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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]