Nicolette Toussaint

Every Roaring Fork Valley town (except Carbondale) has at some point changed its name: Glenwood Springs was once Defiance. Basalt was Aspen Junction. Aspen was Ute City.  What’s in a name, usually, is history. Which is usually written by the victors, then revisited as times change. As they are now.  Across the nation and here […]

Perhaps you’ve seen COVID-19 homeschooling memes.  My favorite: Homeschooling going well. Two students suspended for fighting. One teacher fired for drinking on the job. My San Francisco friend Caroline Nassif, who teaches at the college level, says homeschooling is “ridiculously difficult.” One of her friends complained of “hitting the wall”, her patience exhausted. Another replied, […]

Despite a childhood marred by divorce, frequent moves and a parent’s attempted suicide, I have never gone hungry. And until Mary Kenyon mentioned it in a March meeting, I had never heard the term “food insecurity”. According to the Colorado Health Institute, half a million Coloradoans experience “food insecurity.” That means that they “lack consistent […]

“Oh, a storm is threat’ning my very life today If I don’t get some shelter oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away…” I’m quarantined, listening to a 2011 recording of Gimme Shelter produced by Playing for Change, which seeks to “connect the world through music.” It’s a sublime recording, uniting musicians in places like Jamaica, Senegal, […]

Having experienced several big-city transit systems — San Francisco, Chicago, Denver — I can testify that RFTA is a gem. When I moved here, I was astonished to learn that the Roaring Fork Transportation Agency is Colorado’s second-largest transit system, after Denver! (Huh, Colorado Springs?) Interestingly enough Colorado leads the nation in rural public transportation. […]

Having lived in big cities — Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco — my norm was to always be a stranger among strangers, looking warily over my shoulder, carrying mace in my pocket but craving connection and community. I want to be recognized and remembered. I’m halfway there. Unlike in cities, I feel safe to […]

When I was a teenager, long before the Marie Kondo simplification trend, a young Japanese woman came once a week to restore order to our home — a house peopled by two adults, three huskies, two cats and five teenagers. Miko’s real reason for housekeeping was to practice English; she wanted to master her second […]

In this season of gratitude, among the blessings I count are the creativity and inclusiveness that characterize this town. I could tally many examples, but Third Street Center embodies it all: As I write this, it’s bringing together the town’s English and Spanish-speaking communities for Dia de Los Muertes. Young adults are partying with KNDK […]