This column is dedicated to Paul Weyrich and the nuns. One of my biggest fears is instant reincarnation. When people have a near-death experience, they often report seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. But what if that light is the fluorescent bulb in the delivery room, and boom! — you’re on to […]
Jeannie Perry
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Ps&Qs: Zero-sum thirty
I’ve been calling Congressman Jeff Hurd’s office on a regular basis — and no, not just when I’m drunk. The last aide I spoke with was named Carter. He sounded rather bored, then he audibly yawned while on the phone with me. “Wow,” I said, thinking, “This feels very dystopian. Most Americans are just trying […]
Posted inOpinion
Ps&Qs: Jeanie Bueller rides again
“Oh, fine. What’s this? What’s his problem?” (Jeanie Bueller) “He doesn’t feel well.” (Joyce Bueller) “Yeah, right. Dry that one out and you can fertilize the lawn.” “Jeanie? Is that you? Jeanie? I can’t see that far …” (Ferris Bueller) “Bite the big one, Junior.” “Thank you, Jeanie. You get to school.” (Joyce) “Wait, you’re […]
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Ps&Qs: Irish democracy, making the federal government impotent
Apparently, I have a doppelganger. And no, it’s not my sister. Years ago, before my younger sister moved back to town, I would get random questions like, “Why didn’t you wave back at me?!” Or, “Hey, when did you start working at NAPA?” And recently, a friend told me she was calling my name across […]
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Ps&Qs: Coincidence and doll parts on Twining Flats Road
This life is crazy: full of beauty and wonder, but with a dark and dirty underside. The enactment of Project 2025 has us sliding down a hill as steep as any slope on Aspen Mountain, right toward fascism. Before the Heritage Foundation took hold of our government by the short hairs, the old rats-in-a-cage analogy […]
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Ps & Qs: Twenty years
Editor’s note (2005): The Valley Journal debuts a new columnist this week, adding to our slate of local voices and divergent viewpoints. Roaring Fork Valley native Jeannie Perry’s “Ps & Qs” will appear monthly in the VJ. Jeannie was born in Aspen and grew up in the Valley — part of the Perry ranching family […]
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Ps & Qs: The American Dream costs about $300k
When I was a kid, you could buy a house in Aspen for about $300k and I remember when my parents sold our house on Twining Flats Road in 1979 for $179,000. Fast forward 20 years to Carbondale in 2000, when the first house on your right as you entered Satank was for sale for […]
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Ps & Qs: Equanimity now
Watching this administration barge their way through the days, weeks, months is taking a toll on my nervous system. I strive for equanimity, but it’s like someone brought their toddler into the air traffic control tower and then went out for a pack of smokes. For those of you born after the 70s, that is […]
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Ps&Qs: My disappearance to the desert
With all the talk about gangs of criminals at the southern U.S. border, I wanted to see for myself what was going on. Trumpublicans claim to be securing the border, but what they’ve actually done is beef-up border patrol and cancel all appointments for legal asylum seekers. As a middle-aged woman, I already know we […]
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Ps&Qs: America is worth more than the sum of its parts
First, I want to say thank you to Donald Trump. No, seriously, I want to thank him for taking the time to come back and kill our pretense of a democracy. While we were all limping around, our bleeding hearts liberally coloring the snow red, Trump came back with an old rusty hammer and sickle […]