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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 a lot of stereotypes about Boulder. It’s a college town with a reputation for partying. It’s home to a Buddhist-based university, Naropa, started in part by Allen Ginsberg. Its people ar…
There are a lot of s…
There are a lot of stereotypes about Boulder. It’s a college town with a reputation for partying. It’s home to a Buddhist-based university, Naropa, started in part by Allen Ginsberg. Its people are some of the healthiest, in one of the healthiest states in the country. And, of course, there’s the “granola crunch” factor, encapsulating the intersection of once-dominant hippiedom and alternative eating practices. Exactly how Boulder gained that last reputation isn’t an easy question to answer. To my mind, though, one of the biggest factors comes in terms of tea. And if we’re tal…
Lee Sarter
December 25, 2023
Ask someone exactly how long one second is, and you’re likely to get a smirk. If pressed, many might rely on the “one-Mississippi” trick from their hide-and-seek days. Others might claim an inna…
Ask someone exactly …
Ask someone exactly how long one second is, and you’re likely to get a smirk. If pressed, many might rely on the “one-Mississippi” trick from their hide-and-seek days. Others might claim an innate sense of it, as though they’re a minor—if punctual—X-Men style mutant. But, honestly, most would look at their smartphone. Ask the right scientist that question, though, and they’ll tell you with confidence: it’s a matter of 9,192,631,770. Boulder is home to NIST, which, among its distinctions, is the keeper of official civilian time in the United States. That moniker comes …
Lee Sarter
July 1, 2022
Conditioning, in the Ivan Pavlov sense, is a strange thing. As people we’re able to think our way in or out of most anything, yet we’re no less subject to the process. This was on display last …
Conditioning, in the…
Conditioning, in the Ivan Pavlov sense, is a strange thing. As people we’re able to think our way in or out of most anything, yet we’re no less subject to the process. This was on display last weekend at the annual Boulder Creek Festival, which saw the return of the Rubber Duck Race. If unfamiliar, here’s the score: literally thousands of caution-yellow rubber ducks are released into Boulder Creek en masse; the first to cross the finish line is the champ, and the “sponsor” of that duck wins a grand prize. It’s a quirky but fun tradition, and all proceeds go to the EXPAND program…
Lee Sarter
May 26, 2022
Among other things, cities are amalgams—a mix of geography, history, economics, and trends. Most of the time this blending is fairly subtle. Neighborhoods come and go, like the people that live in a…
Among other things, …
Among other things, cities are amalgams—a mix of geography, history, economics, and trends. Most of the time this blending is fairly subtle. Neighborhoods come and go, like the people that live in and define them. Businesses pop up, shut down. The baseline for life, or the signs thereof, have a fluidity to them that’s easy to miss. Boulder, of course, is no exception. In many ways, it’s more of an amalgam than most. But that’s hard to pin down. Sometimes, though, you can step into a space that wears its Frankenstein-like mish-mash on its sleeve, and in doing so, get a glimpse of wid…
Lee Sarter
April 2, 2016
The Boulder area is known for weirdness, however you choose to define that. To political conservatives, it’s because of our liberal-infused policies. For those interested in culture, it’s because …
The Boulder area is …
The Boulder area is known for weirdness, however you choose to define that. To political conservatives, it’s because of our liberal-infused policies. For those interested in culture, it’s because of a “San Francisco of the Rockies” label applied in the 1960s and 70s, or for pre-legalization 4/20 celebrations that left the Norlin Quad blanketed in weed smoke. To others, it’s more a feeling that can’t be quantified, but is nonetheless there. The thing is, much like those defunct 4/20 gatherings, there’s more smoke than fire nowadays. Don’t misunderstand, we still have our clai…
Lee Sarter
March 5, 2016
There’s an old saying-slash-cliché that goes, “everything old is new again.” We’ve all heard this, and have likely experienced it firsthand. Nostalgia is a powerful mechanism, particularly wh…
There’s an old say…
There’s an old saying-slash-cliché that goes, “everything old is new again.” We’ve all heard this, and have likely experienced it firsthand. Nostalgia is a powerful mechanism, particularly when coupled with irony. Some resurgences, however, though they might start that way, end up finding life of their own. In Boulder—both the city and county—we’re seeing one such situation. Despite our region of the Front Range becoming increasingly known for start-ups, particularly of the high tech variety, low tech has its place too. Here, I’m talking about the unassuming pastime of time…
Lee Sarter
February 13, 2016
This time of year tends to breed reflection. Sometimes it takes the form of thinking about the meaning of holidays, friendship, and family. Sometimes it’s less specific, as if the season is a point …
This time of year te…
This time of year tends to breed reflection. Sometimes it takes the form of thinking about the meaning of holidays, friendship, and family. Sometimes it’s less specific, as if the season is a point against which measurements of the past, present, and future are made. And all of this, of course, comes with a backdrop of work shuffling and travel schedules, jumbles together in a rush of logistics. Then, inevitably, there’s a shift. Maybe it’s seeing someone you haven’t for too long. Maybe a loved one waits to share news until you’re face to face. Arguments come about over mashed pot…
Lee Sarter
December 5, 2015
There is an incredible range of quality work being done on TV these days. Despite Hollywood doldrums, at least a handful of genuinely great films are released every year. More music is being made and …
There is an incredib…
There is an incredible range of quality work being done on TV these days. Despite Hollywood doldrums, at least a handful of genuinely great films are released every year. More music is being made and released than ever; the Internet is always coming up with more ways to enrage, distract, and entertain us. In short, the media landscape is as vast as it is varied. Of all those forms, though, books have a special place in my heart. In fact, I am an irredeemable book junky. As much as I love high-quality TV series or movies, there is something about a story being told in my mind, via words …
Lee Sarter
October 25, 2015
Let’s look at 1978 for a moment. The Camp David Accords were signed, Japanese car imports soared in reaction to petroleum shortages, and the comic strip Garfield debuted to a world bereft of lasagna…
Let’s look at 1978…
Let’s look at 1978 for a moment. The Camp David Accords were signed, Japanese car imports soared in reaction to petroleum shortages, and the comic strip Garfield debuted to a world bereft of lasagna-scarfing cats. Another debut, of a TV sitcom called Mork & Mindy, came a few months later. And for Boulder, this hit much closer to home. Mork & Mindy was a spin-off of the 1950s-themed Happy Days. In one episode Mork (played by Robin Williams), an alien from the planet Ork, visited Milwaukee to obtain a human specimen for study. Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) would’ve been th…
Lee Sarter
October 11, 2015
It’s hard to say what makes a business catch on. There’s strange calculus, even alchemy involved. Often it’s about selection, catering to a niche, or comes down to price. On rare occasions, thou…
It’s hard to say w…
It’s hard to say what makes a business catch on. There’s strange calculus, even alchemy involved. Often it’s about selection, catering to a niche, or comes down to price. On rare occasions, though, a business survives because it becomes part of the community in which it was created. These days, brick-and-mortar stores not only struggle against each other, but against virtual retail. Anything can be found online, and purchased with a mouse click. Where once towns centered on the local drug store, for example, now that idea seems quant. As a result, even mega-chains have problems. Many …
Lee Sarter
September 27, 2015
Douglas Adams wrote: “Space is Big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.” Some of that distance, though, is about to shrink. Enter NASA’s New…
Douglas Adams wrote:…
Douglas Adams wrote: “Space is Big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.” Some of that distance, though, is about to shrink. Enter NASA’s New Horizons mission. Launched in 2006, it’s been hurdling toward the outer reaches of our solar system at 31,000 miles per hour. The destination? Pluto, its system of five known moons, and beyond. The craft is on track for its closest flyby of Pluto on July 14th; detailed information is expected to arrive beginning the 16th (again, space is big). Using a host of abbreviation-heavy scientifi…
Lee Sarter
July 12, 2015
Once upon a time European transplants came to the New World. The results were complicated to say the least. Native populations and cultures didn’t fare well; slave trade was established early. New l…
Once upon a time Eur…
Once upon a time European transplants came to the New World. The results were complicated to say the least. Native populations and cultures didn’t fare well; slave trade was established early. New lives were built on shifting ground. Fast-forward to the British expanding what the French and Dutch began. King George III reaped the benefits of his American colonists, and in kingly fashion found ways to further enrich his coffers. Chief among those tactics was the leveraging of taxes. That led to a certain tantrum: the Boston Tea Party. In time, this dust-up morphed into what we refer to …
Lee Sarter
July 5, 2015
Boulder is an interesting mix of currents. Consider, for example, the constellation of tech start-ups that find a home here. Think about the many craft breweries and distilleries that have cropped up …
Boulder is an intere…
Boulder is an interesting mix of currents. Consider, for example, the constellation of tech start-ups that find a home here. Think about the many craft breweries and distilleries that have cropped up over the years. Taken together, you get a place equally devoted to innovation and cutting loose, often at the same time. Given CU-Boulder is a dominant fixture, it’s no surprise similar labels apply. The university boasts an array of research associates, experts in various scientific disciplines, as well as artists in every medium, all teaching under its tent. Academically speaking, atten…
Lee Sarter
June 28, 2015
According to some who don’t live here, Boulder is a bastion of agreement. Rumor has it we’re progressively—or insanely—liberal, perpetually supportive of all things fitness, and not only toler…
According to some wh…
According to some who don’t live here, Boulder is a bastion of agreement. Rumor has it we’re progressively—or insanely—liberal, perpetually supportive of all things fitness, and not only tolerate but court ideas considered fringe elsewhere. In other words, to those outside the bubble, we’re a city of single-minded, almost amoeba-like continuity. Granted, when it comes to particular topics or causes, there is common ground. But don’t let the hype fool you. Below our seemingly homogeneous exterior, there’s roiling disagreement. Lately, this has found a place in “right-sizin…
Lee Sarter
June 21, 2015
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