Compassion for self & others
Kurt Vonnegut, in his iconic novel “Breakfast of Champions,” tells of how the protagonist of the story, car salesman Dwayne Hoover, becomes increasingly detached from his life and ends up having a mental breakdown due to the influence of what Vonnegut describes as “bad brain chemicals.”
We are all subject to the effects of our inner workings, with the subconscious interactions of our brain chemicals affecting how we lead our lives and even what we might choose to have for breakfast. But we operate at a conscious level without usually even considering how we do it, without thinking about all of those chemicals, molecules interlocking, helping us to digest that breakfast.
Regarding the larger landscape we find ourselves in, with all of the mind-numbing things going on, I think it’s important that we realize how much our brain chemistry affects it all — how we react, how we perceive, how we form our biases, who we think is cool, who we think isn’t. And also realize that other people have the same things going on inside their heads — the same brain chemicals floating around, making them do things underneath conscious awareness, just like we do, without being aware of it — to be redundant but to underscore the point.
And because of all of this, we need to realize how we can be our own better selves, by being more compassionate with others, whose brain chemicals, perhaps like ours, may not be in harmony due to environmental things we cannot comprehend, except in light of our own difficult environments, maybe.
My long-winded and perhaps unorthodox point for the New Year (2026 already!) is this: Be nice to each other to the greatest degree that you are capable of in each moment, remembering that we are all more alike than we are different. And have a Happy New Year!
Roger Miller
Glenwood Springs
The birds chirp thanks
Roaring Fork Audubon (RFA) extends a big thanks to R.J. Paddywacks for supporting RFA with its annual bird seed fundraiser. Locally-owned R.J. Paddywacks donated 15% of its sales to this important event, helping our all-volunteer board bring awareness to local conservation issues facing our native animals, especially the birds. We hope that awareness and education will engender protection. Please join us in supporting R.J. Paddywacks!
To learn more about feeding birds, please visit our website: www.roaringforkaudubon.org
Catherine Hagen & Mary Harris
Roaring Fork Audubon
BPTC Year in Review
As part of the Town’s and the Bike, Pedestrian and Trails Commission’s (BPTC) efforts to grow Carbondale’s culture of safe, shared streets for walkers, cyclists and drivers alike, numerous street improvements, including bike lanes, medians and road narrowing (via temporary plastic bollards) were trial tested around town this summer. Here is a summary of bike and pedestrian related activity from 2025.
January: The Board of Trustees (BOT) approved the Mobility and Access Plan (MAP) designed to protect and enhance Carbondale’s pedestrian, cycling and transit infrastructure. MAP was developed through a two-year process with suggestions and feedback from several hundred residents, a steering committee and the BPTC.
February: The BOT approved the crafting of a Complete Streets policy in accordance with national standards to prioritize safety over speed on our streets, and ensure safe access for all travel modes.
March: The BPTC, along with a group of citizens, made recommendations for phase-one testing of specific improvements suggested in the Town’s MAP document.
May – June: Carbondale’s Public Works Department installed and began trial testing of bike lanes on Hendrick Drive and West Main, temporary medians in numerous places including Highway 133, a mini-traffic circle on Hendrick and painted “sharrows” on several busy streets to heighten driver awareness of cyclists, and to remind drivers and cyclists to share the road safely.
August – September: A new pedestrian crosswalk was constructed on Hwy 133 near Nieslanik Ave.
October: The four-way stop at Hendrick and West Main was declared permanent! Most of the other trial features came down in preparation for winter street maintenance.
Fall 2025: As part of the trial improvements process, a survey was conducted with 361 responses received, which will help inform recommendations for both permanent projects and future trial locations and strategies. Thanks to everyone for providing feedback!
The BPTC is committed to preserving and growing our eco-friendly vibe and small-town character by enhancing bike and pedestrian access throughout town, and encouraging folks to slow down, share our streets safely, walk and bike more and connect with each other. Join us at our monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month at 6pm at Town Hall. Everyone is welcome.
Rick Blauvelt & Lori Patrick
Bike, Pedestrian and Trails Commission
Christmases 1941 and 2025
Christmas 1941, I was three years old. Those early Christmases were delightful, waking and running down the stairs to behold the wondrous gifts spread round the tree. But only 18 days before that Christmas of 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and our nation got caught right between General Tojo and Der Fuhrer Adolph Hitler in a worldwide war. My mother must have thought of her father, dead from a bullet wound he suffered in the First World War. My father might have thought it would be his time on the front line. Despite, they lighted the tree and spread the gifts, while I, the happy child, was unaware.
Christmas 2025, in another century and eight decades later, I try to picture what my parents faced. And I try to compare. This time, too, our nation’s democracy is threatened. Not by enemy bombers, but by a bombardment of emergency edicts, undefended by any checks and balances. Moreover, way beyond what my parents could have imagined and almost beyond what I can comprehend, is the overwhelming and existential threat to the whole world’s climate. Life for humans is already unsustainable in some quarters, and that threat grows ever greater, with no end in sight.
Somehow, we humans can always summon hope to our aid. I see my parents around the big radio, listening to Roosevelt and Churchill’s speech from the White House that Christmas Eve, 1941. They would have let me stay in the room, knowing I would not understand. They looked at the radio cabinet as they heard President Roosevelt say that that night he was lighting the nation’s Christmas tree for the ninth time, while he knew many were having trouble lighting their own trees. My parents would have heard Prime Minister Churchill say that while men were killing each other, with the most fearsome weapons science could devise, let the children have their happiness.
Now, I ask you to listen to those inspiring speeches, and hear what those great and eloquent men had to say. We must get stirred up, not give up. Somehow all Americans, who cherish the democracy we have and who wish to preserve it, and all world citizens, who wish to preserve a livable climate, must recognize our common cause. We must unite in our efforts. We must find and follow great leaders or messiahs who come forth, from any nation, of any faith, of any gender, and lead us to salvation. The only thing I know for sure is that we’ve come too far, and lasted too long, to let it all go. I have hope and faith that with courageous and diligent effort, the threats to our country’s democracy can be overcome, and the deadly trend of our world’s climate can eventually be halted.
Bill Jochems
Redstone
Dichotomous leadership
What kind of leader do we want for America?
One passes a major infrastructure bill that benefits the states that voted against him slightly more than states that voted for him, but overall helps the whole country. The other sends in a special police force against a governor’s wishes and denies disaster aid to states that voted against him. The major bill he passed enriches himself, his friends and other billionaires while taking away healthcare and protections for everyday Americans.
One signs dozens of bills that protect consumers and reduces corporate greed, the other sells presidential pardons for millions of dollars and does away with regulations that protect consumers and the environment.
One sets a course to address climate change, the other denies it even exists.
One has been a decent human being his entire life, the other is a pathological liar, cheats on his wives and business deals and is both a felon and possibly a pedophile.
The choice should be crystal clear, but somehow it isn’t …
Peter Westcott
Missouri Heights