Why does Mexico’s national soccer team suck?

Dear Mexican: Can I “Ask a Mexican” why El Tri sucks so much? And why a little stadium in Columbus, Ohio, was louder and more passionate than Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, which seats over 100,000? Can I also ask why a country that lives and breathes soccer/fútbol always freaks…

Want to help Colorado flood victims? Here’s how

The only thing rising faster than the floodwaters this past weekend are the natural urges of Coloradans to help out. The best source for information we’ve found is Help Colorado Now, a partnership between the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and Colorado Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster…

Praxis Creative Arts Space has gone off the grid entirely

A month after its founder, Joshua (no last names, please) was featured in “Free for All,” Josiah Hesse’s July 25 cover story on people living off the grid, Praxis Creative Arts Space, the community warehouse space that Joshua had started with a few friends near Denver’s Art District on Santa…

The truth about Cinco de Mayo…and Mexico

Dear Mexican: I have a Mexican friend at work, and we happened to get in a discussion that started off fine, but I believe that I offended her as the discussion progressed. We were talking about an upcoming Cinco de Mayo celebration, and I asked if she knew the true…

Denver Police Department shelves plan to distribute Bibles

The Denver Police Department was prepared to throw the book at scofflaws — the good book. On September 6, an e-mail went out from Mary Beth Klee, the DPD’s deputy chief of administration, that Chief David Quinones had okayed the delivery of “a box of Bibles to each of the…

Can refugees seek asylum from drug gangs?

Dear Mexican: I have read (the usual suspects and a few Know Nothings) that illegals can say a few magic words to get temporary, pending-review asylum status. The reports say the illegals can claim asylum from drug gangs. My understanding is that fear of crime in one’s home country has…

The marketing of Colorado: Everything old is new again

Here in Colorado, it’s our nature to fight for the state we love — and to get quite cranky when we see something that we don’t think does this state justice. For the past year, Colorado chief marketing officer Aaron Kennedy has led an all-Colorado crew on what’s been billed…

Photos: Colorado’s new logo inspires more Peak parodies

The marketing mavens behind makingcolorado.gov, the state’s rebranding campaign, quickly realized they needed to emphasize altitude. Colorado is “king of the mountains,” points out Aaron Kennedy, the state’s chief marketing officer. Still, pushing altitude also created another dilemma: They didn’t want a logo-slogan combo that might confuse being in the…

Colorado’s new logo, the Peak, inspires peak parodies

The “Peak.” That’s what Colorado’s new logo has been dubbed — officially, at least. But plenty of people have their own, unofficial nicknames for the green-and-white triangle introduced yesterday by brandcolorado.gov as the state’s next brand. When we reported yesterday on the new slogan, “It’s our nature,” readers also weighed…

What happened to the lazy Mexican?

Dear Readers: The Mexican wants to beat you to the carne asada case this Labor Day fin de semana, so behold two oldies but goodies I amazingly haven’t yet passed off as new in this columna. The first one is extant and one of my favorite questions ever; for the…

Should Colorado’s new slogan be “It’s all downhill from here”?

When Colorado’s new brand is introduced next week, it will have a brand-spanking new tag line to go with it. Last month makingcolorado.com, the website that’s been collecting input and keeping people posted on the project’s progress, listed two possibilities that sounded like Cialis ads: “Rise” and “Ever Upwards.” Those…

What’s with the Mexicans in El Paso?

Dear Mexican: You inspired me to rediscover my culture, my pride as a Mexican and love for my people (though it’s hard to love my people at times). I’m writing a college paper on Latin American issues — more specifically, on Mexican apathy, which is deeply rooted here in my…

Two new symbols for state of Northern Colorado: NoCo or No Go?

Ten northeastern counties are considering seceding from Colorado to protest the state’s perceived snub of rural affairs. Cheyenne County (population 1876, appropriately enough) was the first to put the proposal on its November ballot; Segwick, Yuma, Weld and Phillips have since joined those counties that might no longer want to…

Photo: John Elway graffiti — in Red Hook, Brooklyn?

The Broncos may have taken a beating in that preseason game in Seattle Saturday night, but the team’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations still has fans across the country. Here’s proof — an artistic endorsement of the sixteen-year team veteran and Hall of Famer that seems better suited to…

Lew Cady: Toast his memory in Central City tomorrow

Yes, Colorado has been a lot less colorful since Lew Cady, one of this state’s most creative characters, passed away on August 4. To give him a proper sendoff, family, friends and fans will gather in Central City tomorrow, raising a glass or two or ten in three of the…

Stephen Batura’s “Winter Crossing” is back on track at RTD

We’ve been profiling RTD’s public-art pieces on our Show and Tell blog, and on Monday, the series reached”Winter Crossing,” the stunning mural by Denver artist Stephen Batura that hung at Union Station for a decade — and then disappeared when the historic facility was closed for major renovations. “RTD removed…

Ask a Mexican: Are we La Raza Cósmica or are we mutts?

Dear Mexican: This pregunta has been simmering in my brain for a while, like slow-cooking birria, and the recent question about whether saying “Viva la Raza” is racist reminded me to ask you. According to José Vasconcelos, the Mexican people are La Raza Cósmica (Cosmic Race), which to me seems…