On Friday the University of Denver’s Pioneer Mascot Steering Committee released its decision on the search for a new mascot — and the decision was no decision. “The research shows that nearly 70 percent of the University community is either receptive or neutral to moving forward with a new Denver…
After months of study by the 76-member Pioneer Mascot Steering Committee, which included an online survey sent to 78,032 members of the greater University of Denver community, the committee just released its decision on the hunt for a new mascot. Is the school’s new symbol for the Pioneers the Elk?…
If at first you don’t secede, try, try again. Ten counties in northeastern Colorado are still considering seceding from the state. Cheyenne County (population 1876, appropriately enough) has already gotten the proposal on the November ballot; Weld County could do the same soon. In this week’s Westword, we offer some…
Dear Mexican: My co-worker was driving to work this morning when she realized she was being followed by a Mexican in his vehicle. He followed her for at least three miles on the road, and during this time he waved at her, smiled when she frowned, and even puckered his…
We remember when rebranding would get you hanged or shot. Or both,” wrote Lew Cady, the just deceased (and very much missed) adman who did so much to help shape the image of this state. How soon we forget. Once again, Colorado has gone back to the drawing board to…
Colorful Colorado became a lot less colorful yesterday. Lew Cady — resident of Central City; graduate of East High School; adman and publisher of the Little Kingdom Come; beer-drinker (and beer-can collector); baseball fanatic; lover of lists and hijinks; wearer of cowboy hats, boots and beards; friend to thousands, grandfather…
For political pundits and satirists, Anthony Weiner is the gift that keeps on giving. Even as he was resigning from the House in disgrace, it turns out that “Carlos Danger” kept living dangerously, sexting other women around the country. How did he find the time to run for mayor of…
Dear Mexican: I’m curious as to the meaning of the term “Viva la raza,” which I have often heard expressed by my friends and family. I know what it translates to, but I don’t know why we say it. I happen to be what some call a “half-breed,” and therein…
Our January 10 issue featured a caricature of Colorado’s Secretary of State on the cover, along with the headline “Scott Gessler Is Always Right.” Gessler liked the article so much that he used it for a campaign fundraiser, promising to give an autographed copy of the issue to “anyone who…
When Mayor Michael Hancock delivered his third State of the City speech on July 15, he skipped the clunky slogan that has echoed in so many other mayoral talks: “Delivering a world-class city where everyone matters.” But apparently he was just giving it a brief rest, because the phrase was…
Dear Mexican: I had a conversation today with an eighteen-year-old female Mexican co-worker that completely blew me away. She has a three-month-old baby with her nineteen-year-old (also Mexican) unemployed boyfriend. They have just found out that she is pregnant again. After listening to her sob about it, I asked her…
What’s the most dangerous stretch of road in Colorado? After the slaying of an airman in LoDo last Saturday, some people might say 15th and Market streets. Anyone who’s gotten stuck on the mean streets of Cherry Creek might suggest First Avenue. But our nomination this week is Marksheffel Road…
Fire up! Expect a packed house at 8 a.m. today, when Denver’s Independent Audit Committee will be briefed on the “eagerly anticipated audit” of Denver’s Medical Marijuana licensing and regulation process. For the audit, the Denver Auditor’s Office assessed the policies and practices of the Department of Excise and Licenses’…
Dear Mexican: I walked into Carl’s Jr. the other day and gazed at the dozen middle-aged women of Mexican descent hustling and bustling around the kitchen. A flawless performance, yet I couldn’t help but think of my days as a youth and the responsibility I learned from my first job…
“No exercise groups of any size permitted in this area.” Those signs started popping up around Denver parks this year, discouraging groups of early-morning runners and mid-morning mommies pushing strollers in syncopated workouts. The city’s crack-down on organized exercise seems so ludicrous that it even rated a story in the…
Dear Mexican: I live in La Habra, and I’ve noticed that the local Mexicans have a real affinity for palm trees — the more, the better. Some houses have more than fifty planted in a 10’x20′ front yard, so many you can’t see the house. What’s up with this? Is…
Jaxine Bubis was feeling the heat last week, after it was revealed that the would-be Republican challenger of embattled Senate president John Morse in his recall election had written erotica under the pen name Jaxine Daniels, including 2004’s Beantown Heat. El Paso conservatives were shocked — shocked! — by some…
This diamond is really in the rough. By now, Homeless Diamond — the summer softball league organized by real-estate developer Joe Carabello whose players are homeless men — should be well into its third season. But the Denver Department of Parks & Recreation decided to do a major, and needed,…
No matter how sensitive the University of Denver is these days, it keeps getting spanked. First, the school got bashed by boosters of Denver Boone, the onetime Pioneer mascot. Then some loyalists griped about a commission to investigate the role of John Evans, the territorial governor who founded the school,…
For the past eleven years, Colorado Inside Out, the weekly public affairs roundtable on Colorado Public Television, has taken an annual trip in the Colorado Time Machine. The show’s reported on current events of 1912 (last year’s show, when I played Margaret “Molly” Brown or 1951 (the 2011 episode, when…
Dear Readers: My columna a couple of weeks ago about whether Aztec savagery influences violence in Mexico today drew muchos responses, both bueno and malo. Here are two: Dear Mexican: I enjoy reading all of your replies and was thinking about the last reply you wrote about the violence/Aztec blood…
It could have been worse: The University of Denver could have been stuck with the Exterminators instead of the Pioneers. “Exterminator” is the label that Major Edward Wynkoop slapped on then-territorial governor John Evans after he endorsed “the destruction and killing” of “all hostile Indians” — an endorsement acted on…
