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 potatoes;... Read More

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 and sentences... Read More

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 that specimen,... Read More

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 local... Read More

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 scientific equipment—REX,... Read More

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 as the... Read More

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, attending or... Read More

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-sizing,” spearheaded... Read More