Re: Crystal Theatre Alliance
I think (since the Crystal Theatre is now a kind of museum), that the way to preserve it and convert it into a money-making entity again would be to feature classic movies from the silent movie days, then the “talkies” and then the first technicolor movies — and, finally, classics of the last 50 years of the 20th century.
If someone is needed to play piano for the silent films, the traditional selections (the chase, the villain, etc.) are available in sheet music (my grandmother played piano for the silent movies), and I’m sure you could get an old upright piano and volunteers to play it.
Hope these ideas help. I have no idea what equipment might be needed — perhaps the old films have been converted to a 21st century format.
Clay Boland Jr.
Carbondale
Gaza’s children
There are roughly 17,000 children in Garfield and Pitkin counties combined. That’s 17,000 lives full of potential — lives we protect, nurture, and fight for. Meanwhile, across the world, children in Gaza are being starved, bombed, and denied aid by a genocide funded with $14 billion of our tax dollars.
Maybe you saw me standing outside Mountain Fair, holding signs with a donation jar for Palestinian families. Maybe you cheered me on. Maybe you yelled at me. Either way, none of that matters as much as this: We are all human beings. Our legislators, who sent those billions to Israel as food aid is destroyed at Gaza’s border and U.S. contractors gun down desperate civilians, are supposed to be human beings too.
I won’t pretend this isn’t political, but it’s also painfully simple. You don’t need to be an expert on Middle Eastern history to recognize cruelty. You just need to refuse to look away.
James Baldwin’s words must guide us: “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” There are 17,000 kids here. We see them as worthy of life.
Some of us have been warning of this outcome for almost two years. We’ve been met with ostracism, indifference, and fury that we’d call for an end to the deliberate murder of civilians. Now, as we watch Israel’s Final Solution play out in Gaza, the Knesset turns its genocidal attention to the Occupied West Bank.
We will keep speaking out. Join us. Stop playing along.
Robyn McBurney
Redstone
Distractions
Forget Epstein and Trump’s NFL team name changes, those are just distractions to keep you from watching Trump’s agenda as laid out in the Big Beautiful Bill Act, empowered by Project 2025’s dismantling of the federal government.
Top of my list is the unprecedented $170 billion appropriated to build a personal ICE army that doesn’t hold fealty to the constitution but rather to Trump, and his $40 billion to build 100,000 beds in gulags for persons in America that are abducted by Trump ICE Troopers. Those funds herald the start of a Stalinesque era of repression and rapid reduction of rights like free speech. The reduction in Medicaid that’s kicking 11 million people off health insurance is harsh and predicts a rise in painful and preventable deaths. The bill could reduce college access for low-income and working students, divert public funds to private schools, and increase pressure on under-resourced school systems.
A Fox News poll showed 59% of Americans oppose the bill, 29% are in favor, which is in line with most hypnotists’ prediction that one third of the folks in any population are easily hypnotized. That explains why so many people vote against their best interest. I recommend Wikipedia.org to understand the ramifications of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and Project 2025.
With the defunding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it is important to become hyper vigilant for scams. There is a huge uptick in corporations that see folks as suckers to be pillaged. Now the ramifications of doing so have been reduced, so, eyes wide open. Don’t become one of the sleepy-eyed minions of master hypnotist President Donald Trump. Hold onto your clarity.
John Hoffmann
Carbondale
War cry for rallies
Fire Trump!
Patrick Hunter
Carbondale
Frankie’s gone
Frankie the cat, who I’ve written about before in this newspaper, has been loaded up in his cat carrier and sent to cat heaven. There was really nothing wrong with him except he was one month short of 19 years old, and just worn out.
Frankie was never anything more than a cat, and never anything less.
Fred Malo Jr.
Carbondale
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