By Nick Nardecchia & Mali SparhawkSopris Stars guest column The Sopris Stars is a new monthly youth publication powered by The Sopris Sun. When we were little, summer meant one thing: the Carbondale pool. We both remember taking our first swim lessons there. We’d run down the deck until a lifeguard blew her whistle and […]
Columns
Reflecting on cultural respect with local educators and spiritual leaders
Sopris Stars analysis by Vivienne Shapiro Every moment in our lives can influence who we are. Our culture. Our beliefs. Our values. Every single day we have the opportunity to make choices that will determine not only who we are in the privacy of our heads, but also who we are to the world around […]
Historiography: Bountiful ladies of Carbondale
Alma Osgood, the wife of mining magnate John C. Osgood, founder of Redstone, was known as “Lady Bountiful” by the town’s residents because she lavished them with gifts, especially during the holidays. Carbondale’s equivalent was Mary Jane Francis, a wealthy widow from Philadelphia who bought the Bull Dog Mine on Avalanche Creek. She helped found […]
CVEPA Views: McClure lore and the road to power
At a town hall-style meeting in late 1971, the White River National Forest (USFS) presented its vision to designate the Chair Mountain-McClure Pass area as “primitive.” The area was basically untouched save for a horse and foot trail starting at the top of the 8,755-foot pass and an annual sheep grazing permit. There was, however, […]
Dream Well: Authentically you
Natalia Snider is a certified dream practitioner living in Carbondale. She works with people’s dreams and imaginations to facilitate self-healing. Every month, she will analyze someone’s dream in The Sopris Sun. Anyone can submit a dream for personal analysis or inclusion in this column by visiting: www.dreamhealings.com Dream I had a dream I was on […]
Keeping Diné traditions alive with Lupita McClanahan
I first met Diné elder Lupita McClanahan on the morning of her talk at the Crystal Theatre last week, when I picked her up at the Bustang stop in West Glenwood. Until then, we were strangers. I felt instantly self-conscious, realizing how woefully undereducated I was about Diné culture, knowing little more than a few […]
Literate Life: GCPLD seeks qualified trustees
The Garfield County Public Library District is seeking trustees (our word for library board members) to fill three vacancies. (For more information, visit www.bit.ly/GCPLD-wanted). Applicants do have to live in Rifle, New Castle or Parachute. By the end of the year, the Rifle position will have been vacant for six months, due to delays in […]
Wildlife crossings make economic and ethical sense
By Tom Cardamone Roaring Fork Safe Passages Tom Cardamone is the board chair of Roaring Fork Safe Passages, a nonprofit intent on providing wildlife crossings in the Roaring Fork Valley. Wildlife crossings over and under highways save lives, are cost effective and enhance the vitality and ecological functioning of the large landscapes they connect. […]
The power of giving — Every contribution counts
I have to be honest and admit that this month marks the beginning of my favorite time of the year. Not just for the celebrations and delicious meals, but also for that beautiful energy that invites us to embrace, connect — and give. I grew up in a household of three siblings, the daughter of […]
Handwritten letters: increasingly vital in our digital age
As a member of the “chronically online” Generation Z, I am well acquainted with how technology seems to be fused with the human hand. I discovered the art of letter writing four years ago, when I began a pen pal correspondence that has since flourished into an irreplaceable friendship. I believe handwritten notes are an […]
