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Humans have always had a complicated relationship with weather. Ancient cultures prayed and made offerings to gods in hopes of receiving conditions conducive to growing crops. Adverse weather, then, w…
Humans have always h…
Humans have always had a complicated relationship with weather. Ancient cultures prayed and made offerings to gods in hopes of receiving conditions conducive to growing crops. Adverse weather, then, was often interpreted as displeasure on behalf of those same beings—a punishment for failing to observe proper rituals. It doesn’t take a history scholar to understand this impulse. Weather, now as then, is both an enemy and ally. On one hand, it provides everything from the raw material for food—sunlight driving photosynthesis, wind the primary method of plants spreading their seeds—to …
Sometimes, writing about art and theater feels a lot like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole as I try to find the angle to write about wandering through a haunted-theater immersive experience, ge…
Sometimes, writing a…
Sometimes, writing about art and theater feels a lot like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole as I try to find the angle to write about wandering through a haunted-theater immersive experience, getting splashed in a Halloween horror show in the basement of a spaghetti emporium, sweating through a DIY D&D in a comic shop, savoring (har har!) Sweeney Todd’s enraged high notes, and trying to quiet my howling dog in a public house. I’ve found myself in some odd and awkward scenarios. To update the metaphor, writing this column is a lot like drunk-clicking through an endless algorithm o…
Jessie Hanson
January 8, 2020
"There are two things that sparked my space interest. The first being it was highly publicized in the 60's when I was growing up, so I had a lot of opportunity to see what was going on. Later, my inte…
"There are two thing…
"There are two things that sparked my space interest. The first being it was highly publicized in the 60's when I was growing up, so I had a lot of opportunity to see what was going on. Later, my interest continued as I read and understood the technology that got people to the moon. I found the technology interesting."
Alyssa McGownd
September 25, 2022
"We want to make Boulder a healthier place by taxing distributors of sugar sweetened beverages, and we are also helping with a statewide tobacco tax increase. I want to serve the state of Colorado and…
"We want to make Bou…
"We want to make Boulder a healthier place by taxing distributors of sugar sweetened beverages, and we are also helping with a statewide tobacco tax increase. I want to serve the state of Colorado and make a positive impact on our collective health. Petitioners are people too, and we are not trying to harass you, we just want a little moment of your time."
Alyssa McGownd
September 18, 2020
"I went to Haiti for a mission trip and stayed in La Victoire. I would give the kids my phone and they would go off and take pictures for me. There was this one kid and he found a piece of foam and cu…
"I went to Haiti for…
"I went to Haiti for a mission trip and stayed in La Victoire. I would give the kids my phone and they would go off and take pictures for me. There was this one kid and he found a piece of foam and cut a circle in it and pretended that it was a cellphone; he would take selfies. He would tell me to pose and I would pose for a picture."
Alyssa McGownd
March 22, 2019
"In Boulder, I get out more often. I’m more active. I’m more in sync with the community and the things that are going on. I’m more focused on my studies because I am around people who are also …
"In Boulder, I get …
"In Boulder, I get out more often. I’m more active. I’m more in sync with the community and the things that are going on. I’m more focused on my studies because I am around people who are also passionate about the things they want to do. I get a lot more sunshine and walking and exercise, and I’m a lot healthier.”
Alyssa McGownd
July 3, 2016
"We were all sitting around this big table - it was kind of like a family meal, and he walked in and sat in the middle of the table. The Dalai Lama was just sitting there and eating and talking. He ta…
"We were all sitting…
"We were all sitting around this big table - it was kind of like a family meal, and he walked in and sat in the middle of the table. The Dalai Lama was just sitting there and eating and talking. He talked a lot about compassion and education as a form of instilling compassion. You understand and you are more worldly and tend to value things more, when you have a deeper sense of the world. He said the greatest thing we can all do is smile."
Alyssa McGownd
July 1, 2016
"Someone asked [the Dalai Lama] what is the purpose of life, and he said it was happiness. It’s simple, to the point, and obvious, but no one ever actually understands it. It would be nice to get to…
"Someone asked [the …
"Someone asked [the Dalai Lama] what is the purpose of life, and he said it was happiness. It’s simple, to the point, and obvious, but no one ever actually understands it. It would be nice to get to that point of pure happiness like he is."
Alyssa McGownd
June 24, 2016
"Happy Father's Day to my dad! I appreciate everything you do for me. Thanks for the support. Love you lots!"
"Happy Father's Day …
"Happy Father's Day to my dad! I appreciate everything you do for me. Thanks for the support. Love you lots!"
Alyssa McGownd
June 19, 2016
"There was this one man that used to stand outside the underpass at 13th and College. I used to buy the papers all the time and talk to him. He was a nice guy. His name was Landon. I bought them abou…
"There was this one …
"There was this one man that used to stand outside the underpass at 13th and College. I used to buy the papers all the time and talk to him. He was a nice guy. His name was Landon. I bought them about once a week for three months, and then I never saw him again. He was cool. He used to yell really loud and tell everyone to have a nice day, so I was like I respect that, I can support this guy.”
Alyssa McGownd
June 17, 2016
"My final year at the camp we paddled two rivers the Kazan and the Kunwak. On the Kunwak, there was this one day where the banks of the rivers had twenty foot ice cliffs. Every five minutes you’d h…
"My final year at th…
"My final year at the camp we paddled two rivers the Kazan and the Kunwak. On the Kunwak, there was this one day where the banks of the rivers had twenty foot ice cliffs. Every five minutes you’d hear this crash where there would be ice falling from the top of the walls. It was kind of terrifying, but it was really cool and I'm sure I'll never see anything like that again."
Alyssa McGownd
June 16, 2016
"Rowing was something I kind of got into by accident and three years later going on four, here we are now. It’s a huge commitment and a huge chunk of your time, but it’s something I really want t…
"Rowing was somethi…
"Rowing was something I kind of got into by accident and three years later going on four, here we are now. It’s a huge commitment and a huge chunk of your time, but it’s something I really want to do. You develop extremely tight bonds with everyone on the team but mostly the people you have in your boat. You have to have implicit trust in every person that sits with you, so you know that they are pulling just as hard as you do and love the sport just as much as you do and so that you can win those races and come together as a team because the chemistry is almost more important than any o…
Alyssa McGownd
June 12, 2016
"I got an email from a recruiter who saw that I was a residential adviser and said that they would love to meet and talk with me about Teach For America. So, I went and talked to her and she kind of o…
"I got an email from…
"I got an email from a recruiter who saw that I was a residential adviser and said that they would love to meet and talk with me about Teach For America. So, I went and talked to her and she kind of opened my eyes to the education system in the United States and how there is this gross inequity. Basically, 1 in 3 kids in poverty won't graduate high school. It’s just ridiculous. Based off of race, social, and economical class is what's going to determine whether or not you are going to get a quality education and I think that’s unfair. As of now, I kind of needed a stepping stone in my life…
Alyssa McGownd
June 10, 2016
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