Boulder Weekly 03.28.2024

cory’s illustrious brewing career started in Boulder way back in 1992 as a homebrewing college student. As an active member of the home brew club Hop Barley and the Alers, he learned from more seasoned brewers to appreciate a wide variety of beers, but especially lagers.

He spent so much time at What’s Brewin’ home brew shop they had no choice but to eventually give him

Since opening in 2003, Four Paws & Co. has specialized in premium natural foods and treats, including frozen diets and raw bones. Along with the excellent choices in food for cats and dogs, we carry supplements, grooming supplies, leashes & collars, toys, beds, and cat condos. It’s safe to say there is something for every pet in the store. There is also the Friends of Four Paws Frequent Buyer Program. You receive a punch card and once that is filled, you will receive a $10 Four Paws gift card. Last, but certainly not

a job. He then spent 2 years brewing at Tommyknocker’s in Idaho Springs, before moving to Jackson, Wyoming to brew at Snake River Brewing.

Cory spent 17 years brewing and honing his craft at Snake River and it is there that he met his amazing wife and business partner Kelly.

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least, Four Paws offers two special services. We can deliver the food you need to your door, and we have a pet sitting service. Stop in soon and see how Four Paws & Co. can help you care for your best friend.

1225 Ken Pratt Blvd. #108 Longmont, CO 303-485-1565

www.fourpawsandco.com

Mountain Fountain Country Store

At The Mountain Fountain, there’s a little something for everyone. Located smack dab in the center of Hygiene, our eclectic market and deli sources meats from local pastures, and homemade gluten-free bread to die for — combine the two, and you’ve got one of Boulder County’s best gluten-free sandwiches. As a matter of fact, everything at our bakery is homemade — and it makes all the difference — resulting in an airy, light bite across all products: banana bread, brownies, pies, country

loafs, and so much more. Our butcher shop is many local’s little secret, but the word is out — you will walk out with the best, locally-sourced meat in the area. Grab a coffee, a sandwich and and a seat at The Mountain Fountain — we’ve got what you need.

11809 N. 75th Street, Longmont, CO 80503

(720) 487-2571

mtnftnmarket@gmail.com

Shop LOCAL Shop LONGMONT

Longmont Bicycle Company

is a local, family owned business selling Longmont’s largest selection of bicycles. Whether a novice or seasoned rider, we’ve got you covered, carrying mountain, road, gravel, touring, hybrid, electric, cruiser

BROWN’S SHOE FIT COMPANY

At Brown’s, we know feet. Our expert staff will measure your feet to ensure a proper, comfortable fit. With a broad range of widths and sizes, we can serve even hard-to-fit customers. We also understand most common foot ailments, such as plantar

and kids’ bikes. We take great pride in our selection and customer service, as well as our service & repair department. A few bike brands we carry in-house and source for customers are Trek, Electra, Surly, All City, & Salsa. Stop in and say hi; we’d love to meet you.

314 Main Street

Longmont 303-834-9994 www.longmontbikes.com

fasciitis, neuropathy, bunions, diabetic feet, over pronation, and just plain tired feet! We’ll help you find the right shoes to make your feet happy.

373 Main Street, Longmont 303-776-2920 www.brownslongmont.com

WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED

Locally woman-owned and operated, Wild Birds Unlimited Specializes in bringing people and nature together through the hobby of backyard bird feeding. We offer a wide variety of nature-related products and expert, local advice. Our store stocks the highest quality items made in the the USA with emphasis on eco-friendly products and recycled plastics. We source our unique gifts from Fair Trade companies and local artisans. We also have gift cards and last-minute gift ideas. Stop in and let us

Dee-O-Gee

Welcome to Dee-O-Gee Longmont, where pets take the spotlight in a haven designed for their happiness. Nestled in Longmont, our store thrives as a vibrant paradise for pet enthusiasts. Committed to enriching pets’ lives, we offer a carefully curated selection of premium products, from wholesome foods to trendy accessories and engaging toys. We also specialize in grooming all breeds and have a DIY for those shy pups.

explain our mission to Save the Songbirds one backyard at a time! Harry the Hedgehog is the newest, most adorable addition to our Seed Character lineup. Made of tightly-packed seeds, fruits and peanuts, Harry is a fun addition to your yard. Like our other seed characters, Harry is designed to fit on any of our seed cylinder feeders. Add Harry the Hedgehog to your backyard and enjoy watching the birds stop by for a bite!

1520 S. Hover Street, Suite D, Longmont, CO 720-680-0551 www.wbu.com/longmont

More than just a store, Dee-O-Gee Longmont fosters a

community of pet lovers. Our knowledgeable team provides personalized guidance, ensuring every pet parent finds the perfect solutions for their furry companions. Through fun events and a warm, welcoming atmosphere, we create connections that extend beyond retail.

At Dee-O-Gee Longmont, our philosophy revolves around pet well-being and joy. We’re dedicated to being a trusted partner in every pet’s journey to a fulfilling life. Join us in celebrating the love and happiness pets bring to our lives and please bring in your pooch!

110 Emery Street, #A, Longmont, CO 970-629-6600 • www.longmont.dee-o-gee.com

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MARCH 28, 2024

Volume 31, Number 32

COVER: Postino WineCafe

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:

Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Dan Savage, Toni Tresca, Rebecca Clarren, Justin Criado, Christopher P. Holstege

SALES AND MARKETING

Austen Lopp

FOUNDER / CEO: Stewart Sallo

As Boulder County’s only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holdsbarred journalism and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county’s most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you’re interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper.

690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO 80305 Phone: 303.494.5511, FAX: 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com

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.

COMMENTARY

WRITERS ON THE RANGE

THE FREE LAND THAT WASN’T

The complicated legacy of Jewish settlement in the West

BY REBECCA CLARREN

There’s a place in South Dakota, about 25 miles north of Wall Drug, that some locals still call “Jew Flats.”

More than 100 years ago, the United States gave my great-great grandparents and their children, cousins and friends, around 30 Jewish families, free land in the West under the Homestead Act.

All of the recently arrived immigrants spoke Yiddish; most escaped Russia with their lives but less so their livelihoods. These federal homesteads of 160-acre parcels were theirs to keep if they could turn wild prairie into farmland.

My family told their children that owning land in South Dakota made them feel like real Americans. Coming from Russia where Jews weren’t allowed to own land, their ranch on Jew Flats allowed my ancestors to shake off their suspect immigrant status.

The land also had serious economic impact. Between 1908 and 1970, when my grandmother and her sisters sold the last chunk of Jew Flats, my ancestors took out $1.1 million in

mortgages, in today’s value, on their free land. With that money, they were able to start other businesses, buy more land and move away.

Yet this land that paved my family’s pathway to the middle class came at great cost to the Lakota.

Throughout the second half of the 19th century, the United States signed treaties with the Lakota Nation reserving tens of thousands of acres in the Dakotas —in perpetuity — for the Lakota Nation.

But when the railroad companies, the largest corporations of their time, wanted to connect a line between California and the East Coast, promises made became promises broken. By 1908, when my ancestors were planting their first crop, Congress had taken or stolen around 98% of the land that an 1851 treaty said would always be for the Lakota.

Holy Week and Easter at St. Aidan’s

The Rev. Mary Kate Rejouis, Rector

March 24, Palm Sunday

10am Palms and Passion Communion

March 25, 26, 27

Monday - Wednesday

12noon Prayers and Communion

March 28, Maundy Thursday

5:30pm Holy Eucharist and Footwashing

March 29, Good Friday

12noon Good Friday Passion Liturgy 5:30pm Holy Week for Kids

March 30, Holy Saturday 7:30pm The Great Vigil of Easter

March 31, Easter Sunday

10am Communion with Choir and Brass

Nursery care (0-5) and egg hunt after church for kids 10 and under

WRITERS ON THE RANGE

To attempt to further eradicate Native American connection to the land, the United States made it illegal for Native Nations like the Lakota to practice their religion, culture and speak their language. Lakota children were taken from their parents, sometimes forcibly or under threat of jailtime, to be educated in boarding schools that would convert them to Christianity. These schools taught an “industrial education” training Native children for a trade that didn’t rely on land.

None other than Adolf Hitler was inspired by this American model of dispossession. When crafting laws to diminish the rights of European Jews, Nazi lawyers studied U.S. laws. Hitler not only admired American reservations, which he equated to cages, but he publicly praised the efficiency of America’s attempts to exterminate its Indigenous populations.

“Your people and our people went through the same thing,” Doug White Bull, a Lakota elder and former teacher told me. “But our people had a holocaust that started 400 years ago.

Americans condemn Hitler, which you should… but at the same time, they should condemn themselves.”

Unlike Germany, which has grappled (albeit imperfectly) with its genocidal past, the United States has made little efforts to reconcile its thefts from Indigenous people. Yet filling this vacuum of federal leadership are efforts at the local level.

Just recently, the Quaker church paid one Alaska Native community $93,000 in reparations, the amount the federal government had paid the church to forcibly assimilate their ancestors. Throughout the country, other churches have returned land to Native Nations. And in some cities, residents pay voluntary land taxes to the Native Nations that originally lived there.

Following the guidance of Lakota elders, my family has started a fund at the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, a Native-led nonprofit that has spent decades helping Native Nations buy and reclaim their traditional lands. I’ve set our fundraising goal at $1.1 million, the amount we received in mortgages on our free land. Anyone can donate, and many people have. Indigenous elders have taught me that our job in life is to be a good ancestor, to act in a way that doesn’t create a mess for our children or grandchildren to clean up. For me, for my family, attempting to acknowledge and own the damage that was done to the Lakota — at great benefit to us — is a small step toward ending this cycle of harm.

Rebecca Clarren is a contributor to Writers on the Range, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West.

Rebecca Clarren’s great-great-uncle Jack, his gun holstered on the outside of his suit jacket, shakes hands with an Indigenous man wearing a war bonnet and holding a beaded bag and pipe.

Courtesy: Rebecca Clarren

GOV’T WATCH

What your local officials are up to

BY KAYLEE HARTER

BOULDER CITY COUNCIL

On April 3 and 4, council will hold its biannual retreat where they will set priorities for the next two years. For 2022-23, those included various housing priorities (zoning, occupancy reform, middle-income housing and updated rules for accessory dwellings) as well as homelessness- and transportation-related priorities.

Housing affordability is expected to be a continued area of focus, says Mayor Pro Tem Nicole Speer, who is on the retreat committee. There will also likely be movement around human services, public transit and climate initiatives, she says.

“I would assume everything that people think is wrong with the city will be discussed,” says councilmember Tara Winer, who is also serving on the retreat committee.

Each council member is submitting a list of 10 priorities this week and will pitch their ideas on the first day of the retreat. Boards and commissions, Community Connectors-in-residence and the Police Oversight Panel were also invited to submit their thoughts ahead of the retreat.

Speer says council will evaluate priorities based on “impact,” which will likely be evaluated differently by each council member, and “how big of a lift” something will be in terms of financial resources, staff time and so on. Council typically selects between eight and 10 priorities total, Speer says.

“Our budget is so tight,” she says. “So anything people are bringing forward, it’s not gonna be able to cost money, or they’re gonna have to make a good case for why it’s worth cutting something else in order to have it.”

Residents can attend virtually: bit. ly/councils_retreat. The retreat takes the place of council’s regular April 4 meeting.

BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

On April 2, commissioners will hold a 9:30 a.m. public hearing and make a decision on whether to give Boulder Country Club in Gunbarrel Use of Community Significance Designation, which would change the club’s zoning to make it easier to do minor renovations.

That would mean the country club would no longer need to go through a full hearing before both the planning commission and the board of county commissioners to make minor changes, such as redoing the pool deck, for example, according to Pete L’Orange, who works in the county’s Community Planning and Permitting office. Those changes would only require staff-level review and approval — a much less cumbersome process. Major modifications would still require a public hearing before the commissioners, but would not have to go through the planning commission.

The country club’s application originally proposed a dome that would have covered several existing tennis and pickleball courts during the winter months, but the club withdrew that request in December 2023. The withdrawal came after community concern over increased traffic and visual impacts that could be caused by a “giant glowing dome,” L’Orange says.

If the change is approved, the club would still need county commissioners’ approval to build the dome, since that would be considered a substantial change, according to L’Orange.

The hearing will be held in a hybrid format, and those who wish to speak virtually or in person can sign up at boco.org/lu-23-0028.

CAMPUS CLIMATE

Students and faculty say CU’s plan to curb emissions is too slow

BY WILL MATUSKA

“As a young person, climate change is one of my most pressing worries about the future,” says Sara Fleming, a graduate student at CU Boulder.

More than two-thirds of adults experience anxiety or worry about climate change like Fleming, according to the American Psychological Association.

To avoid the worst impacts, institutions and governments around the world are charting courses to reduce carbon emissions. After a month of public comment, CU Boulder will publish a new Climate Action Plan (CAP) in April that outlines its own commitments.

The drafted document, first released in February, is a conceptual plan that includes more than 200 pages of dizzying greenhouse gas forecasts, targets and strategies to keep fossil fuels in the ground. It’s guided by two key goals: Cut emissions in half by 2030 and bring them to zero by 2050 without buying renewable energy credits.

While the plan draws on science-based targets, Fleming is part of a group of more than 300 students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members who signed a letter urging the university to take up faster, more aggressive objectives.

“As a leading research university, CU Boulder should be a lot more ambitious, a lot more serious about their climate action plan,” she says. “Because it’s an opportunity to not only affect the campus’s own climate emissions, but to sort of set an example to bring students, faculty and staff together and to give us hope, honestly.”

Chuck Kutscher, who signed the letter, resigned from the plan’s steering committee because he says it isn’t urgent enough and doesn’t keep pace

with other universities in the state and around the country. He says climate change is “far more serious than most people realize.”

“We need to treat it like a crisis and take very, very serious action,” he says. “We’re doing a lot of the right things. We’re just not doing them fast enough.”

Climate commitments are falling off track around the world as the United Nations continues to call for immediate emission cuts. CU missed its 2020 targets, even with pandemic-related shutdowns lowering campus emissions.

millions to upgrade fossil fuel infrastructure at its West District Energy Plant to stay in compliance with state air permit requirements. Plus, two dorms scheduled to be built in the next several years will be heated using natural gas.

Incorporating public feedback is the school’s last step before publishing the plan. Fleming hopes the university walks the walk.

are more efficient, don’t produce emissions and have lower life-cycle costs.

An ongoing study is evaluating how to replace the current heating systems at CU and how much it would cost, but it isn’t done yet. The university also submitted two grant applications to explore geothermal on campus in January. Heating system upgrades are currently estimated to cost between $600 million and $1.2 billion.

A growing number of colleges and universities are combining geothermal systems with heat pumps to power buildings without burning fossil fuels, including at Colorado State University, Colorado Mesa University and Colorado College.

But more than 85% of estimated carbon savings from heating upgrades at CU are planned after 2031, according to the CAP. Kutscher’s critique is simple: Why wait?

Members of the plan’s steering committee say it is ambitious, but rapid implementation faces significant hurdles — like an estimated $1.5 billion price tag.

At the same time, some think the university is going backwards as it spends

“We have a lot of institutional power. We have a lot of resources. We have a lot of expertise that we can draw on,” she says. “If we can’t figure out how to do effective climate action planning, what does that say to our students? If we miss our target again, what does that tell them about their hopes for the future?”

A ROADMAP TO SAVE THE WORLD?

University climate action plans are focused on energy systems, but also consider things like equity, transportation and waste. At CU Boulder, most campus emissions come from burning natural gas to heat buildings.

Upgrading that system is the most expensive, time consuming and contentious strategy in the Climate Action Plan.

The university is planning to transition to a low-temperature hot water system that uses heat pumps powered by electricity. As cheap renewables generate higher proportions of energy on the grid, this electricity will continue to get greener.

Systems that burn natural gas release methane and carbon dioxide and are prone to leaks. Heat pumps

“If eventually you’re going to do it anyway, why not do it now and avoid all those equipment upgrades that they have to make,” he says. “Because to me, you’re essentially throwing good money after bad when you continue to try to upgrade the gas system.”

Before it transitions to clean thermal energy, the university said on its website it first needs to convert 180 campus buildings (many of which are over 50 years old) and complete other projects. Meanwhile, some upgrades to existing equipment are necessary to provide reliable heating and power.

“Do we want to accelerate that if we can find a way? Absolutely,” says Chris Ewing, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability. “That’s my personal goal is how do we come in ahead of 2050.”

University officials say upgrades to the current steam system, such as those at the West District Energy Plant, don’t lengthen the transition timeline to a cleaner energy system but instead help meet immediate needs and provide reserves in the future.

Kent Marsh, director of facilities at Colorado Mesa University, says it’s difficult for universities to quickly switch their energy infrastructure, especially after making investments in current systems.

CU’s West District Energy Plant. Image and graphics courtesy CU Boulder

The CAP splits emissions into three categories: Scope 1 represents fuel combustion on campus. Scope 2 is purchased energy, mostly from Xcel Energy. Scope 3 are sources out of direct university control, like purchasing goods.

“I’ve sunk in all this money into what many would consider to be a very old, archaic technology,” he says. “And because we’ve done that, we gotta keep that thing operating to try to make some of the money back that we spent on putting that system in place.”

New buildings at CU, like the incoming dorms, will be constructed with the ability to go electric, but natural gas will heat most of them until the new system comes online. Ewing says that’s because it’s more efficient to connect buildings to existing infrastructure that can share heat between buildings versus electrifying them independently.

“We could put on all this infrastructure cost, which would not be inexpensive,” he says. “And then be coming through in a number of years and basically abandoning that equipment.”

The heat transition is the most challenging part of the CAP, Chief Sustainability Officer Heidi VanGenderen says.

“We are building the most resilient and least carbon-intensive system that we can,” she says.

The university is still figuring out how it would pay for the costly new system. Ewing says they are actively looking for funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, Colorado Energy Office and different fundraising opportunities.

Even if they had all the money already in the bag, Ewing says the transition wouldn’t be immediate because only so many buildings can be upgraded at one time without disrupting campus activities.

But Kutscher says institutions like CU have a greater responsibility to the wellbeing of its students that constitutes more urgency.

“It’s a challenge for a university that’s been heating its campus a certain way for decades. They’re experienced in doing that; they’re comfortable doing that,” he says. “It’s going to take commitment and money to move forward into the 21st century. I understand why there’s resistance to do that. I’m not trivializing it. I’m just saying I think CU has a responsibility to its students to do the right thing.”

THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE

There isn’t a universal standard between universities on how to use climate goals to lower emissions.

Many universities have baseline goals that are similar to CU: carbon neutrality by 2050.

But some institutions — such as Princeton, California State Northridge, Ball State and the University of Michigan — aim for similar objectives but earlier. Others, like Colorado Mesa, are lowering emissions without a formal goal.

Colorado State University is aiming for a 2030 goal similar to CU Boulder’s, but plans to reach carbon neutral by 2040.

When asked how they can make the transition so quickly, Carol Dollard, who designs renewable energy systems at CSU, says it’s not a technical problem.

“This is a problem of financing, wills

CSU also has half the square footage on their energy system compared to CU, according to a Climate Action Plan forum.

Originally, CSU’s goal was carbon neutrality by 2050. It was changed to 2040 a few years ago because of the rising consequences of climate change.

“We see the writing on the wall,” Dollard says. “2050 ain’t good enough.”

The next big project on Dollard’s horizon is upgrading the natural gas powered system to heat buildings using electricity. She estimates the 60-year life-cycle cost of that transition is $150 million less than continuing with the existing system. A similar cost analysis hasn’t been completed for CU.

and priorities,” she says. “Frankly, we know what we need to do technically. I should not be quite so cocky about that, but the reality is we’ve known for a long time what we need to do. We just need to say yes, it is worth our time and effort to take this.”

Dollard says CSU also benefits from being a customer of Fort Collins Utilities, a small community-owned company that purchases power from the Platte River Power Authority (PRPA), compared to CU’s Xcel Energy, which serves eight states. PRPA is aiming to provide carbon-neutral electricity by 2030, two decades before Xcel.

NEWS

‘MAKE THAT LEARNING DO SOMETHING’

Ambitious or not, climate goals are inconsequential without follow through.

“Higher ed institutions, or anybody for that matter, will continue to perpetuate the problem if they don’t make a hard decision to say, you know, we’ve got to figure something else out,” Colorado Mesa’s Marsh says.

CU Boulder already has some projects underway that align with the CAP, like renovating 18 buildings to increase energy efficiency, electrifying its transportation fleet and finalizing two solar projects.

The Executive Council on Sustainability, which was created in December last year, and the Sustainability Council will monitor the university’s progress. Kutscher says it comes down to leadership at the top — he sees the school’s search for a new chancellor as an opportunity.

“I would like to see a new chancellor that understands the importance of decarbonizing the CU campus,” he says. That will help initiate the rapid transition Kutscher says needs to happen now.

“It’s critically important for a university to do this, because, look, you’re the one that’s going to see the worst impacts of climate change, not me,” he says. “Young people, students today, in their lives are going to see an enormous impact of climate change.”

CSU’s project is planned out, but the university doesn’t have a way to pay for the roughly $200 million it will cost out of the gate. “Nobody has that kind of money up front,” she says.

Dollard is no stranger to drawn-out timelines and limited funding. She says there’s a lot of different priorities competing for limited dollars at large public universities.

“I’d love to have people react, you know, as if the house was on fire, because I sort of feel like it is,” she says. “Patience is a virtue here, and it ain’t my best virtue. But that is how you get stuff done.”

At CSU, Dollard says students have “incredible amounts of power” to influence climate commitments, especially their integral role establishing the university’s 2030 goals after bringing 4,000 signatures to the president’s desk.

Fleming says the Climate Action Plan’s targets meet “the minimum requirement.” Without faster action, she says CU is sending a message that “there’s nothing we can do, that it’s too late, that we just cannot make these changes to decarbonize our economy in an equitable way.”

“We speak of campus like it’s a living, learning laboratory, right? Where students learn how to do sustainability by being involved. We should actually make that learning do something for the campus.”

The implementation timeline and carbon savings by strategy in Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

NEWS

BOCO, BRIEFLY

Local news at a glance

BY SHAY CASTLE

FORT CHAMBERS

PLAN RELEASED

A draft stewardship plan has been released for a Boulder open space property connected to the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. Troops who participated in the killing of Arapaho and Cheyenne peoples were trained at Fort Chambers, believed to have been located off 63rd Street in Gunbarrel.

The plan, created in consultation with representatives of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal nations, calls for ecological restoration along Boulder Creek, including the use of native plants; creation of a “healing trail” with signage and programming to explain the historical context of the site; restoration of a historic Queen Anne Victorian house on the premises and continued vegetable farming and irrigated agriculture.

The 113-acre property was also previously home to a “poor farm,” where ill and indigent residents lived and worked. Boulder purchased the land in 2018. Last year, the city removed a historical marker that inaccurately referred to the Sand Creek Massacre as an “Indian uprising.”

“We would like to make this a success story for everyone,” said

ority in 2022. After publicly announcing a standalone location in April 2023, Boulder’s agreement with the property owner fell through. BSH was announced as the new planned location in December. The shelter required a change to its management plan to allow it to operate during the day. That change was approved by city staff last week.

MAN FOUND IN BOULDER CREEK

Chester Whiteman (Southern Cheyenne), in a city news release.

“This is going to take healing on all sides, all of the Nations that are involved in this. Everybody has to work together to get to that point, and we need to come together to educate everybody that comes to this location.”

Open space staff will be available to answer questions about the plan from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 3 at 2520 55th St. Residents can submit feedback online through April 7: bit.ly/fort-chambers-plan.

DAY SHELTER CLEARED TO OPEN

Boulder’s long-awaited homeless day services center has received city approval to open, the Daily Camera reported Monday. An opening date has not been set, a spokesperson from Boulder Shelter for the Homeless (BSH) said, but will likely “take a few weeks.”

“We were waiting on approval before hiring,” Andy Schultheiss wrote in response to emailed questions, “so [we] will be starting now.”

City Council made a day shelter and services center a pri-

The body of a man was found in Boulder Creek last week, according to a news release from the City of Boulder.

Officers and fire-rescue personnel were called to the area of Boulder Creek path bridge on 9th Street around 10:15 a.m. on March 22, responding to reports of a body in the water. The man was found deceased in the water.

The man has not been named and no identifying details have been released. The cause of death has not been determined. There is no suspicion of foul play, city officials said.

IN ANIMAL NEWS….

• Ospreys have returned to their nest at Boulder County Fairgrounds. Watch a live osprey cam at bouldercounty.gov/open-space/ management/osprey-camera

• Superior is looking for photos of your furry, feathery or scaly friends for its SNAPS photo competition. Winning images will be displayed at the Superior Community Center. Enter by April 18: bit.ly/4atJcsG

Help wanted

Managing Senior director, Key and Strategic accounts sought by Somalogic Operating Co. Inc., Boulder, CO, and other unanticipated locations across the U.S, to direct Key and Strategic account Management, including driving revenue growth, expanding the breadth of Somalogic services and products, and increasing share of wallet, client advocacy, and client satisfaction with all aspects of Somalogic’s delivery of services and products. For job details, rqmts & how to apply refer to: https:// jobpost.works/3854sv/

Help wanted

enGIneeRInG/teCHnOlOGY.

nVIdIa Corp in Boulder, CO has an opening at various levels. please ref job title & code and send resume to:nVIdIa-Recruitad@ nvidia.com. Overarching and common duties for all positions: engage in and support the design, development, and/or marketing of nVIdIa’S GpU (graphics processing units), computer graphics, aI and supercomputing for gaming, professional visualization, data centers, and various industries (automotive, transportation, healthcare and manufacturing). For all positions, the salary will be determined based on location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions and levels. all positions will be eligible for equity and benefits, please see https:// www.nvidia.com/en-us/benefits/ for more information. Sys Sw eng (SSwe978) Utilize knowledge of computer system architectures and hardware / software interface layer models to design, develop, and debug many functional aspects of multimedia accelerator and mobile system-on-chip (SOC) devices. the base salary range for this position is $169,957 to $224,250.

The historic Chambers homestead, built before 1899 on 63rd Street, pictured in the 1970s. The property operated as a “poor farm” from 1902 to 1908 for Boulder County’s ill and indigent residents. Courtesy: Carnegie Library for Local History

A historic marker noting the location of Fort Chambers. Erected in 1959, it inaccurately referred to the Sand Creek Massacre — in which 230 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, were murdered by American troops in 1864 — as an “Indian uprising.” The marker was removed in 2023. Courtesy: City of Boulder

OLDER AND WISER

Indigo De Souza on self-trust, nature and being your own best friend

BY KAYLEE HARTER

Big, existential question marks have always punctuated Indigo

De Souza’s music — and she’s starting to make peace with the fact that most of them don’t have answers.

“Just being alive and existing is one of the greatest questions, I guess. Making music brings purpose to my life.

Writing a song that expresses anything true to me is somewhat of an answer,” she says. “I definitely don’t have the answers, and there’s something kind of

beautiful about just naming that.”

That sort of radical acceptance is the throughline on the 26-year-old’s third album, All of This Will End. De Souza’s latest Saddle Creek Records release has been called her most optimistic, but whether that’s really the case, well, it depends.

“I think that’s true, but I think it also just depends on who you are and

where you are in your life. I think it could change for me too, depending on the day,” De Souza told Boulder Weekly ahead of her April 2 show at the Gothic Theater. “Because everything will end, everything is precious. Also, it could mean because everything will end, nothing really matters.”

On 2021’s Any Shape You Take, she sings “Was it something I said? / Was it something I did?” with a tortured desperation. But on All of This Will End, many of her introspective lyrics are colored with a wistful acceptance: “There is nothing I can do / When the winds of change blow through / There is nothing I can say / to make you stay.”

Those winds of change have transformed the Asheville-based songwriter, too, in the six years since she released her debut LP, I Love My Mom.

“I think I’ve become more trusting of myself in a lot of ways but then also a lot more jaded. The subjects of my songs are heavy, and that’s how I also feel in the world,” she says. “I feel like I have my feet on the ground way more than I did when I was young, but I still also don’t have my feet fully on the ground. And yeah, that’s OK.”

TAKING UP SPACE

That self-trust manifested in the creation of the album itself, her first that she co-produced with Asheville producer Alex Farrar — who’s worked with fellow local breakouts Wednesday and MJ Lenderman — as she navigated how much she “wanted other people’s opinions to matter.”

The result is an album that’s more sonically diverse than previous efforts and just as disarmingly earnest. Oscillating between bright, synth-y pop tracks (“Smog,” “Time Back”) and grunge-tinged, cathartic songs like “Always” and “Wasting Your Time,” she recorded the album over several months during the pandemic, the first

time she experienced the freedoms of living alone.

“Just being in solitude and feeling like I could make whatever sounds I wanted, or think or say whatever I wanted — it felt like I could take up as much space as I needed to,” she says.

But De Souza doesn’t do it all alone. She’s currently collaborating on a popfocused album with Elliot Kozel, who’s worked with big names like Lizzo and SZA. And like her previous two album covers, De Souza’s mom painted the artwork for All of This Will End

For De Souza, the art represents the struggle between the natural world and the one we’ve built: “How much nature is a part of us but also how much we ruin it and how much we fight against it — I really just was feeling a sadness around that and wanted to depict that in the painting.”

The natural world — and our impact on it — is a grounding force throughout her music, too, as she runs her fingers through the water or looks up through the smog.

“Nature just feels like the center of everything, and it feels like it has a lot to teach us and a lot of ways of healing us and it is just so innocent and organic,” she says. “And it’s true. It’s like, very, very true. As crazy as life can get, it feels like nature is always there to hold us.”

De Souza sees herself in nature too. “When I was younger, younger and dumber / Built like a flower,” she sings on the culminating ballad of All of This Will End

Despite all her growth, De Souza doesn’t look back on who she was before with contempt. The song is a love letter to her younger self.

“I would probably tell her that the most important thing above everything else is to love yourself and have to find a centeredness and groundedness and to be best friends with yourself,” she says. “None of the other connections in life are possible without that.”

“The subjects of my songs are heavy, and that’s how I also feel in the world,” says AmericanBrazilian artist Indigo De Souza. Courtesy: Angella Chloe

All of This Will End, the third album from Indigo De Souza, has been called the 26-year-old songwriter’s most optimistic. Courtesy: Saddle Creek GOING

Undlin of Humbird says she sings to plants because “they’re not going anywhere, no matter how bad it is.”

Credit: Juliet Farmer

SONGS FOR THE SEEDS

Humbird conjures soothing sounds from Mother Nature and hard lessons from American life

BY JUSTIN CRIADO

The chances of being struck by lightning once in a lifetime are one in 15,300. For reference, approximately 2,000 people worldwide are hit every year, including 270 in the U.S. So while there’s a 90% survival rate, it’s something most of us will fortunately never experience.

But Siri Undlin, the songwriting force behind Minnesota-based band Humbird, is a lightning rod of sorts — and she has been zapped by a bolt more than once. In fact, it happens to her a lot, at least in a figurative sense.

“Sometimes you’re in a place just noodling on a guitar and a song emerges. Other times you’re driving in your car, and you have to pull over to write down an idea before you forget,” she explains. “It’s more like a bolt of lightning than a habit.”

Literal lightning strikes aside, nature is one of Undlin’s most reliable catalysts of creativity. Growing up in southern Minnesota meant exploring the Upper Mississippi River Valley in her home state and beyond — including the Driftless Area of Wisconsin, where

she tracked her upcoming third LP Right On live during a muggy two-week stretch in Eau Claire.

“There are spaces where I go for quiet reflection. I don’t know if that’s explicit inspiration, but I think that’s an important part of the process. That’s often the river,” Undlin says.

The Mississippi, La Crosse and Black rivers are typically the best spots for such soul searching, according to the emerging songwriter, as well as Lake Superior. But the grasslands have their place in Undlin’s creative process, too: “The prairies are a really good place for quiet ideas to emerge,” she says.

In fact, before she laid down tracks for her new album in the studio, local flora heard the first drafts. There’s even one titled “Song for the Seeds.”

“Often if there’s a story or a melody I’m working on, I’ll go for a hike and sing it or talk it, and look totally insane to anyone passing by,” she says. “But sometimes plants are a really good first audience. They’re not going anywhere, no matter how bad it is.”

Undlin’s tendency for drawing inspiration from the great outdoors will take center stage in the shadows of the Flatirons on April 3, when Humbird headlines Chautauqua Community House in Boulder, a night after opening for Indigo De Souza at Denver’s Gothic Theatre.

‘HARD THINGS HAPPEN’

With all this inspiration drawn from her natural surroundings, Humbird’s Midwest Americana tells the stories of the landscapes they’re conjured from. But Undlin’s latest album is also informed by the folk-rock forefathers who guided her sound.

“I was listening to a lot of Neil Young, Tom Waits and Tom Petty,” she says. “They’re so influential to so many people, I just got to them late. I knew the hits, but I never really sunk into those

artists’ full catalog. I was pretty deep in when I was writing my own songs. I think you can definitely hear those three in them.”

It makes sense that a “white girl with a guitar” would play Americana, she jokes. But it doesn’t really make too much of a difference to her what you call it.

“Genres are strange as-is. When I’m putting work out in the world, as long as people are finding it and liking it, that’s what matters to me,” says Undlin, who grew up in church choirs and traditional Irish ensembles before becoming a Watson Fellow and studying folklore and music around the world.

Humbird, which also includes Pat Keen (bass, synth and percussion) and Pete Quirsfeld (drums and percussion), ultimately allows Undlin and her bandmates to “talk about what we see going on in the world,” she says.

To that end, Undlin isn’t afraid to turn her critical gaze toward some of the thorniest social issues of our time. Most of the songs from Right On, like the politically charged “Child of Violence,” were written during the social unrest accompanying the early days of the pandemic and our explosive reckoning with police violence in America.

“I was living in South Minneapolis, so I was very influenced by the events of George Floyd’s death and what changed in my neighborhood,” she says, adding that Humbird’s 2021 record Still Life was more “contemplative and reflective and all about making safe space and processing.”

“I think this record I put a lot more of the songs with teeth in it,” Undlin continues. “They felt like they went together. It, in some ways, is a sequel to the other record, but more rage and grit, like, ‘OK, these hard things happen,’ and you figure out how to move through it with your neighborhood and family and friends — and you’re different forever, but there’s still a lot of beauty with the grit.”

ON THE BILL: Humbird with Frail Talk. 8 p.m.

Wednesday, April 3, Chautauqua Community House, 301 Morning Glory Drive, Boulder. $22

Siri

Humbird’s upcoming third LP Right On is set for release April 12. Courtesy: Nettwerk Music Group

CURTAIN CALLS

Three local productions to catch or skip

BY TONI TRESCA

In our latest survey of the local stage, we visited Arvada, Aurora and Northglenn for two classic plays and a new take on Sherlock Holmes. From the chaos of a production gone wrong to reimagined detective lore and the haunting reminiscences of a family clinging to their dreams, here’s a breakdown of what works and what doesn’t in each offering.

LAUGH IT OFF

The Arvada Center’s production of Noises Off concludes its season on a hilarious high note. Directed by Geoffrey Kent, who helmed last season’s sharp staging of Our Town, this farce-within-a-farce accelerates with the momentum of a racehorse, delivering a look behind the curtains of a doomed play.

The impressive, rotating set designed by Brian Mallgrave frames a comedy of errors in which the nineperson ensemble cast — led by standout performances from Noelia Antweiler, Gareth Saxe and Rodney Lizcano — navigates a minefield of misadventure. Leslie O’Carroll steals the show in drag as Selsdon Mowbray,

an older actor playing the burglar who is always on the lookout for where to swipe his next drink.

While the delineation between the characters’ onstage and offstage personas could have been sharper, the vibrant energy and chaotic charm of the performances command attention. The second act’s pantomime is a testament to Kent’s skill, offering a silent spectacle of mishaps. Despite a slow start as they set up the theatrical world, Noises Off crescendos into a cacophony of laughter thanks to a committed cast, a stellar technical team and Kent’s delightfully physical direction.

ON STAGE: Noises Off.

Through May 5, Arvada

Center for the Arts and Humanities, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada. $56-$83

ON THE CASE

Phamaly Theatre Company’s Miss Holmes reinterprets the classic Sherlock Holmes universe with a dis-

productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Rocky Horror Show and Spring Awakening

ON STAGE: Miss Holmes.

Through April 7, Northglenn Arts, Parsons Theatre, 1 East Memorial Parkway. $20-$28

MOURNING ZOO

Staged by artistic director Bernie Cardell on Vintage Theatre’s 67-seat Bond-Trimble Theatre, The Glass Menagerie is a stunning and introspective rendition of Tennessee Williams’ 1944 classic.

tinctly feminist twist. Directed by Mare Trevathan and written by Christopher M. Walsh, the production seeks to upend convention a Victorian backdrop yet is hampered by a convoluted script that ends on an unsatisfying, MCUstyle cliffhanger.

Walsh has written a sequel, Miss Holmes Returns, which makes this play, despite its nearly three-hour run time with intermission and opening remarks, feel incomplete. Krista Montoya’s scenic design stands out, offering an innovative blend of handdrawn projections and physical set pieces.

Performance-wise, Mel Schaffer and Miranda Ireland, navigate their respective roles as Holmes and Dr. Watson with commitment, though their chemistry occasionally falters amid the script’s inconsistencies. The supporting cast, including notable turns by Maggie Whittum, Keenan Gluck and Andrew Small, find moments of levity and depth despite the play’s uneven tone.

Phamaly’s dedication to providing a creative home for artists with disabilities is impressive, even if Miss Holmes itself does not fully capture the brilliance this company has delivered in its recent

The play’s delicate balance of memory, hope and disillusionment is masterfully rendered by an adept cast. This intimate portrayal of the Wingfield family’s fragile world is achingly real, with Matt Murry’s Tom serving as the narrator, navigating the fine line between duty and desire. Murry spars fiercely with his mother, Amanda, played by Emma Messenger. As she showed earlier this year as Annie in Misery at Miners Alley, Messenger is an expert at bending reality to fit her character’s desires.

Messenger and Murry dominate the first act with their towering performances, but it’s Clara Papula and Cameron Davis, as Laura and Jim, whose heartbreaking post-dinner scene sharply drives home how artificial the family’s world is.

The set design by Don Fuller and costumes by Susan Rahmsdorff-Terry envelop the audience in the ethereal yet stifling atmosphere of the Wingfield home. As the story progresses, revealing the fragility of Laura’s glass menagerie, the play emphasizes the ephemeral nature of dreams and the crushing weight of reality, making for a deeply moving experience. The Glass Menagerie is Cardell’s 150th theatrical production, and it is a superb rendition that captures the essence of Williams’ work.

ON STAGE: The Glass Menagerie. Through April 21, Vintage Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora. $20-$34

Mel Schaffer stars in Miss Holmes, running through April 7 at Northglenn Arts.

Credit: RDG Photography

THE MISANTHROPE

You won’t like the character at the center of ‘About Dry Grasses,’ but you’ll love the movie

BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

Midway through his life, Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) looks around and sees nothing he likes. Originally from Istanbul, he obliges his mandatory teaching service in this remote village of perpetual winter with detachment and resentment. Samet’s only friend is a 13-year-old student, Sevim (Ece Bağcı), who laughs too loudly at his jokes and spends too much time hanging out in his office — which doubles as a storage closet for the athletics department. You can see trouble coming a mile away.

Then, one day, the Turkish morality police raid the classrooms and search the students’ bags for contraband. They find lipstick, pocket knives and, in Sevim’s notebook, a love letter.

The love letter passes from the enforcers to a teacher, then to Samet after he bullies her into giving it to him. When Sevim confronts Samet and asks for the letter back, he lies and tells her he tore it up and threw it away. She knows better. He knows his position comes with status. Only one of them is mistaken.

Samet is not someone you’d want to cross or befriend. He’s frustrated, angry and bitter. Does he confiscate the love letter because he’s afraid it’s about him? Or does he refuse to return it because it’s not about him?

The fact that director Nuri Bilge Ceylan — working with co-writers

Akin Aksu and Ebru Ceylan — never says only condemns Samet.

About Dry Grasses is Ceylan’s

ninth feature in a career that grows richer with every entry. This is not a bombastic movie, but it is quietly riveting, absurdly comical and full of moral conflicts and conversations. Sevim accuses Samet and Kenan (Musab Ekici), Samet’s roommate and fellow teacher, of improprieties, though the accusations are never stated out loud. They cannot be: That’s the decree from those in charge at the school — men, exclusively — and they take Sevim’s accusations seriously even if they don’t believe them. “That’s how their minds work,” they say over and over again. It’s a textbook study of how institutions dismiss the problem without addressing it.

All the while, Samet and Kenan are both attempting to court Nuray (Merve Dizdar), another teacher and a young activist who lost a leg in a terrorist bombing a few years back. The loss halted relationships with others and forced her to understand what her life is now. The men don’t care. They may not even be that interested in her, but they are interested in besting each other. So Nuray gives a speech

about what she’s looking for, not from them but from her, and Ceylan condemns his protagonist further.

Or does he? About Dry Grasses is a slippery film that reveals enough to make judgments but withholds enough never to feel confident in them. He perhaps tips his hand too much with Sevim, giving her enough ammunition for the accusation, but also plays coy with the love letter to make you wonder why Samet is so bent out of shape in the first place. The cinematography, from the team of Cevahir Şahin and Kürşat Üresin, employs long shadows and dark interiors to underline how difficult it is to see all sides of the story. It also gives Ceylan’s three-hour narrative the pictorial quality of a Rembrandt painting, a reminder that even in the farthest corners of the globe and in the pettiest of conflicts, one can still find the profound.

ON SCREEN: About Dry Grasses opens in limited release on March 29.

Deniz Celiloğlu in About Dry Grasses Courtesy: Sideshow/Janus Films

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7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, Boulder Shambhala Center, 1345 Spruce St. $10 suggested donation

Shift into mindfulness mode during this open meditation at the Boulder Shambhala Center. A senior instructor will be your guide during this weekly sitting meditation practice followed by a presentation and Q&A session. All levels welcome.

DRAWING AS SELF DISCOVERY

Noon-2 p.m. Saturday, March 30, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway. $45

Instructor Chuck Ceraso leads this two-hour workshop on how the process of seeing and drawing can lead to a deeper understanding of self and the objects around us. Ticket price includes art materials.

GENEALOGY BASICS

10 a.m.-noon. Saturday, March 30, Longmont Public Library, 409 4th Ave. Free

Explore the branches of your family tree alongside volunteers from the Longmont Genealogical Society during this monthly event at Longmont Public Library. Gather any information you have and come see what you can discover about your ancestors.

7:30-9 p.m. Friday, March 29, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $20

Join comedian Nancy Norton, R.N., at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder for an interactive comedy show taking audiences inside the hectic, heroic and sometimes hilarious world of healthcare workers.

30 COLORADO CORRESPONDENCE COALITION MEETUP

1-4 p.m. Saturday, March 30, Louisville Public Library, 951 Spruce St. Free

Explore the lost art of letter-writing during this monthly meeting of the Colorado Correspondence Coalition. Bring your own stamps to write your letters with provided cards, rubber stamps and wax seals.

30

YOUTH LIFE SKILLS FAIR

Noon-2 p.m. Saturday, March 30, Boulder County Fairgrounds - Barn A, 9595 Nelson Road, Longmont. Free

Young people ages 11 through 17 are invited to learn “a variety of skills related to health, future careers and other practical matters” during this event at the Boulder County Fairgrounds featuring a live DJ, games, hands-on workshops and more.

EVENTS

31 WOMEN’S ADVENTURE FILM TOUR

Noon-2 p.m. Sunday, March 31, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $15

Returning for its eighth season, the Women’s Adventure Film Tour is back with a slate of exhilarating short films that “showcase the inspiring journeys of remarkable women who fearlessly pursue adventure in various fields.”

31

EASTER DAY YIN YOGA

9:30-10:30 a.m. Sunday, March 31, Louisville Community Yoga, 565 E. South Boulder Road.

Get into the Easter Sunday flow with a special themed class at Louisville Community Yoga. This Yin session is all about connecting to the wood element for spring, representing “the beginning of life, fecundity, growth and expansion.”

31

BOULDER COMEDY SHOW: STEPHEN AGYEI

7 p.m. Sunday, March 31, Rayback Collective, 2775 Valmont Road. $20

Boulder’s longest-running weekly comedy showcase returns like clockwork to the Rayback Collective for an evening of sidesplitting stand-up by Denver-raised, LA-based comedian Stephen Agyei.

1

BINGO AND BEERS

6-8 p.m. Monday, April 1, Wild Provisions Beer Project, 2209 Central Ave., Boulder. Free

Feeling lucky? Assemble your crew for a night of craft libations and games with Tyler, “the friendliest bartender in Boulder,” during this weekly bingo session presented by 4 Noses Brewing at the Wild Provisions Beer Project.

2

PHOTOGRAPHY NIGHT

6:30-9 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, Boulder Wine Bar, 2035 Broadway. Free (donations encouraged)

Photographer Rob Lantz invites you to Boulder Wine Bar for an evening celebrating the art of making pictures. Leaves are this month’s “challenge image.” Make a purchase from the bar or donate $10 to help with the cost of space rental.

2

MASTER GARDENER HELPLINE

9 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, Broomfield Library and Auditorium, 3 Community Park Road. Free

Broomfield Colorado Master Gardener volunteers will be on hand at the Broomfield Library to answer your questions and help diagnose plant problems so you can enjoy a successful growing season.

LIVE MUSIC

THURSDAY, MARCH 28

ANDERS OSBORNE. 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $33

BLUE EYED KELLY. 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

MAYA OGEA 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. Free

JENNY HANIVER WITH ETHAN LEE MCCARTHY AND FAINTING DREAMS. 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $18

JOEL ANSETT WITH LAUREN FRIHAUF 8 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $15

FRIDAY, MARCH 29

BLANKSLATE 6 p.m. Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free BW PICK OF THE WEEK

MIDNIGHT NORTH. 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $20

BIRDTALKER. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $18

GEORGE STREET AND THE DRIVE 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

DJ WILLIAMS WITH ALEX WIRTH. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 16th St., Boulder.

KIRTAN 6 p.m. Soul Tree Yoga, 1280 Centaur Village Drive, #7, Lafayette. $20

RUBY BEGAY WITH HALEY HARKIN 6 p.m. Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

SIXTH WIND 7 p.m. Rayback Collective, 2775 Valmont Road, Boulder. Free

BEAR HAT WITH RIVER SPELL. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $18

SPYRO GYRA 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. $45

PICTUREPLANE WITH STREET FEVER, POLLY URETHANE AND DREAMS OF BLIGHT. 9 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $18

BIRDTALKER WITH GRADY SPENCER 8 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $20

SUNDAY, MARCH 31

UKULELE JAM 2 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

PHOEBE NIX WITH NORTH BY NORTH. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $19

BRAD MEHLDAU 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., Boulder. $35

SATURDAY, MARCH 30

ASHLEI PRIEST. 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

TENBUCKSIXER 6 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free

MOJOMAMA. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing Company, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

SWEET SUNDAY SWING BAND. 3 p.m. Spirit Hound Distillers, 3196 Ute Highway, Lyons. Free

SCOTT VON 4 p.m. Left Hand Brewing, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. Free

AUBREY DALE 4 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

CHUCK SITERO. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 16th St., Boulder. Free

REMO DRIVE WITH WILT AND BROKEN RECORD 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $25

LIVE MUSIC

MONDAY, APRIL 1

THE OBSESSED WITH HOWLING GIANT AND GOZU 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $22

TUESDAY, APRIL 2

TRAY WELLINGTON BAND

7:30 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $30

GEORGE CLANTON WITH FULL BODY 2. 8 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $26

NOELLE & THE DESERTERS WITH RYAN WONG AND JOE BOURDET

7:30 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15

MINISTRY WITH GARY NUMAN AND FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY. 7 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. $39

INDIGO DE SOUZA WITH HUMBIRD 8 p.m. Gothic Theatre, 3263 S. Broadway, Denver. $25 STORY ON P. 14

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3

CHARLIE PARR & THE CACTUS BLOSSOMS 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $33

Front Range indie-rock trio Blankslate returns to Boulder with fellow locals Bleak Mystique and Telecine for a free show at Trident on March 29. The band performs on the heels of their debut LP, Summer on a Salt Flat, with a sophomore followup planned for later this year. Scan the QR code for a Boulder Weekly feature on the band before you go. See listing for details

VIC DILLAHAY WITH NICO STEFFENS 7 p.m. Dry Land Distillers, 519 Main St., Longmont. Free

KATIE MINTLE. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 16th St., Boulder. Free

HUMBIRD WITH FRAIL TALK.

8 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, Chautauqua Community House, 301 Morning Glory Drive, Boulder. $22 STORY ON P. 15

HORSHAM ROAD WITH THE GALENTINES AND CIG FREUD.

8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $13

RUSTON KELLY 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $25

JEFF CROSBY WITH WOLF VAN ELFMAND AND DEREK DAMES

OHL. 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15

SMALL CRUSH WITH RAUE AND BIG PINCH 8 p.m. Globe Hall, 4483 Logan St., Denver. $15

Help wanted

Sr. Software engineer for a software development co. is wanted in Boulder, CO. Reqs: Bach’s deg or equiv in Comp Sci or reltd field, + 2 yrs’ exp. duties incl: developing low Code/no Code solutions using MS power apps, MS power automate & MS power Virtual agents; writing JSOn & XMl specs, Model driven apps & Custom Connectors w/ Swagger compliant apIs; working w/ MS azure devOps & power platform ClI; Building complex data models, SQl Server tables & stored procedures; & working w/ CSS, HtMl & Java to develop web & mobile-based apps. telecommuting w/in U.S. & up to 10% trvl req’d. Sal ($105K-$115K). Mail resume to: Mekorma, attn: HR, 4845 pearl east Cir, Ste 118, pMB 60281, Boulder, CO 80301. Job code 423.

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

ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): In the coming days, your hunger will be so inexhaustible that you may feel driven to devour extravagant amounts of food and drink. It’s possible you will gain ten pounds in a very short time. Who knows? You might even enter an extreme eating contest and devour 46 dozen oysters in ten minutes! APRIL FOOL! Although what I just said is remotely plausible, I foresee that you will sublimate your exorbitant hunger. You will realize it is spiritual in nature and can’t be gratified by eating food. As you explore your voracious longings, you will hopefully discover a half-hidden psychological need you have been suppressing. And then you will liberate that need and feed it what it craves.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): Taurus novelist Lionel Shriver writes, “There’s a freedom in apathy, a wild, dizzying liberation on which you can almost get drunk.” In accordance with astrological omens, I recommend you experiment with Shriver’s strategy in the coming weeks. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, Lionel Shriver’s comment is one of the dumbest thoughts I have ever heard. Why would anyone want the cheap, damaged liberation that comes from feeling indifferent, numb and passionless? Please do all you can to disrupt and dissolve any attraction you may have to that state, Taurus. In my opinion, you now have a sacred duty to cultivate extra helpings of enthusiasm, zeal, liveliness and ambition.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): At enormous cost and after years of study, I have finally figured out the meaning of life, at least as it applies to you Geminis. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to reveal it to you unless you send me $1,000 and a case of Veuve Clicquot champagne. I’ve got to recoup my investment, right?! APRIL FOOL! Most of what I just said was a dirty lie. It’s true that I have worked hard to uncover the meaning of life for you Geminis. But I haven’t found it yet. And even if I did, I would of course provide it to you for free. Luckily, you are now in a prime position to make dramatic progress in deciphering the meaning of life for yourself.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): For a limited time only, you have permission from the cosmos to be a wildly charismatic egomaniac who brags incessantly and insists on getting your selfish needs met at all times and in all places. Please feel free to have maximum amounts of narcissistic fun, Cancerian! APRIL FOOL! I was exaggerating a bit, hoping to offer you medicinal encouragement so you will stop being so damn humble and self-effacing all the time. But the truth is, now is indeed an excellent time to assert your authority, expand your clout and flaunt your potency and sovereignty.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): Michael Scott was a character in the TV sitcom The Office. He was the boss of a paper company. Played by Leo actor Steve Carell, he was notoriously self-centered and obnoxious. However, there was one famous scene I will urge you to emulate. He was asked if he would rather be feared or loved. He replied, “Um, easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.” Be like Michael Scott, Leo! APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. It’s true I’m quite excited by the likelihood that you will receive floods of love in the coming weeks. It’s also true that I think you should do everything possible to boost this likelihood. But I would rather that people be amazed and pleased at how much they love you, not afraid.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Now would be an excellent time for you to snag a Sugar Daddy or Sugar Momma or Sugar NonBinary Nurturer. The astrological omens are telling me that life is expanding its willingness and capacity to provide you with help, support and maybe even extra cash. I dare you to dangle yourself as bait and sell your soul to the highest bidder. APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. While I do believe it’s prime time to ask for and receive more help, support and extra cash, I don’t believe you will have to sell your soul to get any of it. Just be yourself!

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): Happy Unbirthday, Libra! It’s that time halfway between your last birthday and your next. Here are the presents I plan to give you: a boost in your receptivity to be loved and needed; a constructive relationship with obsession; more power to accomplish the half-right thing when it’s hard to do the totally right thing; the disposal of 85% of the psychic trash left over from the time between 2018 and 2023 and a provocative new invitation to transcend an outworn old taboo. APRIL FOOL! The truth is, I can’t possibly supply every one of you with these fine offerings, so please bestow them on yourself. Luckily, the cosmic currents will conspire with you to make these things happen.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): Now would be an excellent time to seek liposuction, a facelift, Botox, buttocks augmentation or hair transplants. Cosmic rhythms will be on your side if you change how you look. APRIL FOOL! I’ve got nothing against cosmetic surgery, but now is not the right time to alter your appearance. Here’s the correct oracle: Shed your disguises, stop hiding anything about who you really are and show how proud you are of your idiosyncrasies.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): I command you to love Jesus and Buddha! If you don’t, you will burn in Hell! APRIL FOOL! I was being sensationalistic to grab your attention. Here’s my real, true oracle for you: Love everybody, including Jesus and Buddha. And I mean love them all twice as strong and wild and tender. The cosmic powers ask it of you! The health of your immortal soul depends on it! Yes, Sagittarius, for your own selfish sake, you need to pour out more adoration and care and compassion than you ever have before. I’m not exaggerating! Be a lavish fountain of love.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): If you gave me permission, I would cast a spell to arouse in you a case of ergophobia, i.e., an aversion to work. I think you need to take a sweet sabbatical from doing business as usual. APRIL FOOL! I was just joking about casting a spell on you. But I do wish you would indulge in a lazy, do-nothing retreat. If you want your ambitions to thrive later, you will be wise to enjoy a brief period of delightful emptiness and relaxing dormancy. As Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein recommends, “Don’t just do something! Sit there!”

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): In accordance with current astrological omens, I suggest you get the book Brain Surgery for Beginners by Steven Parker and David West. You now have the power to learn and even master complex new skills, and this would be a excellent place to start. APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. I don’t really think you should take a scalpel to the gray matter of your friends and family members — or yourself, for that matter. But I am quite certain that you currently have an enhanced power to learn and even master new skills. It’s time to raise your educational ambitions to a higher octave. Find out what lessons and training you need most, then make plans to get them.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): In the religious beliefs of Louisiana Voodoo, one God presides over the universe but never meddles in the details of life. There are also many spirits who are always intervening and tinkering, intimately involved in the daily rhythm. They might do nice things for people or play tricks on them — and everything in between. In alignment with current astrological omens, I urge you to convert to the Louisiana Voodoo religion and try ingenious strategies to get the spirits to do your bidding. APRIL FOOL! I don’t really think you should convert. However, I believe it would be fun and righteous for you to proceed as if spirits are everywhere — and assume that you have the power to harness them to work on your behalf.

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE

I’m involved with a guy who’s married and, yes, I’m a cliché and I know it. I don’t want him to leave his wife. I don’t even want to be involved with him physically, and we aren’t doing anything physical. We’ve both been good about maintaining that boundary. But we are very involved emotionally.

We like to tell ourselves that we’re not cheating, but it’s definitely an emotional affair. I honestly do not want to have sex with him. I look at pictures of him and his wife and kids to remind myself that he has a family, and I don’t want to break up his family. Not that I could just by having sex with him, but you know what I mean. I don’t want to be “the other woman.”

My question: Am I endangering his family just by talking to him so much about absolutely everything (including sexual fantasies we will never act on) and treating each other as soulmates? Perhaps I’m just naïve, but I’ve convinced myself that so long as we abstain from anything physical, we’re OK.

— Can’t Have Unavailable Male Partner

If you don’t wanna get run over, don’t play in traffic. If you don’t wanna fuck this married man, CHUMP, stop flirting with him

I’m a straight cis male. When I’m having sex with my current or past monogamous partners, it will feel really good for a while, but then I’ll plateau. In order to cum, I need to call up mental images of me fucking a specific past casual sex partner. (In no way

is this past partner someone I’d rather be with — it just works and works reliably.) I’ve tried the obvious — being in the moment and connecting with my partner — and on a few occasions I’ve been able to cum without relying on my go-to, but those times are rare.

Side note: I do watch porn, not excessively or compulsively, and I am able to cum doing so. And sometimes I masturbate about other past experiences that don’t involve this former partner and I am able to cum without calling up their mental image. I know there’s nothing wrong with this, but it does feel like a problematic fixation because it’s so specific.

My shame about this issue has gotten better over the years, but it still haunts me. I’ve tried sharing this with a monogamous partner in the past when they could sense I was somewhere else, and this was DEFINITELY a bad idea. But the alternative is being stuck in this secret headspace. Please help me out!

— Can’t Understand My Situation

Is this a problem, CUMS, or is it a superpower? Since you need to access these mental images in order to climax, that means you’re able to last exactly as long as your current partner would like you to last. You never cum too soon, CUMS, and you never take too long.

Maybe instead of feeling bad about this “problem” and trying to fix it on your own you should 1. Accept that this is how your dick works and 2. Recognize how beneficial it is for current partners.

FIRST BITE EATS IT

Dwindling diner interest, stressed chefs spell the demise of Boulder’s annual restaurant week

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

With new eateries opening, bistros earning Michelin awards and the Coach Prime effect bringing in visitors, you might assume that 2024 is the best of times for Boulder’s dining scene. But this hopeful veneer disguises a harsh truth: Boulder restaurants are struggling.

The most painful symptom of that extreme stress is the cancellation of First Bite, Boulder’s celebrated dining week, along with First Sip, its sister beverage program.

“The events are not on hiatus,” says Jessica Benjamin, owner of Boulderbased Savor Productions, which presented the twin events. “We will not do First Bite or First Sip again.”

First Bite debuted in 2005 offering a week of multi-course meals at Boulder restaurants designed to fill seats and introduce diners to new destinations. Benjamin purchased the event in 2019 and launched First Sip in 2022. Some 10,000 diners participated in recent years.

“What I noticed post-pandemic was that the passion from the restaurants

and diners for First Bite wasn’t the same, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it,” Benjamin says. “Last fall, we thought things were improving with the increase in tourism. We offered the restaurants a lot of options for participating in First Bite. The restaurants who were joining First Bite were super enthusiastic, but ultimately we had fewer restaurants and fewer diners.”

Canceling this year’s First Bite started out as a joke among her staff, Benjamin says. But then “we started wondering why we were doing it. No restaurants were calling wondering when the event was happening. We heard from diners that they weren’t interested in — and couldn’t afford –something extravagant or new.”

One reason for First Bite’s demise is burnout on the part of the restaurants and Benjamin’s company that employs six Boulder moms.

“We could kill ourselves working 80 hours a week doing this,” she says. “The reality is that our kids need to be prioritized over throwing an event for fun, an event that isn’t needed or wanted.”

Canceling the events came with repercussions beyond disappointment. Benjamin had to lay off a staff member, something she calls “a hard choice.”

Dedicated “restaurant weeks” are still popular across the nation, including events in Seattle, Cincinnati and elsewhere in the coming weeks. Denver Restaurant Week recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with meals offered at hundreds of local eateries, including several in Boulder County.

There is one glaring difference, according to Benjamin: First Bite was one of the handful of privately owned restaurant weeks in the U.S.

“Denver Restaurant Week is owned by Visit Denver,” she says. “They have infinite sales tax dollars and access to

corporate support. Savor Productions is not a nonprofit that can secure grants.”

Denver Restaurant Week is also free for restaurants to participate, something First Bite couldn’t afford to do.

“Since I took on this event, I was clear to say that I would continue to do First Bite as long as it was good for the restaurants,” Benjamin says. “And it just isn’t any more.”

Now that the masks are off, it’s easy for the public to forget about recent history, River and Woods chef Daniel Asher says.

“COVID was brutal, a slaughterhouse situation for the industry. There has been a recovery, but a lot of factors are still making it extremely difficult,” he

Patrons dine on Rosetta Hall’s rooftop during First Bite 2023. Courtesy: Branded Beet PR

Chef Daniel Asher, center, with Savor Productions staff at the Farmers Market Culinary Field Trip in 2023. Courtesy: Branded Beet PR

says. “Food and labor costs are only going in one direction, the same with maintenance services.

“We’re just doing whatever we can do to hold on.”

WHERE ARE THE WORKERS?

Restaurateur Peter Waters is not only not surprised that First Bite was canceled, he says it was the right thing to do.

“Discounts are dead,” says Waters, managing partner at T/aco and Ruthie’s Boardwalk. “Margins have shrunk so incredibly slim we really can’t afford to do any type of discounting, even though our guest count is down.”

The restaurateur points to a pandemic-born trend as one of his biggest challenges. Business at Ruthie’s, a walk-up grilled cheese sandwich spot, is down almost 50%, and weekday lunch traffic at T/aco is “about half of what it was in 2019,” Waters says.

“People are still working remotely from home. For a business that did 40% of its sales before five o’clock, it really puts us in a deficit.”

Waters would like to see the City of Boulder require in-person work for its 1,500 employees.

“It would send an incredible message that a city which survives off of tax dollars supports the people that are generating those sales tax dollars,” he says. “I would love to also see a hold on minimum wage increases, too.”

More than anything else, Waters says he misses the vibrancy and community that locals create when they dine and shop in downtown Boulder.

“A bunch of bricks without any mortar is eventually going to fall over.”

CHEFS SEEKING BALANCE

Japango has been an enthusiastic and creative First Bite participant for many years. But the duo behind the popular sushi spot understand the decision to end the event.

CENSUS FIGURES: COLORADO DINING REALLY IS PRICIER

It’s not our imagination that eating out has rapidly gotten more expensive in Boulder and the state of Colorado.

According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data, Colorado tops the list of states where diners have been hardest hit by restaurant inflation. On average, Colorado dining prices rose a whopping 24% in the past year, from November 2022 to June 2023, according to an analysis by USA Today. During the same time period, restaurant reservations were down 2% in Colorado.

“There’s a lot of fatigue in restaurants around doing anything extra,” says Erin Banis, who co-owns Japango with her husband, Jon. “Diners seem to want to order the things they like. Restaurant owners just want their staff to be happier these days without any extra pressure.”

“Balance” is a word Banis hears a lot recently.

“So many of the chefs I respect around town are saying they want more balance in life,” she says. “They don’t want to be grinding all the time.”

One permanent restaurant business challenge is the fact that Baby

Boomers — the fastest growing Boulder demographic — haven’t gone back to dining in the same way they did before the pandemic.

“I think there’s still that thread of hesitation,” Banis says. “There is a large group of people that will only sit outside, so this time of year it gets very quiet.”

BOULDER’S DINING SOUL

River and Woods’ Asher has devised cool locally sourced menus for First Bite and led one of its most popular recent live events, a tour and taco tasting of the Boulder Farmers Market. Asher’s business partner in River and Woods, Josh Dinar, launched First Bite with Kate Lecroix in 2005.

“We weren’t able to continue a legacy of this awesome local dining celebration, and it’s gone,” Asher says. “What is the soul of the Boulder dining community now? Is the food scene being driven by locals, or is it being driven by the priority of tourism?”

Asher recently closed his Ash’Kara restaurant in Downtown Boulder; the Denver location remains open.

“We found that street volume was down on West Pearl and that a lot of the business was tourist-centric,” he says. “If you’re being a little risky with culinary ideas, you’re going to have some challenges. Independent restaurants need to have a resilient, loyal, local following to thrive.”

Locals may feel like they are doing the right thing by getting takeout or delivery, but Asher believes it is doing more harm than good.

“Ordering from DoorDash or UberEats is no longer a helpful way to support local restaurants,” he says. “For the convenience factor, restaurants are taking a hit, and tiny profit margins are being cut even smaller.

“Beautiful local restaurants need to be enjoyed on premise and connected with physically to enjoy the hospitality and community.”

The chef and restaurateur worries that soon, national chains may further dominate Boulder’s dining landscape. “At the end of the day,” Asher says, “I don’t want to witness the Shake Shackification of Boulder, where only a big corporate model can work.”

John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles on KGNU: Listen to podcasts: kgnu.org/ category/radio-nibbles

A chef at Oak plates an entree. Courtesy: Branded Beet PR

Diners chat with a server at Bohemian Biergarten. Courtesy: Branded Beet PR

ON DRUGS

BEYOND FENTANYL

Nitazenes, a powerful class of street drugs, emerge across the U.S.

BY CHRISTOPHER P. HOLSTEGE THE CONVERSATION

Two deaths last year in Boulder County are the latest in the U.S. to be blamed on the powerful class of synthetic opioids called nitazenes. Most health systems cannot detect nitazenes, so the exact number of overdoses is unknown, but they’re implicated in more than 200 deaths in Europe and North America since 2019, including 11 in Colorado since 2021.

One of the two Boulder County deaths is linked to a new formulation called N-Desethyl etonitazene, which was identified by a national laboratory, and is thought to be the first related death.

The Conversation interviewed Dr. Christopher Holstege, professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and director of the Blue Ridge Poison Center, where opioid overdoses are increasing. He explains why nitazenes are so potent and deadly.

WHAT ARE NITAZENES?

Nitazenes are a class of synthetic opioids that contains more than 20 unique compounds, including isotonitazene, which was first identified in 2019 and is known on the streets as ISO. It also

includes protonitazene, metonitazene and etonitazene. Nitazenes are psychoactive substances, or “designer drugs,” that aren’t controlled by any laws or conventions but pose significant health risk to the public. These substances have recently surfaced as illegal street drugs.

Researchers have relatively little information on how the human body reacts to nitazenes because the drugs have never gone through clinical trials. But lab tests show certain nitazenes could be hundreds to thousands of times more potent than morphine and 10 to 40 times stronger than fentanyl.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has classified many formulations of nitazenes as Schedule 1 drugs under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning they have no medical use and have a high risk of abuse.

WHEN WERE NITAZENES FIRST DEVELOPED?

Administration for medical use in humans. They were nearly forgotten outside of specialized research circles until they reemerged as street drugs in 2019. As law enforcement has cracked down on other drugs such as fentanyl, illegal labs have used historical pharmacology research to formulate analogs of nitazenes as street drugs.

Since 2019, at least six formulas have come from the original patent, but others, like the one detected in Boulder, are brand new. Specialized lab testing is required to identify nitazenes in toxicology samples, and fentanyl test strips can’t detect nitazene analogs.

Nitazenes were initially developed in the 1950s by the pharmaceutical research laboratories of the Swiss chemical company CIBA Aktiengesellschaft. It synthesized numerous substances in the drug class to be used as painkillers.

However, nitazenes were never approved by the U.S. Food and Drug

But since first being detected, nitazenes have been blamed for 200 drugrelated overdose deaths in Europe and the U.S. Although nitazenes are now identified as illegal street drugs in numerous countries, many medical providers aren’t even aware they exist.

WHAT TYPES OF NITAZENES ARE SHOWING UP ON THE STREETS?

Nitazene first appeared in 2019 in the Midwest as a white powdery substance similar to cocaine. It later appeared on the streets of Washington, D.C., as yel-

low, brown and white powders. Since 2022, the DEA has found other types of nitazenes in both powder and blue tablet forms.

Nitazenes are also mixed with other street drugs such as heroin and fentanyl and with fake oxycodone pills, without users knowing it.

The Justice Department has indicted several companies in China, alleging that they ship the raw chemicals to make nitazenes to Mexico and the U.S., where they get mixed by cartels and traffickers, then distributed on the streets.

WHAT ARE SIGNS OF A NITAZENE OVERDOSE?

The toxic effects of nitazene resemble those associated with other classic opioids such as morphine and fentanyl and include small pupils and slowing of the respiratory and central nervous systems, which can lead to death.

Because of the potency of the nitazenes, symptoms can develop rapidly after someone is exposed, killing them before they can get medical care.

DOES NALOXONE COUNTERACT THE EFFECTS OF OVERDOSE?

Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, is reportedly effective in reversing overdoses due to nitazene, but larger and multiple doses might be required. The

Courtesy: The Conversation