Boulder Weekly 1.27.2022 by Boulder Weekly

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profiles:

Celebrating 28 years of no-holds barred, independent local journalism by Boulder Weekly Staff

buzz:

After losing his father and the family cabin from which he derived his stage name, Covenhoven’s Joel Van Horne still sees beauty in the world by Caitlin Rockett

film:

Dana Stevens on Buster Keaton and her new book, ‘Camera Man’ by Michael J. Casey

nibbles:

With prices soaring, a butcher says forget the tenderloin and explore tastier, cheaper cuts by John Lehndorff

weed between the lines:

Meet the minor cannabinoid helping people feel more energetic, control their appetite and make better food choices by Will Brendza

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Just Economics: Looking through the lens of ‘The 1619 Project’ Letters: Signed, sealed, delivered, your views Events: What to do when there’s ‘nothing’ to do . . . Astrology: by Rob Brezsny Savage Love: Concerning pain and new ideas Beer: Lafayette’s Westbound & Down Mill is open for business Food and Drink: Queen Margherita and Spicy Potato Boy pizzas @ Barchetta

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Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief, Caitlin Rockett Senior Editor, Emma Athena News Editor, Will Brendza Food Editor, John Lehndorff Contributing Writers: Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Angela K. Evans, Jim Hightower, Jodi Hausen, Karlie Huckels, Dave Kirby, John Lehndorff, Sara McCrea, Rico Moore, Amanda Moutinho, Katie Rhodes, Leland Rucker, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Tom Winter, Gary Zeidner SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Carter Ferryman Advertising Coordinator, Corey Basciano Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman CIRCULATION TEAM Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer

January 27, 2022 Volume XXIX, Number 21 As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism, and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper. 690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO, 80305 p 303.494.5511 f 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. © 2021 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

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Looking through the Lens of ‘The 1619 Project’ by Tina Eden

n 2019, The New York Times published The 1619 Project, a collection of essays, short stories, and poems intended to revisit United States’ history through the lens of slavery and racism. The creators of The 1619 Project hoped that it would be used in public schools. This has happened in over 4,000 schools, mostly in urban areas such as Washington D.C., Newark, New Jersey and Chicago. However, use of the project has been sparse in other parts of the country, partly due to opposition by local school boards and state legislatures in places such as Arkansas, Iowa and Mississippi. Was such opposition entirely due to the rural-urban divide or was something else at work? One must note that the original version of The 1619 Project was criticized on several fronts. Historical scholars criticized it for certain factual inaccuracies and for overJANUARY 27, 2022

reaching analyses. The World Socialist Web Site repudiated the project stating, “The historical slogan of the socialist movement is ‘Workers of the World, Unite!’ not ‘Races of the World, Divide!’” (December 2019, wsws.org) However, the economic divide between white households and African-American households remains extreme. A 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board found that Black families’ median and mean wealth are both less than 15% those of white families, at $24,100 and $142,500, respectively. The famous historian Eric Williams (first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago) writes in his book Capitalism and Slavery (1944), “Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery.” The 1619 Project details how racism has been used to BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

make the accumulation of wealth more difficult citizens regardless of their ethnicity. exclusion of ethnic minorities from wealth generatfor African-Americans. Its final chapter, titled In lieu of slavery, financial instruments such as ing instruments such as fair housing mortgages, and “Justice,” presents a history of calls for repapayday loans, low-wages and student debt, to name it becomes clear that racism has become a proxy rations along with a renewed appeal for them. a few, are now deployed to keep wealth in the hands for slavery. White America deliberately oppresses Nikole Hannah-Jones, originator of The 1619 of “successful” capitalists. These modern day weappeople of color in order to control neighborhoods, Project, authored this chapter and in subsequent ons of exploitation are justified via an unrealistic jobs, politics, education and capital, while dividing a speaking engagements has advocated for Univerbelief in meritocracy, a belief which has rationalized multi-racial working class against itself. sal Basic Income (UBI). It is these positions that an ever-widening income and wealth divide. School The authors of The 1619 Project have offered us the Just Economics column would like a chance to understand the instituto address. tion of slavery and its descendants: to civil Our current capitalist economic segregation, Jim Crow, lynching and system, which Eric Williams and somost recently neoliberalism. Racwar, civil rights, fair wages or progressive taxation. The ciologist Matthew Desmond (The 1619 ism has not succumbed to civil war, ideology of racism as embodied in neoliberal capitalism Project) claim was founded on slavery, civil rights, fair wages or progressive has become enormously unequal. Thus taxation. The ideology of racism as justiﬁes deﬁcient healthcare, starvation wages, persubstantial wealth transfers in the embodied in neoliberal capitalism sistent unemployment, homelessness, regressive tax form of reparations and UBI appear justifies deficient healthcare, starpolicies and a national divided along racial lines. to be a necessity for economic justice. vation wages, persistent unemployUnfortunately, the socialist movement ment, homelessness, regressive tax and other progressive forces have been policies and a nation divided along unable to prevent our economy from racial lines. reaching one of the most unequal conditions since districts that chose to use The 1619 Project can Did slavery end in the United States with the the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. Now we ponder challenges to the status quo. School districts passage of the 13th Amendment? In theory, slavery have reached a major fork in the road. This fork that reject The 1619 Project hang on to beliefs in the ended. But the slavery-induced desire to subjupresents two alternatives: (1) leaving the current biased meritocracy and discourage any considergate other people by whatever means possible did system in place; (2) structural changes that ensure a ation of reparations or UBI. Sadly, almost no school not end. Today it merely takes a monetary form. more egalitarian economic system. district confronts our economic system squarely and Among other things, the racial divide enables the Descendants of slaves have valid arguments for encourages consideration of changes that would neoliberal economic system to pit liberal commureparations. The labor of their ancestors was stolen, address the roots of social and economic inequality. nities against conservative ones. Is The 1619 Project and they have been subjected to numerous racial Reparations, if paid, could cost trillions of dolthe straw that breaks the back of structural racism? injustices in many realms, including that of ecolars. Yet would even this address the fundamental Probably not. But it deepens our understanding of nomics. The argument for UBI reveals how broproblems with our economic system? Many fullwhy human groups sometimes desire to subjugate ken and unjust our economic system really is. The time workers earn so little that government interothers, and it might help us squelch that desire and system used racism to prevent one sector of society vention is needed to subsidize rent, food, transporengineer a more egalitarian world. from enjoying the economic fruits of its labors. But tation, and medical care. It is truly shocking that This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the as that sector slowly gained more rights, the system few attempts are made to hide this odious form views of Boulder Weekly. found ways to suppress the economic lives of all of neo-slavery. Combine poverty wages with the

RACISM HAS NOT SUCCUMBED

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WE NEED EXPLANATIONS I was in Denver when the Marshall Fire destroyed my neighborhood of 22 years, Sagamore. But the firsthand accounts I am hearing from dear neighbors are harrowing and we truly need explanations. A Rocky Mountain Fire truck arrived as flames were encroaching from the north. My friends felt a moment of relief, only for it to turn into panic and terror seeing them not squirt one gallon of water, turn around and leave. No sirens, no horns blasting, no megaphone calling out, “Evacuate, evacuate.” All low tech, readily available actions that could’ve been taken. The account of another neighbor was seeing a sheriff ’s cruiser coming through as flames were starting to engulf our blocks—again, no sirens, no horns, no megaphone, no time to knock on doors. And as my neighbors were fleeing in their vehicles with their lives, as they exited Sagamore during the last minutes it was standing, officers at 76th Street didn’t provide guidance—arm waving, direction pointing—as to how to egress safely! The terror of what to do, where to go, continued. Lots was going on simultaneously that day—no question about it. There was a presence of these safety officials in Sagamore, yet what did they actually do? A drive-by seems all it was. After paying significant taxes all these years, is this what 21st-century public safety in the face of wildfires looks like? 188 families, their homes, all they’ve worked for, just “poof ” when they were there? We are exhausted from the speculation of what actually took place. We want to have full understanding, good and bad. Only by finding out all the truths can a better job be done next time, and we in Superior have some sense of security to even live here again. Rochelle Rittmaster, Superior ‘BRUTE FORCE’ IS ‘POLITICAL THEATER’ Boulder Weekly’s Jan. 20 cover story, “Brute Force” displayed yet another act in Boulder’s political theater of the absurd. Will Brendza took one action by one officer, and may I add one side of the story, and used it to put the entire Boulder Police Department on notice for “police aggression.” For good measure he tried to implicate one of Boulder’s most progressive and accomplished Police Chiefs, an experienced social worker, FBI Academy graduate and former Chief of l

the Cincinnati Police Department, as being complicit in these actions rather than supportive of her staff. Perhaps we need to remind Brendza that the people he is accusing here have laid down their lives for the citizens of Boulder, most recently Officer Eric Talley, who was the first to respond to the shootings of our citizens at King Soopers. He left behind seven children as a result. Before Boulder wants to follow the failed policies of other cities who defunded and defamed their police departments, we may all want to take a moment to see how that worked out in Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Minneapolis, which had the most egregious act of police excessive force, didn’t last more than a year with their experiment in defunding their police department, and after experiencing record crime and murder rates, voted down the Defund the Police law by a vast majority of their citizens. The Mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, once a champion of defunding the police and accusations of excessive force, has recently stated in press conferences that it’s time to repeal all these measures. Specifically she said that her police should be “less tolerant of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city.” The recent exodus of citizens from New York and Los Angeles to Florida and Texas pretty much should speak for itself. Boulder should not follow their lead. We all need to read beyond the headlines and look at the facts if we desire to live in a safe and healthy city. I have no doubt that Democrats and Republicans, Progressives and Conservatives all love their children. Before we have to put more flowers and notes on chain link fences in our community, let’s consider each individual action and not unfairly turn it into another false narrative. Brett Kingstone, Boulder REFUSER PROTECTION LAW NEEDED In her Jan. 24 Washington Post article, “Ethics report alleges GOP Rep. Lamborn misused congressional resources,” Mariana Alfaro describes allegations from the Office of Congressional Ethics that Congressman Doug Lamborn of Colorado “misused” his staff and resources “by having aides run errands for his family” and also “solicited or accepted improper gifts from his subordinates.” The report

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quotes Rep. Lamborn’s wife, to whom much assistance was given, as having told one staff member, “If mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.” A senior aide to the congressman was fired after he objected to what he perceived as Lamborn’s violation of ethical guidelines and rules. Imagine if, throughout America, employees and contracted workers at all levels of government were protected from firing and other retributive punishment when they refused to carry out superiors’ unlawful orders. Legislation creating “refuser protection law” has been proposed to and endorsed by state lawmakers in Colorado. Sworn to Refuse, a Denver-area nonpartisan citizen group, has also promoted this complement to whistleblower protection law to members of Congress. H.R. 846, Rep. Jackie Speier’s COVID-19 Whistleblower Protection Act, includes in its protected class employees who refuse illegal orders. Widespread enactment of refuser protection laws will help defend America’s rule of law. Matt Nicodemus, Boulder

for COVID, you’re uneducated. Maybe you’re asking yourself which one of these I agree or disagree with. I would suggest that you not do that. Have an open mind. Listen to others. Listen to everyone. No matter who they are. Then judge the information for yourself, with whatever filters you use in your intellectual pursuits. I’ve heard this many times: “I may not agree with you but I will defend to the death, your right to express yourself ” The final straw that led me to

THIS IS A DEFINING MOMENT FOR OUR NATION’S SOUL AND WE ARE FAILING MISERABLY As I watch the COVID vaccine debate, how it has evolved and continues to mature, I’m deeply saddened by our inability to hear one another. This has been a systemic problem in our country, and of course around the world, throughout all of human history. Now the stakes are high. Of course this cacophony has been exemplified by the climate debate, a slow moving crisis that will eventually envelope us all. But the debate about vaccines and how we treat new, emerging and existing infections is an immediate threat that if not dealt with well will manifest its effects more quickly. It has! Over five and a half million deaths around the world so far. There are not two sides to this discussion. There are many competing and intersecting aspects to the debate. No one or no government has all the answers. More importantly though is our inability to listen to anyone who doesn’t agree with us 100%. If you’re against vaccine mandates for COVID, then you’re automatically called an anti-vaxxer! If you agree with the lab leak theory, you’re a Trump-loving, MAGA-hat wearing conspiracy theorist. If you believe in “alternative” treatments BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

my keyboard was seeing the articles written about the March in Washington last Sunday regarding vaccine mandates. This march was spearheaded by doctors. Over 16,000 physicians from around the world who signed a document, concerned about the mandates. The headlines shouted out about how the anti-vaxxers had taken over the scientific community. Lies! Distortions! This silences debate, the hallmark of good science. It’s dangerously wrong!

My perspective has been shaped, to a great extent, by my pursuit of healing modalities for chronic lyme disease and co-infections. I’ve had many successes in recent times. But it’s not been easy. The debate in the medical community is deeply flawed. It’s actually broken. So many without the resources suffer needlessly because of the failures to address tick borne diseases properly, for years! I hope and pray that we can do better, for all of us. Peace, everyone. David Segal, Boulder

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Celebrating

28 years of local, independent journalism

t takes a stalwart collection of people to keep an independent newspaper aﬂoat for 28 years: tenacious reporters, visionary editors, driven sales staff and a supportive publisher. But the real driving force behind any newspaper is the community—everything we do is in service to you, our readers, and your support is what has kept Boulder Weekly alive and vibrant for nearly three decades. That’s why, for the last several years, Boulder Weekly has chosen to celebrate its anniversary by shining a light on the unsung heroes of our community, those who have created change and changed lives without much fanfare. Boulder County endured unimaginable trauma last year; we lost loved ones to violence and illness, we lost homes to ﬁre. But we came together each time and saw each other through. We hope the stories we share in the following pages lift your spirits, soften your armor and remind you of the beauty in this world. Thank you for your support these past 28 years—we literally couldn’t do it without you. —Caitlin Rockett, editor-in-chief

JANUARY 27, 2022

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Annika Spilde

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event together in 48 hours, and hundreds of students showed up. “The trial is the symptom of the rest of the problem,” Spilde explains. “Some people felt like the system had failed them—[we realized] nothing is going to change unless we make it change.” At the walk-out, students demanded more education about consent and Title IX in addition to more accountability from school administrators. (Title IX, a federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, requires schools receiving federal funding to investigate and fix know everything I can.” dysfunctional educational environments.) A few years later, while attending Summit Middle BVSD and the Fairview administration took note. Two School, Spilde used her eighth grade capstone project to school administrators (Principal Don Stensrud and Dean research the legislative process, then went to testify on of Students Nick Lenk) were placed on leave or suspenda series of bills being heard in the state legislature that ed after allegations of inaction following claims of sexual year. “I wasn’t very well spoken,” Spilde says, “but I did violence. But as the 2021-22 school year started, Spilde what I could.” says the student body hadn’t yet seen “real changes” Afterward she remembers thinking, “This is really take effect, so frustration mounted. “I remember so many cool, it’s something I really care about that I want to people texting me, being like, ‘Are we doing another continue to do—continue to create change.” walk-out? Are we doing something else?’ I think everyMoving up to Fairview High School, Spilde kept the one was angry and wanted to do something and wanted momentum going. In 2021, her work culminated in a series of public demonstrations that helped pressure BVSD to remind the school and the district that this was still a problem.” to directly reckon with sexual violence across the school So in September Spilde began organizing TESSA MOSKOFF another walk-out. Dellinger and Sanchez, having graduated and moved on to college, helped guide Spilde through the logistics from afar. For this demonstration, nearly the entire school poured outside. To the crowd, Spilde said: “Many of us walked out once before. We walked out demanding change and asking for BVSD and Fairview to do more for survivors. We walked out angry that the system had failed us. And this time, we’re angry that not a lot has changed.” Randy Barber, BVSD’s chief communications officer, says, “The institution immediately heard their voices, but it did take some time for [the response] to take shape.” In October, BVSD hired its first-ever Title IX Coordinator, Elizabeth Francis, who got the Title IX Advisory Council—designed to “elevate student voices” from various grades and schools across the district—up and running in November. The district district, and since then, progressive policy changes (like has also implemented new health curriculum with a focus on the Title IX Advisory Council) have ensued. Last year, as a junior, Spilde worked with the national sexual violence prevention, rearranged its website to make information about sexual violence (and how to report it) organization Moving to End Sexual Violence (MESA) to more accessible, and updated its investigation procedures. create training materials for teachers to better understand “what students need in the moment they’re coming Too, Francis now meets with Fairview students for listening sessions every-other week. She says many of these changforward with a report [of sexual violence],” Spilde says. es were “absolutely” a direct response to the 2021 student Through MESA, Spilde connected with two seniors, outcry Spilde helped organize. Sophie Dellinger and Beatriz Sanchez. Spilde says many of BVSD’s recent changes have Together the trio created and amplified the Instagram had positive effects, though “victory” is hard to define. account @bvsd_survivors. Designed as a space for “True success is when no one assaults people—what a BVSD sexual assault survivors to anonymously share revolutionary idea, right?” their stories on social media, the account quickly grew The fi ght to end sexual violence is heavy work, she into a call for change. “We [collected] so many of these admits, and while she takes plenty of naps to recharge stories—we shouldn’t have that many. Even one is too (in addition to her daily coffee doses), Spilde concenmany,” Spilde says. “We were able to create that outcry trates on the little things to avoid feeling overwhelmed. among the students and school community when people “At this point, I try to focus on the small wins we’ve been started realizing, ‘Hey, this isn’t just something that able to achieve,” she says. “I’m just one part of this happened to me, it’s happened to everyone.’” In April 2021, a Fairview student being tried for sexu- movement, and so as long as I can keep moving it along al assault was acquitted. This prompted the three women and pushing us toward true success, I’m going to call that a victory for me.” to organize a walk-out to support BVSD sexual assault

The Fairview High School student who helped organize walkouts to protest inaction on sexual violence talks about the heavy work, small wins and true success of her activism

by Emma Athena

fter class on a Thursday afternoon, Annika Spilde orders a latte at Trident Cafe. Wearing a black-and-white checkered skirt, jean jacket and ankle-high black boots, she sits, places her phone face-down on the table, pushes her blonde, middle-parted hair out of her face, and wraps red-polished fingers around her mug. “I drink a lot of coffee and I’m unashamed to admit it,” the 17-year-old Fairview senior says with a laugh. Every morning, after the sequence of six alarms that she uses to wake up, she drinks a cup, and often takes another in the afternoon; vanilla-cream cold-brews from Starbucks are her favorite, but on cold days like this one, she prefers her lattes hot. For Spilde, the caffeine makes sense: It’s a go-go-go life she lives between high school classes, meetings after school, more meetings on the weekends, and being a Snarfburger- and Winter Park Ski Resort-loving teenager—but the young community activist wouldn’t have it any other way. On Mondays she meets with Youth Advocating for Change, a pro-LGBTQ+ program sponsored by Boulder County Public Health; every other Wednesday she convenes with Boulder Valley School District’s (BVSD) new Title IX Advisory Council—which Spilde and other students helped create last year after organizing two student walkouts and a petition demanding more accountability from school administrators regarding sexual violence; and on Sundays, she serves on the Youth Action Board for UpRISE, Colorado’s social justice tobacco control movement. Sipping her latte, Spilde considers how she began working on such social action and justice projects, especially from such a young age. “I never had one of those cloud-parting aha-moments,” she admits. “I’ve just always been passionate about sexual violence work, and LGBTQ+ advocacy, and substance and tobacco abuse prevention.” And she has the track record to prove it. Even as a toddler, Spilde’s father, Rich, a lawyer in Boulder, recalls: “Annika was the one who would wiggle out of your arms and want to go explore. She always seemed to want to go see what was out there . . . and what you’re seeing now—Annika being interested and engaged in the process, and trying to motivate and change policies and viewpoints in areas where she feels strongly about—that doesn’t surprise me because it’s actually been going on several years,” Rich says. “She’s tenacious about it.” In elementary school, for example, when the family lived on Eighth Street, Spilde took it upon herself to create a neighborhood newspaper, The Crazy Eight. Thinking about herself at age seven, peddling a newspaper filled with stories like a nearby telephone pole catching on fire, she laughs and says, “I was always really curious, I wanted to know everything, and I still do—I want to BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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CELEBRATING from Page 11

In memoriam: Shawn Cupolo After his sudden death from cancer, H.B. Woodsongs owner’s friends and family remember his love of music and community

by Caitlin Rockett

PHOTOS COURTESY SONDRA BLANCHARD

.B. Woodsongs was the setting for much of Sondra Blanchard and Shawn Cupolo’s story as a couple: They met at the music store more than a decade ago, while Cupolo was working there and Blanchard was posting flyers for an event. “We’re both from the East Coast,” Blanchard says of her connection with Cupolo. “And Shawn just had a really soft, gentle, playful way about him.” The couple welcomed a daughter in 2010, and went on to purchase Woodsongs in 2017. The two were well known in Boulder’s creative community: Cupolo had worked at Woodsongs for 14 years when he and Blanchard bought the business, and in his off-hours he played guitar in the blues band Hotfoot; Blanchard has been delighting audiences with puppets, masks and clown work as the artistic director of Lafayette’s Public Works Theatre Company since 2014. Woodsongs has been a go-to for musicians since its foundation in 1971, including Colorado-based acts like String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon, Hot Rize, Elephant Revival and Gregory Alan Isakov. Steve Earle, Béla Fleck and Mike Nesmith of The Monkees have also patronized the store over the years. Blanchard says Jared Polis dropped in several times, most recently in 2020 on the first day the store was able to reopen to the public after stay-at-home orders were lifted; he bought his daughter a clarinet. “Shawn really appreciated whatever way people came to music,” Blanchard says. “He really enjoyed young people in the rental program that we had at the store, and also the ‘petting zoos’ that we did, where we’d put instruments into the hands of really young kids for the first time, and it would be so noisy and raucous and, like, aurally challenging, but he loved it.” Blanchard says that Cupolo, whose father was a school music teacher, had just launched a donation program through Woodsongs to contribute money to schools in the Boulder Valley School District to help purchase necessary supplies. But in the fall of last year, Cupolo began to experience fatigue and pain. He was diagnosed with cancer in early November, and found it had already metastasized to his bones. He passed away on Nov. 30. “I’m not sure I’ve fully processed it yet,” says Chris 12

Smith, a friend of Cupolo’s and colleague at Woodsongs. “There was a time when he and Sondra took a leave of absence to go to Greece. In a way, my brain is sort of compartmentalizing this in a similar way: Well, he’s just away. So I think I’m deﬁnitely in a couple different grief stages, one being acceptance, but on the other hand, there’s a hint of denial going on too.” Smith—or Smitty, as Cupolo playfully called him—met Cupolo in the music scene in Boulder and the two became fast friends. When an opening came up at Woodsongs, Cupolo recommended Smith for the job. Eventually, Smith went on to play bass in Cupolo’s band Hotfoot. “In a nutshell, he was like a Tootsie Roll pop: He had a sweet, rugged exterior—a little hard at times, with that East Coast, Jersey attitude—but inside he was all love, all gooey,” Smith says. “Years ago I was going through a divorce—he didn’t know me all that well at the time— and I needed a place to stay, and he offered me his apartment in Longmont because [he and Sondra] were moving out of it. He gave me a sanctuary for a while, which he didn’t charge me a cent for. It was just out of the kindness of his heart. That’s the kind of guy he was: He loved to give me grief at work and on stage, but I knew it was all out of love.” Smith says that as the owner of Woodsongs, Cupolo

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SONDRA, was “very eager to connect MADELEINE, AND further with the Boulder SHAWN smile for a community. family photo (above). “And that meant personJared Polis visits ally getting to know all of the Shawn Cupolo at schools and the teachers,” H.B. Woodsongs he says. “He found that very (below) in 2019. important, not only for the business, but just for connecting our community. He was very generous in that respect. He was always quick to give out gift certificates to people and donate to charities. That was just all part of his vision, just to connect everybody figuring that it was a small investment that would yield bigger results. That was the way he saw the world. He wasn’t just making a buck. He was really active and making a difference.” In the wake of Cupolo’s death, his bandmates in Hotfoot finished an album they’d been working on for a number of years. Next Sunrise is available on all streaming platforms. Friends and family are hosting a celebration of Cupolo’s life on April 2 at the Wildflower Pavilion at Planet Bluegrass from 1-4 p.m. Blanchard says there will be “a formal celebration ceremony and then a song circle in which everyone may participate, so folks can feel free to bring instruments.” For those looking to share their memories of Shawn Cupolo with his family, friends and colleagues, a condolence book is available at H.B. Woodsongs. BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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Finding Higgins

A lost dog in the middle of Colorado’s most destructive wildfire and the community that rallied to help get him home

by Will Brendza

very day, the dogs at Donelle Slater’s Superior-based kennel, Dog Tag, take naps between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. December 30 was no different. She was pouring over paperwork in her home office, while the 41 dogs she was boarding for the holidays rested peacefully. It was a quiet—albeit windy—Thursday. Then, around 12:05 p.m. she heard screaming. It was her husband, Jay, and he was sprinting across the yard, frantically pointing west toward the open space beside their property. For a second Donelle couldn’t make out his words, but when she did her blood ran cold. “Fire!” he was shouting. “Fire!” Behind him, Donelle suddenly saw it: a brushfire racing toward them. She leapt into action, her adrenaline already pumping and her focus single-minded. The dogs, she thought, they had to save the dogs—and she leapt into action. The next 15 minutes she describes as the scariest of her life. “With the dog kennel, we’ve always had an evacuation plan to hook up our horse trailer and load as many dogs as we could get into the horse trailer and our cars,” Donelle says. Time was not on their side though. By the time they’d pulled the trailer around, their barn was already completely engulfed in flames. Embers were flying through the air, singeing their clothing, burning their eyes, as they scrambled to initiate “plan B.” They loaded twelve dogs into Donelle’s sedan (a Saint Bernard riding shotgun beside her), another six dogs into Jay’s car, and six more into their daughter’s. Amid the hurry and confusion, though, the Slater’s own dog, a rescue named Higgins, got away. As Jay was running to the car, dogs under both arms, Higgins flailed, fumbled and hit the ground running—Higgins escaped, and Jay didn’t have time to chase after him. BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

“By the time they were pulling out of the driveway, the detached garage for the dog kennel had started on fire,” Donelle recalls. “I went back into the kennel and I let out the last remaining dogs. There were 14 left.” Originally she’d thought maybe those dogs would be safe in the outdoor holding area, covered in gravel and enclosed with a mostly metal fence. Perhaps with a water spigot running they’d be OK, she thought frantically. Then she saw that the fence itself was on fire and knew it was a lost cause. “Every plan has a plan Z, right?” Donelle says. She’s COURTESY DONELLE SLATER spent her life working with animals, at zoos and aquariums, and she knew what to do when there were no options left. “You open the gates and let everybody go. Because they will miraculously find safety . . . you just have to trust that they will do the right thing.” So that’s exactly what she did. She opened the kennel gates and let the dogs out. She then jumped into her own car and sped off, as fire was swallowing her neighborhood, smoke blotting out the sun, embers in the air and dogs sprinting wildly down the street beside and behind her car. “It was just awful,” she says. “The last thing I saw was my barn on fire and that garage on fire. I [had] no reason to believe that the house or the kennel would still be standing when I got back.” It wouldn’t be until later that day Donelle would learn Higgins, her dog, hadn’t made it into one of the escape vehicles. Every other dog had made it safely out of Dog Tag and had been reunited with their owners. All except Higgins. “About a quarter mile from our house was another brick house that was not on fire. So [Higgins went there] and these guys got him into a car.” They contacted Donelle, who had an employee who was willing to go pick him up and care for Higgins while the Slaters figured out what to do with themselves. “So he was safe for about a day and a half,” Donelle l

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says. “And once my husband and I got our housing situated, I said, ‘I really want Higgins back.’” Her employee lived in Boulder and agreed to hand Higgins off to yet another person, who would then drive the lost dog straight to Donelle and Jay. However, Higgins was still shaken up. And during the second handoff Higgins freaked out, leapt out of the car window, leash attached, sprinting off yet again. “So now he was [lost] in Boulder,” Donelle says. They immediately began searching for him. They looked all day on Saturday, walking the creek path and shouting Higgins’ name, to no avail. The sun set and they went to bed for the second night without their dog. It was cold that snowy Saturday, and Higgins was out there somewhere. The next morning, Donelle’s employee, plagued by guilt for botching the handoff, decided to plaster the city in flyers—which you may have seen. “Please find Higgins” the poster reads, featuring a picture of the pooch and Donelle’s number. That was when they started getting some real tips. Someone had seen paw prints in the snow by the university, so they went and followed them. Then someone called who’d just seen a leashed dog that looked like a fox, sprinting past Pasta Jay’s on Pearl, so they sped across town. “Finally a good Samaritan picked him up at 19th and Floral (Drive) and brought him to the Humane Society,” she says. They scanned Higgins, got his info and called Donelle, who was there as fast as she could. “Oh, it was tears and laughter. It was just such pure joy,” she says of the moment she was reunited with Higgins. “It was just a miracle. I didn’t think we’d ever see him again.” Higgins was covered in burs, and his front right paw was pretty badly burned. But he’d survived. He’d made it home. And Donelle says that’s largely thanks to her friends and the community of Boulder. “We have a really great community of people around us and they have been so supportive,” she says. “Community is everything, really . . . don’t take it for granted.” When the Slaters returned to their home, they were surprised to find that their residence and the kennel had somehow survived (though both were badly damaged by smoke). They were lucky, Donelle says. Reopening their business was just going to be a matter of rebuilding parts of it. Which won’t be so bad, Donelle says. Not with such a supportive community, their family and friends, and their dog Higgens all at their side. see CELEBRATING Page 15 13

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Jessica Benjamin

First Bite owner harnesses the power of food to help glue the community back together again

by John Lehndorff

n times of trouble, as well as every “Being a mom with two small kids and trying to keep single day, “food always helps,” Jessica my staff employed, it was a scary time,” Benjamin says. Benjamin says, “In March 2020 events were gone. We tried to help “I love the food world. I love the restaurants pivot to reopening and the new reality of people in it. I love the stories in it. Food is masks, takeout and delivery, and outdoor dining,” she about culture, so it’s very personal. It’s a sense of explosays. ration where you discover your neighborhood,” she says. “One of the things we’ve seen with the pandemic is Since Jessica Benjamin bought First Bite, Boulder that food is part of so many industries. It’s not just ecoCounty’s annual restaurant week, the community and nomics. It’s like the lifeblood of a town. It’s how people restaurant industry have experienced some tragedies feel the local vibration of life.” and disasters, the latest being the Marshall Fire, which For Benjamin, the pandemic focused her on family destroyed 1,000 homes in Louisville and Superior. and cooking. She lost two grandparents to COVID in As always, it was the food people who came through. April 2020. “Particularly now, when they’ve been getting battered “My pivot came from cooking, which is something for two years by COVID, the restaurants were the ﬁrst I love. I started making this simple gnocchi recipe from ones to say ‘yes.’ It was amazing COURTESY JESSICA BENJAMIN Denver chef Jennifer Jasinski. to see how quickly the industry It became a robust staple in my coalesced and worked togethkitchen and I realized that all er—restaurants, caterers, farmers these restaurants had recipes and bakeries—to feed the familike that,” Benjamin says. The lies,” Benjamin says. result was A Bite of Boulder, a Jessica Benjamin is no cookbook featuring recipes from stranger to tragedy, the PTSD 30 local restaurants. it inﬂicts, and the path out of it. “I asked the restaurants to “In 2013, Matt Benjamin . . . and give me a recipe for something I were engaged. His dad and people want to eat and is reasonbrother and their girlfriends were able to make at home. The most killed in a plane crash in Santa surprising part was how much Monica. Frankly, it changed evbutter and salt are used in these erything in our lives,” she says. dishes,” she says with a smile. “The following January was Benjamin and crew home-tested dark. It was cold. We were very the recipes in the collection. depressed. A friend dropped “It was really exciting to see by—really someone who we the growth in my own cooking,” weren’t really close to before that. She dropped off beef she says. stew hot in a crockpot on the doorstep. She said: ‘I just Available at local bookstores and online, A Bite of wanted you to know we’re here for you,’ and that was just Boulder includes recipes from three eateries no longer in so heartwarming. It made us realize we needed to cook business. It was produced by local restaurants and 50% better meals for ourselves,” Benjamin says. of proceeds go back to them. Jessica Benjamin moved to Boulder in 2004, and At 2 p.m. on March 22, 2021, Jessica Benjamin was was The Kitchen’s marketing director as it rapidly grew. sitting in the Table Mesa King Soopers parking lot, just a few After working for a large national events company, she blocks from the Benjamin home, talking to her sister. A few ran her own Boulder events company. Critically, she also minutes later, a gunman killed 10 people in the supermarket. connected to the larger food community as a volunteer “I wasn’t in the mental space to go inside and be with at the Growe Foundation’s Garden to Table program crowds, so I went home. Then I found out. That night I had connecting children to nature. to explain to my 5-year-old what happened. What I want him “I wanted to get out of the stressful meeting planning to remember from it is that we came together as a communiworld, make a difference locally and concentrate on my ty after such a tragedy,” Benjamin says. family,” she says. Benjamin was approached last summer by the newly Benjamin purchased First Bite in spring 2019 from formed SoBo Rising group. “South Boulder is actually a tight Kate LeCroix and Josh Dinar, who had nurtured the community. We all know each other and the shop owners. event since 2005, and Benjamin produced a highly We hosted a SoBo Sidewalk Social at Table Mesa Shopping successful restaurant week that fall. Center and all the neighbors came. It was so desperately Just as Benjamin and her team were planning the needed,” she says. next restaurant week, COVID hit. First Bite’s 2021 Boulder County Restaurant Week BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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adjusted to the new COVID reality. “The restaurants were still struggling immensely, so the model had to change. There was a huge desire for smaller events and more intimate engagement with diners. People were just venturing out. They were being selective in their exposure, but they still wanted to do something fun,” Benjamin says. First Bite added tastings and classes, and expanded the price points, kinds of restaurants and dining experiences involved. “We had a lot of new people to First Bite trying a lot of new places,” Benjamin says. The afternoon of Dec. 30, 2021, a fire driven by hurricane-force winds torched homes and businesses in Louisville and Superior. First Bite initially directed attention toward the myriad local projects that immediately sprang into action to feed families. Dozens of restaurants have offered free dining. “A large portion of these people had never needed help before. It was hard for them to say, ‘I’ve lost everything. Feed us,’” Benjamin says. First Bite launched the Food is Love campaign to directly aid impacted families in the Boulder Valley Schools by distributing $50 bundles of gift cards from Ash’Kara, Bohemian Biergarten, Cafe Aion, Corrida, Dagabi Cucina, Fringe, OAK at Fourteenth, Zucca and other Boulder eateries. “We’re connecting with BVSD and through the PTOs. This helps the families when they need it and also helps the restaurants stay open during a tough time,” she says. The past few years have reinforced Benjamin’s efforts to make First Bite a year-round effort, not just for one week. “I’ve been listening to restaurant owners, the chefs, the staff and the diners about what they need. I had this idea that we could be a larger community organization— have events, be a year-round resource, be cheerleaders for Boulder food,” she says. A new event, First Sip, will take place the final weekend in April, and First Bite’s next Boulder County restaurant week is scheduled in early fall. “As we come out of Omicron, we are going to learn how to live with COVID. Everybody wants to get back to life. I want to be able to go on a date with my husband,” Benjamin says. Benjamin’s husband is Matt Benjamin, newly elected member of the Boulder City Council whose campaign was run by his wife in her spare time. They are parents of two children and their home includes a new puppy, Ruby. “Horrible things will always happen. Our community will always experience curveballs. With experiencing tragedy, sadly it’s like a muscle: You learn how to heal and how to help others heal,” Benjamin says. Information: firstbiteboulder.com/food-is-love firstbiteboulder.com/cookbook see CELEBRATING Page 17 l

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André Houssney

COURTESY OF ANDRÉ HOUSSNEY

The Jacob Springs Farm founder came face-to-face with violent climate change—now he’s speaking up about the threats

by Will Brendza

rom where he stood in the Boulder neighborhood near Indian Hills, André Houssney could see houses burning in every direction—in the foreground, the mid-ground and the background of his view, and well into the distance. The destruction was on a scale he’d never seen or imagined in Boulder, and it was like a vision into the future of climate change. One of his hay fields burned, he says, but it was a negligible loss compared to the tragedy so many others endured that day. “I was going around and helping pull out horses,” Houssney says. “There were a couple of horses that were wild. I mean, they could smell the smoke and see the flames and so we just broke the fences down, turned them out in the fields and hoped for the best.” He shakes his head at the memory. “That was intense.” Two weeks later, Houssney, a beyond-organic (superseding organic standards) farmer and owner of Boulder’s Jacob Springs Farm, would be speaking at the state Capitol, addressing his fellow Coloradans about climate change. He described the dangers he’d just witnessed first-hand and the threats they pose to farmers like him. “We’re skating by right now,” Houssney said from the podium at the Capitol. “But these kinds of things are inevitable and they’re going to happen more frequently. What is it going to take? Ten-thousand burned homes instead of 950 before we start listening?” Houssney’s family immigrated to Boulder when he was in elementary school, having fled a civil war-torn Lebanon. He says as a child refugee it was hard for him to fit in with other kids and he spent a lot of time alone. Until the fateful day when he was walking past Jay Nieber’s farm. “I was walking their fence, probably throwing rocks at their animals or something, and they saw this pesky kid out there,” Houssney recalls. “And they put me to work.” That was the beginning of Houssney’s life-long journey as a farmer. Nieber showed him how to irrigate fields, taught him how to use farm machinery and how to train horses. He explained to Houssney how renting farmland was an achievable, realistic way to get his own BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

operation started. Nieber showed him the ropes and taught him the way. And Houssney had never felt more satisfied. “Growing up in a war was different. Hunger does things to your brain,” Houssney says. “My mom was really traumatized by food shortages, so being able to grow vegetables, grow food, and bring it home was really satisfying.” He decided when he was just 10 years old that he was going to farm for the rest of his life—though at the time, neither he nor Jay Nieber could have foreseen the challenges that climate change would present them. Today, Houssney owns and operates Jacob Springs Farm on the corner of 75th and Arapahoe. Founded in 2010, it’s a diversified beyond-organic farm that specializes in grass-fed proteins. They raise their own cows, pigs, lambs, turkeys, chickens and salad greens; they grow their own wheat, which they sell to Moxie bakery and Pastaficio Boulder; they grow their own barley, which they sell to local breweries to make beer—and this spring they’re launching a year-round farmstand where customers who want to shop wholly organic, and support a local farm, can come pick up everything they need. “Our local food system right now is basically just providing the garnish. What we want to do is provide the bulk of calories—and not just bulk, but quality,” he says. “So, in the farm stand we’re carrying raw milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, eggs, beef, pork, lamb, sometimes turkey and chicken, pasta, pasta sauce, salad, salad dressing, vinegar, mushrooms, all the time, all year-round.” Basically, he says, he’s trying to create a mini-mart for organic, locally grown and raised foods from Jacob l

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Springs. And, he adds, they’ve currently got milk and meat shares available. “It’s restoring a sense of terroir—of place,” Houssney says. “This is the cuisine of this place, because this is what we produce here [in Boulder, Colorado].” However, Houssney fears that under the looming cloud of climate change, he might not be able to produce all of that food, all of the time. Things are changing fast for farmers like him and he’s already scrambling to ﬁnd ways to adapt to it. He says this year he didn’t plant winter wheat, as it hadn’t rained since June and there wasn’t any snow on the ground until the very last day of the year—the day after the Marshall Fire. “Winter is coming later and later,” he says. “If you go 10 years down the line of this, it may be difﬁcult for us to grow anything. I don’t want to be Chicken Little, but we can’t farm without water.” That was the fear that brought Houssney to the steps of the Capitol earlier in January. He wanted to express that this was a sign of what’s to come—a shot across the bow—and not some bizarre aberration. “[The Marshall Fire] is exactly the type of scenario that we can expect from climate change, and it seems like everybody’s just kind of going about their day, as if it’s some kind of an anomaly,” Houssney says. “We just have to connect the dots for people and help them see that this is all the same thing.” Despite his experience with the fire, and despite his trepidations about farming in the future, Houssney remains optimistic. He’s spent over a decade building and growing his farm, cultivating and refining his processes, learning how to produce food in the most sustainable, regenerative way possible. And his farm stand, which he hopes to launch in spring 2022, is the culmination of all that hard work, and his lifelong career as a food producer—a provider—a local farmer. “It’s been 12 years and . . . it’s a lot harder than I thought it was going to be,” he says. “But here we are, almost there.” see CELEBRATING Page 19 l

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CELEBRATING from Page 17

Aubrey Runyon

The former search and research crew member’s actions after a deadly fall in Eldo Canyon saved one climber’s life

by Caitlin Rockett

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

t was going to be an easy climb after work on a beautiful late summer day in Eldorado Canyon. Aubrey Runyon and her climbing partner planned to link pitches on the Wind Tower, whose southwest face has some of the most frequently climbed routes in the Canyon. It’s a great spot for beginners, but for experienced climbers like Runyon and her partner, it was an easy way to relax. But just 30 feet from the top of the second pitch, Runyon heard someone call out, “Falling!,” and watched two climbers tumbling some 130 feet down the rock, landing right next to Runyon’s path. Of the fall distance, “It’s astronomical,” Runyon says. “It’s fatal almost 100% of the time.” With a background in search and rescue in teams in Idaho, Arizona and Nevada, Runyon snapped into action, building an anchor from where she was positioned on the rock, calling rescue services and having her partner lower her down to the fallen climbers. The lead climber was alive, still sliding down when Runyon reached him, so she secured him to the rock before checking on his partner, who was “wrapped up in a tree above the ledge.” She knew the second climber was dead before she even reached him. “I tried to push myself between the two of them, that way [the lead climber] couldn’t see his partner; I didn’t want him to be able to see what was going on behind me,” Runyon says. “[The lead climber] had a severe leg injury, but I was able to get the blood to stop gushing, and then when the EMTs got there, when the search and rescue crew got there, I was able to fix ropes so they could have a quicker access point to get to where we were.” The first medical professional to arrive on the scene was an emergency room doctor who lives in Eldorado Springs. The doctor verified that the second climber had died on impact. “That was good for my mental health to know that I had made the right call about helping the lead climber,” Runyon says. From there, Runyon was able to hand over the rescue to the medical professionals. “The mental health side of it, for me, has been horrific,” Runyon says. “I can’t imagine for the surviving climber how it’s been. It sent me spiraling. “I was able to work with a good therapist and was able to get resources from the climbing community that they give out for mental health for these kinds of things, which was fantastic. It was very beneficial for me, but still, it was a very l

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traumatic experience for everyone that was there.” Runyon has been navigating trauma for most of her life. The “aggressively queer” climber was forced into conversion therapy as a teenager by her parents. She says she hasn’t been in contact with her mother in 16 years. “I’m the chair of the Denver Chapter of the American Alpine Club, and my whole focus is inclusivity and diversity,” Runyon says. “And it’s for that reason I don’t want anyone excluded from my sport. I want there to be no barriers to COURTESY OF AUBREY RUNYON

the sport of climbing. Like, I don’t care if you’re a person of color, if you’re in the LGBT community, if you’re an adaptive climber. If you want to climb, you should be able to climb. I think those traumas set me up for that, to be the outreach to other people. I think that’s in a way very beneﬁcial for my mental health, to be able to give others what I couldn’t get. We’ll pull people in and say, ‘You belong here, and we’re glad to have you here.’” Through the American Alpine Club, Runyon is planning a “massive” LGBTQIA+ climbing festival for the spring of 2023. l

STEVE STANTON

The second son of a preacher’s daughter After losing his father and the family cabin from which he derived his stage name, Covenhoven’s Joel Van Horne still sees beauty in the world

by Caitlin Rockett STEVE STANTON

ON THE BILL: oel Van Horne has tended to make records Covenhoven. 7 rooted in location: the canyon country of p.m. Saturday, Utah, the misty coast of central California, February 5, eTown and his family cabin in Wyoming’s Medicine Hall, 1535 Spruce Bow range, Covenhoven, which Van Horne St., Boulder, Tickets: took on as his stage moniker. $20, etown.org But for the most recent Covenhoven record, IV, Van Horne steers away from this tactic. “There was a very conscious choice at the outset of this record where I kind of realized that I didn’t want to do that anymore; it was starting to feel a little bit limiting in some ways,” Van Horne says over a phone call from his home in Denver. “A thematic or conceptual idea can be really exciting, and can be helpful in a creative way, but then it can reach its completion.” IV feels like a record about change, about uncertainty, about loss and hope and nostalgia, not just for Joel, but for the whole Van Horne family. Just a few months ago, Van Horne’s father, Brian, sold the family cabin. Then, on Jan. 7, Brian died after years of living with and treating cancer. “There was 70 years of family history [in the Covenhoven cabin],” Van Horne says. “There’s pictures of four different generations of Van Horn’s spending time there. Every winter we would shut it up, and then we’d open it back up in the spring. And so right now it doesn’t feel real, but come springtime, there’s going to be no more cabin and it’s a huge loss. It actually does feel like I lost a family member. It’s rough to lose my dad and the cabin within a couple of months and feel like that whole part of my life has been kind of ripped out. “But in some ways it’s a relief, because he’s been in a lot of pain,” Van Horne says of his father’s death. “The last several months have not been easy.

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But he was lucky to be able to stay at home; he died in his bed, peacefully in his sleep. But I don’t think I’ve wrapped my head around it quite yet—it’s too fresh. He was a big inﬂuence musically on me. He never really was able to pursue a career in music, but he always played, was always writing songs. He was a huge Bob Dylan fan, and so that all rubbed off on me big time. You know, I’ve been looking through his photos in the past 10 days or so. It’s just amazing. There’s so many great photos of him with his guitar, and he’s clearly posing for the camera. Like, he was very into this idea that ‘I’m an artist, I’m a songwriter.’ I’m thinking to myself, ‘Man, I need to up my game a little bit here.’” IV was already released by the time the cabin was

sold and Brian had passed, but there’s a sense that Van Horne was preparing for the losses, a hint of exploration, like Van Horne is taking chances, throwing caution to the wind—upping his game a little bit. “Just smile and wave and give the fuck that no one gave,” he sings on “Easy Out.” “Even using the word fuck on a song, it took me months to come to terms with that,” Van Horne admits. “That was one of the things that felt new in terms of what I was doing creatively, just feeling like I want to be a little bit more soul-bearing in that way. I don’t want to soften things, I want to punctuate them.” Part of Van Horne’s approach with IV was to get collaborative. Pushing away from the “basement bedroom record” method that had given life to his previous three records, Van Horne set out in early 2020 to create IV with a cast of local musicians, including Ben Wysocki of The Fray, Julie Davis of Bluebook and Boulder’s own Gregory Alan Isakov.

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“When you work with other people, it really does go in new directions,” he says. “Sonically, I think it’s my favorite of my four records. I feel like it really has a warmth to it.” Van Horne roots around in his childhood on tracks like “Everything In Between”: The second son of a preacher’s daughter / I was raised on holy hymns / But I never tasted the river water / Or felt it wash away my sins / And now we’re shouting hallelujah / without knowing what it means / You feel the power coursing through ya / like water through the evergreens / And you see it glowing on the screens / and everything in between Van Horne was raised in the Lutheran church, the second son of a preacher’s daughter. But like many of COURTNEY NICHOLSON-PAINE us raised in religious homes, he’s found his own approach to a higher power. “I was trying to encapsulate the experience of spirituality, but not necessarily in a religious sense,” he says. “I’ve noticed in myself this desire for spirituality, but not really feeling like I relate to any one religion. We live in an incredible world, and there’s so much mystery and beauty. It’s been tough to see that lately. I feel like we’ve been tested big time in that way [over the last two years]. But I think it’s there and I think it doesn’t need to be called something or named or wrapped up in a book.” Van Horne’s faith remains despite the heavy load he’s had to bear over the past three years. In 2018, his brother, Ben, a sound engineer at Denver’s Mighty Fine Productions, died of a pulmonary embolism. The track “Nothing Left To Be” speaks to this loss: And it’s a long way from here to heaven / And there’s a garden here that still needs tending / On this line that blurs the new and old / There’s nothing left to be but beautiful. “For me as an artist and a songwriter, I feel like that’s the best way I can be spending my time is trying to contribute to the beauty of what we have here,” he says. “That idea has been tested a lot in the last couple years. As an artist I kind of wonder: Is this what I should be doing? Should I be on the front lines somewhere, fighting for the environment or social issues? I think that where I’ve gotten to in my head is that I just know what I’m here for. Through everything over the last couple of years, it’s just made me feel even stronger that that’s what I’m here for, is to hopefully make something that helps people through.”

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E VENTS

WILLA M. JOHNSON

■ Through an Artist’s Eyes: The Dehumanization and Racialization of Jews and Political Dissidents During the Third Reich (virtual)

EVENTS

If your organization is planning an event of any kind, please email the managing editor at crockett@boulderweekly.com

■ James Balog—‘The Human Element’ (virtual)

6:30 p.m. Thursday, January 27. Virtual Event URL: boulderbookstore.net/event/ james-balog-human-element Tickets: $5 For four decades, world-renowned environmental photographer James Balog has traveled well over a million miles from the Arctic to the Antarctic and the Alps, Andes and Himalayas. With his images heightening awareness of climate change and endangered species, he is one of the most relevant photographers in the world today. Balog’s photography of and essays on “human tectonics”— humanity’s reshaping of the natural environment—reveal the intersection of people and nature, and that when we sustain nature, we sustain ourselves. This monumental book is an unprecedented combination of art informed by scientiﬁc knowledge. Featuring Balog’s 350 most iconic photographs, The Human Element offers a truly unmatched view of the world—and a world we may never see again.

■ Brittney Hofer Lave: ‘What’s Left’

6 p.m. Thursday, January 27, The Boulder Creative Collective, 2208 Pearl Street, Boulder. Free, bouldercreativecollective.com Brittney Hofer Lave’s What’s Left is a show about processing grief through the act of making. Like a quilt made by your grandmother, the pages of a scrapbook or VHS family videos, Lave’s work highlights the energy created through mark-making and craft-inspired techniques.

7 p.m. Thursday, January 27. Free. Virtual Event URL: bit.ly/3rBFN6B Art is always intertwined with the social and political worlds of its creation. In this program, Professor Willa M. Johnson will tell the stories of political dissidents and Jewish men, women and children who were interned across Europe, including in the pre-war German city of Düsseldorf and in three war-period French camps, using the work of the German Communist artist Karl Schwesig and a chorus of archival data.

■ Upstart Crow Theatre presents ‘Love’s Labor’s Won’ (rescheduled)

January 27-30, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets: $21-$25, thedairy.org If Shakespeare ever wrote a sequel to Love’s Labour’s Lost, it hasn’t survived the ravages of time. But The Upstart Crow is happy to announce the next best thing: the world premiere of Katherine Dubois’s comedy Love’s Labor’s Won, which takes up the action a year after the end of the previous play. There’s no attempt to copy Shakespeare’s style (except for the bad puns), but most of the characters are back, and the course of true love isn’t any smoother than it was before.

COURTESY JOSH EMERSON

■ Colorado Native —A Native American Comedy Showcase

7 p.m. Friday, January 28, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets: $12, thedairy.org Josh Emerson has curated yet another stellar lineup of Native American Comics representing various tribal nations across North America. Emerson will be hosting Evan Johnson, Damon Howard, Thad Bejadhar and headliner Brian Bahe. Brian Bahe is an Indigenous (enrolled member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, and a member of the Hopi and Navajo Nation), gay (vers bottom) comedian, writer and turquoise jewelry model originally from Phoenix, Arizona, now based in New York City. see EVENTS Page 24

For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events

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JANUARY 27, 2022

E VEN T S

EVENTS

EVENTS from Page 23

■ Circa: Sacre

7:30 p.m. Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, 1595 Pleasant Street Boulder. Tickets: $23-$90, cupresents.org In Sacre, the world-ﬁrst circus setting of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” Circa tightly weaves together powerful world-class acrobatics and dynamic encounters suffused with dark humor and rich tenderness.

■ Boulder Book Store Author Talk: Isabel Allende—‘Violeta’ (virtual)

5 p.m. Saturday, January 29, Price: $28-$38. Virtual Event URL: boulderbookstore.net Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth. Through her father’s prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses everything and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling. She tells her story in the form of a letter to someone she loves above all others, recounting times of devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy. Her life is shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants and ultimately not one, but two pandemics. The Zoom link will be emailed to you prior to the event. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.

■ Disability Justice, Coalition Work and Environmental Futures: Featuring Mia Ives-Rublee

3:30 p.m. February 2, via Zoom: bit.ly/3nPIws2 Professor Phaedra C. Pezzullo will be interviewing Mia Ives-Rublee about her expertise in disability justice with environmental organizations, institutions and broader coalitions—including outdoor recreation access, being a competitive athlete, plastic ban advocacy, as well as the value of public protest and voting. Live ASL Interpretation will be provided.

For more event listings, go online at boulderweekly.com/events

JANUARY 27, 2022

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VOLBEAT, PHOTO BY ROSS HALFIN

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$5 Drafts All January $1 donation from each draft sold to support the Marshall Fire Family Relief Funds & Community Foundation Trivia Night every Wednesday

EVENTS

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CONCERTS

January 27

Chris Lane. 7 p.m. Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 N. Clarkson Street, Denver. Hubby Jenkins. 7:30 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder. Tickets: $20. Tool. 7:30 p.m. Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver. Jamestown Revival. 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax, Denver. TIckets: $25-$28. Dillon Francis x Yung Gravy with Kittens. 8 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver. Tickets: $35-$125. Wooli with Trivecta, Ace Aura, Shank Aaron. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $18-$20.

January 28

The Dear Landlords. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt Street, Longmont. Free.

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Icelantic’s Winter on the Rocks: Diplo, Soft Tukker with Talib Kweli, DJ Matt Cassidy, Jacoby. 7 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 West Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $49.50-99.95. Leftover Salmon featuring Tim O’Brien, Keller Williams’ Grateful Grass featuring The Hillbenders. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver. Tickets: $35$59.95. Boulder Symphony Marshall Fire Beneﬁt Concert featuring poet Dominique Christiana. 7:30 p.m. Grace Commons, 1820 15th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $0-$25. Jimkata. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $15-$18. Max Motif. 9 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax, Denver. Tickets: $12.80-$69.

January 29

CharlestheFirst Memorial Beneﬁt. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver. Tickets: $35-$75. Livingston Taylor. 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce Street, Boulder. Tickets: $30. Mellowpunk with BLUSH, Dry Ice, Jackson Cloud Odyssey. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th Street, Boulder. Tickets: $15-$18. Wooli with special guests Trivecta, Support: Ace Aura, SHANK AARON. 9 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 East Colfax, Denver. Tickets: $30-$65.

February 1

Shinedown with Ayron Jones. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop Street, Denver. Tickets: $59.50-$109.50.

February 2

Ghost & Volbeat with special guest Twin Temple. 7 p.m. Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver.

JANUARY 27, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

The Goddess Of Massage Presents...

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: Aries actor Bette Davis said that if

you want to improve your work, you should “attempt the impossible.” That’s perfect advice for you right now. I hope to see you hone your skills as you stretch yourself into the unknown. I will celebrate your forays into the frontiers, since doing so will make you even smarter than you already are. I will cheer you on as you transcend your expectations and exceed your limits, thereby enhancing your flair for self-love. Here’s your mantra: “I now have the power to turn the impossible into the possible and boost my health and fortunes in the process.”

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: Ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” You’ll be wise to make that your motto during the next five months, Taurus. Life will conspire to bring you more and more benefits and invitations as you take full advantage of the benefits and invitations that life brings. The abundance gathering in your vicinity may even start to seem ridiculously extravagant. Envious people could accuse you of being greedy, when in fact, you’re simply harnessing a crucial rule in the game of life. To minimize envy and generate even more benefits and invitations, be generous in sharing your plenitude.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: “‘Because there has been no one to stop

me’ has been one of the principles of my life,” wrote Gemini author Joyce Carol Oates. “If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere,” said Gemini actor Marilyn Monroe. “Play the game. Never let the game play you.” So advised Gemini rapper and actor Tupac Shakur. “Who I really am keeps surprising me,” declared Gemini author Nikki Giovanni. I propose that we make the previous four quotes your wisdom teachings during the next four weeks.

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: Your animal symbol is usually the crab. But I propose we temporarily change it to the tardigrade. It’s a tiny, eight-legged creature that’s among the most stalwart on planet Earth—able to live everywhere, from mountaintops to tropical rainforests to the deepest parts of the sea. In extreme temperatures, it thrives, as well as under extreme pressures. Since it emerged as a species half a billion years ago, it has survived all five mass extinctions. I believe you will be as hardy and adaptable and resolute as a tardigrade in the coming months, Cancerian. You will specialize in grit and resilience and determination. P.S.: Tardigrades are regarded as a “pioneer species” because they take up residence in new and changed environments, paving the way for the arrival of other species. They help create novel ecosystems. Metaphorically speaking, you could be like that.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: I regularly ask myself how I can become

more open-minded. Have I stopped being receptive in any way? What new developments and fresh ideas am I ignorant of? Have my strong opinions blinded me to possibilities that don’t fit my opinions? In accordance with astrological omens, Leo, I encourage you to adopt my attitude in the coming weeks. For inspiration, read these thoughts by philosopher Marc-Alain Ouaknin: “If things speak to us, it is because we are open to them, we perceive them, listen to them and give them meaning. If things keep quiet, if they no longer speak to us, it is because we are closed.”

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: Like all the rest of us, Virgo, you have lim-

itations. And it’s important for you to identify them and take them into consideration. But I want to make sure you realize you also have fake limitations; you wrongly believe in the truth of some supposed limitations that are, in fact, mostly illusory or imaginary. Your job right now is to dismantle and dissolve those. For inspiration, here’s advice from author Mignon McLaughlin: “Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.”

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LIBRA

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: “Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else,” counseled poet and activist Maya Angelou. Author Toni Morrison said, “The function of freedom is to free someone else.” Author and activist Nikki Giovanni wrote, “Everybody that loves freedom loves Harriet Tubman because she was determined not only to be free, but to make free as many people as she could.” I hope the wisdom of these women will be among your guiding thoughts in the coming weeks. As your own power and freedom grow, you can supercharge them—render them even more potent—by using them to help others.

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SCORPIO

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: “Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself,” testified Miles Davis, one of the most unique and talented jazz trumpeters and composers who ever lived. Popular and successful author Anne Lamott expressed a similar sentiment: “I’m here to be me, which is taking a great deal longer than I had hoped.” If those two geniuses found it a challenge to fully develop their special potentials, what chance do the rest of us have? I have good news in that regard, Scorpio. I believe 2022 will be a very favorable time to home in on your deepest, truest self—to ascertain and express more of your soul’s code. And you’re entering a phase when your instinct for making that happen will be at a peak. • Gifts for any cook • Fun and colorful kitchenware • Specialty foods, local and imported • Gadgets, cookware, and kitchen essentials • Louisville’s one-of-a-kind kitchen shop

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: In the course of human history, three million

ships have sunk to the bottom of the Earth’s seas. At one extreme have been huge vessels, like the Titanic and naval cruisers, while at the other extreme are small fishing boats. Many of these have carried money, gems, jewelry, gold and other precious items. Some people have made it their job to search for those treasures. I believe there could and should be a metaphorical resemblance between you and them in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. Now is a favorable time for you to hunt for valuable resources, ideas, memories and yes, even treasures that may be tucked away in the depths, in hidden locations, and in dark places.

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CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: “It is astonishing what force, purity, and

wisdom it requires for a human being to keep clear of falsehoods,” wrote author Margaret Fuller. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your capacity for exposing and resisting falsehoods is now at a peak. Furthermore, you have a robust ability to ward off delusions, pretense, nonsense, inauthenticity and foolishness. Don’t be shy about using your superpowers, Capricorn. Everyone you know will benefit as you zero in and focus on what’s true and genuine. And you will benefit the most.

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: “All things are inventions of holiness,”

wrote poet Mary Oliver. “Some more rascally than others.” I agree. And I’ll add that in the coming weeks, holiness is likely to be especially rascally as it crafts its inventions in your vicinity. Here are the shades of my meaning for the word “rascally:” unruly, experimental, mischievous, amusing, mercurial, buoyant, whimsical and kaleidoscopic. But don’t forget that all of this will unfold under the guidance and influence of holiness. I suspect you’ll encounter some of the most amusing and entertaining outbreaks of divine intervention ever.

PISCES

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: The year 1905 is referred to as Albert

Einstein’s “Year of Miracles.” The Piscean physicist, who was 26 years old, produced three scientific papers that transformed the nature of physics and the way we understand the universe. Among his revolutionary ideas were the theory of special relativity, the concept that light was composed of particles, and the iconic equation E = mc 2. With that information as a backdrop, I will make a bold prediction: that in 2022 you will experience your own personal version of a Year of Miracles. The process is already underway. Now it’s time to accelerate it.

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JANUARY 27, 2022

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e’s just this strange figure who was sort of prodigiously talented at something that he never chose to do,” Dana Stevens says. “And then continued to invent new ways of exploring that.” Stevens—the movie critic for slate.com and co-host of the site’s podcast, Culture Gabfest—is talking about Buster Keaton, the subject of her new book, Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the 20th Century. The subtitle should tip you off: Camera Man is not a standard-issue biography of Keaton’s life cradle to grave. Well, it kind of is, but Camera Man is so much more. It’s about Keaton’s early days on the vaudeville stage, his turn to slapstick comedy in front of the camera, his death-defying stunts that made him a legend, his fall in stature at MGM, and his reappraisal by future generations of moviegoers. SYLVIE ROSOKOFF But Camera Man also digresses into the lives and careers of Roscoe Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. It peers behind the curtain of child labor laws at the turn of the century and explores the unpleasant ubiquity of Blackface in theater and on film. It even makes a crucial stop at New York’s Childs Restaurant. As Stevens writes in Camera Man’s introduction, “More and more I became convinced that to understand [Keaton’s] life was to understand the history of that medium’s first century.” “It became sort of my hobby to think about him in the context of his time,” Stevens says. “If I think of this book as anything, it’s not really a biography. It’s more like a cultural history of [Keaton’s] lifespan.” And that span, 1895 to 1966, wasn’t exactly long, but, as Stevens points out, “the world changed so much during that time.” Stevens fell for Keaton as a graduate student studying in France. At that time, cinémathèques were celebrating Keaton’s centenary, and Stevens became enchanted by his gravity-defying stunts. Most people still are, but as Stevens sat down to write Camera Man, she became more and more fascinated by Keaton’s early days on the vaudeville stage. “I got so sucked in by that period of his life that, at a certain point, I thought: I should just be writing on his childhood,” Stevens recounts. “I feel like it’s something that gets . . . not glossed over—I mean, they’re very charming stories, so all biographies of him or accounts of his life will tell those stories—but they tend to be told in that biographical way, as if it’s just about him preparing to become a filmmaker. And the fact is that he had this very successful and long career as a stage performer before he ever stepped in front of the camera.” What’s also missing from those biographies are perspectives beyond the ones Keaton told anecdotally years after the fact. Stevens writes more than once in Camera Man, “This story comes to us only through Buster’s retelling.” “So all of that stuff was what drove me and fascinated me,” Stevens says. “Like: How do you look in between the documents and the films and the things that exist to figure out who this person was?” And that continues to make Keaton a fascinating subject 100-plus years after his birth. He was, and still is, known as “The Great Stone Face,” unflappable no matter how high the stakes. It made Keaton iconic. It also made him enigmatic. “Ultimately, he’s kind of remained a mystery to me,” Stevens says. And when she signs her book, she adds: “I hope this brings something new to your appreciation of the mystery of Buster.” “Because I don’t think that mystery is really soluble,” she says. “Except by watching the films themselves.”

‘The mystery of Buster’ Dana Stevens on Buster Keaton and her new book, ‘Camera Man’

by Michael J. Casey

ON THE BILL: Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the 20th Century is available now in hardback from Simon and Schuster.

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JANUARY 27, 2022

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JANUARY 27, 2022

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BY DAN SAVAGE Dear Dan: I’m a heterosexual, cisgender male who loves prostate stimulation. I discovered it later in life, but it’s been a staple for the last 15 years. I’m worried I’m pushing the envelope too much and need your advice. Lately, the last six months or so, I will have an orgasm that’s so intense I have pain just to the right of the base of my penis and balls immediately afterwards. If I push a finger in toward the center of my body, it’s tender. It goes away after a few minutes, but sometimes my right ball remains sensitive. I’ve even taken an ibuprofen to lessen the pain and I’ve had a prostate exam when it’s happening and I do self-exams of my testicles regularly, and I’ve noticed no changes. Usually my next orgasm is normal, and there’s no pain or sensitivity afterwards. As I said, though, it happens after intense sessions with a lot of prostate stimulation. While I’ve been practicing butt stuff for a long time, I feel as if I’ve only perfected it in the last year or so. I should also state that my sessions last up to two hours, and I’m erect during most of that time. I obviously don’t want to hurt myself, and I don’t think I am, but it’s a concern. It’s very hard to stop something that feels so incredibly good. I’m a little uncomfortable talking with my urologist because he treats me like a long-lost uncle. At our first visit, I told him very directly that my father had prostate cancer and I really wanted him to take his time with the exam and to really make sure all is well with my prostate. I added that the last exam I got from my primary care physician didn’t last long enough to feel very accurate and encouraged my urologist to take as much time as he wanted up there. He did not. Hoping you can help me out. —Pain Around Balls Concerning Dear PABC: “I’ve never had a patient specifically say they wanted me to ‘take my time’ with a prostate exam,” said Dr. Ashley Winter, a board-certified urologist in Portland, Oregon.

“But on numerous occasions, I’ve had a patient say, ‘Wow, that was way more detailed of a prostate exam than my primary care doctor did.’ And generally, that comment is meant as a ‘Thank you,’ as in, ‘Thank you for being detail-oriented.’” To be perfectly honest, PABC, I shared your letter with Dr. Winter because I suspected the request you made—take your time up there, doc—might’ve been the reason your doctor rushed through that prostate exam. Dr. Winter assures me that was unlikely. “I understand when someone wants their doctor to do a thorough exam,” said Dr. Winter. “A detailed exam shows the clinician is actually intent on collecting information about their body apart from lab tests and imaging studies. The patient feels ‘seen.’ Or touched. You get my point.” But just as a prostate exam that ends quickly isn’t evidence a doctor is worried a patient might be perving, an exam that ends quickly also isn’t evidence a doctor isn’t being thorough. “Some patients have a very ‘high-riding prostate,’ for example, and that’s difficult to feel except for the apex, or the tip, of the prostate,” said Dr. Winter. “And I have long fingers! In those cases, I will probably do a quick in-andout because taking longer would just involve me massaging the anus with no specific information being gathered.” There’s nothing wrong with massaging an anus for the sake of massaging an anus, of course, but no one needs to go to med school and/or to the doctor for that. But while I had her on the phone, I asked Dr. Winter again if some people do go to the doctor for that. “In extremely rare instances patients are manipulative or fetishize their exams, but this is extremely uncommon,” said Dr. Winter. “And while I can’t rule out the possibility that the urologist who saw PABC was ‘weirded out’ by his comments, it seems more likely that PABC is projecting that on to his doctor. There is so

much shame around ‘butt stuff’ and so I can easily see how this happens.” (It’s also possible that I’m the one doing the projecting here, as I was the one who raised the issue.) That said, while intentional perving is rare, some people do get aroused during exams. “Unintended genital responses—whether erection, or prostatic secretion during a rectal exam—are normal and occur on occasion,” said Dr. Winter. “It is the role of any self-respecting sex-positive clinician to acknowledge that these things are normal and move on. But it’s super uncommon and when it happens, the patient is usually stressed out and very apologetic about it.” As for your problem—sensitivity around the base of your penis after one of your extended butt-play JO sessions—Dr. Winter thinks you might need a different sort of exam altogether. “It sounds like what he’s having is a pelvic floor muscle spasm,” said Dr. Winter. “People tense and contract muscles in their pelvis— muscles at the base of penis—during periods of prolonged stimulation. He’s not doing anything wrong, and he doesn’t have to stop. But he might want to take a warm bath after. And if it’s too uncomfortable or gets worse, he should ask to be referred for a pelvic floor exam and possible pelvic-floor physical therapy.” Follow Dr. Ashley Winter on Twitter @ AshleyGWinter.

have kept hidden. I even have a suggestion for when to celebrate International Come-Outof-the-Closet Day: March 4. The slogan would be “March Forth on March Fourth!” What do you think? —Movement About Really Changing Hearts Dear MARCH: We already have a National Coming Out Day (NCOD), MARCH, when closeted queer people everywhere are encouraged—if they can do so safely—to come out to their families, friends, neighbors and coworkers. NCOD is not a new thing; it’s taken place on October 11 every year since 1988. And while I appreciate the spirit of your proposal—let’s all get those long-suppressed secrets off our chests—I’m not sure you’ve thoroughly thought this one through. If one day a year we blurt out our secrets—affairs and crushes and secret second families included—the result would probably look less like National Coming Out Day and more like The Purge. And since most people regard breaking up on an annual holiday as a needless and avoidable cruelty, people who confess to affairs or no longer being in love on International Come-Out-of-the-Closet Day will not be seen as courageous truth-tellers, MARCH, but as inconsiderate assholes. It’s ﬁne to dump someone, people fall out of love, people have affairs. But no one thinks it’s okay to dump someone—or to share a secret that forces someone to dump you—on Thanksgiving or Christmas or Valentine’s Day. Because then the person whose heart you stomped on winds up being reminded every year when that holiday inevitably rolls around. So, for the same reason it wouldn’t be okay to blurt out terrible secrets on the holidays we already have, it wouldn’t be okay to blurt them out on a day dedicated to blurting out terrible secrets.

Dear Dan: I’m a 74-year-old straight male. I don’t have a problem for you. Instead, I am writing to share an idea with you with potential beneﬁt to society. But, unlike you, I don’t have the means to spread the news. Based on the success of your “It Gets Better” Project, you seem like the perfect person to publicize it. My idea and my proposal to you is this: International Come-Out-of-the-Closet Day. It would include coming out about your sexual orientation but not be limited to sexual orientation. It would include all long-suppressed “secrets,” including affairs, crushes, no longer being in love with your spouse or anything else a person might

Email questions@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Find columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love.

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SUSAN FRANCE

The beauty of butchery With prices soaring, a butcher says forget the tenderloin and explore tastier, cheaper cuts

by John Lehndorff

espite the rise of Meatless Mondays and plant-, fungi- and cell-based proteins, we still eat a lot of beef, pork, chicken and other animal meats. There is clearly no shortage of burger-oriented Boulder eateries. However, meat prices continue rising even as supermarket shelves are often empty of various cuts. That situation isn’t likely to change in 2022. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that beef and pork production might decline 2% or more this year. One way to make meat more affordable is to step away from those expensive ﬁlets and chicken breasts and try some unfamiliar but highly tasty cuts and parts. Finding them is the challenge. It means forgetting the pre-wrapped jumbo packs and talking to a professional at a supermarket meat department or at an independent butcher shop like Boulder’s Blackbelly Market. Behind the glass counter, Blackbelly’s head butcher Kelly Kawarchi stands in a white apron deftly trimming yard-long oxtails with a razor-sharp knife. She worked her way up at Hosea Rosenberg’s Boulder eatery and market starting in 2015 and was named head butcher a year ago. “There is a growing push among cooks and diners who want to know where their meat comes from. They appreciate knowing the source,” Kawarchi says. She notes that butchers use the whole animal, a much more sustainable and less wasteful approach that supports smaller, non-corporate ranchers and farmers. However, consumers and diners must open their minds and palates, embrace the “nose-to-tail” philosophy and be ﬂexible at a butcher shop. “Because we use the whole animal, sometimes we sell

JANUARY 27, 2022

out of chops or tenderloin and I’ll direct customers to another cut,” Kawarchi says. When it comes to beef, there are myriad mysterious cuts. “The last chuck shoulder we broke down we cut into 16 different steaks and roasts,” she says. For steaks, Kawarchi recommends asking for nicely marbled Denver steaks at half the price of ribeyes. “The bistro ﬁlet is similar to a tenderloin at half the price,” she says. The Sierra chuck steak is a toothier chew, but ideal for stir fry recipes. For roasts, the culotte is an odd triangular cut with a thick fat cap that keeps it moist. “You slow roast it at 275 degrees and then sear on the stove,” Kawarchi says. You may not have heard of these cuts but you’ve certainly tasted them since they are mostly made into ground beef. “It’s kind of sad to see because they are so delicious,” Kawarchi says. Hardier but less pricey cuts include short ribs, shank and oxtail. They aren’t hard to cook, they just require more patience. “Those are set-it-and-forget-it cuts,” Kawarchi says. Sear them on top of the stove until browned and then leave them in a low-and-slow oven for many hours to braise until tender and juicy. The bones make fantastic broth. When it comes to pork, look past the chops and ribs for pork shoulder, Boston butt, and less expensive pork steaks, bavette and shanks,” she says. Kawarchi admits that some of these cuts are more work to cook l

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SUSAN FRANCE

Hello Boulder! and eat but they are full of ﬂavor. Lamb has always been pricier than beef. “I love lamb chops, too, but lamb leg steaks are half the price. Lamb ribs are also great. Necks are amazing for stews,” Kawarchi says. Chicken is usually the cheapest animal protein but those prices are skyrocketing, too. Choose skinless, boneless thighs, which taste more like chicken than breasts, and best of all is buying a whole chicken: roast the carcass and bones and transform them into broth. Turkey continues to be the great stealth cheap meat most of the year. There is a reason that the meat counter remains one of the few supermarket departments—outside of Starbucks and the pharmacy—where a knowledgeable person provides personal service and answers questions. Buying meat from a butcher isn’t necessarily more expensive, but it is often the case, Kawarchi says. There are good reasons why it’s worth the additional expense. You avoid the huge meat processing giants. If you are eating less meat, freshly cut beef, pork and lamb from a butcher simply tastes better. You have transparency since butchers know the ranchers and their practices. Butchers will also tell you from personal experience exactly how to cook the meat. “People are scared of unfamiliar cuts, even how they look. Butchers can help them get out of their comfort zone if they are stuck in the New York strip, tenderloin and ﬁlet mindset. Let go and try something new,” Kawarchi says.

Local Food News

Let’s raise a toast to the folks at the Boulder Public Library’s Seeds Cafe, which has closed after eight years of serving locally focused and sourced fare. . . . One of Colorado’s premier artisan smokers, Denver’s Owlbear BBQ, has closed. . . . Mono Mono Korean Fried Chicken has opened at 599 Crossing Drive in Lafayette, formerly U-Turn Brewery. It’s an offshoot of Aurora’s well-regarded Seoul Korean BBQ & Hot Pot and Seoul ManDoo in Aurora. . . . The cacao crew at Boulder’s Moksha Chocolate make experimental chocolate bars with different inclusions (like dried berries) that aren’t being produced yet. Those unique bars with hand-written labels are only available at Moksha’s Boulder factory shop.

Words to Chew On

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JANUARY 27, 2022

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From Colorado to the world

Lafayette’s Westbound & Down Mill is open for business

by Michael J. Casey

et’s start here: If you haven’t stopped in for the burrata at Lafayette’s Westbound & Down Mill, you must. The base is a Goldilocks-sized slice of roasted beet, topped with blood orange, soft Italian burrata, chopped Marcona almonds, dotted with microgreens, and drizzled with olive oil and bright salsa verde. It’s outstanding. Order one while waiting for the 95th St pizza—Ezzo pepperoni, salsa verde, red sauce and spicy honey on a spectacular cracker crust with pillowy pockets of chewy dough. “We’re not going to stray away from pizza,” says Casey Taylor, Westbound’s general manager and head chef. Rightly so. The menu includes six pizzas, three shareables, a salad and a cookie. Taylor foresees a time where more seasonal offerings will come into play, but only as long as he can tie the kitchen side of Westbound to the brewing. For the pizza, that can mean using Westbound’s Mexican lager as a starter for the dough (a custom blend of flour milled at Dry Storage in Boulder). Taylor then lets the dough ferment for 48 to 72 hours before cooking. It’s dynamite. And to hear Taylor and the rest of Westbound’s staff explain how they got here is also to understand how the past two years have shaped the brewing industry. “There’s no way to say that what happened has been positive—in a financial aspect,” head brewer Jake Gardner says of the pandemic. “But, did it push us outside of our comfort zone to help get us to where we are? Certainly.” And that includes switching from building a “dream campus” in Lafayette, as Westbound’s marketing director Eric Schmidt calls it, to taking over the former space of Endo Brewing Company. “I think that too many craft breweries divide the community—which is what [craft beer] is kind of built on,” Schmidt says. “So filling a space that already existed feels good.” It also helps that the hands behind Westbound are interested in growing Westbound, but not too much. Gardner

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

likes his staff on the smaller side, with everyone engaged and on the same page. Brewer Derek Goodman—whose ear-to-ear grin is so radiant, not even an N95 mask can hide it—approaches the beer with the same level of handson enthusiasm. The recipes are dialed in but far from “set it and forget it.” “Every year or so, we have to take stock of what’s changed and what happened,” Goodman says. “Which is really fun. Sometimes slightly frustrating, but keeps everything honest and keeps us really excited.” And that includes his enthusiasm for New Light, Westbound’s Cold IPA—a relatively new approach to hop-forward IPAs fermented with lager yeast. The beer is exceptional: Tropical fruits pop off the nose, but without the dankness that can sometimes muddy the aromas

and flavors of a juicy/hazy IPA. Instead, New Light’s profile is as clear as the liquid and delivers plenty of hop-prickle on the gums and tongue. That part you expect from an IPA, but it’s in the finish that New Light really takes off: Clean as a whistle and bone dry. It’s the kind of ON TAP: Westbeer you don’t realize how bound & Down much you love until you’ve put Mill, 2755 Dagny back three and are ready for Way, Suite 101, a fourth. Lafayette, westBut if new-fangled IPAs boundanddownaren’t your thing, Westbound mill.com, opens has you covered with 17 other daily at 3 p.m. brews on tap, nine of them in to-go cans. How Westbound started canning speaks a little to the luck that has kept the brewery thriving. “We’d flirted with buying a canning line for, like, two years,” Gardner recounts. “And then, finally, I was just like, ‘Screw it. Let’s buy it before we have the building to put it in and just can a little beer.’” That was in December 2019. Three months later, you couldn’t buy a canning line if your life depended on it. And for just about every brewery entering the pandemic, life depended on canning. You could call it a cart-before-the-horse moment, but the purchase worked out, and now Westbound’s canning line sits in a place of prominence in their fully renovated Lafayette digs. It separates the shiny stainless steel tanks of the brewing area from the bright, clean modernist taproom, white subway tiles gleaming as the warm Colorado sun pours through large windows making the blond wooden tables glow. It’s a welcoming place to drink a beer. And when you do, there’s a good chance that you’ll spot Gardner, Goodman, Schmidt and Taylor either behind the line or at the bar. Talking to customers about the beer, the food or the space is one of their favorite things. Though, if you’re not ready to hang out and gab just yet, few things travel better than pizza and beer. Just make sure to take some burrata with you.

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LAURA BLOOM

Queen Margherita and Spicy Potato Boy pizzas @ Barchetta

by John Lehndorff

his reminds me of Pepe’s,” says my friend Laura as we sit on the patio of Boulder’s Barchetta tasting a Margherita pizza. Laura comes by her pizza street cred legitimately and is unafraid to critique a crust. She grew up studying pizza in Connecticut and New York City and has sampled the best pizzas of our generation in the Boulder-Denver area. Pepe’s Pizza in New Haven, Connecticut, is widely regarded as one of the top ﬁve best pizzerias in America. We agree that it’s all about the crust. “This crust is chewy outside, soft inside. It has the perfect dough bubbles and black char. It’s not burned, it’s charred, just enough,” Laura says. Such a wheat-y, foldable crust requires a professional pizza tender who moves the pie around in the oven until it reaches perfection. “I usually don’t eat the leftover crust but this is great,” she says. The benchmark Queen is a classic Neapolitan Margherita. Barchetta graces the top with the right amount of simple tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, grated mozzarella, grated Parmesan, garlic and fresh basil. “The cheese layer is thin. It has that kind of lacy and mottled look,” Laura says. The fresh basil leaves were whole, not chopped. Too much basil and it borders on pesto. While the Margherita is satisfying and the slice to feed someone who’s never tasted real pizza, Barchetta’s seasonal Spicy Potato Boy is downright alluring. You’ve got a veneer of small roast potato chunks, crispy guanciale, mozzarella, rosemary, grated Parmesan, cured duck egg yolk and Calabrian chilies. The egg is crumbled and adds a breakfast hint along with the bacon-y ﬂavor and some chile heat. It sounds like a complex, too-fancy pizza, but it tastes great together. It’s a party. It’s a pizza you want to bite into again soon. Barchetta founder and chef Jesse Jensen comes from a strong local pizza lineage, having worked at Basta, and as Chef de Cuisine for Pizzeria Locale, located two blocks from Barchetta. Jensen’s pizza roster also includes the Rallier (cheese, sausage, pepperoni, onion, green olives and pickled jalapeño) and the Hapa-Haole (cheese, ham, pineapple, green onions and Palisade peach hot sauce).

Barchetta’s menu also features broccolini with lemon, meatballs with marinara, polenta with lamb ragu, and house-baked bread with options like Prosciutto San Danielle, Salami Toscano, Midnight Moon Goat Gouda from Cypress Grove and Burrata Di Stefano. There has always been something about restaurant wine-by-the-glass menus that bothered me: What if I don’t want a whole glass of pinot noir or even a half glass? Why can’t I order exactly the amount of wine I want? Sometimes you want a sip and sometimes you know you’ll finish a full tumbler. Barchetta answers the question with a cool self-service tap system for beer and wine you can sample by the ounce. We enjoyed two appealing Italian reds—a Super-Tuscan and a Sangiovese. As a final Barchetta bonus, the pizzeria bakes a fine scratch-made, warm, lightly salted, buttery chocolate chunk cookie.

BIG RED F

in the 1990s requested the made-to-order guacamole nostalgically as she had gone into labor with her ﬁrst child shortly after eating it at the restaurant.

Recipe Flashback: Zolo Grill Guacamole

uring my time as a Boulder food editor, readers have requested recipes for many of their favorite dishes at local restaurants. Some have been kind enough to share a recipe for home cooks. Here’s a favorite from Zolo Grill, which closed in 2020 after 26 years of serving Southwestern fare in Boulder. The reader back

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Zolo Grill Guacamole 2 medium avocados, peeled, pitted 1 tablespoon minced red onion ¼ teaspoon minced fresh garlic ½ teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice ½ teaspoon minced serrano chile Pinch kosher salt Pinch freshly ground black pepper Pinch ground molido chile or cayenne Combine all ingredients and mash to medium-coarse consistency. Do not overmash. Because the size of avocados varies signiﬁcantly, taste and adjust seasonings. l

Local Food Calendar

our ﬁngers and toes may be chilled to the bone but now is the time to reserve a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share at Boulder County’s farms if you want to munch organic carrots every week this summer. If you wait until spring, many of the farms’ CSAs will be sold out. . . . Slow Food Denver has launched the inaugural local Snail of Approval Awards. The awards are open to Denver-metro and Boulder County restaurants, bars, food companies, and farms dedicated to sustainable sourcing, cultural and community involvement and positive business values. Info: slowfooddenver.org . . . Upcoming event: Scotch Tasting, Feb. 18, Outworld Brewing, Longmont. Info: outworldbrewing.com . . . Send information on Boulder food events, classes, tasting and festivals to: nibbles@boulderweekly.com

JANUARY 27, 2022

Throwing THC in reverse

Meet the minor cannabinoid helping people feel more energetic, control their appetites and make better food choices

by Will Brendza

he perception that cannabis-use isn’t conducive to a healthy lifestyle is still alive and well. Partly because smoking (anything) on the regular isn’t great for your lungs. Partly because there are a lot of users who enjoy cannabis as a means of relaxation, to wind down, enjoy a movie, play a video game or sleep. And, of course, there is the all-too-common side-effect of “the munchies.” It’s a combination of effects that have all contributed to the stereotype of the “lazy stoner.” But as cannabis integrates deeper into the lifestyle of more people, and as more research comes out describing its actual effects and potential uses, that stereotype is starting to falter. There are now cannabis brand-sponsored pro-athletes like Boulder’s Flavie Dokken with Wana (Boulder Weekly, “Running on CBD,” April 4, 2021) or Timberlin Henderson, with Stigma Activewear. And some brands are taking it a step further, developing cannabis products that do exactly the opposite of what’s come to be expected from THC. Products like Wana’s new “Fit” gummies actually increase your energy and help regulate (or even reduce) users’ appetites. It’s the next evolution of cannabis: as a lifestyle supplement, instead of just a recreational drug. “THC is known to increase appetite, it’s intoxicating and euphoric, it can be sedating, and high doses can

also be anxiety inducing . . . THCV does the opposite of THC,” says Mike Hennesy, vice president of innovation at Wana. “This is a pretty hot area of research in the endocannabinoid and cannabinoid

industry right now.” Like other “minor cannabinoids,” THCV (or tetrahydrocannabivarin) is not as common or as well understood as THC and CBD. To most casual users, it’s just another acronym for a complicated sounding molecule. However, THCV has some very particular and potentially useful effects that other cannabinoids don’t. Hennesy likens the endocannabinoid system to a car’s gear-shift system. He says when a cannabinoid like THC activates our endocannbinoid’s CB1 receptors, the car goes into ﬁrst gear and starts moving forward (producing the psychoactive effects that smoking weed has become synonymous with). Other synthetic cannabinoids out there can kick it up into second and third gear, Hennesy says. THCV, on the other hand, throws the car into reverse. “It’s an inverse agonist of the receptor,” Hennesy explains. “It can reduce appetite, it can increase focus and it can be very energizing.” In a study published in the Journal of Cannabis Research titled “THCV: a commentary on potential therapeutic beneﬁt for the management of obesity and diabetes,” researchers found evidence to back up Hennesy’s statement. They observed that THCV does decrease appetite, increase satiety and up-regulate energy metabolism—suggesting that it might be useful

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for weight-loss as well as managing Type 2 diabetes. Another study, published in Nutrition and Diabetes, examined the potential for THCV to be used to regulate diets and energy levels among people with diabetes. It concludes, “THCV is a new potential treatment against obesity-associated glucose intolerance with pharmacology different from that of CB1 inverse agonists/antagonists.” THCV doesn’t just decrease appetite, but it can also help people make better choices about what to eat, according to Hennesy. Because unlike THC, THCV isn’t psychoactive. So even if you do decide to have a snack, you still have the wherewithal to pick fruit instead of candy. “[THCV] increases your executive functioning so that you’re thinking more about your food choices,” he says. “We’ve been describing [it] as something that is helping you to break some unhealthy eating habits . . . to put you back in control over your diet without any cognitive impairment.” All of this is why Wana recently launched its new Wana Optimals Fit gummies. With 10 mgs of CBD and .5 mgs of THCV, Wana designed this new active lifestyle product to be a daily dietary cannabis supplement that doesn’t get users high. Instead of an intoxicant, they’re meant to be taken more like a vitamin. “This is something that you take every morning or every evening before or after a meal and something you want to build up in your body,” Hennesy says. “Taking on it on a regular basis over time is where we see the most effects.” As Hennesy stated, this is a very hot area of cannabis research right now. As more science is done to explore the nearly 100 cannabinoids present in cannabis, more specific uses for them will become clear. And as we combine that knowledge with what we know about the entourage effect, the possibilities are seemingly endless. “There’s a lot more to learn about the [endocannabinoid] system. Cannabis has so many different components from cannabinoids and terpenes and ﬂavonoids,” Hennesy says. “We will see the endocannabinoid system be targeted in a lot of new cannabis products and potentially even pharmaceutical products.”

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