Boulder Weekly 3.17.2022 by Boulder Weekly

Free

Every

Thursday

For

■ Local film holds mirror up to Boulder, p. 14

Years

w w w. b o u l d e r w e e k l y. c o m

■ Yelp needs help, p. 20

March

23,

2022

■ Two ways to say ‘yes’ to ’shrooms, p. 31

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city beat:

The library district, a fancy fire station, and more by Shay Castle

cover:

The Foilies: Recognizing the year’s worst in government transparency by Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock

buzz:

After winning the People’s Choice Award at Boulder’s International Film Festival, ‘This is [Not] Who We Are’ is traveling the country by Caitlin Rockett

14 15

words:

Landmarks, a poem by Khadijah Queen

altered states:

Exploring psychedelic cannabis therapy meditation at Boulder’s Center for Medicinal Mindfulness by Will Brendza

departments 8 16 18 19 20 23 25 28 31

The Anderson Files: Putin’s far-right disinformation Events: What to do when there’s nothing to do . . . Film: ‘Deep Water’ turns cringes into chuckles Astrology: By Rob Brezsny Nibbles: Finding a good place to eat in Boulder means navigating the faux world of online restaurant reviews Drink: It’s a whiskey business Taste of the Week: Flavors explode in an artisan way at the Fringe Savage: Dildos and dialators . . . Weed Between the Lines: Colorado could have two state-wide psilocybin bills on 2022 ballot—one for legalization and another for decriminalization

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MARCH 17, 2022

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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, 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 Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman CIRCULATION TEAM Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer March 17, 2022 Volume XXIX, Number 28 Cover: Caitlyn Crites 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. © 2022 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

Boulder Weekly welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@ boulderweekly.com) or the comments section of our website at www.boulderweekly.com. Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address and telephone number for verification. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website.

Library district, fancy fire station, and more

What happened at Tuesday’s City Council meeting?

by Shay Castle

ITTLE LIBRARY DETAILS DISCUSSED (AGAIN) Council spent another 2.5 hours debating a future possible library district without deciding on much of importance. Elected officials made two calls: Council and Boulder County Commissioners will continue to approve who sits on the Library District Board of Trustees, but the board itself will appoint those members (which will then be ratified by aforementioned elected officials). It’s more veto power than appointment power, and if it sounds inconsequential, that’s because much of what city council has discussed RE: the library district so far is details rather than substance. Councilmember Rachel Friend summed up the feelings of many Tuesday night when she said, “I’m going to be completely honest. I don’t care a ton about this.” The substantive decisions—Do we need a better-funded

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and -managed library, and are we willing to pay for it?—are up to voters. We’ll get to weigh a property tax increase at least once, possibly multiple times. That was council’s other call on Tuesday: The district will have until 2024 to fund itself, or else the on-paper entity will dissolve. Still TBD is whether library branches will be owned by the district or leased to it. Elected officials were leaning toward a lease for the Main branch downtown, with possible transfer of ownership for the Carnegie, George Reynolds, and to-be-completed NoBo branches. A vote to form the district is scheduled for April 5, after a joint public hearing with Commissioners. BOULDER SPENDS $4 MILLION MORE OF ITS ARPA MONEY When council got its first look at how the city planned to distribute another batch of the $20 million feds are giving us for COVID recovery, they wanted more money for small businesses. They got it: More than $200,000 extra for things like business assistance and promoting tourism. An additional $100,000 went to childcare, also in the form of grants for existing and new providers. A guaranteed income program is moving forward, too, though who see CITY BEAT Page 8

MARCH 17, 2022

CITY BEAT from Page 7

will get the money and how much is still up in the air. More than $11 million of the American Rescue Plan Act money is yet to be spent. This recent round of planned spending was added into the 2022 budget on Tuesday night, along with revenue from the recently extended Community, Culture, Safety, and Resilience (CCSR) Tax. FIRE STATION NO. 3: EVEN FANCIER THAN WE THOUGHT Two weeks ago, we reported that the city’s new fire station was going to cost $27 million, more than two times as much as its original $12.5 million price tag. The actual total cost is $32 million, according to staff notes this week. CCSR funds will be used in the future to help finish it. UNHOUSED DISPLACED FROM HOTELS AFTER MARSHALL FIRE Budget documents also revealed this week that an unknown number of homeless people were moved from area hotels to make room for Marshall Fire victims. City staff asked for money to cover the cost of feeding them at Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, costs that will eventually (mostly) be reimbursed by FEMA. The city has been using hotel rooms during COVID to shelter at-risk individuals, and as an overflow option since halving the number of shelter beds in 2020. It’s not clear that moving more people into the Shelter caused a capacity crunch. There were no 8

MARCH 17, 2022

turnaways the night of or in the days immediately following the Marshall Fire, and turn-aways in January (22) were actually lower than the month before (47). BOULDER CREEK DEMOLISHED IN MARSHALL FIRE WIND STORM All told, the city is hoping FEMA will cover $2.2 million in storm-related costs: $1.7 million to Open Space for “trail head restoration, fence repair, ditch clean-up, farm structure rebuilds,” and other costs; approximately $48,000 for assistance to mobile home residents whose houses were damaged by wind and $60,000 for fire and police overtime. Another big cost is replacing the bridge that spans Boulder Creek and connects the north and south library parking lots. A tree fell on it during the windstorm, causing structural damage. It will cost around $379,345 to rebuild, staff said (that figure also includes the cost of debris removal by Parks & Rec). The bridge’s abutments also need to be evaluated for damage once the bridge itself is removed. ADIEU UNTIL APRIL Council is on break until April 5, when they’ll return for the joint public hearing on the library district with Boulder County Commissioners. The meeting is supposed to start early, 5:30 p.m. instead of 6, and the library public hearing is expected to last three hours. This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.

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SPECIAL EVENT Friday, March 24 @ 6:30PM WOMEN’S NUTRITION NIGHT OUT

Putin’s far-right disinformation by Dave Anderson

ladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is shocking, but how surprising is it? British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr said on Twitter, “We failed to acknowledge Russia had staged a military attack on the West. We called it ‘meddling.’ . . . It wasn’t. It was warfare. We’ve been under military attack for eight years now.” Is that too hyperbolic? For several years, Cadwalladr has written about what she calls the “Great Information War” by Russia. Putin’s sudden and reckless barbarity in Ukraine provokes questions about what he is up to. Gleb Pavlovsky, Russian political scientist who was a former advisor and confidant of Putin, provided disturbing insight in a 2014 interview in the British magazine New Left Review: “[Putin] understood the coming of capitalism in a Soviet way. We were all taught that capitalism is a kingdom of demagogues, behind whom stands big money, and behind that, a military machine which aspires to control the whole world. It’s a very clear, simple picture which I think Putin had in his head—not as an official ideology, but as a form of common sense. ” During the Soviet era, Pavlovsky was persecuted as a dissident. In a 2018 article on how the Kremlin turned Putin into a global icon, Washington Post reporter Anton Troianovski described Pavlovsky as “a key architect of Putin’s public persona until he feuded with and cut ties to the Kremlin in 2011.” He told Troianovski that they deliberately cultivated an air of mystery around Putin. In a weak state like Russia, “you need to create an image of power,” he said. Putin became a Hollywood-style toughguy action hero,designed to appeal to people on the right and the left. Putin was the world’s first modern “strongman,” his longtime spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Post, emphasizing that he saw that word in a positive light. He said, “There’s a demand in the world for special, sovereign leaders,

for decisive ones who do not fit into general frameworks and so on. ” There’s Xi Jinping in China, Viktor Orban in Hungary, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. “There’s getting to be more of them all over the world,” Peskov said. “Trump in America, too.” Troianovski noted that in Germany, far-right activist Sven Liebich was selling thousands of Putin T-shirts, “the most popular one featuring a smirking, sunglasses-wearing Russian president, his head Photoshopped onto a muscular, tattooed torso, giving the viewer the finger.” This ridiculous PR campaign is somewhat amusing, but it has been effective. Somehow I’m not laughing. Fortunately, the Russian propaganda machine is less successful in Ukraine than it was in Syria, where their horrific war crimes weren’t noticed as much. In his interview, Peskov cheered the increasing number of “strongman” autocratic regimes. There is an implicit alliance between them. Will they rally behind Putin? There’s Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who rules over a much worse dictatorship than Russia. The CIA concluded that MBS personally ordered the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. There is audio and visual evidence of Khashoggi being cut into pieces while he was still alive. MBS had a chummy relationship with Trump, but Obama and Biden hurt his feelings because they have criticized his human rights abuses. Biden recently called MBS to ask him to increase oil production in order to lower prices. MBS refused to take his call but did take one from Putin. The 2022 and 2024 elections are crucial for the future of our democracy. It would be great if the global showdown between democracy and authoritarianism was totally unambiguous. The democratic countries are deeply flawed, compromised and too often hypocritical. But the battle is real. This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.

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The Foilies 2022

Recognizing the year’s worst in government transparency

The C.R.E.A.M. (Crap Redactions Everywhere Around Me) Award — U.S. Marshals

The Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothing to F’ with ... unless the F stands for FOIA. Back in 2015, Wu-Tang Clan produced Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, but they only produced one copy and sold it to the highest bidder: pharma-bro Martin Shkreli, who was later convicted of securities fraud. When the U.S. Marshals seized Shkreli’s copy of the record under asset forfeiture rules, the Twitterverse debated whether you could use FOIA to obtain the super secretive album. Unfortunately, FOIA does not work that way. However, BuzzFeed News reporter Jason Leopold was able to use the law to obtain documents about the album when it was auctioned off through the asset forfeiture process. For example, he got photos of the album, the bill of sale, and the purchase agreement. But the Marshals redacted the pictures of the CDs, the song titles, and the lyric book citing FOIA’s trade secrets exemption. Worst of all, they also refused to divulge the purchase price— even though we’re talking about public money. And so here we are, bringing da motherfoia-ing ruckus. (The New York Times would later reveal that PleasrDAO, a collective that collects digital NFT art, paid $4 million for the record.) Wu-Tang’s original terms for selling the album reportedly contained a clause that required the buyer to return all rights in the event that Bill Murray successfully pulled off a heist of the record. We can only daydream about how the Marshals would’ve responded if Dr. Peter Venkman himself refiled Leopold’s request.

by Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock illustrations by Caitlyn Crites

ach year during Sunshine Week (March 13-19), The Foilies serve up tongue-in-cheek “awards” for government agencies and assorted institutions that stand in the way of access to information. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock combine forces to collect horror stories about Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state-level public records requests from journalists and transparency advocates across the U.S. and beyond. Our goal is to identify the most surreal document redactions, the most aggravating copy fees, the most outrageous retaliation attempts, and all the other ridicule-worthy attacks on the public’s right to know. As we were writing up this year’s faux awards, news broke that officials from the National Archives and Records Administration had to lug away boxes upon boxes of Trump administration records from Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s private resort. At best, it was an inappropriate move; at worst, a potential violation of laws governing the retention of presidential records and the handling of classified materials. And while Politico had reported that when Trump was still in the White House he liked to tear up documents, we also just learned from journalist Maggie Haberman’s new book that staff claimed to find toilets clogged up with paper scraps, which were potentially torn-up government records. Trump has dismissed the allegations, of course. This was all too deliciously ironic considering how much Trump had raged about his opponent (and 2016 Foilies winner) Hillary Clinton’s practice of storing State Department communications on a private server. Ultimately, we decided not to give Trump his seventh Foilie. Technically he isn’t eligible: his presidential records won’t be subject to FOIA until he’s been out of office for five years (releasing classified records could take years, or decades, if ever). Our winners, from federal agencies to small town police departments to a couple of corporations, are all shameworthy in their own rights and, at least metaphorically, have no problem tossing government transparency in the crapper.

MARCH 17, 2022

The Operation Slug Speed Award — U.S. Food and Drug Administration

The federal government’s lightning fast (by bureaucratic standards) timeline to authorize Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine lived up to its Operation Warp Speed name. But the Food and Drug Administration gave anything but the same treatment to a FOIA request seeking data about that authorization process. Fifty-five years—that’s how long the FDA, responding to a lawsuit by doctors and health scientists, said it would take to process and release the data it used to authorize the vaccine. And yet, the FDA needed only months to review the data the first time and confirm that the vaccine was safe for the public. The estimate was all the more galling because the

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requesters want to use the documents to help persuade skeptics that the vaccine is safe and effective, a time-sensitive goal as we head into the third year of the pandemic. Thankfully, the court hearing the FOIA suit nixed the FDA’s snail’s pace plan to review just 500 pages of documents a month. In February, the court ordered the FDA to review 10,000 pages for the next few months and ultimately between 50,00080,000 through the rest of the year.

These 10-day Deadlines Go To 11 Award — Assorted Massachusetts Agencies

the state and those of space and time.

The Spying on Requestors Award — FBI

If government surveillance of ordinary people is chilling, spying on the public watchdogs of that very same surveillance is downright hostile. Between 1989 and at least 2004, the FBI kept regular tabs on the National Security Archive, a domestic nonprofit organization that investigates and archives information on, you guessed it, national security operations. The Cato Institute obtained

records showing that the FBI used electronic and physical surveillance, possibly including wiretaps and “mail covers,” meaning the U.S. Postal Service recorded the information on the outside of envelopes sent to or from the Archive. In a secret 1989 cable, then-FBI Director William Sessions specifically called out the Archive’s “tenacity” in using FOIA. Sessions specifically fretted over former Department of Justice Attorney Quinlan J. Shea and former Washington Post

FOILIES from Page 12

Most records requesters know that despite nearly every transparency law imposing response deadlines, they often are violated more than they are met. Yet Massachusetts officials’ time-warping violations of the state’s 10-business-day deadline take this public records’ reality to absurd new levels. DigBoston’s Maya Shaffer detailed how officials are giving themselves at least one extra business day to respond to requests while still claiming to meet the law’s deadline. In a mind-numbing exchange, an official said that the agency considers any request sent after 5 p.m. to have technically been received on the next business day. And because the law doesn’t require agencies to respond until 10 business days after they’ve received the request, this has in effect given the agency two extra days to respond. So if a request is sent after 5 p.m. on a Monday, the agency counts Tuesday as the day it received the request, meaning the 10day clock doesn’t start until Wednesday. The theory is reminiscent of the This Is Spinal Tap scene in which guitarist Nigel Tufnel shows off the band’s “special” amplifiers that go “one louder” to 11, rather than maxing out at 10 like every other amp. When asked why Spinal Tap doesn’t just make the level 10 on its amps louder, Tufnel stares blankly before repeating: “these go to eleven.” Although the absurdity of Tufnel’s response is comedic gold, Massachusetts officials’ attempt to make their 10-day deadline go to 11 is contemptuous, and also likely violates laws of

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MARCH 17, 2022

FOILIES from Page 11

reporter Scott Armstrong’s leading roles at the Archive, as both were major transparency advocates. Of course, these records that Cato got through its own FOIA request were themselves heavily redacted. And this comes after the FBI withheld information about these records from the Archive when it requested them back in 2006. Which makes you wonder: How do we watchdog the spy who is secretly spying on the watchdog?

The Futile Secrecy Award — Concord Police Department

When reporters from the Concord Monitor in 2019 noticed a vague $5,100 line item in the Concord Police Department’s proposed budget for “covert secret communications,” they did what any good watchdog would do—they started asking questions and filed public records requests under New Hampshire’s Right to Know Law. In response, CPD provided a license agreement and a privacy policy, but the documents were so redacted, the reporters still couldn’t tell what the tech was and what company was receiving tax dollars for it. Police claimed releasing the information would put investigations and people’s lives at risk. With the help of the ACLU of New Hampshire, The Monitor sued but Concord fought it for two years all the way to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The police were allowed to brief the trial court behind closed doors, without the ACLU lawyers present, and ultimately the state supreme court ruled most of the information would remain secret. But when The Monitor reached out to EFF for comment, EFF took another look at the redacted documents. In under three minutes, our researchers were able to use a simple Google search to match the redacted privacy policy to Callyo, a Motorola Solutions product that facilitates confidential phone communications. Hundreds of agencies nationwide have in fact included the company’s name in their public spending ledgers, including the City of Seattle, which even issued a public privacy impact assessment regarding its police department’s use of the technology, which noted, “Without appropriate safeguards, this raises significant privacy concerns.” Armed with this new information, The Monitor called Concord Police Chief Brad Osgood to confirm what we learned. He doubled-down: “I’m not going to tell you whether that’s the product.”

The Rip Van Winkle Award — FBI

Last year, Bruce Alpert received records from a 12-year-old FOIA request he filed as a reporter for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Back when he filed the request, the corruption case of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, was still hot—despite the $90,000 in cash found in Jefferson’s cold freezer. In 2009, Alpert requested documents from the FBI on the sensational investigation of Jefferson, which began in 2005. In the summer of that year, FBI agents searched Jefferson’s Washington home and, according to a story published at the time, discovered foil-wrapped stacks of cash “between boxes of Boca burgers and Pillsbury pie crust in his Capitol Hill townhouse.” Jefferson was indicted on 16 federal counts, including bribery, racketeering, conspiracy and money laundering, leading back to a multimillion-dollar telecommunications deal with high-ranking officials in Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon. By the time Alpert got the 83 pages he requested on the FBI’s investigation into Jefferson, Alpert himself was retired and Jefferson had been released from prison. In a staff editorial about the extreme delay, The Advocate (which acquired the Times-Picayune in 2019) quoted Anna Diakun, a staff attorney with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University: “The Freedom of Information Act is broken.” We suppose it’s better late than never, but never late is even better.

MARCH 17, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Whose Car is it Anyway? Award — Waymo

Are those new self-driving cars you see on the road safe? Do you and your fellow pedestrians and drivers have the right to know about their previous accidents and how they handle tight turns and steep hills on the road? Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc. and operator of an autonomous taxi fleet in San Francisco, answers, respectively: none of your business, and no! A California trial court ruled in late February that Waymo gets to keep this information secret. Waymo sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles to stop it from releasing unredacted records requested by an anonymous person under the California Public Records Act. The records include Waymo’s application to put its self-driving cars on the road and answers to the DMV’s follow-up questions. The DMV outsourced the redactions to Waymo, and claiming that it needed to protect its trade secrets, Waymo sent the records back with black bars over most of its answers, and even many of the DMV’s questions. Waymo doesn’t want the public to know which streets its cars operate on, how the cars safely park when picking up and dropping off passengers, and when the cars require trained human drivers to intervene. Waymo even redacted which of its two models—a Jaguar and a Chrysler—will be deployed on California streets ... even though someone on those streets can see that for themselves.

#WNTDWPREA (What Not to Do With Public Records Ever Award) — Anchorage Police Department

“What Not to Do Wednesday,” a social media series from the Anchorage Police Department, had been an attempt to provide lighthearted lessons for avoiding arrest. The weekly shaming session regularly featured seemingly real situations requiring a police response. Last February, though, the agency became its own cautionary tale when one particularly controversial post prompted community criticism and records requests, which APD declined to fulfill. As described in a pre-Valentine’s Day #WNTDW post, officers responded to a call about a physical altercation between two “lovebirds.” The post claimed APD officers told the two to “be nice” and go on their way, but instead the situation escalated: “We ended up in one big pile on the ground,” and one person was ultimately arrested and charged. Some in the public found the post dismissive toward what could have been a domestic violence event—particularly notable because then-Police Chief Justin Doll had pointed to domestic violence as a contributor to the current homicide rates, which had otherwise been declining. Alaska’s News Source soon requested the name of the referenced arrested individual and was denied. APD claimed that it does not release additional information related to “What Not To Do Wednesday” posts. A subsequent request was met with a $6400 fee. FWIW, materials related to WNTDW is not a valid exemption under Alaska’s public records law. By the end of February 2021, the APD decided to do away with the series. “I think if you have an engagement strategy that ultimately creates more concern than it does benefit, then it’s no longer useful,” Chief Doll later said. It’s not clear if APD is also applying this logic to its records process. The Foilies were compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock, with further review and editing by Shawn Musgrave. The Foilies are published in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia.

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KATRINA MILLER

‘This isn’t unique to Boulder’

After winning the People’s Choice Award at Boulder International Film Festival, ‘This is [Not] Who We Are’ is traveling the country

by Caitlin Rockett ON THE BILL: ‘This Is [Not] Who We Are.’ 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26, DocuWest Film Festival, McNichols Building, 144 W. Colfax Ave., Denver. Screening will be followed by a panel featuring Zayd Atkinson, Celine Samuel, Katrina Miller, Beret Strong, and local activists. Tickets: bit.ly/3q8iVf6

PETER GARLAND

hen Katrina Miller was a journalism student at CU Boulder some 20 years ago, the student body president—Mebraht Gebre-Michael, also a Black woman—received an email that, in a way, sent Miller down the path to creating her most recent award-winning documentary, This Is [Not] Who We Are. “The email said she better step down [as student body president], with her ugly monkey skin, her ugly hair.... The n-word was used,” Miller recalls. “I was just appalled that campus wasn’t more in an uproar.” At the time, Miller created a documentary called Blacklash, interviewing professors and students, including Gebre-Michaell, about why there weren’t more Black students at CU. “I got an A on it,” Miller says, “but it didn’t really reach beyond [the classroom] as a student project.” Over the last two decades, Miller stayed in Boulder—founding Blackat Video Productions and raising two children with her husband—and continued to examine the gap between Boulder’s progressive self-image and the lived experience of its Black citizens. When she was introduced to Beret Strong and John Tweedy, the team behind Landlocked films, Miller finally got the chance to make a wider-reaching film about the racial climate in Boulder. This Is [Not] Who We Are won this year’s Boulder International Film Festival People’s Choice Award, racking up the most votes of any film in

MAIN PHOTO: Beret Strong interviews Zayd Atkinson at Museum of Boulder. INSET PHOTO: Katrina Miller sits in front of a home in the Goss Grove neighborhood of Boulder.

see WHO WE ARE Page 15 14

MARCH 17, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

WHO WE ARE from Page 14

Landmarks

by Kahdijah Queen Editor’s note: Former CU Boulder assistant professor Khadijah Queen read this original poem at the March 25 Fairview High School vigil for the victims of the King Soopers shooting. With Queen’s permission, we are publishing the poem in honor of the one-year anniversary of the shooting. Ordinary monuments— take the interstate, exit right before the mall, past the bowling alley, turn left at the post office, turn right at the gas station, don’t go past Walmart or Rite Aid or Waffle House, or you’ve gone too far. We try to track the sites of trauma we drive past—nightclubs, day spas, movie theaters, elementary schools, high schools, colleges, concert halls, synagogues, churches, mosques, homes where once we slept, ate, laughed, eased our troubles, made some trouble, watched football and played video games, gathered together in highest life, in worship, in praise of love, in celebration—and we fail. We cannot count the losses or their places. But we don’t give up—we keep trying, we keep fighting, we shape our failures into resolve— every disaster tattooed into our bloodstreams like faults in the earth. Let us erupt. Let us mark the moment our voices and our works turned to roots bound to build shelter, the moment we reshaped the distance between us into song—a song for remembering this grief etched in flesh and bone can teach us how to protect each other.

CAITLIN ROCKETT

Khadijah Queen is an associate professor of creative writing at Virginia Polytechnic & State University.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

MARCH 17, 2022

the festival in any category. Its story is centered on Zayd Atkinson, the Naropa University student who found himself in an escalating confrontation with a Boulder police officer while picking up trash in front of his apartment in March 2019. Atkinson’s story creates a jumping point for the filmmakers to dissect Boulder’s history of racial profiling—from its segregated neighborhood on Goss Street called the “Jungle,” to replacing the Black staff at Chautauqua with white employees, to the decades-long battle to bring Black students on the campus of CU Boulder, to students in Boulder’s school system today who are often punished for their white classmate’s racist harassment. There is no hiding from reality when 12-year-old Celine Mariam Samuel shares audio from a video a classmate shared to social media calling Samuel “Satan’s daughter,” laughing callously while crunching on a potato chip. “I’m not going to get in trouble with the police or anything,” the white student says. “Parents have reached out, students have reached out,” Miller says. “The experiences they are having are atrocious. They have not been supported in school. From Fairview to Boulder High to Centaurus, there are students who are being followed around in the hallways being called the n-word, and nobody is doing anything about it. The African American student gets in trouble. What do you think is going to happen? Are they going to stick around? Hell no. They are going to go somewhere else where they feel like they belong. ... This is why parents leave: They can’t raise their children in that environment. Sometimes I wonder if that’s going to be my fate with my kids, because they are the only Black kids at their school.” The film looks at what the city of Boulder has done to address racial profiling— like creating the Police Oversight Panel in 2020—but it makes clear that real change depends on individual responsibility. “I think this is because I’m a middle-aged white person, but I want viewers to take this personally,” Beret Strong says. “It’s not the government that’s gonna fix it, it’s each one of us: We have to ask, ‘Where is my complacency?’ ... It’s so easy to watch a great social activism film and walk out and say, ‘That’s so awful,’ and then do nothing. We lapse back into our habitual unconsciousness. We have to be active in taking responsibility for ourselves, learning what allyship really looks like.” Miller and Beret are now taking the film to festivals and community screenings across the country, “because this isn’t unique to Boulder,” Miller says. 15

E VENTS

EVENTS

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

■ Frozen Dead Guy Days

March 18-20, Downtown Nederland. Tickets are $25 ($30 day of show), or $175 for VIP, frozendeadguydays.com The beloved local winter festival is back, with great music, excellent artists, fantastic food, craft beer, a frozen dead guy and bacon.

■ Aloha Rising: A concert of Hawaiian History, Music, and Dance

6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, Spark Theater, 4847 Pearl St., Boulder. Tickets: $20, bit.ly/3I9tgNS Learn about ancient Hawai’i, the monarchy period, and more modern times via story, chant, dance and song. Four Hawaiian dance companies and one Hawaiian band will be performing. All proﬁts go to the Marshall Fire Survivors.

■ Museum of Boulder partners with Persian Cultural Circle to celebrate Persian New Year

■ Jesters Dinner Theatre presents ‘Guys and Dolls’

Noon-5 p.m. Sunday, March 20, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway, Boulder. Free, museumofboulder.org Head to the Museum of Boulder to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year honoring the vernal equinox. You’ll be able to experience: a symbolic fire traditional ritual to help cleanse and bring in the new red energy to the new year; a ritual table in the lobby; art by Mehry Khosravi; informational screening of Nowruz history, rituals and traditions; two live dance performances; traditional Persian outfits; poetry oracle-type readings; wooden spoon painting; light snacks and beverages; a traditional Persian tea experience; an a Nowruz flower bar (add-on option with ticket price).

■ Firefighter’s Fundraiser—Live Band Karaoke with Mob Squad

8 p.m. Friday, March 18, Dickens Opera House, 300 Main St., Longmont. Tickets: $20, dickensoperahouse.com Ever wanted to be a lead singer for a band? Now you can live the dream one song at a time at the Fireﬁghter’s Fundraising Weekend. Hosted by Gregg Stone of 103.5 The Fox, you have the chance to sing your heart out on stage to raise funds to beneﬁt the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters Foundation and the Marshall Fire Victims Fund.

March 18-Through May 29, Jesters Dinner Theatre, 224 Main St., Longmont, jesterstheatre.com The classic oddball comedy set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City. Adult dinner and show: $45-$48.

■ Dairy Comedy in The Boe, with Ben Roy, Hannah Jones, Lee Robinson and Salma Zaky

8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Tickets: $15, thedairy.org Ben Roy has been taking comedy audiences by storm since 2004, bringing unparalleled energy and unique voice to the stage. Often compared to Lewis Black or Bill Hicks due to his passionate, ranting approach, Roy has a style that is deﬁnitively his own. Arlis Gold is back to host, with Hannah Jones, Lee Robinson, and Salma Zaky ﬁlling out the evening.

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

MARCH 17, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

■ Author Talk: Azar Nafisi—‘Read Dangerously,’ with Jacki Lyden (virtual)

■ A Day of Remembrance

Tuesday, March 22, Downtown Boulder Nearly one year ago, Boulder lost 10 beloved community members. Join the City of Boulder in a moment of silence wherever you are at 2:30 p.m. on March 22. Join the Mayor and City Manager at one of the following events: 2-2:45 p.m.— Line of Duty Death commemoration of Ofﬁcer Eric Talley, Boulder Police Department, 1805 33rd St., Boulder 4:30-6 p.m.—Day of Remembrance Community Gathering, Boulder Civic Area, Glen Huntington Bandshell, Broadway and Canyon Blvd., Boulder, with remarks by Mayor Aaron Brockett and City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde and others. On Tuesday, March 22, the Table Mesa King Soopers will be closed in honor of the lives lost.

EVENTS

5 p.m. Saturday, March 19. Tickets: $26.99-$36.99, boulderbookstore.net Azar Naﬁsi draws on her experiences as a woman and voracious reader living in the Islamic Republic of Iran, her life as an immigrant in the United States, and her role as literature professor in both countries to craft an argument for why, in a genuine democracy, we must engage with the enemy, and how literature can be a vehicle for doing so. Structured as a series of letters to her father, Naﬁsi explores the most probing questions of our time through the works of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, and more.

MarchFourth with The Pamlico Sound. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. Tickets: $20-$22.50

CONCERTS

★ March 17

Stomp Paddy’s Day. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free Sturtz. 7 p.m. Jamestown Mercantile, 108 Main St., Jamestown. Free Bonobo with Jordan Rakei. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. Tickets: $39.50-$55 The Brothers Comatose & The Sweet Lillies. 7:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $18-$22 The Marshall Tucker Band with special guest Dave Mason. 7:30 p.m. Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place, Denver WAYFARER with Midwife, Snakes. 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $20 Droeloe. 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $20-$25 Paul Kimbiris. 9 p.m. Supermoon, 909 Walnut St., Boulder. Tickets: $5

★ March 18

Jeremy Mohney Band. 7 p.m. Jamestown Mercantile, 108 Main St., Jamestown

The Districts with Francis of Delirium, Vanillaroma. 9 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $22.75

Mxxnwatchers & Friends. 9 p.m. Supermoon 909 Walnut St., Boulder

★ March 19

Billie Eilish. 7:30 p.m. Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver Circle Jerks with Negative Approach, 7 Seconds. 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $30-$35 22 & good 4 u. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$20 Ellechemist & Queen of Air. 10 p.m. Supermoon, 909 Walnut St., Boulder

★ March 20

Clairo, Arlo Parks & Widowspeak. 7 p.m. Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 N. Clarkson St., Denver. Tickets start at $74 Sarah Jarosz with Taylor Ashton. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St, Boulder. Tickets: $25-$45 An Evening with Jerry’s Middle Finger. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $22-$28

★ March 21

Colbie Caillat with Nick Davisson. 7:30 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St, Boulder. Tickets: $45-$65

Madeon with Slow Magic. 7:30 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. Tickets: $35-$75

ANIME. 8 p.m. Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 N. Clarkson St., Denver. Tickets start at $51

Sierra Ferrell with Nick Shoulders. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. SOLD OUT

W.I.T.C.H. with Night Beats, Mauskovic Dance Band. 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $23

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

YVES TUMOR, COURTESY EARTH AGENCY

MARCH 17, 2022

★ March 22

Maisie Peters with Jonah Kagen. 7 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $20 Indigo De Souza with Field Medic. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $16-$20 Yves Tumor. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St, Boulder. Tickets: $25-$30 Half•alive. 8 p.m. Ogden Theatre, 935 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $30

★ March 23

alt-J and Portugal. The Man with Special Guest Cherry Glazerr. 6 p.m. 1STBANK Center, 11450 Broomﬁeld Lane, Broomﬁeld. Tickets: $49.95-$99.50 P1Harmony. 7:30 p.m. Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 N. Clarkson St., Denver. Tickets start at $108 Caroline Rose. 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 E. Colfax Ave., Denver. Tickets: $15-18

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MARCH 17, 2022

The talented Mr. Affleck ‘Deep Water’ turns cringes into chuckles

by Michael J. Casey

eep Water is a preposterous movie. Particularly the ON THE BILL: ending, which crosscuts one character chasing after ‘Deep Water’ another through the woods and the young daughter of debuts March 18 one of those characters throwing a suitcase into the on Hulu. backyard pool. Why, you ask? Well, to answer that, you’ll have to see the movie—I wouldn’t dare spoil that here. I will tell you that the sequence ends with a shot so magnificently on the nose you may laugh out loud. I did. I loved it. I’m going to be generous and suggest director Adrian Lyne is doing this intentionally. Though one of the more flummoxing aspects of Deep Water is how it waffles between intentionality and amateurism so casually, you’re never quite sure if you’re watching a good-bad movie or a bad-good movie. I’m going with the former, mainly because of Ben Affleck’s performance. Here he plays Vic Van Allen (what a name!), a filthy rich software designer who lives in a beautiful New Orleans home and cooks lobster bisque and the best grilled cheese COURTESY DISNEY you’ve ever had. His wife, Melinda Van Allen (Ana de Armas), is a knockout with a taste for liquor and other men. She sleeps with at least three beaus throughout the movie; affairs that are so public even Vic’s friends (Lil Rel Howery and Dash Mihok) are starting to feel emasculated. Not that they exist in this movie for any reason other than casual comic effect and to make the story feel slightly fuller. Oh, yeah, the story: It’s about a couple of murders. Did I forget to mention that? This is not a particularly suspenseful affair, I must stress. About ten minutes in, Vic tells Melinda’s current sidepiece, Joel (Brendan Miller), he murdered the previous one. Later, Vic invites Joel over for lobster bisque and tells him he did it with a hammer. The fact that Joel continues to hang around either speaks to his lack of intelligence or Melinda’s bedroom behavior. There’s plenty to suggest the latter, but he still seems pretty dense. Why Vic and Melinda have the relationship they do is beyond me. Psychological motivations seem to have escaped the confines of Deep Water’s screenplay, written by Zach Helm and Sam Levinson. A brief conversation between Vic and Melinda touches on Vic’s refusal to divorce her, but that’s about it. I’d venture that the source novel, written by the great Patricia Highsmith in 1957, probably had a little bit more going for it in that department. But I doubt Highsmith’s novel had Vic using the word “splitsies” in one of the story’s funnier confrontations. And Affleck is having a lot of fun. When he’s silent, he looks as big as a tree and about as introspective. When he’s talking, he’s got that smart-alecky charm thing going. It works. The actor on the other end of that “splitsies” moment is Tracy Letts, who, bless his heart, doesn’t seem quite sure what movie he’s in. He plays Lionel, a mystery novelist who has run out of mysteries to write, so his new novel is about a mystery novelist. You get the idea that when he tells Vic this, it’s the first time he’s heard these words out loud. Deep Water is a hoot. I had to pause the movie 30 minutes in to make popcorn. Not because I was hungry, but because a movie like this demands buttery popcorn. Deep Water could be, maybe should be, a touch trashier, but it’s wackadoodle enough that I was shamefully gleeful when one character met their end. I still don’t know what the hell’s going on with all those snails—Vic keeps snails—or why Vic and Melinda don’t just get a divorce or why Vic doesn’t just get down with Melinda the way she wants or answers to the other dozen or so questions that crossed my mind while watching Deep Water. But I do know I’ll be chuckling about “splitisies” and the way Affleck’s voice cracks when the Letts character catches him in the vicinity of a dead body for at least a couple more weeks. l

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

BY ROB BREZSNY ARIES

MARCH 21-APRIL 19: The Carib people from Surinam quote

their mysterious Snake Spirit as follows: “I am the force of the spirit of the lightning eel, the thunder ax, the stone. I am the force of the firefly; thunder and lightning have I created.” I realize that what I’m about to say may sound far-fetched, but I suspect you will have access to powers that are comparable to the Snake Spirit’s in the coming weeks. In fact, your state of being reminds me of how Aries poet Marge Piercy expressed her quests for inspiration: “When I work, I am pure as an angel tiger, and clear is my eye and hot my brain and silent all the whining grunting piglets of the appetites.”

TAURUS

APRIL 20-MAY 20: “It’s always too early to quit,” wrote cheerful author Norman Vincent Peale, who first popularized the idea of “positive thinking.” I’m an optimistic person myself, but I think his advice is excessively optimistic. On some occasions, it’s wise to withdraw your energy from a project or relationship you’ve been working on. Struggling to find relevance and redemption may reach a limit. Pushing ever onward might be fruitless and even harmful. However, I don’t think that now is one of those times for you, Taurus. According to my reading of the astrological omens, it is too early for you to quit.

GEMINI

MAY 21-JUNE 20: “You can be as earnest and ridiculous as

you need to be, if you don’t attempt it in isolation.” So says author Barbara Kingsolver. She adds, “The ridiculously earnest are known to travel in groups. And they are known to change the world.” In my view, this is perfect advice for you right now. If you and the members of your crew focus on coordinating your efforts, you could accomplish blazing amazements in the coming weeks. You may solve riddles that none of you has been able to decipher alone. You can synergize your efforts in such a way that everyone’s individual fate will be lifted up.

CANCER

JUNE 21-JULY 22: About 200 years ago, poet William Wordsworth wrote, “Every great and original writer must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished.” Now I’ve come up with a variation on that wisdom: “Every great and original soul must herself create the taste by which she is to be understood and appreciated.” That’s what I hope you will work on in the coming weeks, Cancerian: fostering an ambiance in which you can be even better understood and appreciated. You now have extra power to teach people how to value you and get the best out of you.

LEO

JULY 23-AUG. 22: “I hate housework!” complained comedian

Joan Rivers. “You make the beds, you do the dishes, and six months later you have to start all over again.” I wish I could give you a six-month reprieve from having to attend to those chores, Leo. In fact, I’d love it if I could permanently authorize you to avoid all activities that distract you from thinking big thoughts and feeling rich emotions and pursuing expansive adventures. But I’m afraid I can only exempt you from the nagging small stuff for just the next three weeks or so—four, tops. After that, you’ll have to do the dishes and make the beds again. But for the foreseeable future: Focus your energy on thinking big thoughts and feeling rich emotions and pursuing expansive adventures!

VIRGO

AUG. 23-SEPT. 22: A British plumber named Kev Crane worked for weeks to install a new bathroom at a private home. As he toiled, he passed the time by singing his favorite songs. He didn’t know that the homeowner, Paul Conneally, was the owner of a music label. So he was surprised and delighted when Conneally offered him a deal to record an album in the label’s studio. There may be a comparable development in your life during the coming weeks, Virgo. You could be noticed in new ways for what you do well. Your secret or unknown talents may be discovered or revealed. You might get invitations to show more of who you really are. Be alert for such opportunities.

LIBRA

SEPT. 23-OCT. 22: It’s the start of the Listening Season for you Libras. I propose a full-on celebration of listening: a three-week Holiday of Paying Close Attention to Important and Interesting Words Being Said in Your Vicinity. Make yourself a magnet for useful revelations. Be alert for the rich information that becomes available as you show the world you would love to know more of its secrets. For inspiration, read these quotes. 1. You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time. —M. Scott Peck. 2. Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly. —my friend Jenna. 3. Listening is being able to be changed by the other person. —Alan Alda. 4. If you want to be listened to, you should put in time listening. —Marge Piercy. 5. Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold. —Karl A. Menninger.

SCORPIO

OCT. 23-NOV. 21: “Worry doesn’t count as preparation,” writes author Lily Akerman. That sounds wise, but I don’t think it’s true in all cases. At its best, worrying may serve as a meditation that helps us analyze potential problems. It prompts us to imagine constructive actions we might take to forestall potential disruptions—and maybe even prevent them from erupting into actual disruptions. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Scorpio, because now is an excellent time to engage in this kind of pondering. I declare the next three weeks to be your Season of Productive Worrying.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV. 22-DEC. 21: If I had my way, you’d be a connoisseur of kisses in the coming weeks. You’d make it your intention to expand your repertoire of kissing styles and ask willing partners to do the same. You would give and receive unwieldy kisses, brave kisses, and mysterious kisses. You would explore foolish, sublime kisses and sincere but inscrutable kisses and awakening kisses that change the meaning of kisses altogether. Are you interested in pursuing this challenge? It will be best accomplished through unhurried, playful, luxurious efforts. There’s no goal except to have experimental fun.

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CAPRICORN

DEC. 22-JAN. 19: “Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days,” wrote author Flannery O’Connor. Her observation may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. And I’m offering it to you now, as you begin a phase when you can glean many new teachings about your childhood—insights that could prove handy for a long time to come. I encourage you to enjoy a deep dive into your memories of your young years. They have superb secrets to divulge.

AQUARIUS

JAN. 20-FEB. 18: “Creativity is the power to connect the

seemingly unconnected,” said author William Plomer. I agree with that. And I’m pleased to let you know that in the coming weeks, you will have more of this power to connect than you’ve had in a long time. I hope you will use it to link your fortunes to influences that inspire you. I hope you will wield it to build bridges between parts of your world that have been separate or alienated until now. And I hope you will deploy your enhanced capacity for blending and joining as you weave at least one magnificent new creation.

PISCES

FEB. 19-MARCH 20: “I use my intelligence to discover more

ways of appreciating you,” author Piscean Anaïs Nin told her lover Henry Miller. In the coming weeks, I recommend you activate a similar ambition. Now is a time when you can enhance your close relationships with important allies by deepening your insight into them. What magic is at play within them that you haven’t fully recognized before? How could you better see and understand their mysteries? PS: You may be pleased when your deepening vision of them prompts them to extend the same favor toward you.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

MARCH 17, 2022

Yelp needs help

Finding a good place to eat in Boulder means navigating the faux world of online restaurant reviews

by John Lehndorff

he deﬁnition of the word “yelp” is: “To make a sudden, short, high sound, usually when in pain.” This came to mind when an outraged Nibbles reader e-mailed me Yelp’s list of “Boulder’s highest rated restaurants.” It was topped by Nopalito’s, the authentic taqueria located next to Boulder’s DMV

ofﬁce. “Really?! This is THE highest-rated restaurant in Boulder?” wrote the reader. Yelp’s Top 10 highest-rated Boulder list continues with Rincon Argentino, Little Tibet, Avery Brewing Co., Thrive, Le Frigo, Izakaya Amu, Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery, Bento-ria and Tacos El Rey. My answer is simple: It’s true, but it’s Yelp, so don’t take it so seriously. Click on a different tab and you get a list of Boulder’s “most recommended” eateries including River and Woods, Osaka’s, Blackbelly Market, OAK at Fourteenth, Parma Trattoria, and Supermoon. Meanwhile, the “most reviewed” list features Pizzeria Locale, Salt, Lucile’s Creole Cafe, and the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. Conspicuously missing from all these Yelp lists is Frasca, Boulder’s most famous, most honored and arguably the “best” restaurant in Boulder with the hardest reservations to get. The ﬁrst thing to know is that Yelp’s lists are composed by an algorithm, not a human, and they change often. Many individual Yelp ratings and reviews are legit and helpful. However, restaurant owners, their families, friends and customers sometimes actively engage in pumping up their ratings and reviews with votes from families, friends, and customers. Worse, restaurant competitors have been known to do the same thing in a negative way leaving disparaging comments.

MARCH 17, 2022

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

Some restaurants also pay heavily to enhance their listings and hence boost rating and reviews, but it is pricey. Crowd-sourced reviews are inherently self-selecting. In my experience, many of the people that take the time to leave comments are mad. They tend to whine about the food, service and ambiance, not provide a helpful review. I see so many idiotic comments about bad service from people oblivious to the pandemic and the impact it’s had on eateries and their ability to ﬁnd employees. It’s important to know who is doing the rating. According to Yelp, about 42% of Yelp users are 18 to 34 years old. That explains the frequent rating and votes for eateries near CU and for less expensive places. Yelp is still the big dog in the online restaurant world, but don’t depend on it. Be sure to scroll far down through reviews to get a better idea of how diners view a cafe or bistro. As a dining critic and food columnist, the question I am asked the most is: “What is the best restaurant in Boulder?” My response always is: “Who is asking?” What kind of food do you like? Loathe? What level of service do you appreciate? What price are you willing to pay? The best for me may not be the best you. Over a plate of Korean fried chicken, I asked Clay Fong, an old friend and longtime local food writer, how he hears about new restaurants. “A lot of it is word of mouth in my community, publications, and social media. I also see new places when I drive around,” he says. “I don’t use Yelp unless I’m traveling, but usually I also look at the alternative press weeklies. I just tell people to take a chance on new places.” In other words, Fong says, consult multiple sources. Naturally, I hope you ﬁnd out about Boulder restaurants through Nibbles and the Boulder Weekly food pages, and Radio Nibbles on KGNU. I look at OpenTable and Trip Advisor and the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages of restaurants, which tend to have newer info than their websites. The eatery information under Google Maps seems to be growing into a Yelp competitor. If you ask Google, the list of the highest-rated Boulder eateries includes Corrida, The BOCO Restaurant, Steakhouse No. 316, Frasca, The Kitchen, II Pastaio, Blackbelly Market, Le French Café, and Brasserie Boulder. Do you have a Boulder County dining question? Email nibbles@boulderweekly.com

Local food news

Only open a few months, CHOP5 Salad Kitchen has closed at 2525 Arapahoe Ave. ... On March 21, Boulder’s Chimera will become Dragonﬂy Noodle as owner Edwin Zoe prepares to open a second similarly named location in Denver to join his two Zoe Ma Ma eateries. Zoe was recently named a semiﬁnalist for 2022 Outstanding Restaurateur by the James Beard Foundation. ... Nok’s Donuts has opened inside The District at 400 W. South Boulder Road in Lafayette, offering cake doughnuts crafted from scratchmade mixes and icings. ... Voting has opened for the Best of Boulder 2022 awards. Vote for your favorite restaurants, bars and food businesses by April 2 at boulderweekly.com ... Swaylo’s Tiki Restaurant & Bar is open at 1315 Dry Creek Drive in Longmont. ... The Mexican food truck Polleria En Las Cazuelas, 917 Main St. in Longmont, is serving Lenten capirotada (sweetly topped traditional bread pudding) on Fridays.

Words to chew on

“Tita knew through her own flesh how fire transforms the elements, how a lump of corn flour is changed into a tortilla, how a soul that hasn’t been warmed by the fire of love is lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour.” —Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate John Lehndorff is the Boulder Weekly’s Food Editor. Join him Thursdays at 8:15 a.m. for Radio Nibbles on KGNU (88.5 FM and kgnu.org). BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

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It’s a whiskey business by Matt Maenpaa

ou may have noticed a new byline on MATT MAENPAA this column last week. The prolific and illustrious Michael J. Casey left a big growler to fill at Boulder Weekly, with all the ink he’s spilled over the years of writing about beer in the county. So who’s this new writer? What does he even know? Quite a bit and not enough, usually. When I was asked to pick up this column, my answer was an immediate and resounding “yes.” I happen to have a few credentials. My first taste of scotch was the good stuff, the 20-year-old memory is hazy but likely a Talisker or Oban. It was a balm, a salve, a mercy bestowed on me by the bartender. That is where my whisk(e)y education started—underage in a pub in Chicago, drinking way above my weight class. What followed was a rough-and-tumble career in bars and restaurants, rock clubs and some pretty terrible decision-making to go along with it. But the love of whiskey never left me and I rarely settled for the cheap stuff. It took me another decade to start appretrying to scrape what looks like a mix of concrete and ciating good American whiskey, coincidentally shortly dried oatmeal off a floor. Every grueling moment of it was after I moved to Boulder County in 2011. Working at Q’s worth it. And I developed a love of gin that rivals my love Restaurant in the Boulderado, I was fortunate to have of all things whisk(e)y. managers that shared my tastes and indulged my desire When Anvil closed in 2019, it was heartbreaking for to learn. I was hooked on rye and quality bourbon after all of us who worked there and the amazing regulars that, almost as expensive a habit as scotch. who kept us going for years. Still, even the most beloved My actual education in alcohol came with my work places close or change eventually. Anvil wasn’t the first, at Anvil Distillery, shaping up their bar program and and it certainly won’t be the last. learning how whiskey and gin are actually made. It was a In the nearly four years since, I’ve written bar menus, humbling experience, learning the patience that goes into developed cocktails, and found new places to love. I’ve a true grain-to-glass spirit. From taking spent grains to done some writing, taken some photos, and propped up pig farms and learning about fermentation, to constantly a bar or two. I’m continually impressed by the quality of trying to reinvent my cocktail list, it was an all-immersive booze pouring out from Boulder County and Colorado in crash course in the world of small-batch distilling. general. Before Anvil, I thought I understood, but you don’t All of which is a lot of words to say, I’m not a purist. I’m know the love and sweat that goes into making booze not an elitist. I have very little interest in shaming people for until you’re covered head-to-toe in wet, sticky grain, their choice of libation, alcoholic or otherwise. Drink what

makes you happy, even if it’s a can of White Claw. What I am interested in is the wealth of craft distillers, brewers, mead-makers, and cocktail enthusiasts in Boulder County and its surrounding environs. There are so many people in our area doing so many cool things, it will take thousands upon thousands of words to cover it all. I’ll write as much as one man can while at the mercy of my liver. I hope you’ll explore with me, to ﬁnd the sumptuous and strange. We’ll hunt for the best bars, sweetest (maybe not literally) spirits and coolest cocktails, from Lyons to Nederland, Louisville and Lafayette. In the coming weeks, this column will look at tiki drinks and a few distilleries that are making a push to grow. It will be full of adventure and mystery, I promise. Send comments, questions or suggestions to matt@foolishendeavors.com

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BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

Flavors explode in an artisan way at the Fringe

probably should have waited a minute before I bit into an arancini, but I couldn’t wait. Hot from the fryer, the little breaded bundle blasted molten saffron risotto, fresh mozzarella, corn and pecorino Romano onto my palate. Dipped in warm marinara it was even better. That was my introduction to the fare at Boulder’s Fringe, A Well Tapped Eatery. Next up was a crab-packed cake in a super-crunchy panko coating making craveable bites with pickled citrus cabbage and harissa-spiced aioli. “I can’t stop eating this” my friend commented on a simple Brussels salad that was a revelation because it tasted so un-sprouty. A soft mound of shaved Brussels sprouts with shredded pecorino and spiced candied pecans was barely coated in a perfect dressing of hard-boiled egg and lemon vinaigrette. Fringe’s freshly baked sourdough bread spread with Calabrian pepper honey served as dessert. Next time I’ll go for the chocolate panna cotta. Fringe’s sunny menu includes other starters like eggplant caponata, fried anchovy-stuffed olives, and a panzanella salad with bread, burrata, fruit, and pickled red onion. The house pizzas range from the simple Margherita to the Canadian, a crust topped with smoked pork in mango jalapeno barbecue sauce, charred fresh pineapple, pickled red onion, jalapeño, goat cheese, and fresh mozzarella. For brunch, add a poached egg to The Funghi, crowned with garlic oil, mushrooms, sausage, basil, and fresh mozzarella. Fringe features 16 self-serve taps of rotating beers and wines, plus soda and kombucha.

JOHN LEHNDORFF

Another roadfood attraction: Bubby Goober’s Pies

Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station has many mind-bending attractions, including some fine hand pies. Hellofood, the cafe inside Denver’s new immersive entertainment facility, offers Bubby Goobers pies crafted by two women in a small local bakery. The round, gemlike pies are built on a crunchy, flaky, sugar-dusted crust. Leftover crust pieces are perfect for dunking in coffee. The bakery’s dozen varieties include Black & Bluebarb pie filled with a combination of fresh blackberries and blueberries, plus blueberry rhubarb jam. The Cherry Amaretto gets serious about flavor with a mix of cherries and Brad B Jammin sour cherry jam topped with sliced almonds. My favorites include the Salted Caramel Apple, a three-apple blend with homemade caramel sauce, and the wonderful Hazelnut Chocolate Ganache pie. Imagine a dark chocolate Nutella-like filling topped with chocolate drizzle and a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt flakes. Bubby Goober’s pies are also available at Leevers Locavore in Denver, Crush Wine Bar in Castle Rock, or for pickup at the bakery, 2400 Curtis St., Unit 1, Denver.

BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

JOHN LEHNDORFF

Frequent Air Fryer: Bok Choy and Green Onions

The air-fryer is the best thing to happen to bok choy and green onions since teriyaki sauce. This fact was revealed to me after I bought some bok choy. We’re not talking about the cute, easy, baby bok choy, but a fully grown head with big celery-like stalks. I could and did stir fry some with chicken and sesame oil but there was still a lot so I opted for my recently gifted air fryer/convection toaster. I trimmed the cabbage-y green leaves and tops for later use, as they would char black before the rest cooks. I cut the stalks into pieces, added some peeled wilted carrots and green onions, and tossed the veggies with oil, salt and pepper and air-fry-ed until lightly browned, soft and sweet. Since the air fryer was sizzling hot, I did the only logical thing: I dry toasted long grain dry basmati rice until it was golden brown. Watch closely as it easily burns!

Culinary Calendar

Boulder Food Rescue is hosting an online new volunteer orientation March 24, boulderfoodrescue.org ... The Longmont Public Library’s seventh annual Peeps Literary Diorama Contest encourages locals to create a marshmallow and book-themed scene. Submit dioramas starting March 30. Entry form: bit.ly/LibPeeps.

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The psychedelic edge

Exploring psychedelic cannabis therapy meditation at Boulder’s Center for Medicinal Mindfulness

by Will Brendza

annabis sativa and I are no strangers. I use the good flower on a daily basis and in a variety of contexts: for exercise, or relaxation; medicinally, recreationally, socially, and sometimes anti-socially. But I’ve never really used cannabis in any kind of “mindful” or meditative setting. I’ve never really imbibed it in ceremony, with the intention of personal reflection and inner-exploration. That changed last week, though, at the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness. Daniel McQueen, the Center’s founder, had invited me and a fellow Boulder Weekly writer to a psychedelic cannabis meditation session—an offer we leapt at. “The inner visual experience [of cannabis] can be as potent as DMT and ayahuasca, but you’re going to have a lot of emotional support and a gentleness similar to MDMA,” McQueen explains as we sit in a circle in their group meditation room. Between us was an altar with a candle, mortar and pestle, a handful of crystals marking the cardinal directions, and a few handheld vaporizers lined up beside a small bundle of leather. McQueen picks up the leather bundle, unrolling it and revealing a glass jar within. He opens the jar and instantly I recognize the familiar aroma of my favorite flower—today’s medicine: cannabis sativa. “One of the things that I was always intuitively drawn to working with was making mixes and blends [of different strains]. It helps amplify the process,” McQueen explains. Sativa keeps people awake and increases their problem-solving creativity; indica provides a deeper body high and reduces sativa’s anxiety-inducing effects; and hybrids are very heart opening, he says. “[Our blend] starts with nine different strains of indicas, sativas and hybrids, and we grind them up, mixing them together in this mortar and pestle.” He then loads a vaporizer with the blend, showing us how to use the apparatus; he answers our questions, reassures us that we have all the support we need (in addition to him, we have our two sober “trip sitters” Jay and Mary); he guides us through a short, seated meditation, and then, together, we pick our vaporizers up. “In this good way we begin this ceremony by inviting this plant medicine, cannabis sativa, into our hearts, our minds, our bodies, and our spirits,” McQueen says, thanking all the activists and spiritualists who helped make this ceremony legally possible. We then give thanks to the four cardinal directions, BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE

CENTER FOR MEDICINAL MINDFULNESS

the sky, the Earth, and the inner-self; imbibing from the vaporizers with each “prayer.” The smell of toasted cannabis fills the air. By the sixth inhale I’m feeling good and high—but I take round seven (and eight) for good measure. Then, I lie down on my memory foam mattress, dawn my eye cover, and settle in for the journey to come. McQueen guides us through a body-scan meditation. He paints a picture, describing light filling our bodies. I try to follow, focusing on the visual, imaging energy filling my vessel, fighting intrusive thoughts and distractions as best I can. I lose track of McQueen’s voice as I wrestle my focus. I breathe slowly. I let the ambient music carry me forward. Eventually I realize McQueen’s voice has disappeared altogether and I float freely, drifting on the rolling waves of my own thoughts. Technically, cannabis isn’t a classical “psychedelic” like psilocybin, LSD, or DMT. But, McQueen asserts with the right set, setting, and blend of strains, the effects of cannabis can be very similar in nature. That allows people to move through their “trip” at their own pace, to a depth they’re comfortable with and in a direction they choose. Unlike more potent psychedelics that can significantly reduce the user’s agency. In his book Psychedelic Cannabis: Therapeutic methods and unique blends to treat trauma and transform consciousness, McQueen argues that in the same way cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids work together to produce an “entourage effect” that’s more potent than the sum of its parts (Weed Between the Lines, “All about those terpenes,” May 27, 2021) cannabis in combination with music, meditation, ritual, l

MARCH 17, 2022 l

breath, therapeutic guidance and other components produces its own entourage effect that can elicit more potent, even mystical experiences. To an extent, I experienced that for myself. When McQueen’s voice disappeared, the colors and visions unfolding behind my eyes came into focus. Bursts of radiance, swirls of vibrancy, semi-lucid dream-like visions of scenes I’d never seen; faces, places, and spaces, familiar and unknown. I saw myself as a child, as a toddler, and welled with emotion. I hugged the child because why not? I forgave myself, without knowing what for. I saw my naked, lifeless body lying on the ground, on a pile of green bills and print paper: all I’d ever earned or truly created. I felt myself shivering, though my body wasn’t cold. I felt myself choking on something book-shaped. I don’t know how many of those visions I passed through, but an hour and a half after our session began, McQueen’s soothing voice gently drew us back. I sat up, slowly, very relaxed, blinking my eyes open to bowls of strawberries, salty snacks and hot tea. McQueen sat cross-legged, smiling placidly. We debriefed, talking about the experience, and McQueen (like the good therapist he is) suggested a follow-up session. “That’s really when people can have big breakthroughs,” he explains. “Sometimes the ﬁrst session is just about getting comfortable with the medicine, and things come up but don’t fully resolve.” However, as a regular cannabis user, I felt as though I’d slipped straight into a strangely deep state for my ﬁrst session. I can’t be sure how much of that inner adventure was my own imagination, how much could be attributed to the plant, and how much was a matter of meditating for longer than I normally do. Likely it was a combination of all three factors. Either way, the experience left an impression on me and it was a profoundly different way to use cannabis than I typically do—one with a notably psychedelic edge. And with McQueen, it’s the perfect introduction to psychedelic therapy for those who are curious, but might be hesitant to make the leap. “We’re trying to bring [cannabis] out of that [recreational] container and into a more intentional, mindful way to [use] it,” McQueen says. “There’s a lot of shyness and anxiety around this [plant] . . . we’re reintroducing people to a medicine that’s been slandered for a long time.” 27

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Dear Dan: I have a problem. (How’s that for an opener?) I’m a 60-something cis woman with a 30-something cis man lover. The problem is my vagina is extremely tight. Also, sometimes I bleed a little bit after PIV and then urinating burns, but only briefly. We are only able to hook-up about every other week, so frequency isn’t going to “stretch me out.” I had previously been diagnosed with vaginal atrophy, which for many women can result in pain during PIV intercourse. We’ve been using Uberlube with silicone, which has helped but it still gets painful. Any suggestions? I’ve been on an estradiol vaginal insert for three months, which helps my overall dryness but not PIV so much, although he has said I feel softer inside. I could really use some help because as much as I love having sex with him, I’m going to have to pause PIV altogether due to my discomfort. I also will say that before him it had been 17 years since I’d had sex. I find this embarrassing to admit, but it may be information that will help you answer my questions. P.S. He propositioned me. I was initially mortified but I have since overcome my ageist bias against relationships with large age gaps. Oh, and last night I experienced the “luxurious” sensation of having my anus licked for the first time! —Age-Gap Enhancing Intense Sexual Treats Dear AGEIST: “Vaginal atrophy is very common in women and people with vaginas, and it can make not just PIV but any type of penetration painful,” said Dr. Lori Brotto, a clinical psychologist, author, and sex researcher at the University of British Columbia. “And while Uberlube is a fantastic external lubricant that makes sex more comfortable, it does nothing to moisturize the vagina.” Dr. Brotto says your hunch—that more frequent penetration might help—is correct, but you don’t have to wait for your lover to return to experience it. “There are well-known advantages to regular vaginal dilation for people who have not had penetration in a long time,” said Dr. Brotto. “So, I would recommend that in between the times AGEIST has sex with her partner, she uses a dilator—or uses a dildo—to engage in solo vaginal penetration. She should do it at least once per week, with copious amounts of lubricant, and use it while fantasizing or enjoying erotica, to stimulate her mind’s arousal.” You don’t have to simulate fucking with a dilator or a dildo (and a dilator in this case is just a dildo by another name); l

instead, gently insert the lubed-up dilator, remember to breathe, and then—once it’s all the way in—read some erotica or watch some porn. And then, if you’re feeling it, masturbate to climax. And then, when you’re with your lover, do the same but with his dick. Get his P in your V without it being about his pleasure. It’s about yours. When you do feel ready to let him fuck you, don’t feel obligated to endure it until he finishes. Only let him fuck you for as long as it feels comfortable and/or good for you, and then pivot to something else you both enjoy if he hasn’t finished. Dr. Brotto also suggested that you talk to your gynecologist about switching to a different vaginal estrogen delivery system—there are tablets, creams, and rings in addition to the inserts you’re using—while at the same time adjusting your dose. “She also might also consider seeing a pelvic floor physiotherapist in case some of the discomfort is arising from pelvic floor tightness,” said Dr. Brotto. “Pelvic floor physiotherapists have very effective exercises to deal with vaginal pain. Additionally, some positions can create more pain in an already painful vagina, so AGEIST and her lover should try different positions. And since the length and girth of a partner’s penis can also be a contributing factor, some couples use OhNut (www.ohnut.co), which are a series of rings that can be placed at the base of the shaft of the penis to reduce the length.” It’s also important that you’re feeling aroused—not feeling dread—when your lover is on his way over. Knowing you can look forward to what works for you and makes you feel good, and knowing that he doesn’t expect you to grin and bear what doesn’t (even if that means taking PIV off the menu for now), will not only be the best way to make sure you feel relaxed and aroused, but it’s also the quickest way to get PIV back on the menu. Good luck. Follow Dr. Lorri Brotto on Twitter @DrLoriBrotto. And you can see Dr. Brotto in the new Netflix docuseries, The Principles of Pleasure, which premieres on March 22. (The first episode focuses on the erogenous parts of a woman’s anatomy, AGEIST, and Dr. Brotto suggests you watch it with your partner!) P.S. No need to put “luxurious” in scare quotes when you’re talking about anilingus! Email questions@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Find columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love.

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MARCH 17, 2022

Choosing how to heal

proposed and will ensure that all Coloradans have access to natural medicines in the way that works best for them,” Kevin Matthews, president of the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Policy Review Panel and the campaign manager behind the 2019 vote to decriminalize psilocybin in Denver, says. “Initiative 58 is focused on opening access to as many Coloradans as possible.” This proposed act would allow adults over 21 to possess, cultivate, gift, and deliver psilocybin, psilocyn, ibogaine, mescaline, and dimenthyltryptamine (DMT). According to Initiative 58’s language, though, only psilocybin would be immediately legalized, while the other specified substances couldn’t be legalized and regulated for therapeutic use until June 2026, giving lawmakers time to set up the rules for psilocybin first. The Natural Medicine Health Act would also charge Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) with developing rules for therapeutic psychedelics programs for adults over 21 to receive treatment from a trained facilitator. Treatment could be done at a licensed healing center, privately with the patient at their own home, or at an approved healthcare location. It also includes a component authorizing convicted criminals to petition courts for record sealing of past convictions. “Compared to other states, [Colorado has] the highest prevalence of adults who are suffering from [mental health] issues and the lowest rates of access to care,” Matthews says. “The Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022 will provide another option for individuals to find relief in their health and mental wellness.” However, just a week after the language for the Natu-

ral Medicine Health Act was approved, another pro-psilocybin group ﬁled a second ballot initiative, proposing a much different way of approaching the same vision. Activists from Decriminalize Nature Boulder County argue that the best way to end prohibition and criminalization of psilocybin is through a simple, straight-forward state-wide decriminalization bill. Instead of setting up the whole regulatory legalization framework proposed in the Natural Medicine Health Act, Decriminalize Nature’s proposed ballot initiative, called Legal Possession and Use of Entheogenic Plants and Fungi, would buy time for dialogue, education and research, to inform future policies for full-on legalization. “Without decriminalization and the security it allows for affected communities to more effectively organize, regulatory models will make it difﬁcult for the most disadvantaged groups of our population to continue to access the natural medicines they safely use to heal,” Nicole Foerster with Decriminalize Nature, stated in a press release. “To address this we are advocating for a simple change to existing laws around these controlled substances.” The Decriminalize Nature measure would legalize the facilitation of psychedelic guidance services and therapy. Selling psychedelics would remain illegal under this decriminalization measure, but licensed mushroom businesses would be allowed to charge clients for facilitation services. Either measure needs 124,632 signatures from registered Colorado voters in order to appear on the ballot. On one hand, having two such proposals in Colorado doubles the chances that one (or both) of these initiatives could end up on the ballot in November. On the other hand, the choice could divide proponents down the decriminalize vs. legalize demarcation line. Should both measures get enough signatures to be voted on, it could split support for either one. The advocates with the Natural Medicine Health Act don’t seem worried about that. “This is not a competition,” Matthews says. “We respect all efforts to get on the ballot.” “To me, [having two ballot initiatives] is a demonstration of how needed freedom in the usage of psilocybin and plant medicines is,” says Perez. “It proves how many people are interested and supportive of our rights here in Colorado to choose how we want to heal.” If both initiatives end up on November’s ballot, the one with the most votes wins.

MARCH 17, 2022

Colorado could have two state-wide psilocybin bills on 2022 ballot—one for legalization and another for decriminalization

by Will Brendza

enver’s decriminalization of magic mushrooms in 2019 was followed by a cascade of city, county, and state-wide decriminalization efforts across the country. In the years since California, Michigan, Massachusetts, Washington and Washington D.C. have all had cities or counties decriminalized psilocybin and other similar plant-medicines. And in 2021, Oregon became the ﬁrst U.S. state to decriminalize all psychedelics (and personal drug possession at large). Now Colorado is moving toward state-wide decriminalization or legalization, with two separate ballot initiatives. But the two proposals are approaching that shared goal in very different ways. “This is an incredible step to make, and I am so grateful that so many people are acknowledging the need for this change,” Veronica Perez, a representative for one of the two initiatives, the Natural Medicine Health Act, says. “I am beyond excited to be able to offer my fellow Coloradans more choices. I fully believe that the Earth offers us everything that we need to thrive.” Advocates for the Natural Medicine Health Act submitted four versions of this bill’s potential ballot language to lawmakers. All of them were approved, giving the group a choice between four different iterations of legalization legislation. The group chose Initiative 58. “It’s the most comprehensive of the initiatives we

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Weed Between the Lines: Colorado could have two state-wide psilocybin bills on 2022 ballot—one for legalization and another for decriminalization