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, […]
Jeannie Perry
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Illegitimi non carborundum
We’ve only scraped the surface of the Epstein files and it’s already like I can’t get the water hot enough to feel clean. How I long for the good ol’ days, when Dick Cheney shooting someone on a hunting trip was the Big Coverup. Nothing so innocent with these guys. Not like Paul Newman and […]
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Ps & Qs: Trump steals your candy, baby
Happy New Year! Dear gods, please let us turn it around in 2026… I think we can all agree that when Trumpty Dumpty finally falls off the wall, it’s going to take all of us to put this country back together again. I used to think that there was a basement level standard for U.S. […]
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Ps & Qs: Pro-life for the planet
This column is dedicated to Paul Weyrich and the nuns. One of my biggest fears is instant reincarnation. When people have a near-death experience, they often report seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. But what if that light is the fluorescent bulb in the delivery room, and boom! — you’re on to […]
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Ps&Qs: Zero-sum thirty
I’ve been calling Congressman Jeff Hurd’s office on a regular basis — and no, not just when I’m drunk. The last aide I spoke with was named Carter. He sounded rather bored, then he audibly yawned while on the phone with me. “Wow,” I said, thinking, “This feels very dystopian. Most Americans are just trying […]
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Ps&Qs: Irish democracy, making the federal government impotent
Apparently, I have a doppelganger. And no, it’s not my sister. Years ago, before my younger sister moved back to town, I would get random questions like, “Why didn’t you wave back at me?!” Or, “Hey, when did you start working at NAPA?” And recently, a friend told me she was calling my name across […]
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Ps & Qs: Twenty years
Editor’s note (2005): The Valley Journal debuts a new columnist this week, adding to our slate of local voices and divergent viewpoints. Roaring Fork Valley native Jeannie Perry’s “Ps & Qs” will appear monthly in the VJ. Jeannie was born in Aspen and grew up in the Valley — part of the Perry ranching family […]
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Passing the torch at Sopris 100 Who Care
Carbondale’s Sopris 100 Who Care is preparing for a changing of the guard at their upcoming event on June 26 at the RVR Barn. This community entity, formed in 2018, started as a group of women, many of whom were or still are educators, who wanted to come together and find a way to give […]
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Ps & Qs: Equanimity now
Watching this administration barge their way through the days, weeks, months is taking a toll on my nervous system. I strive for equanimity, but it’s like someone brought their toddler into the air traffic control tower and then went out for a pack of smokes. For those of you born after the 70s, that is […]
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Ps & Qs: Confusing net worth with self-worth
We are living a truth stranger than fiction. I didn’t even question it when I saw a man dressed like Ignatius J. Reilly crossing Highway 82 the other day, complete with matching plaid pants, jacket and hunting cap — ear flaps down. He carried himself with an ignorant level of confidence, crossing as the signal […]