Boulder Weekly 02.29.2024

Now you see me

Trans youth portrait series highlights the life-saving power of family support P.18

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OPINION

LAUGH FIRST, FEAR LATER

A fascist international is forming in menacing but bizarre Trumpist GOP

BY DAVE ANDERSON

The Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC) were once fringe events. Since Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party, they represent the mainstream of the right wing.

CPAC get-togethers started out as once-a-year events in Washington, D.C. In recent years, CPAC has become international, meeting in cities

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Volume 31, Number 28

COVER: Reece, age 8, Pennsylvania.

Credit: Jesse Freidin

PUBLISHER: Francis Zankowski

EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Shay Castle

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray

REPORTERS: Kaylee Harter, Will Matuska

FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff

INTERN: Lauren Hill

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Dave Anderson, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Dan Savage, Toni Tresca, Erica Meltzer, Kalyn Belsha, Justin Criado, Kelly Dean Hansen, Jenn Ochs

SALES AND MARKETING

MARKET DEVELOPMENT MANAGER:

Kellie Robinson

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE:

Matthew Fischer

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES:

Chris Allred, Holden Hauke

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER: Carter Ferryman

MRS. BOULDER WEEKLY: Mari Nevar

PRODUCTION

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erik Wogen

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Mark Goodman

CIRCULATION

CIRCULATION MANAGER: Cal Winn

CIRCULATION TEAM: Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

BUSINESS OFFICE

BOOKKEEPER/ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE:

Austen Lopp

FOUNDER / CEO: Stewart Sallo

around the world. They unite far-right parties and groups to promote ethnonationalism, patriarchy and anti-socialism. This coalition has been called “The Nationalist International.”

The 2024 meeting featured two flamboyant authoritarian leaders from Latin America, Presidents Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Javier Milei of Argentina. They both are proposing drastic solutions to real problems.

Bukele fought the horrendous violence of El Salvador’s gangs. He has detained more than 76,000 Salvadorans. Adrianna Gomez Licon of the Associated Press reports that Bukele has “broad support” and just won re-election. However, she notes that “Many of the arrests are conducted with little evidence or access to due pro-

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Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. ©2024 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.

Boulder Weekly welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@boulderweekly.com). Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address and telephone number for verification. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website.

Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, appears on Tucker Carlson Today in October 2022. Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

cess, and human rights groups have documented widespread abuses not experienced since the country’s 198092 civil war.”

She said Bukele received “a rock star welcome” at CPAC as he told them that the next U.S. president should do what he did and fight the “dark forces” which are “already taking over your country.”

Argentina’s self-described “anarchocapitalist” president Milei promises an extreme “free market” makeover of his nation’s economy. He gave Trump a joyful hug at CPAC.

Another Latin American president, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, was also a big CPAC star. He faithfully modeled himself after Trump and received help from U.S. Trumpist advisers. When he failed to be re-elected, he refused to accept his defeat, and his followers attempted an insurrection eerily similar to the Jan. 6 riots.

In 2022, Hungary’s autocratic prime minister, Viktor Orbán, addressed CPAC in Dallas. “The globalists can all go to hell,” Orbán said to wild applause. “I have come to Texas.”

He denounced immigration and progressive views on the family and gender. He had been in the news for a speech he had recently made saying that Hungary should not become a

“mixed-race” country, pointing to other European nations with big immigrant populations. A longtime aide, Zsuzsa Hegedus, resigned, saying the speech was “a pure Nazi diatribe worthy of Joseph Goebbels.”

The year before, Fox News’ most-watched host Tucker Carlson traveled to Budapest for a weeklong broadcast promoting Hungary as a paradise that should be a model for the U.S.

Recently, Carlson had a two-hour interview with Vladimir Putin on X (formerly Twitter). Masha Gessen had an analysis of it in The New Yorker. She is a Russian-American journalist who wrote a compelling biography of the Russian president, The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin

Gessen says “Putin used the interview to deliver a lengthy lecture on the history of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and its aftermath, meant to convince viewers that Ukraine never had a right to exist.” She stresses: “During the interview, Putin gave every indication that he thinks of former imperial possessions as still rightfully Russia’s. That would include not only former Soviet republics but also Finland and Poland.”

What Putin said about Poland in 1939 caught her attention. She quotes him (this is her translation): “Poland cooperated with Germany, but then it refused to comply with Hitler’s demands. … By not ceding the Danzig Corridor to Hitler, Poles forced him, they overplayed their hand and they forced Hitler to start the Second World War by attacking Poland.”

She notes, “The idea that the victim of the attack serves as its instigator by forcing the hand of the aggressor is

central to all of Putin’s explanations for Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

Gessen finds it significant that Putin is “positioning Poland as an heir to Nazism” (like he does to Ukraine). “He mentioned Poland more than thirty times in his conversation with Tucker. If I were Poland, I’d be scared.”

It seems Russia will once again be center stage in the presidential election.

This opinion does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.

CELEBRATING DISABILITY ADVOCACY

BY JENN OCHS

Saturday night, a small group gathered to celebrate the advocacy work of one woman: Bobbi Christensen.

Christensen lives in Lafayette with

her twin sister, father and niece along with two dogs, a turtle and a bird. She was born with cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair for mobility.

On Friday, Christensen was named Ms. Wheelchair Colorado for 2024. Ms. Wheelchair America Organization was created in 1972 by Dr. Robert Wood. The yearly pageant serves as a platform to highlight the amazing accomplishments and advocacy of female wheelchair users. You can learn more at mswheelchairamerica.org.

Christensen is a vocational counselor at Wonder Years, a disability services and support organization in Longmont. She is licensed in plain language translation, a format she believes greatly in for accessibility. Plain language seeks to maximize understanding by using as

few words as possible and avoiding complicated sentence structure and vocabulary.

“Everything should be written in this format, especially medical documents,” Christensen says. “This would help everyone take better care of themselves.”

When she is not advocating for disabled individuals, Christensen enjoys creative writing, singing, reading, riding horses and spending time with her family and friends. She wishes to show people that disability is her gift from God to show the world that there are many ways to accomplish anything.

“My goal with Ms. Wheelchair Colorado is to continue advocating for causes like the attendant care crisis, improving medical services for disabled

individuals [and] helping break down barriers for the disabled and elderly population,” she says.

As the 2023 Ms. Wheelchair Colorado, I was happy to pass the crown to Christensen along with Chris Layne, Ms. Wheelchair Colorado 2020, on Saturday. I’m honored to witness and be a part of Ms. Wheelchair America.

Thank you, Dr. Wood, for giving us an excuse to celebrate women!

Jenn Ochs lives in Boulder and enjoys listening to music, podcasts and audiobooks while painting or drawing. She is a disability rights advocate and a graduate from Baylor University in Texas, which is where she realized that Boulder is the best place to live.

Bobbi Christensen is 2024’s Ms. Wheelchair Colorado

Russian President Vladimir Putin sits down for an interview with Tucker Carlson in Moscow on Feb. 8. Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

BOCO, BRIEFLY

Local news at a glance

BY SHAY CASTLE

FIRE ON THE FLATIRONS

Firefighters extinguished a fire on Boulder’s Second Flatiron this weekend. The half-acre blaze started Saturday night, according to Boulder Fire-Rescue (BFR), and was fully contained early Monday morning.

More than 20 responders worked on the fire, according to a City press release. The official cause of the fire was unknown, but natural causes

Oliver told Boulder Reporting Lab that “there was clearly some kind of human cause.”

The Boulder area experienced critical fire conditions over the Feb. 23 weekend due to high winds and low humidity, with a red flag warning issued Sunday and Monday. The National Weather Services reported gusts of 40-50 miles per hour.

There was also a half-acre wildfire north of Gross Reservoir on Sunday evening, according to Mountain View Fire Rescue. It was extinguished at 10:34 p.m. with no evacuations or threats to residences.

NEW CLIMATE PLAN FOR COLORADO

Colorado has released an updated

2021. “Roadmap 2.0” again calls for a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 (from 2005 levels) but was necessary because 95% of the initial roadmap’s “near-term actions” have already been achieved, according to state officials.

Roadmap 2.0 identifies 49 new near-term actions, including studying alternative uses for oil and gas wells, increasing statewide transit and passenger rail, plugging wells and encouraging “land use policies to build more housing, grow walkable neighborhoods and increase transit access.” They are meant to be implemented over the next three years.

Despite the state completing most of its first roadmap’s near-term actions, an analysis by nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in November found that Colorado would fall short of its 2030 emissions goal by about 15%, Colorado Sun reported. State officials estimate the new roadmap will help reach the 50% reduction goal by 2032. RMI assisted with emissions estimates in the updated Roadmap.

Read the full roadmap at bitly/3OUoBFK.

NEW ENCAMPMENT REMOVAL RULES

The City of Boulder has updated its guidelines for removal of encampments to reflect the passage of Ballot Question 302: Safe Zones 4 Kids. The measure, which called for faster removal of encampments near schools, was approved by 61% of vot-

ers in November’s municipal election. The City uses a prioritization matrix to decide which encampments to remove first. Camps are “scored” using criteria such as life-safety risk, size and presence of crime or drugs; the higher the score, the higher priority for removal.

The previous scoring matrix allotted 20 points for proximity to a school or along a route to school, second only to encampments that threatened lives or safety. Now, 25 points are given for encampments near schools or routes to school, more than any other category.

IN OTHER NEWS…

• Workers at a Longmont Starbucks (2318 17th Ave.) intend to unionize, according to a press release from Starbucks Workers United. It’s the latest local coffee shop to organize, joining Spruce Confections, Brewing Market and a Starbucks located near CU Boulder, the chain’s first Colorado location to form a union.

• The Town of Superior bought a 0.28-acre property destroyed by the Marshall Fire for use as open space.

The Rodelli property, at 216 S. Third Ave. next to Coal Creek, was purchased for $540,000 and will likely be used for flood mitigation following a change in zoning.

• Paul Campos, a professor of law at CU Boulder, has settled with the university for $160,000 after alleging discrimination and retaliation.

Campos chronicled his ordeal on the blog Lawyers, Guns & Money

Crews battle a weekend wildfire on the Second Flatiron in Boulder. Credit: Chris Rodgers, Boulder Fire-Rescue

Rosie’s

KICKING THE BUCKET LIST

What classic Colorado outing will you undertake with your extra day?

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

As we seek to align our calendars with the Earth’s journey around the sun, 2024 has been blessed with Leap Day. That’s 24 extra hours to explore, eat a leisurely meal or sip a cup of tea very, very slowly.

Boulder Weekly staff each used their extra day to try out a classic Boulder County or Colorado offering. Now, we offer you a taste of our adventures. May they inspire you to spend your time as wisely as we did.

WILL MATUSKA

Dushanbe Teahouse

1770 13th St., Boulder

Few destinations are as iconic to Boulder as the Dushanbe Teahouse. The structure was a gift from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan and one of Boulder’s sister cities. According to Visit Boulder, 40 Tajik artisans handbuilt and painted the nearly 2,000 square-foot structure, and it was reassembled in Boulder in 1998.

After living downtown for nearly two years, I took this year’s Leap Day to finally enter the Tajikistan teahouse full

bore: with a session of afternoon tea. Afternoon tea isn’t just pinkies-up sippin’ — it’s a daily occurrence featuring a three-tiered tower of pastries, artichoke purses and other snacks, a small cup of creamy soup, and, of course, a pot filled with one of a plethora of teas on the menu. It begins promptly at 3 p.m., and a reservation is required in advance.

I wasn’t alone in this adventure — the entire editorial team (four of us) paid the delectable establishment a visit to indulge in food and drink, but also to enjoy the trickling Fountain of Seven Beauties and art-covered walls.

JEZY J. GRAY

The Spot

3240 Prairie Ave., Boulder

I’ve lived in Colorado for a couple years now, but I’m still not very good at it. For evidence, see my total lack of connection to many of the state’s most beloved pastimes and subcultures. Skiing? None of my business. The Dead? I must respectfully pass, but I’m glad y’all are having fun.

Climbing was among these Front Range staples I had written off as simply not for me. But then, in the name of journalism, I spent a snowy Saturday morning in February at The Spot. Greeted upon entry by the warm sounds of last night’s Boulder Theater headliner Yo La Tengo and a besweatered lab pup named Murphy, I instantly felt at home.

That feeling carried through as I explored 15,000 square feet of one of the oldest bouldering gyms in the country. After a couple hours of artlessly pawing at jugs, slopers, pinches and crimps, pushing my 30-something frame to its gravity-defying limit before plummeting to the pillowy ground and setting off to do it all again, I started to see what all the fuss was about.

Afternoon tea, featuring Boulder Weekly staff. Credit: Will Matuska

Dushanbe Teahouse’s interior ceiling is hand painted and carved. Courtesy: Dushanbe Teahouse

“We set problems for all abilities, so it’s great to have a new experience during whatever phase of your life you’re in,” employee Isabella Monaco told me after my session, very kindly celebrating my puny V3 limit. “You get a combination of really cool characters from all walks of life — all kinds of people, all kinds of bodies, doing all kinds of climbing.”

I ended the day with a couple blisters and the deep soreness of a lowgrade fever, but I loved the mix of technical and physical challenge and I’m honestly excited to go back.

Perhaps this prairie chicken is not, to borrow from Boulder Weekly’s own Whole Foods Daddy, one of “the unsendable among us.”

KAYLEE HARTER

Village Coffee Shop

1605 Folsom St., Boulder

I made my first pilgrimage to the Village Coffee Shop on a sunny Wednesday morning with a fellow Village virgin. Before I arrived, she texted me “this place is PRECIOUS” and remarked that it felt like she’d gone back in time.

Perfectly golden hash browns sizzled on the entire back row of the grill, and people of all ages chatted merrily over coffee and heaping portions. The orange dining tables and old newspaper clippings transported us through the 50 years the diner’s been open, though not all the way back — “Get

Village Coffee Shop’s #3 and #5. Pancake not pictured. Credit: Kaylee Harter

Boulder resident Brandi Gray climbs at The Spot. Credit: Jezy J. Gray

Low” by Lil Jon and East Side Boyz played over the speakers at one point, and gluten-free toast and pancakes are available.

I ordered the #3: two eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and wheat toast. I also ordered a pancake that was both crispy and fluffy — the perfect pancake.

I’m a sucker for a diner breakfast, and Village checked off all the boxes and more. It’s a greasy, down-to-earth haven in a town full of healthy bites and sanitized, upscale establishments. As its website puts it, the Village is “890 square feet of reality, surrounded by Boulder.”

P.S. When you pay the Village a visit, don’t forget to mention you’re a first-timer.

SHAY CASTLE

Ras Kassas Ethiopian Restaurant 802 S Public Road, Lafayette Carnegie Library for Local History

1125 Pine St., Boulder BMoCA

1750 13th St., Boulder

It has been eight years since I wrote about Ras Kassas’ search for a permanent home in Boulder County. Displaced by Google, they were (at the time) holed up in the Broker Inn, where I met owner Tsehay Hailu for an interview.

Despite the tantalizing scents wafting out of the kitchen as we talked, I was all business: I never tried the

food. That mistake was rectified this year. I headed to Ras Kassas’ newold home in Lafayette (802 S. Public Road) with a group of friends whose personal hygiene I trust enough to share the fingers-only cuisine.

The meat and vegetarian Feast #2? Satisfying. The mead? A must. The chocolate cake? Umatched. Still on my to-try list? The Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

It was work that finally got me through the doors at Carnegie Library for Local History, where I spent a happy afternoon researching North Boulder lore. The research assistants had helpfully pulled files and files of old newspaper clippings and photos (even with my very unhelpful prompt of “North Boulder” to guide them).

It was fun. It was fast. It was free — a testament to the power of taxpayer funded services. Schedule your own magical visit via this simple online form: bit.ly/3TdVKyE.

To my shame, even the $2 ticket price wasn’t enough to overcome my overpacked schedule. Twelve years I lived here — 12! — without a visit to the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA). It took about 12 seconds for me to realize my mistake, once I was in.

I would regale you with tales of the artworks that entertained me, but BMoCA will no doubt have another new and interesting exhibit up by the time you read this. Learn from my blunder and make time to go.

Carnegie Library for Local History, built in 1906, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

BREAKING OUT OF THE BOULDER BUBBLE

Not everything worth doing can be done in Boulder County. BW staff had these memorable out-of-Boulder experiences, too:

SKIING IN THE MOONLIGHT

There’s something energizing about sitting in a stranger’s tailgate, legs out the side, as he makes a hairpin turn up Loveland Pass — especially when a masked skier to my right yells “Lift up your legs!” just before a two-trailer FedEx truck rumbles past us in the opposite lane.

Once at the top — which is just under 12,000 feet of elevation — the riders jump out of the tailgate and ski back down to the road where another truck awaits for the next tow to the top.

This is full moon skiing at Loveland Pass, a tradition ski bums and shredders flock to once a month. And despite this particular night being overcast with flurries and low visibility, there was still a large crowd. My friend, a moonlight regular, says you can always count on people showing up as long as there’s snow.

It’s not all about skiing either. There’s a parking lot party at the base with neon lights, music, drinks and a toasty fire. — Will Matuska

BOOT SCOOTIN’

I spent a memorable Friday evening at Grizzly Rose (5450 Lincoln St.) in Denver, a massive countrythemed bar. There are half a dozen bars, a full kitchen, a billiards area, a back room where you can lasso a fake steer and — most importantly — a main stage and dance floor where you can follow along with employees and regulars as they boot scoot and boogie. — Shay Castle

Left: Local photojournalist Chloe Anderson tests her calf roping skills at Grizzly Rose on Feb. 9. Credit: Shay Castle

Credits: Will Matuska

TO TEACH OR NOT TO TEACH?

New surveys shed light on what parents, teachers want kids to learn about LGBTQ issues, racism

BY ERICA MELZTER AND KALYN BELSHA CHALKBEAT

Should elementary schoolers learn that people of the same gender can love each other? Do teens want to learn about how slavery’s legacy matters today? Should parents be able to opt their kids out of lessons they disagree with?

As Republican-dominated state legislatures limit how teachers talk about race and restrict transgender children’s access to bathrooms and sports, and as school board elections turn on book bans and parents’ rights, three new national studies from the Pew Research Center, the research corporation RAND and the University of Southern California’s Center for Applied Research in Education shed light on how teachers, parents and students themselves think about these questions.

For all the attention LGBTQ issues receive in national politics, teachers say topics related to gender identity and sexual orientation rarely come up. And many say they don’t believe these topics should be taught in school.

In fact, large swaths of the public also don’t think gender and sexuality should be discussed in school, the

studies found. However, there were wide partisan divides, as well as differences along racial and ethnic lines.

So it is perhaps unsurprising that two-thirds of teachers in one study say they decided on their own to limit how they talked about potentially contentious issues. One reason: They feared confrontations with upset parents.

“The topics of race and LGBTQ issues are often lumped together in discussions about these so-called ‘culture wars’ and how that’s playing out in K-12 education,” says Luona Lin, a research associate at Pew. But teachers and students actually “feel very different about these two topics.”

Here are some of the major takeaways of the three new reports:

MANY TEACHERS ARE CENSORING THEMSELVES

More than a third of American teachers work in states with laws restricting how teachers talk about issues that are considered divisive or controversial. But a study released this month by RAND found local restrictions and teachers’ own fears are having an effect as well.

In a survey of 1,500 teachers taken

last year, two-thirds reported deciding on their own to limit how they talked about social and political issues in the classroom. Meanwhile, about half of teachers told RAND they were subject to either a state or local restriction. These limits could be formal, such as a school board policy, or informal, such as a principal’s comments.

More than 80% of those who were subject to a local restriction say they had made changes to their teaching, regardless of state law. At the same time, more than half of teachers who were not subject to any restrictions say they had limited how they talked about certain topics, with self-censoring more common in conservative communities but still widespread in liberal ones.

A major reason teachers cited for limiting instruction, especially in communities with local restrictions, was a fear of confrontation with upset parents and that their administration would not support them if they faced a challenge.

LGBTQ ISSUES RAISED LESS OFTEN THAN RACISM

Though LGBTQ issues are prominent in local and national politics, a report released this week reveals a striking finding: Most teachers say gender identity and sexual orientation hardly get discussed in class — and many teachers say they shouldn’t be.

According to a nationally representative survey conducted last fall by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, more than two-thirds of K-12 public school teachers say topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity rarely or never came up in their classroom last school year. Around 3 in 10 say the topics came up sometimes or often.

Half of teachers, meanwhile, say they thought students shouldn’t learn about gender identity at school, with an even higher share of elementary school teachers agreeing with that.

More than half of teachers say they discussed topics related to racism or racial inequality at least sometimes. Around 4 in 10 teachers say the issues rarely or never came up.

Nearly two-thirds of teachers say students should learn about slavery and how it affects the lives of Black Americans today, while just under a

quarter say slavery should be taught only as a component of history — without any bearing on the present.

WHAT SHOULD YOUNG KIDS LEARN ABOUT GENDER AND SEXUALITY?

In Searching for Common Ground, a study released this week by a team at the University of Southern California, researchers surveyed a representative sample of 3,900 adults, about half of them parents of school-aged children, and asked them about dozens of scenarios related to race, sexuality and gender.

Democrats were more comfortable than Republicans with almost every scenario, with independents and others roughly in the middle. But even Democrats were less supportive of discussing gender identity or asking students’ pronouns in elementary school than discussing racism or different family structures.

Nearly half of all respondents thought it was appropriate for an elementary teacher to have a picture of their samesex spouse on their desk. And almost as many were OK with elementary students reading a book about two male penguins adopting a baby penguin.

But just 30% of respondents and only half of Democrats thought it was appropriate for an elementary classroom to display LGBTQ-friendly decorations, such as a Pride flag.

Democrats were far more likely to want gay or trans children to see themselves reflected at school, while Republicans were far more likely to fear discussing these topics would change children, leading to them thinking they are gay or trans.

“The largest partisan examples seem to have to do with LGBTQ and family issues in elementary school,” says Morgan Polikoff, a USC education professor and one of the study’s lead authors. “Democrats think that kids can handle that, and Republicans do not.”

STUDENTS FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE DISCUSSING RACISM THAN LGBTQ STUFF

Students in grades 8-12 also tend to feel less comfortable discussing LGBTQ issues than issues of race and racism at school, and are more likely to

say they shouldn’t be learning about them, the Pew report found.

In a nationally representative survey of 13- to 17-year-olds conducted last fall, around 4 in 10 teens say they felt comfortable when topics related to racism or racial inequality came up in class.

But only around 3 in 10 say the same about topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity. And just under half of teens say they shouldn’t learn about gender identity at school.

Only 11% of teens, meanwhile, say they shouldn’t learn about slavery.

Around half say they should learn about slavery and how it affects the lives of Black Americans today, while 40% say they should learn about slavery only in a historical context.

BRIDGING THESE DIVIDES IS TRICKY

The University of Southern California study found strong support for public education across the political spectrum.

But there’s a gap of nearly 39 percentage points between Democrats and Republicans on whether public schools should teach children to embrace differences. Nearly threequarters of Democrats say yes, compared with just over a third of Republicans.

This underlying belief was a strong predictor of responses to specific scenarios. Those who say kids shouldn’t be taught to embrace differences also expressed more discomfort with race, gender and sexuality being discussed in the classroom.

“Democrats on average think schools are exactly the place to do this — it’s one of the last places where everyone comes together regardless of their differences,” Polikoff says. “And Republicans don’t think that is an appropriate role for schools. And they think that because they perceive, in part correctly, that schools are a liberalizing force.

“We need to have this conversation,” he says. “Instead we have Ron DeSantis saying we’ll ban everything, and Democrats saying you’re all bigots.”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering education.

NEWS

GOV’T WATCH

What your local elected officials are up to

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

BOULDER CITY COUNCIL

At its March 7 meeting, council will:

• Decide whether CenturyLink and Xfinity can install telecommunication utilities on certain open space lands.

• Give a preliminary vote to add the wetlands on the CU South property to the official City inventory of wetlands. Adding the wetlands to City inventory is needed to support the South Boulder Creek Flood Mitigation project, according to Brandon Coleman, Boulder’s storm and flood engineering project manager.

• Give feedback on plans to redevelop 2952 Baseline Road, currently home to the Dark Horse. The concept plan proposes demolishing the buildings onsite and replacing them with four- to five-story buildings, including 610 new dwelling units.

BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

On March 5, commissioners will:

• Hold a public hearing on a use review that would allow the Dawson School to increase the number of students allowed from 540 to 700. The Dawson School is a private, co-ed K-12 college prep school.

On March 7, commissioners will:

• Vote on rezoning high-use areas in a three-mile radius of Lyons, where current zoning “allows development within unincorporated areas that may conflict with the orderly growth and development of the Town of Lyons,” according to the project webpage. The majority of the properties — currently zoned as commercial, general industrial or transitional — would be rezoned to agricultural use.

Correction: The Feb. 22 Gov’t Watch incorrectly stated that the affordable housing IGA had already been updated by Lafayette City Council. That agreement has not yet been adopted.

NOW YOU SEE ME

Trans youth portrait series highlights the life-saving power of family support

BY JEZY J. GRAY

“Ihate the governor in Texas,” says 8-year-old Reece.

The second-grader is sitting alongside their mom for an interview with photographer Jesse Freidin, who has been traveling the country since 2020 for what he calls “a trans survival project.” The idea is to leverage the creative tools of storytelling and portraiture to uplift the voices and visages of one of the most vulnerable communities in America: trans youth.

Here the bright-eyed, nonbinary kid in Freidin’s lens is discussing Gov. Greg Abbott’s signing of a bill targeting trans college athletes — one among a grim surge of discriminatory laws moving through legislatures across the country. Reece says they don’t really play sports, unless you count karate. Asked about their experience with the other kids in their mixed-gender martial arts class, they turn to mom: “Luckily, you told them what my gender and my name was, so now when they accidentally say it wrong, they correct themselves.”

Despite their mother’s best efforts to find inclusive spaces where Reece can thrive — signing up for something as simple as a karate lesson means checking ahead of time to make sure

IN THEIR OWN WORDS:

the dojo will be safe and affirming — she lives with the ambient fear of watching her child grow up in a world where their identity is a liability.

“The laws are scary,” she tells Freidin. “We talked a little bit to Reece the other day about the parents who are simply loving and supporting their kids and doing the right thing being called child abusers, and how that’s really disturbing. … As of now, we’ve been met with nothing but support. But I am nervous, and I feel like we need to be prepared.”

ing to Boulder’s East Window on March 1 and currently on view at the Dairy Arts Center through May.

lation, he has since spoken with more than 150 trans and nonbinary youth from over half the states in the U.S.

Reece responds to this prospect with a playful self-assuredness that comes from growing into your own skin, on your own terms: “Being prepared looks like punching them in the face if they do that.”

‘ARE YOU OK?’

Kids like Reece are the heartbeat of Freidin’s multimedia project spanning a multi-volume book and a touring showcase of photography and interviews. Uplifting stories of trans youth and the families who love them, these everyday moments form the spine of the artist’s traveling Are You OK? exhibition, com-

“When other kids see my photo, I want them to feel confident. Because I feel confident.”

— Reece, 8, Pennsylvania

“I was angry about seeing these antitrans laws really picking up steam. I was angrier as an artist and storyteller that nobody else was focusing on the kids and families being harmed,” Freidin told Boulder Weekly on a Zoom call from his studio in Northampton, Massachusetts. “I thought, ‘What can I do?’ I’m not smart enough to be a lawyer. I’m not going to go to every single protest, but I can tell a compelling story.”

So Freidin set out with his camera and recording equipment to chronicle the lived experiences of trans youth and the support systems on which they depend. Initially focusing on areas of the country with active anti-trans legis-

“People meet me and don’t see me as a trans guy, so I don’t tell them I’m trans — I’m a man, I’m a Black man, that’s all you need to know.”

— Rahliek, 20, Virginia

“As a man of trans experience myself, I’ve been these kids,” he says. “I did not have parents that affirmed me as a child, but I know their thoughts. I’ve been there, which is why it’s so powerful that we can hold space for each other.”

East Window owner Todd Herman finds a similar power in the idea of holding space for our most vulnerable neighbors, which has been the guiding light of his social justice-oriented North Boulder gallery since it came on the scene nearly half a decade ago. But the longtime curator says there’s a big difference between holding space for an at-risk population and speaking on behalf of their plight.

Photographer Jesse Freidin conducts an interview as part of his Are You OK? project, chronicling the stories of trans youth and their family support systems. Credit: Everett Moran

“I’m really cautious when anybody says they’re ‘giving a voice’ to a community. We’re not doing that,” he says of the free exhibition running through June 22 . “We’re opening the door and letting people speak for themselves.”

In addition to the upcoming show in the art space’s namesake east-facing gallery window, large-scale portraits from Freidin’s Are You OK? project are currently wheatpasted on the exterior northeast mural wall of the Dairy Arts Center. Both installations are on display 24/7, with QR codes to learn more about the stories of the young people and their families in the frame.

“I am a queer man, so it struck me really hard. I’m connected to a bunch of trans folks, and I just wanted to hold space for them,” says Dairy Arts Center Visual Arts Curator Drew Austin. “All queer people and people of color are going through a lot right now, but the trans community specifically is under violent attack from the political side.

And it’s quiet, but it’s also not quiet — it’s loud.”

‘WHERE ARE WE SAFE?’

Nex Benedict loved cats, video games and The Walking Dead. The nonbinary teenager often dealt with bullies. On Feb. 7, they were beaten in a bathroom fight by three classmates who had purportedly been antagonizing the 16-yearold at their high school in Owasso, Oklahoma. Nex collapsed at home in their living room the following day. They were rushed to the St. Francis Pediatric Emergency Room in Tulsa, where they were pronounced dead.

There are still many unknowns surrounding Nex’s death, which is under

investigation. But one thing is clear: Many lawmakers and government officials in the late teen’s home state — and others like it — see kids like them as a problem to be legislated away, instead of a whole human who needs love and support.

In May 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill forcing public school students to use the bathroom matching the sex on their birth certificate. Two weeks before Nex died, State Superintendent Ryan Walters, a selfstyled culture warrior against what he calls “radical gender theory,” appointed conservative activist Chaya Raichik to a school library board. Raichik operates the popular social media account Libs of TikTok, which targets LGBTQaffirming educators. Her posts have been linked to dozens of bomb threats at schools across the country, including one 20 minutes south of Nex’s hometown.

Stories like this might feel removed from Boulder’s so-called progressive “bubble,” but many of the families Freidin has spoken with over the last few years say the threat is never as far away as it seems.

“What I’ve heard so many times from kids and parents is, ‘Where are we safe?’ And nowhere is safe until everywhere is safe,” he says. “For those families that have to move out of states [with anti-trans laws] — that’s not living, that’s fleeing.”

Colorado has recently become a haven for some of those families. As nearby states become increasingly hostile to trans people, kids like 13-year-old Hadley Charles — whose family moved from Oklahoma City to

Denver after Gov. Stitt’s landslide reelection in 2022 — are reportedly seeking refuge in the Centennial State, which last year became the first in the country to include gender-affirming care services in essential health benefits. (“We were in a fight-or-flight situation,” Hadley told CPR in January. “And we chose flight.”) But fleeing to a relatively affirming place is still no inoculation against the creeping threat of harm that seems to be gaining momentum in American life.

“Historically, North Boulder has not been friendly to the trans community or people of color,” Herman says from his NoBo gallery space, recalling isolated but fervent backlash to a Dread Scott exhibition last year dealing with issues of race and racism. “There’s a lot of surrounding areas that really dispel the broad reach of our little sanctuary, and that scares me.”

Austin says that’s why the affirming family units at the heart of Are You OK? made it such a compelling draw for the Dairy Arts Center. A recent 2023 study by The Trevor Project found that family support can significantly reduce the likelihood of suicide attempts among Black trans and nonbinary young people. The world may be a dangerous place for kids who exist outside the bounds of “normative” gender expression, especially for those at the nexus of intersecting discrimination, but research suggests an affirming home environment can make a big difference.

“I grew up with the support to come out and really embrace my full self. Without that, I would be in such a different place and have such a different

understanding of who I am,” Austin says. “I think it’s really important to showcase and uplift queer youth, specifically trans youth who are coming out and embracing themselves for who they really are.”

Austin’s experience growing up may be a departure from Freidin, who didn’t have the same support system to fall back on as he came of age in a world hostile to his identity. But the renowned photographer is still here, lifting up the kids in whom he sees himself and the families who help them navigate a cruel and dangerous world. Back in his New England studio, the artist says it all comes back to a question of survival.

“Our community is being annihilated,” he says. “For me, this is about showing the young faces under attack that are most vulnerable, and the caring families that love their trans kids. Because if we don’t show them, they’re not going to survive.”

ON VIEW: Are You OK? –A Trans Survival Project

March 1-June 22, East Window Gallery, 4550 Broadway, Suite C-3B2, Boulder. Free | Through May 31, Dairy Arts CenterNortheast Mural Wall, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Free

LGBTQ youth can access 24/7 support from trained counselors with The Trevor Project. Text START to 678678, call 1-866-488-7386 or visit thetrevorproject.org to learn more.

“I know one other trans girl my age. It kind of makes me feel better about the laws they’re trying to make, because it lets me know there are other people in the world that are like me.”

— Sunny, 8, Texas

“Voices like mine just aren’t heard. There are too many people who are burnt out and tired, and Black, and beautiful, and they just can’t fight anymore given everything they’ve been through. I wanted to be that one light for somebody. ”

— Noni, 23, Massachusetts

VIOLA VIBES

BY KELLY DEAN HANSEN

Richard O’Neill moved from southern California to join CU Boulder’s resident Takács Quartet as its new violist in June 2020. Arriving when he did, with travel limited by the pandemic, allowed him to acclimate to the local environment and culture he would soon come to love.

“If I was having a dark moment, I could look at a peak and go for a run,” he says. “And I love the ethos of the population here.”

His first concerts with the quartet were virtual, an engagement effort O’Neill greatly appreciated at the time, but now he is taking advantage of all opportunities to perform live for Boulder audiences. His appearance at the March 2 season finale for the Boulder Chamber Orchestra (BCO) at the Boulder Seventh-day Adventist Church will be his third solo performance with a local orchestra.

O’Neill will play two works for viola and string orchestra, including the first known solo concerto for the instrument, written by baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann around 1720. Telemann was among the most prolific composers in music history, and he wrote about 125 concertos. Because of its historical and musical value, the G-major work for viola is one of his best-known compositions.

Telemann concerto is roughly contemporary with J.S. Bach’s immortal Brandenburg Concertos, the sixth of which highlights a pair of solo violas.

The short length of the pieces on the BCO concert allows O’Neill to perform a second work from about 260 years later, Le Grand Tango by Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla, composed in 1982. “I wanted to give a short overview of what the viola can do,” O’Neill says.

The piece was originally composed for cello and piano. O’Neill plays it in an arrangement augmented by the string orchestra and says it doesn’t require much adjustment to play on the viola.

“Telemann provides great contrasts and allows the performer a lot of freedom, and it is a wonderful piece,” O’Neill says. Instead of the standard three-movement concerto form, it follows the baroque “church-sonata” pattern of four movements in slow-fastslow-fast order.

O’Neill says this was an important moment for the instrument. The

“He wrote it pretty high for the cello,” he says. “So a lot of it already lies in the center-middle range of the viola without any transposition.”

BCO music director Bahman Saless says O’Neill was an inspired choice to end the season, noting his 2021 Grammy Award win for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. “He won it on his own, outside of the quartet,” Saless

says, referencing the Takács’ own Grammy nominations and 2002 win.

BUCKET-LIST BEETHOVEN

The string-only concert closes with an arrangement of Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge (Great Fugue), a piece originally written as a finale for his late String Quartet in B-flat in 1826. The massive composition overwhelmed the other movements and baffled the audience. Beethoven would write a new finale for the quartet and split off the fugue as its own one-movement piece for string quartet.

“The Grosse Fuge has been one of my obsessions since college,” Saless says. “It is so prophetic, like a time capsule revealing the next 200 years of music-making, and providing formulas for much later composers like Stravinsky.”

In fact, it was a remark by Stravinsky, who said the piece would always be a modern work of art, that spoke most to Saless.

“Beethoven never felt like he could live up to Bach and did not write a fugue like Bach would have done, but he created something entirely new,”

Saless says. “It can be a tough nut to crack if you don’t know what’s going on — but once you break it down, it is amazing.”

The fugue is fiendishly difficult for a string quartet with one player to a part, but expanding it to a full string orchestra, with multiple players on single lines, adds another level.

“I was hesitant, but I know that our string section is good enough,” Saless says. “This is a bucket-list performance for me.”

The concert opens with Valse triste by Czech composer and conductor Oskar Nedbal, published in 1907 as part of a ballet score, which has become a popular encore for the Czech Philharmonic.

“I fell in love with it when I heard it,” says Saless, who has connections to the Czech Republic. “I found the score and parts in an obscure music store in Prague. I like introducing things that probably nobody in the audience has heard.”

ON THE BILL: The Boulder Chamber Orchestra with Takács Quartet violist

Richard O’Neill. 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 2, Boulder Seventh-day Adventist Church, 345 Mapleton Ave. $30

Grammy-winning Takács Quartet member takes the stage with Boulder Chamber Orchestra for season finale

Boulder Chamber Orchestra Music Director Bahman Saless calls Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge (Great Fugue) “a bucket-list performance for me.” Credit: Keith Bobo

Takács Quartet violist Richard O’Neill performs with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra on March 2. Courtesy: Richard O’Neill

MUSIC

‘THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE’

Boulder musician Thom LaFond returns with otherworldly new record

BY JUSTIN CRIADO

The story unfolding across Thom LaFond’s sophomore album, Lawless, wouldn’t feel out of place in a bizarro episode of The X-Files

“Basically, there’s an alien that comes to Earth and falls in love with a human. They’re not really received too well by humanity, so they go out into the woods and isolate,” he explains. “Neither of them is really happy, and the alien kidnaps the human and takes them out to space. Then things get really dark. The human outlives all of their friends and family on Earth. The alien gets jealous and decides to destroy the planet.”

LaFond chuckles at his own heavy sci-fi love story, written after a passing suggestion from his girlfriend sent him on a path that seems more suitable for special agents Mulder and Scully.

“But that’s the theme that goes through it,” the longtime Boulder-based musician adds. “I asked my girlfriend, ‘What do you think my theme should be?’ She said an alien love story, so I went back up to my house for three or four days and wrote a whole bunch of lyrics.”

A follow-up to last year’s debut The Moon Leans In, which doesn’t concern itself with lovelorn alien apocalypses, Lawless was at first supposed to be a more soothing soundscape heavy on synthesizers and spaced-out rock arrangements. But having an otherworldly antagonist gives the nine new tracks more life — someone to root for, or against.

“I was listening to a lot of the Flaming Lips when I went in to write the album. I noticed they contextualize all their whacky synth sounds [with a theme],” he says of the Oklahoma City psychrock wizards known for high-concept theatrics. “It’s creating a sonic world. That’s what I was shooting for. If I’m going to use all these synthesizers and electronic sounds, I want there to be a context to them, so I picked this alien love story theme.”

But if LaFond didn’t divulge the exact premise behind his lyrics, listeners would be forgiven for not immediately recognizing Lawless as a sci-fi rock opera. With tracks like “I Thought You Died” highlighting LaFond’s delicate piano-playing, the record is a folksy offering full of cheery

indie rock and funk. Yes, there are synthesizers and other off-beat instruments, including wind chimes, but it’s far from a concept record retread — more Dawes and The Revivalists than Queensrÿche and Dream Theater.

‘IT’S GOING TO BE A DANCE PARTY’

Front Range concertgoers can experience LaFond’s out-of-this-world new record for themselves at the Velvet Elk Lounge on Friday, March 8, where LaFond will take the stage with opener Fruta Brutal. He’ll be joined by a live band including Enion Pelta-Tiller (violin), Chris Duffy (bass and synth), Ian

Arras (synth), Michelle Milo Pietrafitta (drums) and Katie Mintle (backing vocals).

After releasing Lawless on Feb. 1, LaFond hit the road on a West Coast tour with his longtime band Banshee Tree, known locally for playing Saturday nights at the Boulderado Hotel over the years. But he’s excited to be back and playing Lawless in its entirety for the first time.

“You can come expecting to listen and feel the emotional context of the songs,” he says. “But also it’s going to be a dance party.”

LaFond certainly knows how to make an audience move. Beyond his work as lead singer and guitarist of Banshee Tree, which also includes Milo Pietrafitta, LaFond cut his teeth in the former East Coast jam band Dirty Paris alongside Duffy, who co-produced Lawless. But jam-mecca Colorado drew LaFond back in even after that band dissolved. He moved to Boulder from his native Albany and busked along Pearl Street, while seeing as much of the world much as he could.

“That got me the cash I needed to keep traveling,” he says. “I did a lot of street performing [in New Orleans and L.A.] and I realized Boulder was my favorite spot to perform out of all those places that were beacons for me.”

That was 12 years ago. LaFond lived in his car initially, then spent some time in an off-grid cabin and eight years out on Sugarloaf Mountain in Nederland. Now he’s content with electricity, running water and a home studio.

“My next record I’m going to make at home and kind of go nuts with the layers, like hundreds of layers, just because I like the sonic width I can get,” he says. “You’re following every idea without limitation.”

ON THE BILL: Thom LaFond with Fruta Brutal. 8 p.m. Friday, March 8. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $18

Above: Boulder singer-songwriter Thom LaFond performs with Fruta Brutal on March 8 at the Velvet Elk Lounge. Courtesy: Thom LaFond. Inset: Thom LaFond’s Lawless, the follow-up to last year’s debut The Moon Leans In, blasts listeners into a new orbit with a heavy sci-fi love story. Courtesy: PS Audio

SNAKES IN A PLAY

Horror-comedy world premiere slithers on stage at Theater Company of Lafayette

BY TONI TRESCA

Imagine wading through the murky waters of the Everglades, only to realize there’s more beneath the surface than meets the eye. Those South Florida swamps set the stage for SNAKE!, a horror-comedy play entwining the fates of wannabe filmmakers and colossal constrictors.

The Theater Company of Lafayette’s latest production is the world premiere of the new work by Paul Wells, who hopes it will slither its way into audiences’ hearts with a mix of satire, scares and a surprising dose of environmental commentary.

“My plays tend to be a combination of very light-hearted comical pop culture-inspired stuff with an underlying message going on, and this is no exception,” Wells says. “On the surface, it is a lighthearted parody that has a lot of fun with the whole giant python thing, but underneath it is a more serious message about invasive species.”

SNAKE! follows a ragtag group of documentarians who find themselves in a serpentine nightmare deep in the Everglades. Their unexpected savior? A reclusive hermit who has an uncanny rapport with the area’s giant Burmese pythons. As the crew tries to survive, they stumble upon revelations about themselves and the invasive species threatening their every move.

COCAINE BEAR MEETS SHARKNADO

Describing the show as a cross between campy cult favorites Cocaine Bear and Sharknado, Wells says inspiration

sprung from real-life headlines about Burmese pythons wreaking havoc in the Everglades.

“I started banging out the play once these stories started becoming constant clickbait,” he says.

“For a while, every week, there were dozens and dozens of python stories, and after I started writing the play, the TV show called Python Hunters came out.”

The 2010 reality series served as research for the play and demonstrated that Wells was onto something. His personal experiences living with snakes in his youth add a layer of authenticity and respect for these mis-

understood creatures to the narrative. “My roommates when I was much younger had large collections of snakes,” he recalls. “I lived with seven or eight different snakes at one point. You learn to respect them. They don’t freak me out. Poisonous snakes freak me out for all the appropriate reasons, but constrictors are phenomenal creatures. They will not attack unless you provoke them or they’re really hungry. That being said, the 14- to 21-foot-long pythons aren’t the ones you keep in an aquarium in your bedroom — that’s a monster.”

‘WE OWE THEM OUR RESPECT’

Bringing SNAKE! to life was no small feat, especially with the looming challenges of COVID-19.

Two actors got sick, which threw a wrench into rehearsal schedules and forced them to delay opening from a planned

“Making theater right now is still hard,” says Michael Gurshtein, who plays the hermit. “But I’m looking forward to opening soon, and I hope audiences come ready for laughter and jump scares.”

And for squeamish theatergoers concerned about close encounters with the reptilian titans, the creative team suggests sitting on the far left side of the stage when you enter, where there is less direct “snake action.”

“One of the things I appreciate about Paul’s play is that in horror, things are often scarier when you don’t see them and they’re just suggested,” says artistic director, board member and the play’s stage manager, Madge Montgomery. “We’re making a lot of suggestions that the snake is closing in on the audience and the crew in different ways with sound, lighting and other practical effects.”

Skin-crawling aside, when the curtain closes on SNAKE! at Theater Company of Lafayette, Wells hopes audiences will reflect on humanity’s role in the natural world.

“Even those of us who are sympathetic to climate change tend to talk about it in terms of how it affects humans,” Wells says. “We owe our fellow creatures on the planet a lot. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and we owe them our respect. They aren’t our property. We only have one planet, and we’re all sharing it.”

ON STAGE: SNAKE!

March 1-10, Theater Company of Lafayette, 300 E. Simpson Road, Lafayette. $25 | Opening night: Pay what you want

SNAKE! offers a mix of satire, scares and a surprising dose of environmental commentary. Courtesy: Theater Company of Lafayette

What’s in Boulder’s headphones?

BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

Sound hounds, rejoice! We’re back with your monthly roundup of the bestselling new releases at Paradise Found Records and Music (1646 Pearl St.) Below you’ll find the definitive ranking of Boulder’s top five albums in February, based on sales data from the city’s last store dedicated exclusively to the sale of new and used vinyl.

1. IDLES Tangk

2. MGMT Loss of Life

3. GRACIE ABRAMS & AARON DESSNER

The Good Riddance Acoustic Shows

4. BRITTANY HOWARD What Now

5. PHISH Round Room (reissue)

The seventh studio album from California goth-rock queen Chelsea Wolfe is the genre-busting songwriter’s most ambitious offering to date. Alongside producer Dave Sitek of millennial art-rockers TV on the Radio, Wolfe’s beautiful and bruising new LP, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, marries flavors of industrial electronics and trip-hop with the melodrama turned up to 11. Don’t miss our interview with the artist in the March 21 issue of Boulder Weekly, ahead of her upcoming gig at the Gothic Theater in Englewood.

FOUND SOUNDS: FEBRUARY 2024 STAFF PICK

— Jezy J. Gray, arts and culture editor

For the complete Top 10, visit bit.ly/FoundSoundsFeb

SPICE WORLD

‘Dune: Part II’ is a Shakespearean spectacle

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

You know he’s the one because he’s a movie star with piercing eyes, floppy hair, goth vulnerability and untapped strength all in one. He’s Prince Hal making good. His name is Paul Atreides. It’s the name his parents gave him, but not the one he’ll be remembered by.

Names are important in Dune, be they taken, given or blasphemed. Paul takes the name Muad’Dib on the sands of Arrakis, also known as the planet Dune, where the melange, or “spice,” is harvested for the rest of the galaxy. Who controls the spice controls the power. That’s why Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), are on Arrakis: The house Atreides was responsible for overseeing spice production until the Emperor (Christopher Walken) eradicated the Atreides — save for Paul and Jessica — and installed the House of Harkonnen, led by the grotesque oil-loving Baron (Stellan Skarsgård), in their stead.

That’s about all the backstory you get for Dune: Part II. Director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel hits the sand running with no catch-up or flashbacks. Not that you really need any: Dune traffics in so many archetypes and story conventions that it connects far-reaching dots through familiarity alone. Paul’s conversion to Muad’Dib on the sands of Arrakis cer-

tainly rhymes with Saul’s conversion to Paul on the road to Damascus. But when Dune’s Paul enters the Fremen’s sacred temple and announces, “I am the way!” he becomes more messiah than apostle. Though, considering his royal heritage and encounters outside the palace walls, maybe a parallel to Prince Gautama Buddha is more apt.

All of this is part and parcel of the hero’s journey or monomyth — an ancient story that has been replayed and revised countless times. Some of the most successful storytellers in the history of civilization have either cribbed from it or borrowed it in totality. Shakespeare knew his way around the monomyth, so it shouldn’t be surprising when Paul turns the corner from messiah-in-training to warrior king and Villeneuve’s movie enters full-blown Henry V territory.

Familiar? You bet. Exciting?

Absolutely. Dune is huge. The whole movie thrums with bombastic images and sound. Hans Zimmer’s score rattles your seat — unless you see it in 4DX, and then the seat will rattle itself — and Villeneuve and cinematographer Greig Fraser craft a canvas so vast it engulfs you.

ON SCREEN: Dune: Part II opens in wide release on March 1.

Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part II Courtesy: Warner Bros.

29

OSCAR SHORTS: ANIMATION

1

PAINT PARTY

6-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway. $15

Join Dr. Reiland Rabaka, founder of CU’s Center for African and African American Studies, for a “Listen Back” discussion illuminating one of 25 oral histories conducted by the NAACP Boulder County and featured in the Museum of Boulder’s Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History exhibition.

TRASH THE RUNWAY: RECYCLED COUTURE

7 p.m. Macky Auditorium, Thursday, Feb. 29, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. $25

Back for its 14th year, Trash the Runway is the culmination of months of work and preparation by the best of Boulder County’s rising young couturiers. Twenty-nine designers from area middle and high schools will showcase clothing made entirely of trash and recycled materials.

Thursday, Feb. 29 through Sunday, March 3. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $12

For the 19th year in a row, the Dairy is ensuring you don’t overlook the Short Films category before the Academy Awards on March 10. Don’t miss the animation showcase at the Dairy, along with more screenings at CU’s International Film Series and the Sie Film Center in Denver.

1

BIFF OPENING NIGHT PARTY

5-7 p.m. Friday, March 1, Longmont Museum, 400 Quail Road. Free with ticket purchase

It’s the Boulder International Film Festival’s 20th anniversary, and you can kick the week off right with a cinematic celebration at the Longmont Museum. The Museum will offer free hors d’oeuvres, drinks and live music with the purchase of tickets to the Friday night shorts screening.

6-8:30 p.m. Friday, March 1, Rayback Collective, 2775 Valmont Road, Boulder. $52

Denver artist Love CharlieJo Paints guides you through the creation of a wooden door hanger perfect for springtime during this step-by-step painting class. Admission will get you everything you’ll need to create, including a complimentary drink.

2

MAD LIBRARIANS

1-2 p.m. Saturday, March 2, Boulder Public Library - Canyon Gallery Theater, 1001 Arapahoe Ave. Free

Grab the kiddos and head to Boulder Public Library’s Canyon Theater for an improv comedy series that will have the whole family in stitches. The Mad LIBrarians will perform made-up books based on audience suggestions at this monthly event presented by Boulder Ensemble Theater Company.

2 TEDXCU: RENAISSANCE

3-6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 2, Macky Auditorium, 1595 Pleasant St., Boulder. $25

Rebirth is the theme at this year’s independently organized TEDx event, featuring a collection of speakers and performers who will explore ideas of intellectual curiosity and creative exploration.

3

FIRE & ICE: A ROOFTOP MUSIC FESTIVAL

2-7 p.m. Sunday, March 3, Corrida, 1023 Walnut St., Boulder. $125

Corrida Boulder’s Winter Rooftop Party features live music from performers Eric “Benny” Bloom of Lettuce, Dominic Lalli from Big Gigantic, Borahm Lee from Pretty Lights and an all-you-can eat menu with a selection of included drinks against the backdrop of the Flatirons.

2- 3

DINNER OPERA: PUCCINI’S SUOR ANGELICA

Sat., March 2-Sun., March 3. Longmont Dickens Opera House, 300 Main St. $25-$35

This weekend’s featured opera at the Dickens is Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica, the one-act story of a young, lonely Italian nun who receives heartbreaking news from her aunt. Tickets start at $25 but can be paired with a $40 two-course dinner to be enjoyed during the show.

2- 3 LONGMONT SURVIVAL AND PREPPER SHOW

Sat., March 2-Sun., March 3. Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont. Free

According to a Talker survey, one-third of Americans believe that they would be the sole survivor of an apocalypse. At Longmont’s Survival and Prepper expo, you can increase your odds — or just enjoy some people-watching — with products and presentations from leaders in survival preparedness and off-grid living.

EVENTS

6 PATH OF LOVE: A PILGRIMAGE TO THE HEART OF RUMI

6:45 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $18

Making its world premiere at eTown, this documentary follows Duke University professor Omid Safi on a journey through the mosques and holy sites of Turkey, ruminating on ancient ideas of love, nature and spirituality.

7 FRONT RANGE VEGETABLE GARDENING 101

6-8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, Hawthorn Farm, 1630 Hawthorn Ave., Boulder. $45

Boulder’s high altitude and dry, dynamic climate prove to be a unique challenge every year. This introductory class, hosted by Growing Gardens’ Tim Villard, is a great place to start for understanding soil and how to keep, plant and transport healthy seeds in Colorado’s volatile springtime.

A&C EVENTS ON VIEW ON STAGE

Directed by Steve Wilson, with choreography by Shawna Hallinan and music direction by Richard Shore, the ongoing production of Crazy for You at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Johnstown is set to the timeless music of George and Ira Gershwin, featuring classics like “Embraceable You” and “I Got Rhythm.” Scan the QR code for a Boulder Weekly feature on the show. See listing for details

SWEENEY TODD. March 1-10, The Arts HUB, 420 Courtney Way, Lafayette. $18-$28

SNAKE! March 1-10, Theater Company of Lafayette, 300 E. Simpson Road, Lafayette. $25 STORY ON P. 24

RUBICON Through March 17, Kilstrom Theatre, 1350 Curtis St., Denver. $40-$80

CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES. Through March 24, Jesters Dinner Theater, 224 Main St., Longmont. $27-$50

THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE

Through March 24, Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora. $34

CRAZY FOR YOU. Through April 7, Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown. $45-$83 BW PICK OF THE WEEK

Time is running out to experience Spit and Splinter, the ongoing exhibition of works by Firehouse Art Center artist-in-residence Amy Lummus. Running at the Longmont gallery through March 3, the show features 10 largescale, kinetic sculptures based on women’s stories of trauma. See listing for details.

ROB LANTZ: FOCAL POINT Through March 3, R Gallery + Wine Bar, 2027 Broadway, Boulder. Free

AMY LUMMUS: SPIT AND SPLINTER

Through March 3, 667 4th Ave., Longmont. Free BW PICK OF THE WEEK

NATASHA MISTRY: SUPER-CONSCIOUS

Through March 10, The New Local Annex, 713 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

PERFORMING SELF. Through April 28, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 1750 13th St. $2

WE CU: A VISUAL CELEBRATION OF BLACK WOMANHOOD, PRESENCE, AND CONNECTEDNESS Through July 13, CU Art Museum, 1085 18th St., Boulder. Free

THE SKELETAL WORLD OF JOSÉ

GUADALUPE POSADA. Through May 12, Denver Art Museum, 100 W 14th Ave. $18

EVENTS LIVE MUSIC

ON THE PAGE

Join Front Range authors

Steven Dunn and Katie Jean Shinkle for a reading and signing event surrounding their new novel, Tannery Bay. Telling the story of a community trapped in a time loop, the book explores Black and queer joy, family and the power of art. Don’t miss a Boulder Weekly interview with the authors next week. See listing for details

OUT AT THE PLATE: THE DOT WILKINSON STORY

BY LYNN AMES. 6 p.m.

Friday, March 1, Tattered Cover, 2526 E Colfax Ave., Denver. Free

AMULET: WAVERIDER

BY KAZU KIBUISHI 5:30

p.m. Tuesday, March 5, Boulder Public LibraryCanyon Theater, 1001 Arapahoe Ave. Free

KILT TRIP BY ALEXANDRA

KILEY 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. $5

TANNERY BAY BY STEVEN DUNN AND KATIE JEAN SHINKLE.

4 p.m. Saturday, March

9, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. $5

BW PICK OF THE WEEK

THURSDAY, FEB. 29

ELECTRIC AVENUE: THE ’80S MTV EXPERIENCE 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $28

VIV & RILEY WITH DEREK DAMES

OHL. 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Community House, 301 Morning Glory Drive, Boulder. $20

NEW FAMILY DOG WITH CC RYDER AND DIRTY BEETS 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $12

HASH CABBAGE. 7:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. Free

HUNTER STONE & FRIENDS 9:30 p.m. License No. 1, 2115 13th St., Boulder. Free

DANIEL ALLAN WITH FI SULLIVAN. 7 p.m. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $20

SAM GRISMAN PROJECT 7 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Ave., Denver. $25

FRIDAY, MARCH 1

LE YOUTH WITH SPIRIT MOTEL. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $25

STARBURN: ’60S AND ’70S ROCK

HITS 6:30 p.m. Nissi’s, 1455 Coal Creek Drive, Unit T, Lafayette. $20

VON DISCO. 9:30 p.m. License No. 1, 2115 13th St., Boulder. Free

RABBLEFISH 6:30 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

AC SLATER WITH CHRIS LORENZO, TAIKI NULIGHT AND OOTORO. 9 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $35

MOTIFV WITH MOSSY PROJECTS AND BROTHA NATURE 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Ave., Denver. $25

SATURDAY, MARCH 2

THE POLISH AMBASSADOR WITH MORILLO AND GRANDFATHER GOLD 7 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $30

GOOD MUSIC MEDICINE WITH RILEY J BAND. 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $12

VOODOO LILY 9:30 p.m. License No. 1, 2115 13th St., Boulder. Free

KAPEI 7 p.m. The Rayback Collective, 2775 Valmont Road, Boulder. Free

CHIARALUCE-OLSTAD QUINTET. 6:30 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

WATERPARKS WITH LOVELESS AND POPTROPICASLUTZ! 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $40

CAMELPHAT 8 p.m. Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 N. Clarkson St., Denver. $50 resale

KELSY KARTER & THE HEROINES WITH ALEXA VILLA AND EMI JEEN. 5 p.m. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $18

SAM BURCHFIELD & THE SCOUNDRELS WITH RACHEL BAIMAN 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Ave., Denver. $20

SUNDAY, MARCH 3

MANY MOUNTAINS. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

BRAXTON KAHN/NATE MILLER DUO 6:30 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

SPEARFISH JUNCTION. 4 p.m.

BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit #14, Boulder. Free

facebook.com/boulderweeklymedia twitter.com/boulderweekly

workday, Inc. is accepting resumes for the following positions at various levels in

Boulder, CO:

Software Engineer/Software Development Engineer (P3) (20637.2746): analyzes, designs, programs, debugs, and modifies software enhancements and/or new products used in local, networked, or Internetrelated computer programs. Salary: $131,997 - $185,000 per year, 40 hours per week. workday pay ranges vary based on work location and recruiters can share more during the hiring process. as a part of the total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the workday Bonus plan or a role-specific commission/bonus, as well as annual refresh stock grants. each candidate’s compensation offer will be based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, geography, experience, skills, future potential and internal pay parity. For more information regarding workday’s comprehensive benefits, please go to workday.com/en-us/company/ careers/life-at-workday.html

Interested applicants submit resumes by mail to: J. thurston at workday, Inc., 6110 Stoneridge Mall Road, pleasanton, Ca 94588. Must reference job title and job code.

LIVE MUSIC

Los Angeles singer-songwriter Clementine Creevy brings her grungetinged Cherry Glazerr project to the Front Range for a March 6 gig at Bluebird Theater with Kentucky sophisti-pop trio Wombo. The artist will be supporting her first record in four years, I Don’t Want You Anymore, out now via Secretly Canadian See listing for details

3OH!3 & MATT AND KIM WITH LOVELYTHEBAND, N3PTUNE AND RSTY 6:30 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $43

BLUE RIBBON BAND WITH TILL THE MOON AND JOE AGGER. 4 p.m. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $13

TUESDAY, MARCH 5

SONGWRITER SHOWCASE WITH JOHN BREWSTER, ANDREW STURTZ, ALYSIA KRAFT AND IAN STEELE. 6 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6

MIHALI (OF TWIDDLE) WITH GUBB, ADRIAN AND SCOTT & THE HORNS. 7 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $28

CHRIS KOZA. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

GEORGE NELSON BAND 8 p.m. License No. 1, 2115 13th St., Boulder. Free

OH SNAP. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $10

CHERRY GLAZERR WITH WOMBO 8 p.m. Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Ave., Denver. $79

BW PICK OF THE WEEK

THURSDAY, MARCH 7

CHUCK SITERO AND DYLAN KOBER 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

JOSLYN AND THE SWEET COMPRESSION. 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Boulder. $15

AARON FELDMAN TRIO 7 p.m. The Rayback Collective, 2775 Valmont Road, Boulder. Free

Want more Boulder County events? Check out the complete listings online by scanning this QR code.

Credit: Maddy Rotman

FOUR TRAILS

NOTHING’S FOR FREE: HISTORY OF FREERIDE MOUNTAIN BIKING

NO LEGS. ALL HEART.

WADE IN THE WATER: A JOURNEY INTO BLACK SURFING AND AQUATIC CULTURE

KEEPERS OF THE LAND

COPA 71

ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): In my astrological estimation, the coming weeks will be an ideal time for you to declare amnesty, negotiate truces and shed long-simmering resentments. Other recommended activities: Find ways to joke about embarrassing memories, break a bad habit just because it’s fun to do so and throw away outdated stuff you no longer need. Just do the best you can as you carry out these challenging assignments; you don’t have to be perfect. For inspiration, read these wise words from poet David Whyte: “When you forgive others, they may not notice, but you will heal. Forgiveness is not something we do for others; it is a gift to ourselves.”

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): Many of you Tauruses have a robust capacity for doing diligent, effective work. Many of you also have a robust capacity for pursuing sensual delights and cultivating healing beauty. When your mental health is functioning at peak levels, these two drives to enjoy life are complementary; they don’t get in each other’s way. If you ever fall out of your healthy rhythm, these two drives may conflict. My wish for you in the coming months is that they will be in synergistic harmony, humming along with grace. That’s also my prediction: I foresee you will do just that.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Many people choose wealthy entertainers and celebrity athletes for their heroes. It doesn’t bother me if they do. Why should it? But the superstars who provoke my adoration are more likely to be artists and activists. Author Rebecca Solnit is one. Potawatomi biologist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer. The four musicians in the Ukrainian band DahkaBrakha. Poet Rita Dove and novelist Haruki Murakami. My capacity to be inspired by these maestros seems inexhaustible. What about you, Gemini? Who are the heroes who move you and shake you in all the best ways? Now is a time to be extra proactive in learning from your heroes and round up new heroes to be influenced by.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Your homework assignment is to work on coordinating two issues that are key to your life’s purpose. The first of these issues is your fervent longing to make your distinctive mark on this crazy, chaotic world. The second issue is your need to cultivate sweet privacy and protective self-care. These themes may sometimes seem to be opposed. But with even just a little ingenious effort, you can get them to weave together beautifully. Now is a good time to cultivate this healing magic.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): If you don’t recognize the face in the mirror right now, that’s a good thing. If you feel unfamiliar feelings rising up in you or find yourself entertaining unusual longings, those are also good things. The voice of reason may say you should be worried about such phenomena. But as the voice of mischievous sagacity, I urge you to be curious and receptive. You are being invited to explore fertile possibilities that have previously been unavailable or off-limits. Fate is offering you the chance to discover more about your future potential. At least for now, power can come from being unpredictable and investigating taboos.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): I invite you to study the fine art of sacred intimacy in the coming weeks. Life’s rhythms will redound in your favor as you enjoy playing tenderly and freely with the special people you care for. To aid you in your efforts, here are three questions to ponder. 1. What aspects of togetherness might flourish if you approach them with less solemnity and more fun? 2. Could you give more of yourself to your relationships in ways that are purely enjoyable, not done mostly out of duty? 3. Would you be willing to explore the possibility that the two of you could educate and ripen each other’s dark sides?

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): Creativity teacher Roger von Oech tells how bandleader Count Basie asked a club owner to fix his piano. It was always out of tune. A few weeks later, the owner called Basie to say everything was good. But when Basie arrived to play, the piano still had sour notes. “I thought you said you fixed it!” Basie complained. The owner said, “I did. I painted it.” The moral of the story for the rest of us, concludes von Oech, is that we’ve got to solve the right problems. I want you Libras to do that in the coming weeks. Make sure you identify what really needs changing, not some distracting minor glitch.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): Most of us have received an inadequate or downright poor education about love and intimate togetherness. Given how much misinformation and trivializing propaganda we have absorbed, it’s amazing any of us have figured out how to create healthy, vigorous relationships. That’s the bad news, Scorpio. The good news is that you are cruising through a sustained phase of your astrological cycle when you’re far more likely than usual to acquire vibrant teachings about this essential part of your life. I urge you to draw up a plan for how to take maximum advantage of the cosmic opportunity. For inspiration, here’s poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation.” (Translation by Stephen Mitchell.)

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): The myths and legends of many cultures postulate the existence of spirits who are mischievous but not malevolent. They play harmless pranks. Their main purpose may be to remind us that another world, a less material realm, overlaps with ours. And sometimes, the intention of these ethereal tricksters seems to be downright benevolent. They nudge us out of our staid rhythms, mystifying us with freaky phenomena that suggest reality is not as solid and predictable as we might imagine. I suspect you may soon have encounters with some of these characters: friendly poltergeists, fairies, ghosts, sprites or elves. My sense is that they will bring you odd but genuine blessings.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Some studies suggest that less than half of us have best friends. Men are even less likely to have beloved buddies than the other genders do. If you are one of these people, the coming weeks and months will be an excellent time to remedy the deficiency. Your ability to attract and bond with interesting allies will be higher than usual. If you do have best friends, I suggest you intensify your appreciation for and devotion to them. You need and deserve companions who respect you deeply, know you intimately, and listen well. But you’ve got to remember that relationships like these require deep thought, hard work and honest expressions of feelings!

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): Among all the zodiac signs, you Aquarians are among the best at enjoying a bird’s-eye perspective on the world. Soaring high above the mad chatter and clatter is your birthright and specialty. I love that about you, which is why I hardly ever shout up in your direction, “Get your ass back down to earth!” However, I now suspect you are overdue to spend some quality time here on the ground level. At least temporarily, I advise you to trade the bird’s-eye view for a worm’s-eye view. Don’t fret. It’s only for a short time. You’ll be aloft again soon.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): In old Hawaii, the people loved their deities but also demanded productive results. If a god stopped providing worshipers with what they wanted, they might dismiss him and adopt a replacement. I love that! And I invite you to experiment with a similar approach in the coming weeks. Are your divine helpers doing a good job? Are they supplying you with steady streams of inspiration, love and fulfillment? If not, fire them and scout around for substitutes. If they are performing well, pour out your soul in gratitude.

Best advice on dating without resorting to apps?

Go places, do shit, meet people, fuck ’em.

I’m about to visit a gay nudist resort for the first time, although I’ve been to heterosexual nudist resorts in the past. I’ve been bi all my life and am now in my 70s. What should I expect?

Dick if you’re lucky. Crabs if you’re not.

I’m a heterosexual woman, and I don’t like to kiss a guy after he’s gone down on me. Is there something wrong with me? Do most women not mind?

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE

There are places on our own bodies we can’t reach with our tongues. For some of us, making out with someone who just went down on us — someone who just ate our pussy or our ass or sucked our dick — presents us with an opportunity to taste those parts of bodies we would never get to taste otherwise. But opportunity ≠ obligation.

If you don’t want to taste your own pussy or your own ass or your own cock, you don’t have to. Sending someone off to wash their face in the middle of sex would indeed be weird, but wiping someone’s face with the t-shirt you were wearing before you started fucking around can be kinda hot.

Would you please craft a single gender-neutral word that could replace “sir” and “ma’am”? I’m nonbinary, and every customer service interaction makes me bristle because the employee — who is just being polite — always misgenders me. Can we have one word for all people instead of trying to discern gender in every interaction? My commie friends think comrade would work: “Your call is very impor-

Send

tant to us, comrade! Please remain on the line, comrade! Someone will be with you shortly, comrade!” But I think “homo” is a stronger choice. Not “homo” short for homosexual, but “homo” short for homo sapiens: “Welcome to Chili’s, homo. I’ll be your server, homo. What would you like, homo?”

I just came out as gay. I’ve always wanted an exclusive relationship, but I don’t think most gay guys are into that. I have accepted that pretty much any future boyfriend will either cheat on me or I will have to agree to an open relationship at some point because that’s what all gay couples do. I’m just looking for advice.

There are gay men out there who want exclusive relationships, and you should seek those men out. But in my experience — ahem — it’s almost always the person who insists on monogamy who cheats first. Not always, but almost always. So, in addition to wondering how you’ll react if and/or when your future boyfriend cheats or wants to open the relationship, spend some time thinking through how you’ll handle things if and/or when you wanna open the relationship.

GROWING HOTTIES

A little planning and seeding will gift you fresh chiles for summer roasting and rellenos

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

Yes, I know it is only February. Our snowiest month is still ahead.

Veteran gardeners know that Colorado’s sunny spring weather is designed to break their hearts and crush their verdant dreams of tomatoes and flowers. The specter of freeze, hail, wind and drought always looms.

While it will be months before it is safe to put plants out in the garden, you need to pop some seeds in soil this week. The reward is a bumper crop of chiles this summer and beyond.

To help Boulder County gardeners — experts and novices alike — we consulted with the experts at Growing Gardens, a Boulder nonprofit focused on regenerative urban agriculture and education with classes, camps, a farm stand and food share program. We focused on growing chiles, a tasty crop ideally suited to this climate.

STARTING CHILE SEEDS AT HOME

At Growing Gardens, pepper seedlings are started in late February, says Lauren Kelso, the site director for Growing Gardens who oversees the greenhouse and farm operations. There are vital steps to get those seeds to maturity.

First, find quality seeds.

“Always start the seeds in small germination trays,” Kelso says. “They hold a small amount of soil. You want to plant a tiny seed into a relatively small pot.”

If you start tiny pepper seeds in a big pot, the soil can get too soggy or too dry, Kelso explains.

“For the home gardener, any fine potting soil mix will do,” she says. “Don’t use compost or garden soil.”

KEEP IT BRIGHT AND WARM

Next, you must create a nurturing environment.

“A lot of seedlings, like peppers,

need warm temperatures and quite a bit of sunlight to grow healthy and happy,” Kelso says. “Unless you have a really great southern- or western-facing window, you will need artificial growing lights.”

In order to maintain the right temperature, a special heating pad can be placed underneath the germination trays.

LET’S TALK WATERING

For starting the seeds, the goal is Goldilocks watering — just enough but not too much. Many gardeners use a spray bottle to keep the soil damp.

“I usually tell people you want it damp but not soggy,” she says. “If you were to squeeze that soil, the water wouldn’t gush out. That’s kind of a good indicator until those seeds germinate.”

AFTER THE BIRTH

There is that expectant time, waiting for the seeds to germinate and break the surface of the soil. “Once the seeds are up, they grow relatively fast,” Kelso says. Resist the urge to transfer that little plant to a bigger pot.

“You want to let it grow [for] a couple of weeks at least,” she says. “You really want the roots to fill out the soil you’ve already given it before you pop it into something larger.”

FORGET THE FERTILIZER

If you use a good quality potting mix, don’t fertilize young plants.

“You can do some damage by trying to fertilize seedlings when they’re that young,” Kelso says. “The seed itself holds nutrition for that plant — that’s kind of the magic of seeds.”

WAIT TO MOVE OUTSIDE

There is an old and mostly false rule in Colorado gardening: Don’t put plants outside until after Mother’s Day. There’s

only one problem, according to Kelso: “If you have an uncovered garden, you need to look at the 10-day forecast for bad weather. More importantly for heatloving crops like chiles is waiting until nighttime temperatures are consistently around 50 degrees.”

Otherwise, plants may get stunted by the cold. Kelso does recommend bringing plants outside to “harden off.”

“You ease them into all that mother nature has to offer,” she says. “You’re getting new plants not just used to colder temperatures, but wind and hot temperatures, too.”

ALWAYS USE PROTECTION

Hail and wind are facts of life for local gardeners. “Gardeners should consider using a protective spun polyester covering over the garden,” Kelso says. “It saves heartbreak after all that love and energy you put into the plants.”

THERE ARE ALWAYS STARTER PLANTS

“If you start seeds, and then something goes really wrong or you go out of town for a couple days and all is lost, there are great nurseries in the area where you can get plants already started,” she says.

UPGRADE YOUR HAPPINESS

There’s one more great reason to plant peppers (or anything else) this year. CU Boulder professor Jill Litt studied novice gardeners in Denver. Litt’s research found that the new gardeners ate more fiber, were more active and experienced a greater decline in perceived stress and anxiety.

I can vouch for that feeling. My sunny home window in Louisville now sports a pair of shishito chile plants that make me happy. After a summer on the patio, the pepper plants are still cranking out big green and red peppers that aren’t too spicy. They will go back outside to my patio garden in the spring.

TAKE GARDENING CLASSES

Get hands-on advice from experienced local gardeners. Growing Gardens offers a Front Range Gardening 101 class that covers the essentials. growinggardens.org/classes

Harlequin Gardens offers a large number of sustainable gardening classes this spring and summer: harlequinsgardens. com/what-we-offer/classes

WHERE TO FIND SEEDS

Growing Gardens (1630 Hawthorn Ave., Boulder), Harlequin Gardens (4795 26th St., Boulder) and other local farms offer their own local seeds. The Seed House at Boulder’s Masa Seed Foundation Farm offers a selection of hundreds of varieties of seeds for vegetables, berries, grains, herbs and flowers. Visit the Seed House (1367 N. 75th St., Boulder) or order online: masaseedfoundation.org.

Public libraries in Boulder, Louisville, Broomfield and other towns also maintain seed libraries where the public can check out seeds to plant.

Colorado’s Pueblo Farm & Seed offers an amazing variety of seeds for chiles and locally adapted vegetables. farmdirect seed.com

Shishito chiles growing in the window at John Lehndorff’s Louisville home. Credit: John Lehndorff

LOCAL FOOD NEWS: WELCOME BURRITO SEASON

We all know about Taco Tuesday. Who knew there was a Burrito Season? Denver-born Chipotle Mexican Grill is trying to hire 19,000 employees nationally this spring in preparation for “burrito season,” March through May, Chipotle’s busiest time of the year.

Brush Hollow Winery of Penrose has introduced a wine designed to pair with Taco Tuesday or Burrito Season. Brush Hollow Pueblo Chile Wine is a blend of Palisade Riesling grapes and roasted Pueblo chiles.

The Boulder County Farmers Markets have produced a useful new guide to local CSAs featuring 25 farms offering produce and food shares this summer. Many CSAs sell out months before the season starts. To avoid tomato disappointment, visit bcfm.org/csa-guide

Plan ahead: The Boulder Farmers Market and Longmont Farmers Market open for the season on April 6.

Brush Hollow Pueblo Chile Wine.

Credit: Brush Hollow Winery, Penrose

WEED BETWEEN THE LINES

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK SYSTEM

Study: Patients with binge eating disorder should be wary of using cannabis

BY WILL BRENDZA

In the U.S., 28 million people will suffer from an eating disorder in their lifetime, according to a Harvard study from 2020. Anorexia and bulimia nervosa disorders are the most commonly acknowledged. But many Americans are also affected by lesserknown disorders like pica (compulsively eating non-food items), rumination disorder (eating previously regurgitated food) and night eating syndrome.

The most common eating disorder by far is binge eating disorder (BED).

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), BED affects 1.25% of adult women (4.15 million) and 0.42% (1.5 million) of adult men in the U.S., accounting for 20% of national eating disorder cases.

For those men and women, cannabis use can be risky, a new study from Drexel University suggests. In examining the relationship between cannabis use and BED symptoms, alcohol consumption and depression, researchers found evidence indicating that BED patients who use cannabis tend to experience more severe eating disorder symptoms.

Megan Wilkinson, lead author and doctoral student in Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences started pursuing this line of research after realizing that lots of

research exists on the relationship between cannabis use and eating disorders, but very little that looked specifically at BED.

Wilkinson and a team of researchers at the university’s Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center) got to work.

“Distinguishing the relationship between cannabis use, eating disorder severity and other psychiatric symptoms in binge eating patients is necessary for informing screening and clinical recommendations,” Wilkinson said in a press release.

When someone is affected by BED, they experience out-of-control eating and are often unable to stop until they are uncomfortably full or even sick. It most often affects women in early adulthood and middle-aged men, and commonly results in obesity.

riously makes users compulsively eat whether they’re hungry or not.

Thanks to research done on worms (Weed Between The Lines, “Breaking down ‘The Munchies,’” Nov. 20, 2023), we know that this results from cannabis enhancing one’s sensations of taste and smell.

To find out what happens to people with BED who use cannabis, Wilkinson and her team surveyed 165 individuals who experienced BED events at least once a week and were actively seeking

monthly. Most of the patients who reported cannabis use also reported BED symptoms in association with it.

Notably, the research also found that those patients who used cannabis also reported significantly higher alcohol consumption. And BED patients who consumed both alcohol and cannabis were more likely to report alcohol-related BED symptoms compared to those who used alcohol alone.

“Both alcohol and cannabis can impact an individual’s appetite and mood,” Wilkinson said in the release. “Our finding that patients with binge eating who use cannabis also drink more alcohol may suggest that these individuals are at a higher risk for binge eating, given the compounded effects on appetite and mood from these substances.” She recommended that any treatments for BED should examine the relationship between substance use, hunger, mood and eating.

treatment. Respondents reported both their cannabis and alcohol use throughout the study.

Many people who use cannabis can relate to feeling out of control while eating. Cannabis use has a common side effect known as “the munchies” that noto-

The researchers found that 23% (38 participants) reported cannabis use at least once within the past three months, with most reporting use once or twice, or

When BED patients were asked how cannabis use affected their symptoms, they reported that their condition made the urge to use cannabis particularly strong — which often triggered a person’s BED, resulting in a feedback system.

In the paper, published in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, researchers conclude that “results from the present study support screening for cannabis and alcohol use patterns in patients with BED.”