The Holiday 2020 season is upon us. We’ve made it through Thanksgiving, and, having given adequate thanks for the families that we alternately want to hug and garrotte, we now await the horrors of Hanukwanzmas. Yes, the agony of coerced celebration is well upon us. Perhaps for those who have great jobs, loving partners, beautiful children, and supportive parents, the holidays are wonderful times of joyful celebration. For the rest of us, I offer this account of the internal life of a holiday celebrant. It documents Thanksgiving, but the principles can be applied to any upcoming holiday. 07:05am... Read More

Whew. We’re into November now and 2020 is still barrelling through all social norms and historical precedents at a blistering pace. At the start of this year, I wrote about an event at the Oriental Theater that over 600 people attended, packed in shoulder to shoulder and drinking in front of each other. My last column was about a socially-distant production at the Aurora Fox where a dozen folks sat many yards apart and were careful to walk in only one direction through the hallways. Let’s just say that a lot has happened in between those two columns, or just as accurately to say, a lot has... Read More

While CU Boulder isn’t getting a regular graduation ceremony any time soon (though the University and others across the country are intending on holding a ceremony later in the summer if the decline in coronavirus cases continue), seven CU Boulder seniors instead elected to do a “porchuation” ceremony from the front of their house. Seven seniors who live together and have been quarantined together held the ceremony from their front porch with live music, a commencement speaker and a champagne toast on a video conference call. “Porchuation is awesome. I’m really happy that... Read More