Nicolette Toussaint

“Is this the house you’re giving to the church?” my friend asked. After I nodded, he commented, “That’s a very generous gift.” Generous – or worthless?  As I told Larry, everything in this valley depends on snow in its various forms. It’s not just that Aspen tourism provides the cornerstone for the local economy, it’s […]

Sound and fury at a Carbondale Bike, Pedestrian and Trails Commission meeting? Who’da thunk it? The topic was 8th Street. The fury came from John Hoffmann, former Carbondale trustee and current Senior Matters board member. “For heaven’s sake,” he fumed, “This town has been kicking the can down the road for the last 40 years […]

In early August, my friend Ylice Golden posted that she was “kind of freaked out that Colorado prairie dogs have the plague.” Those infected prairie dogs probably wouldn’t have made the news at all had it not been for the fireworks show that usually happens after the Colorado Rapids soccer game. The Tri-County Health Department, […]

“Remember when we were kids and a field like this would be buzzing with bees? We were always afraid of getting stung.” My friend Jae Gregory said that while standing in a meadow near the Maroon Bells that was bursting with dandelions. And she was right. There were very few bees. At home, my xeriscape […]

Thunder River Theatre’s latest play made me writhe, because it’s the story of my life. Or darn close to it. “Tribes” is about a deaf child born into a hearing family. During the first scene, the family carries on a fractious, backbiting argument, replete with outsized, overblown gestures. Through it, Billy sits silently, saying nothing, […]

On my way to Denver for the weekend, my last stop was the Little Free Library on Eighth Street. I don’t know how long it’s been there. I noticed when I was helping members of my congregation purchase a parsonage on Cleveland Place. At first I thought it was a birdhouse on a pole, but […]

I recently heard the term “market failure” on an NPR interview. Pundits Elaine Weiss and Gina Adams were commenting on a $1 million childcare investment proposed by the Trump administration’s budget. Ivanka Trump, who advanced the proposal, characterized the childcare market this way: “You have care providers who are working at below-poverty wages, you have […]