Dear Mexican: Do you agree with gente who think you can’t be vegetarian if you’re Mexican because meat is an essential part of our diet? I’ve heard this argument three times within the last 24 hours, from two blogs and the Today show. I think it’s babosadas. My parents growing…
The Emily Griffith Opportunity School could soon be history — literally, since the circa 1926 school building at 1250 Welton Street has been recommended for landmark status. But the name of this pioneering educator will live on. This morning, Denver Public Schools will announce the name of its ambitious project…
Michael Herrera grew up in Greeley and Brighton, where the fields were full of chiles, and green chile was often on the table at home. But he didn’t know that his future would be very, very green. Instead, he began his career with KFSC, the station started in the early…
Dear Mexican: I know an eighteen-year-old getting deported from the USA. He has been here since he was five years old. His entire family is here and undocumented. He grew up in juvenile halls and did a felony as soon as he turned eighteen. Will he be deported for sure…
Our boilers are antiquated,” says Jeff Barratt, head of the Emily Griffith Technical College. “I swear, some of them are out of the Titanic.” Close. Emily Griffith, who’d worked as a substitute teacher in Denver Public Schools until she got the okay from the district to start a less traditional…
Dear Mexican: Why is it that many first-generation Latino students are so quick to judge and alienate second-generation students just because their parents went to college and are able to afford a little more? People treat me differently and think I will look down on them, yet I grew up…
Dear Mexican: I am a butt-white Irish guy, stoked to be married to a beautiful Chicana. Her familia is from a gorgeous rancho deep in the corazón of Zacatecas, and I’ve been wanting to experience all of the ranchero lifestyle I keep hearing about from my acquired familia mexicana. However,…
Monday was Tourism Day at the State Capitol, and when boosters said the numbers looked good, that the industry was healthy, they weren’t blowing smoke. But then, they didn’t mention marijuana at all. Think of it as the big pink elephant in the room — if you really want to…
For over a decade, I’ve enjoyed sharing my neighborhood on the edge of LoHi with the students of the Contemporary Learning Academy, a DPS high school for kids whose needs and/or schedules just don’t fit with the system’s more traditional high schools. When DPS first bought the building overlooking I-25,…
Dear Mexican: I have questions about the TSA, my most hated useless government agency. I heard that the TSA does illegal ICE dragnets at airports to catch illegal aliens. I get pulled aside for “special screening” every single time I fly, and it is infuriating. Does getting targeted by the…
As the sun rose this morning — reflecting off the blue-and-orange-hued Elitch Gardens Ferris wheel and the still-glowing Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium — the real show was just over downtown……
Editor’s note: Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a federal holiday. The Westword office is closed, but we’ll be posting occasional updates on westword.com today. The country’s largest parade in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. — the Marade — will kick off this morning by the MLK…
Dear Mexican: I work in one of those progressive companies. Most of the gabacho bosses are actually pretty cool…at least when your back isn’t turned. There are a few a-holes, pero there will always be a few; they’ve got gigs lined up in talk radio. Sabes que — what drives…
Dear Mexican: How do we humanize the illegals in this country? My reasons for asking this question are many, but mainly a very personal one. I’ve been in this country illegally for sixteen years. For sixteen years, I’ve lived my life like anyone else: going to school and working. Eventually…
Despite obvious interest across the country, Colorado’s big tourism boosters are still shying away from any reference to recreational marijuana: On Colorado.com, the Colorado Tourism Office’s otherwise expansive site, and Coloradoski.com, Colorado Ski Country USA’s site, searching for “marijuana” nets you exactly…nothing. But some tourism businesses see the possibilities: “We’re…
Dear Mexican: One of my pet peeves is Latinos who pronounce their last names with Anglo accents. For example, Rod-driguez instead of Roh-driguez. Would love it if you address this. Personally, I believe we Latinos should educate Anglos on correct pronunciation. Gomez the Groper Dear Wab: Before you start correcting…
Update below: The DenverDepartment of Excise and Licenses just updated its list of stores now fully licensed to sell recreational marijuana on January 1 — although there’s no guarantee that all eighteen will be open tomorrow. Although the lion’s share of the retail applicants are in Denver, 25 more municipalities…
Before the ball drops tonight, the cops could get a drop on you: Once again, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado State Patrol have teamed up with 76 law-enforcement agencies throughout Colorado to increase DUI enforcement through Thursday, January 2. During last year’s New Year’s Eve enforcement period,…
Do touch that dial! Because when you switch on your radio after the new year’s festivities, you’ll find some changes at Denver’s local talk stations. Peter Boyles, who moved to KNUS 710 AM after Clear Channel fired him last summer, is beating the competition at his new gig, which will…
Get out the cameras: The Denver Department of Excise and Licenses will begin handing out its first retail marijuana businesses licenses at 8 a.m. today. These are for businesses that have already received their state licenses — Colorado began sending out 348 of those on Monday to applicants in more…
After the passage of Amendment 64, the City of Denver moved slower than a procrastinating pothead in coming up with a system for handling the recreational marijuana retail stores that could be opening on January 1, 2014 — but it’s really picked up the pace lately. On December 9, it…
The calls and e-mails keep coming, sometimes several an hour. And they all want to know the same thing: On January 1, where will they be able to buy pot? Good question. The state just released its first list of 136 completed applications for recreational marijuana stores on Monday, but…
