Photos and reflection by Kate OttSopris Stars Correspondent The Holocaust was one of the worst genocides in human history. Considering it wasn’t even 100 years ago, it’s still terrifying. The systematic, industrial killing of over 6 million people in the course of seven years, is anything but natural. I struggle to wrap my head around […]
Opinion
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CVEPA Views: Flow the Acequia Madre
I am just back from the Land of Enchantment and I am still under the spell. On my sojourn through northern New Mexico I wandered through the cacophony of tan hills and deep arroyos (gulches) filled with small villages and intimate neighborhoods. I ate my way from pueblo to pueblo, savoring food that is typical […]
Posted inLetters
Letters – March 26, 2026
Dear Jamie LaRue,Thank you for very nearly four years of incredibly compassionate leadership of the Garfield County Libraries! We so needed you! Thank you for listening to staff, for letting them take the ball and run with their passions, creativity and innovative ideas. Your dedication inspired so many people! Thank you for expanding the outreach […]
Posted inColumns
Got cows?
I am occasionally asked how many cows I have, or where my cows are, or something along those lines. It occurs to me that such folks are trying to be smartasses, implying that I shouldn’t be wearing a cowboy hat if I don’t have cows — which they, apparently, consider necessary to be a cowboy. […]
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Libraries explore mill levy extension
A famous Wyoming bumper sticker reads: “Lord, Please Give Me One More Boom — This Time I Promise Not To P*ss It Away.” Boom and bust defines the West. Some of us get caught on the wrong side of each end of the cycle. The smarter ones learn from it. They hedge their bets. They […]
Posted inOpinion
MAGA up front, Nicaragua behind
This weekend I decided to revisit my youthful nostalgia and go to a concert. Not just any concert, but a punk one. And I want to clarify something: Although I love this band’s music, there is a story that went viral that also motivated my attendance. Of course I like them, especially on the eve […]
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Mature Content: ‘All Used Up’
We’re all “aging.” From our neighbor turning 10 to friends turning 80, if you manage to stay alive, aging happens. For a time, that process means gaining abilities. Then, slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, the gains stabilize. Eventually, they become losses. When 55-year-old Susan moved back to the Valley, and Ron made his Valley debut […]
Posted inLetters
Letters – March 19, 2026
Carbondale gymnasticsLast year, The Sopris Sun asked an important question about the former City Market building: “Is anything happening?” If the answer is still “not yet,” I’d like to offer a suggestion — could it become a gymnastics facility for the mid-valley? Right now, families in Glenwood, Carbondale, Basalt and the surrounding communities have very […]
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Movie Review: For the love of music, and Billy Preston
I love film again! The screening of “That’s the Way God Planned It” last week at TACAW was remarkable. The title is a song Billy Preston wrote and sang in 1971, during The Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York City. He also danced brilliantly on stage and, in a voice-over recorded […]
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Reducing harm
You can’t get better if you’re not alive. This simple sentence can change a lot. It can change how people view the world and how they provide care to others. It can change the tools we’re willing to use. It’s the phrase I’ve seen spark light in people’s eyes, helping them see a different way […]