m grateful to their daughters and sons for taking good care of them.
Crazy About Denver: Read These Denver Blogs and Then Party at Cinco de Mayo
I’m fresh out of Denver conspiracies to write about (except, perhaps, the weird redesign of Writer Square; see Denver Infill for that), so I’m clueing you in on some local blogs that intrigued or amused me this week.
My Dog in Denver Daily has come up with a fun way to take readers to various parts of Denver.
NonVivant just posted some stunning photos in Graffiti of Denver pt. 11.
Mile High Gay Guy always has timely information. I liked his post about the Denver challenge to stop bullying, part of a nationwide program to make schools safe for all children. (He posts frequently, so you may have to page down to find it.)
Pink Asparagus has reached 400 posts, a big milestone, and left her favorite posts for us to ponder.
Cocktail Hour and Daily Photos of Colorado Springs give us out-of-the-ordinary views of the Front Range of Colorado.
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This weekend Denver celebrates Cinco de Mayo at Civic Center Park.