I started writing this column on July 4th, exactly 250 years after our Founders signed America’s Declaration of Independence. The second sentence of that document asserts, among other things, that all men are created equal and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. At the time, it was far from […]
Columns
Posted inOpinion
Amateur Eats: Amara
“Amateur Eats” is The Sopris Sun’s new food review, written by Carbondale resident and eating enthusiast Jake Skardon and published on the third Thursday of each month. RESTAURANT RATING: Cuisine: MediterraneanQuality: (5/5)Price: $70-$100+ per person, if you order as many drinks as I do Amara is, in Carbondale’s ever-changing restaurant scene, a breath of fresh […]
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A departing gift to local journalism
Last month, The Sopris Sun lost a former board member and a longtime believer in the importance of local journalism. Linda Criswell gave her valuable time, energy and support to The Sopris Sun because she understood that a strong community needs a trusted source of local news. She never hesitated to let us know we […]
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Ice, literacy and the pursuit of happiness
When I was younger, dreaming of a writing future, I knew that building a career in this field can take time. I knew that so well that my ambition was tempered by it. As a pre-teen and a teenager there was this active thought: “I won’t have a book published until I’m in my 40s, […]
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The View from the Therapy Pool: The truth we never accepted
“We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Not a lot of equivocation there. Thomas Jefferson declared the words that followed could only be refuted by someone with their head in the sand. “All men are created equal.” The man who wrote those words was definitely an enigma. Jefferson, along with 41 of the 56 men […]
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Letter from Michigan: July 4, 2026
The firecrackers and skyrockets are banging away as I sit in our little cottage writing this. Unlike back home, there is zero chance of a wildfire. Weeks of rain, including showers today, have thoroughly soaked everything. Fireworks are illegal in Michigan, with a few exceptions like July 4, when smaller types are permitted. The big […]
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VOICES Radio Hour: The value of a nugget of hope
By Sumaya Abuhaidar Sumaya Abuhaidar is a spiritual adventurer, writer and artist who finds inspiration in the wilds of Colorado’s mountains. Recently recovered from devastating chronic illness, she shares her story and insights on Substack through prose, poetry and art. Four years ago, I could barely get out of bed. I was so chronically exhausted […]
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Ps & Qs: Everybody’s home
Have you ever been homeless? The closest I came was in my twenties when my boyfriend Bill and I were vagabonds. Traveling from city to city, we would stop on a whim to look for jobs and a place to live. He was a short-order cook, and I worked in record stores: Wax Trax, Zia, […]
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Raining cats and dogs
A clipped ear on a kitten or a blue line on a puppy’s belly is a signature of compassion, a small mark of sterilization that stands between chaos and care. An unwanted kitten, left to the streets, transforms in a matter of months into a feral tomcat. Because cats can produce litters of up to […]
Posted inOpinion
Seeking Haystacks: Dear Students
Dear Students, “Seeking Haystacks” was the title of student Isaac Gerber’s final project, who sought to use artist Claude Monet’s painting of haystacks as a metaphorical window into self-reflection. Isaac saw Monet’s haystacks as an invitation to living beautifully, a portal to passionate engagement. Isaac, like so many of you, wrote about what calls to […]