Columns

This isn’t my paper; it’s yours.
For five months now, I’ve served as the sole full-time employee of Carbondale’s community newspaper, which could have left me feeling a bit like Will Kane in “High Noon.” If you haven’t seen the classic 1952 western film — and I strongly recommend that you do — it’s about a town marshal who, on the day of his wedding and retirement, finds himself without the support of his community when he needs it the most. That has not been my experience.

What really matters at the end of this life; is it fame? Fortune? The one with the most magazine subscriptions wins? In the end, I think it’s the memories. It comes down to how you make others feel because only through the living does our legacy endure. I like the idea that we’re all in this together and at the end we reconnect in stardust. This thought brings me an easy-going, off-the-hook, peace of mind. Like one of my favorite quotes by Ogden Nash- “There is not a shred of evidence that life is serious.” So, I might as well do what makes me feel accomplished and have a little fun along the way.

I immigrated to the Roaring Fork Valley in 1970. I came for the skiing and had a job waiting for me as a truck driver. I could no longer deal with living in the growing metropolis of Seattle, so I left for four years in the Army (mostly in small towns in Europe), and spent a few months at a ski area in California.

I don’t “get” this country’s fascination with the rich and famous. Years ago, I spent a summer living with former in-laws at the top of Coldwater Canyon above Beverly Hills. On our outings, my beloved mother-in-law would elbow me and eagerly whisper, “Look, that’s Warren Beatty!”
Or whoever.

We live in a time that emanates confusion.
We live in a time where stories from the middle east about decapitations are too normal. We live in a time where celebrities are more important than the planet that we live on. We live in a time where the only solution for death is more death, the only solution for feeding the planet is found in a lab, the only solution for climate change is convincing yourself it does not exist, the only solution for police brutality is listening to the least threatening side of the story, and the only solution for sexism is making sure that women don’t make enough money to gain a voice. We live in a time where it is hard to trust your fellow man.

Life is hard. Anyone over 30 knows this. But what may take more than thirty years to realize, is that it’s not supposed to be easy. The whole point is to face each disaster with a graceful attitude because character is formed by learning how to handle all the obstacles and overcome the pain, anger and resentment they cause

Round and round and round we go. Are we spiraling up or are we spiraling down? Like everything the answer comes in perspective. It is time to bring some perspective to the centerpiece of Carbondale, the roundabout, or rotary as our friends from across the pond call it. In our typically linear society what better way for The Covert Critic to start their first column then to circle back around to the circuitous traffic interchange that’s got us spinning counter-clockwise (also perspective dependent).

First Law of Fish
Fish in the river shall remain in the river unless
acted upon by an outside force. Force of nature.
Failure of dam. Flood. Famine. Kingfishers.

We are in the midst of a global food supply “predicament” due to the impacts of a rapidly changing climate. Very conservative research shows yield declines of up to 19 percent by midcentury and 63 percent by the end of the century in the Midwest. And this doesn’t take into account the collapse of yields in other areas of the world upon which we are now dependent, because in Colorado we only source a mere 1% of our food supply locally.

Public schools are public resources. They’re our schools. Every voice in our school community deserves to be heard and understood. That doesn’t mean we’re all going to agree with every decision each administrator makes, but it does mean we can’t give up on sharing our views, working to understand views different from our own, and stepping up to support our schools.