The runners gathered just after dawn Sunday on Monument Hill. The day before, on the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, more than 500 descendents of the massacre and other tribal members had gathered here for private ceremonies on an unusually warm November morning; the good weather continued through…
I spent the weekend driving across the plains of Colorado, and it’s impossible to travel over that terrain without thinking of Kent Haruf, the author who captured both the land and the people who live there so well in his books, including Plainsong and Eventide. Now comes word from his…
Travel back in time tonight on Colorado Public Television, which will be reprising four of the Emmy Award-winning Time Machine shows that the crew behind Colorado Inside Out, the Friday night public affairs program, creates every year. The weekly, Friday night CIO usually focuses on current events; these Time Machine…
Dear Mexican: I was reading the comments (big mistake) on an article I recently read regarding St. Charles, Missouri, adopting Arizona-style immigration law. I was shocked at the amount of people who support this law, and my question to you is, why can’t people see the bad implications of that…
Dear Mexican: Why do Mexicans and gabachos resemble each other so much? Both are very conservative about sex, marriage and family. Both are very Christian, either Catholic or Protestant. Both keep similar attitudes toward immigrants. Both are very patriotic or nationalistic. Both deal with the same social issues, like high…
Dear Mexican: I’m interested in a job that says it is a plus to have an understanding of Latin, Spanish and Mexican music. I found out some names of musical styles such as Tejano, norteño, nariachi, banda, cumbia, merengue, flamenco, and so on. I’m wondering if there is a way…
When you’re trying to right a 150-year-old wrong, you do not want to make another mistake. You do not want to add insult to grievous injury. That’s why the members of the University of Denver’s John Evans Study Committee took such care with their investigation of the connection between John…
Dear Mexican: I’m a half-Mexican who’s more American than Mexican (although to Cockasians, I’m sure I’m just another brown spot on their white carpet). I don’t speak Espanole, nor do I care to — not because I’m ashamed, but because I just don’t feel the need. If I lived in…
Dear Mexican: Why do Mexican men think all gabachas are like the girls in Bikini Car Wash? I am married, a conservative dresser, frankly not very good-looking at all (but I do have blond hair, so maybe that counts for something on a guy’s internal whore-o-meter), but I speak karate-choppin’-good…
Dear Mexican: What do Mexicans in the United States think of the violent drug cartels in Mexico? Do local Latinos cringe with disgust or fear when they hear another drug-cartel story on the news, or do they feel a sense of disconnect because they are living in America now and…
The Colorado gubernatorial debate hosted by the Free & Equal Elections Foundation on October 8 at Infinity Park Events Center in Glendale wasn’t all that equal. While the organizers were bemoaning the current two-major-party system and decrying the failure of incumbent governor John Hickenlooper (Democrat) and two-time gubernatorial candidate Bob…
The stunning avalanche of action set in motion by the U.S. Supreme Court’s inaction on same-sex marriage last week shows just how quickly this country can change. So why, nearly fifty years after Colorado became the first state in the union to legalize abortion, have we not put this equally…
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts transformed this city’s cultural scene. But the DCPA, and arts in general, sustained two major blows last week: Randy Weeks, DCPA president, who would have been responsible for much of the future direction of the organization, passed away in London at the age…
Dear Mexican: I’ve heard that the Tijuana donkey show featuring a female whore is not real other than the fact that they do bring out a donkey and do some simulation for people who are drunk.Down-Low Loco Dear Gabacho: You’re right. And after months of research, the Mexican can confirm…
Dear Mexican: Why don’t Mexicans tip decently? I labor as a waitress in a local upscale steakhouse where, unfortunately, many Mexicans eat, and the lousy tips are starting to piss me off! Even blacks tip better! (Although, I gotta say, Mexicans are much easier to wait on. No constant requests…
Dear Mexican: Why don’t Mexicans get green cards and come into the United States legally? After talking to people who have, the process is not hard and only takes a maximum of three years to do. By coming in illegally, they are taking the jobs from legal Mexican citizens and…
References to the Sand Creek Massacre are everywhere these days, including page 55 of the new AP United States History course, one of the most controversial — if unread — documents in Colorado and the focus of the proposed curriculum review committee that a few members of the Jefferson County…
When the Jeffco Public Schools Board of Education meets on Thursday, October 2, it will pick up the hot-potato topic — the Curriculum Review Committee — that has inspired student walk-outs across the district, creating an unofficial crash course in civil disobedience in the process. But when new boardmember Julie…
The deadline is fast approaching for My Favorite Place in Denver, a program created by the Denver Department of Community Planning and Development that’s currently soliciting nominations for favorite places in town from residents and visitors alike. We’ve already weighed in on our least favorite places and my personal favorite:…
Dear Mexican: One of the things I have found enjoyable and profound is the use of language by Chicanos, mexicanos and Mexican-Americans. Humor and a sardonic sense of history, in my view, are encapsulated in many everyday expressions. Two examples I can think of are the use of huey (or…
On Wednesday, September 24, members of the Sand Creek Massacre Commemoration Commission will head northeast from Eads along Chief White Antelope Way to the banks of Sand Creek, where 150 members of the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes were killed by volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington on November 29, 1864…
Dear Mexican: A very close friend of mine is supposed to become a U.S. citizen. He was brought here by his parents when he was nine and has been illegal since then. When the laws changed, he went through a lot of hoops, and it really didn’t look good for…
