Josephine Antoine This fair Boulderite was beloved for her incredible rise to fame as a Metropolitan Opera star. After completing her education in Boulder, Antoine went on to earn a Master’s at the Julliard School of Music in NYC. Before her first national appearance, she received a telegram from the mayor of Boulder reading: “Every citizen sends you love and good wishes for your performance tomorrow.” She was a success, and sang the lead in 14 Metropolitan Opera productions. Her singing was featured on national radio stations, and she returned to Boulder to perform at the Colorado... Read More

“People have been surprised to find out that I’m gay. Is it based on how I talk? How I dress? Some parts of my personality fits into the perceptions of gay men, like caring about dressing ‘nice’… But what does that actually mean? Sometimes I wonder where I fit in. Am I a portrayal of gay culture?… I’m a gamer. I’m a graphic designer. I live for music. I’m a basic nerd. I am me.” -Dean Dean is a graphic designer originally from Alaska.  Read More

Maybe you already know that the comfortable (and allegedly edible) innovation; the Crocs shoe, was created in Boulder County. Today we’re checking out some less explosive, but equally clever, Boulder-based inventions. This is one smart city, and the products created here prove it! Nimbus Cloud Dome The Nimbus Cloud Dome is a deceptively simple invention created by Boulder resident Cindy Litchfield. As a jewelry maker, she struggled to create close-up, glare-free photos of her products. No one had addressed the problem before, so she took on the challenge. The result was the Nimbus Cloud... Read More

Cory is from Bowling Green, Ohio, but is staying in Boulder for the summer. He is partaking in leadership training for YMCA of the Rockies. “Boulder is much bigger than Bowling Green which was a little bit of a shock, but I definitely love the town,” Cory said. He wants to go back to school and possibly study theology. He really enjoys history as well, especially religious history. He says, “The key to life is living and dying for something rather than living and dying for nothing.” He wants to make a shoutout to his parents; Paul and Wendy.  Read More

“Hello Joshua, I’m from Colorado Springs and I have three sisters and my two older sisters went to CSU for college and when I viewed the campus on my visit there and then compared it to what I viewed at the CU campus, I could already see that I was leaning towards this beautiful university. Honestly, I kind of wanted to do something different from my older sisters, so when I saw Boulder, I just thought this would be a cool and phenomenal place, and it’s so beautiful so I figured why not. I think that my favorite thing about Boulder is the people that I’ve met and see and... Read More

With the holidays over, we figured we should refresh our minds with something different today. Boulder has a very interesting architectural history, especially the university campus. We will touch on some defining Boulder architectural projects which you have probably seen around town. Next time you’re out and about, maybe you’ll encounter some of these oh-so-Boulder building projects. The University Campus Of course we cannot skim Boulder’s architectural past without bringing up the University of Colorado campus. It began with the all-brick Old Main and soon grew into several... Read More

Originally from Colorado, Derek spends a lot of his precious time as a painter! His passion comes from many places, one is compassion, because he feels the need to respond to a lot of the people that he’s associated with at work because they need him in a lot of ways. Another is his love for arts and creative expression. It’s very motivating to explore consciousness in London. When he projects himself in the future, he would like to be a professional artist, and exclusively own an art community house, where everybody chips in. Enough individuals that rent is cheap and it makes it... Read More

One of the most common pieces of advice a Boulderite will give to a new resident is “Go check out the Dushanbe Teahouse,” but what’s so special about a teahouse? Well, ours was handcrafted in Tajikistan during the Cold War, and kindly shipped by our sister city of Dushanbe. The rebuilding of the teahouse in Boulder was an awesome accomplishment which nearly did not happen. The idea of a sister city or twin town developed from the Cold War following WWII. The point was to form legal and social bonds between disparate cultures, and even promote relationships between former enemies.... Read More

You will learn how Boulder’s iconic Flatirons formed. Turns out, Boulder was once beachfront property. The Flatirons are Boulder’s favorite portion of the Fountain Formation, a geological formation of mostly red sandstone. This sandstone, more appropriately called “arkose” gets its color from the pinkish feldspar contained it it. This red rock makes up the Red Rocks of Morrison and the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The Fountain Formation stretches from Colorado Springs all the way to Wyoming. The reddish color is due to the concentration of feldspar in the sandstone,... Read More

We can’t say for sure if being in Boulder makes you a better or more successful person, but these celebrities from our fair city lend some credibility to the notion. And since we aren’t a gossip site, these won’t all be film and TV stars. We are showing you real people from Boulder who did, and are doing, interesting and popular things with their lives. 3OH!3 Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte make up the electronica group 3OH!3, which received national success with their song “Don’t Trust Me”. They gained even more attention when they collaborated with Ke$ha... Read More

You may hear Boulderites referring to a “greenbelt,” but what is that and why does Boulder have one? There was huge population growth in Boulder between 1950 and 1970. This growth was due to the presence of the University of Colorado, the intellectual diversity surrounding the university, and a strong local economy. At an annual growth rate of about 6%, the population of the city was set to double every 11 years or so. Being all about sustainability and preserving local culture, the citizens of Boulder took action against the human tsunami threatening to wash out the city. In 1967... Read More

This title question, and the more general “Why a buffalo for a mascot?” answered below. Time to brush up on Buff history. Ralphie is the female buffalo mascot for CU Boulder. But why does this female buffalo sport a male name? And why did CU choose a bison mascot in the first place? The tradition began in 1934 when the university newspaper selected “Buffaloes” as the nickname for the university students. Three weeks later, a few students paid a rancher $25 to rent a bison calf and a cowboy to handle her. The calf had to be managed by all 4 students plus the ranch hand... Read More

Martin is a motivational speaker for the organization Save the Children, and also works with Art from Ashes. He writes and performs poetry for Art from Ashes, which specializes in empowering the youth. Martin says, “I wanted to give back, and I believe one of the best causes is for children because they’re shaping the future.” Martin doesn’t quit there, he also is working on writing a book and an album! He paints and takes photos – and of course, snowboards. Martin visited Colorado in July of last year for two weeks, fell in love, and decided to move here in September... Read More

Every Boulderite knows that Chautauqua is up on 900 Baseline Road in Boulder, but how did it get there? And what is a Chautauqua anyway? The Chautauqua movement of the late 19th century was an effort to educate rural communities who lacked access to the mass culture being developed in cities. The movement lasted from the 1870s all the way into the 1920s. Rural peoples were hungry for entrainment and brain food, but lacked a way to easily travel because automobiles weren’t widely available until 1910. The “Mother Chautauqua” (which sounds a bit like a spaceship name to me) was... Read More

When oddly specific things become public problems, local legislation steps in to help. Today we will look at a few odds and ends Boulder city laws had to smooth out over the years. Hopefully we will boost today’s water cooler conversations. Nobody Owns Fifi Dogs in Boulder do not have “owners” according to any public ordinances. You can only be the “guardian” of a dog. This law requiring all public signage to call dog owners “guardians” is the result of animal rights activist calling for reform in the rhetoric surrounding pet relationships. It’s... Read More

Joshua moved back to Boulder a year and a half ago after living in Ohio, California and South Carolina. He moved back because “this is the only place I’ve ever felt like I haven’t had to leave. I’ve been somewhere else and I feel like I am still waiting to come back to here.” Although Boulder calls Joshua back every time, his favorite place to live was Ohio because there were multiple seasons and “there was no grey line between rich or poor- you were either working class or rich.” Joshua says his favorite thing to do is people watch around Boulder, especially... Read More

Revealing Our Routes: Women of Boulder County was originally developed by the Women of the West Museum back in 2002. Now the exhibit is now hosted by Boulder History Museum’s site. There are dozens of dynamic ladies documented in this collection, and today we’ve brought you a few of our favorites. Ruth Cave Flowers (1903-1980) was a native Boulderite who graduated from Boulder high in 1920. Because she was African-American they refused to award her a diploma featuring her catchy name. Despite her lack of diploma, CU accepted Ruth Flowers as a student. She earned a doctorate in Romance... Read More

Most of the West was divided up into straight-edged, boxy regions and subdivisions (take a look at poor Yuma County). Boulder County escapes the purely rectangular form of other counties in Colorado, and today we will tell you why. Plus, we will tell you why it’s named Boulder (but we bet you can guess). The need for Colorado to become a territory coincided with the secession of several southern states from the Union in 1861. Colorado applied for statehood that year, and offered the Union secure access to precious mineral deposits. Boulder County was one of the original 17 counties of... Read More

Meet Taylor Williams! Williams grew up in Denver before moving to Boulder to study Poly-Sci.  He teaches tennis when he isn’t studying and says that he wants to enter into the teaching field!  He said that he would like to teach 5th-8th graders! Good luck Taylor and Go Buffs!    Read More

CU Boulder has educated 18 astronauts. For some, their studies were for post-graduate research and others sought a Bachelor’s degree. All of these people were nestled in the shadow of the Flatirons preparing for the greatest journey an earthling can make. Though some never returned from the brink of the cosmos. The astronauts of CU Boulder in alphabetical order: Loren Acton, Patrick Baudry (CNES), Vance D. Brand, Scott Carpenter (Project Mercury), Kalapana Chawla (Columbia), Takeo Doi, Samuel T. Durrance, John Herrington, Richard Hieb, Marsha Ivins, John M. Lounge, George Nelson, Ellison... Read More