December 2017

If compassion can be taught — and it’s been widely postulated it can — the Storyteller Project could serve as a textbook example of how to do it. On Dec. 18, Carbondale Middle School fifth graders presented their Storyteller poems. It was the culmination of three weeks of work. The project, now in its second year, is a collaboration between CMS and Voices, a Carbondale-based nonprofit dedicated to amplifying community voices through performance art. In this case, that included spoken word in the form of poetry.

The die is cast for Carbondale’s spending next year, though Town Manager Jay Harrington characterized the budget approved on Dec. 12 as “a living document.”
If anything, it’s conservative projections for income — a 2 percent sales tax increase compared to 3.4 percent this year — and expenses may help avoid dipping into reserves. That’s precisely what happened last year, when trustees accepted the possibility of reducing savings to 75 percent of annual operating costs.

It has been a fairly quiet year for Carbondale’s Special Event Task Force, but that may be about to change.
The committee seems to have resolved many of the complaints that corresponded with its creation several years ago, Co-Chair Jake Boyles told trustees on Dec. 12. And with the calendar looking almost identical 2017 except for applying street closures to every single First Friday, it didn’t take long to approve the schedule.

Every Dec. 12, those devoted to Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe take the time to pause from the business of daily life to remember and honor the miracle that happened almost 500 years ago.
It is believed that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to a humble Aztec named Juan Diego on Dec. 9, 1531, ten years after the Aztec Empire fell to the Spanish Conquistadores. It was on a hill covered with nopal cactus, by the name of Tepeyac in what is now Mexico City.

Last week, Time Magazine announced its 2017 person of the year: the “Silence Breakers.” It’s referring to the group of women who spoke out about sexual misconduct in their respective industries, launched the #MeToo movement on social media and generally cultivated the national dialogue that’s led to seemingly unending headlines and allegations.
It’s a literal and figurative snapshot of the issue. Yes, sexual misconduct is pervasive in high-profile industries like Hollywood, and those allegations garner equally high-profile media coverage.

The spirit was already there in the area’s first performance of George Frideric Handel’s choral epic “Messiah” 40 years ago, but the substance had room for improvement. “We were terrible when I think back,” said Steve Child who, along with his wife, Molly, has been participating almost since Day One. “Over the years we’ve added more parts of it and become more expert… Now the group has really blended.”

If you’re too young to recall, Minnie Pearl appeared for decades on the Grand Ole Opry and Heehaw. When Sarah Ophelia Colley created Minnie Pearl, by accident she left a price tag on Minnie’s flower-bedecked hat. Later, Colley decided that the price tag was essential to Minnie’s countrified character.

In something of a surprise vote, miners at the Anschutz Thompson Creek mine west of Carbondale voted to become a non-union operation. The national United Mine Workers of America and local Redstone Workers Association had vied for the votes of 92 eligible hourly workers, but in the end an independent shop won out.

Hanging out with the Roaring Fork Quilt Guild feels something like wrapping yourself in one of their creations.
Each of the roughly two dozen members brings a different character and experience that somehow stitches together into a warm, welcoming whole. The group usually gathers at the Carbondale Branch Library, but more intimate gatherings and special retreats are all part of the program