Boulder Weekly 06.27.2024

BOOM! Firework shows light up the Front Range P. 27

BOULDER'S SUNDANCE BID P. 13

SOUTHWEST EMO FEST

P. 22

HOT GRILL SUMMER P. 35

CONTENTS 06.27. 2024

5 Credit: Andy Schlichting

05 OPINION Boulder nonprofits help people with disabilities

make the most of Colorado’s natural beauty BY JENN OCHS

15 NEWS Naropa looks to sell preschool, property to shore up bottom line BY ADAM PERRY

22 MUSIC Southwest Emo Fest brings big feels to the Front Range BY JEZY J. GRAY

27

COVER A roundup of the best local light shows and fireworks BY BOULDER WEEKLY STAFF

DEPARTMENTS 06 OPINION

Aging population needs help with transportation

13 NEWS

Boulder makes bid for Sundance

17 NEWS

BoCo votes on coal fire mitigation

24 STAGE

The Spark tackles arts affordability woes

25 FILM

Kinds of Kindness and the Greek Weird Wave

BOULDER WEEKLY

28 EVENTS

Where to go and what to do

32 ASTROLOGY Be like a border collie

33 SAVAGE LOVE On trauma and BDSM

35 NIBBLES Hot grill summer

38 ON DRUGS

we embrace diversity Join us in embracing love, diversity, and vibrant self-expression.

-pride flag tape-in extension -hair tinsel -festival braids

The triumphant return of Sha’Carri Richardson

Sunday June 30th JUNE 27, 2024

3

COMMENTARY JUNE 27, 2024

Volume 31, Number 45 PUBLISHER: Francis J. Zankowski

E DIT ORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Shay Castle ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR: Jezy J. Gray REPORTERS: Kaylee Harter, Will Matuska FOOD EDITOR: John Lehndorff INTERN: John Kowalski CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Zoe DeVito, Nadra Nittle, Jenn Ochs, Adam Perry, Dan Savage, Ann Schimke, Toni Tresca

S A LE S AND MARKET I NG 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

P ROD UCTION CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Erik Wogen SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Mark Goodman GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Chris Sawyer

C I RC UL ATION CIRCULATION MANAGER: Cal Winn CIRCULATION TEAM: Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

B US I NESS OFFICE

OPINION

BOOKKEEPER/ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: 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.

BOULDER WEEKLY

OUTWARD BOUND Adaptive recreation makes it possible for people with disabilities to enjoy the great outdoors

BY JENN OCHS

I

’ve always been adventurous.

Growing up, I practically lived at the creek in my neighborhood. I would create little homes for myself along the bank.

When I became a wheelchair user, I thought my life was over. Try to imagine how you would feel if you suddenly couldn’t walk and overnight you became dependent on others. In talking to a good friend, we agreed that grieving the loss of your old self is vital to recovery. I think it’s the only way to

learn that you’re still you; you’re just a different version of yourself.

Contrary to popular belief, there are a few benefits to being a wheelchair user. Adaptive recreation is one of them.

For more than 30 years, groups of volunteers with Expand Beyond have provided speed boats, jet skis and adaptive equipment to help those with disabilities to sit-ski and wakeboard.

Just this week, I watched an older blind gentleman waterski as I waited

for my turn at the Boulder Reservoir.

After donning a life jacket and wetsuit, I was wheeled out onto a dock by the group volunteers. Two strong volunteers lowered me to a seated position on the board, and a metal cage secured me there. Outriggers lay parallel on either side of the rig, taking away the need for balance and steering. A ski rope was secured at the top tip of the main board, then volunteers lowered me backward into the water from the dock.

Once in the water, the starter volunteer straightened the line and positioned me behind the boat. When I was ready, the starter yelled, “Hit it!” to the driver.

As soon as I rose up out of the water, I had a smile on my face. I didn’t have to steer, which allowed me to completely enjoy the experience; hitting choppy water made me giggle JUNE 27, 2024

5

OPINION out loud. I love speed and the feeling of rising to the surface. I like to stretch my arms out to the side like I’m flying. I also love to look at all the beautiful scenery that surrounds me.

Four volunteers followed me on two jet skis. If I had crashed, the rescue diver would have made sure my head stayed above water. The starter was there to reposition me in case I wanted to try again.

I get to do this every Tuesday morning this summer. My goal is to remove the outriggers and to use a handle on the rope to steer over the wake.

This amazing activity is only made possible by the incredible generosity of volunteers who give not only their time and expertise but also all the equipment and gas for the speed boats and jet skis.

Another adaptive recreational opportunity is hiking provided by The Lockwood Foundation. Founder Jeffrey Lockwood researched and found the TrailRider chair before starting the Boulder-based nonprofit.

The TrailRider is similar to a wheelbarrow, with one wheel in the back and handles in the front. A group of volunteers carry the chair and adaptive rider while hiking up a mountain.

Typically, one person carries the back of the chair, another carries the

front and two to three volunteers carry the sides. Throughout the hike, the volunteers switch out positions to conserve strength and energy.

When I’m on the TrailRider, I feel like Cleopatra reclining on a palanquin while being carried along.

Adaptive riders will first do a trial hike. This allows the adaptive rider and volunteer team to learn if the chair can Above: Author Jenn Ochs on the summit of Mines Peak. Courtesy: Andy Schlichting. Left: Jenn Ochs prepares to waterski at Boulder Reservoir, assisted by Boulder nonprofit Expand Beyond. Courtesy: Jenn Ochs

be ridden safely and comfortably. After completing a trial hike, the adaptive rider can sign up to participate in long hikes.

The Lockwood Foundation does not charge hikers for anything, an amazing fact considering that one TrailRider chair can cost up to $10,000.

On Father’s Day, The Lockwood Foundation took me on a hike to summit Mines Peak at Berthoud Pass, an

elevation of 12,400 feet above sea level. It felt like the opportunity was created by my dad in heaven. We loved driving to the mountains to ski together.

Two other adaptive hikers joined my adventure, including a young girl with a terminal illness and a wheelchair user from New York who traveled with a team from all over the country to Colorado. Mines Peak was training for his ultimate goal to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.

The beauty of hiking with The Lockwood Foundation is that it is beneficial for everyone involved. The incredi-

ble bond created by people working together for a common goal makes lifelong memories to cherish. Three hiking teams and several dogs worked together to climb Mines Peak. Once we reached the summit, we celebrated with a group howl.

Organizations like The Lockwood Foundation and Expand Beyond only exist thanks to big-hearted volunteers. These remarkable humans donate their time and resources to help others. That is a beautiful reminder of the good in humanity.

Please visit thelockwoodfoundation. org and expandbeyondinc.com to donate your time or money to these worthy causes.

I have learned that becoming disabled didn’t end my life. Our bodies will change and possibly fail, but our mental strength determines when life is over.

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.

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

OPINION

SECURE THE FUTURE, NOW Colorado sees growing demand for accessible transportation

BY ZOE DEVITO

T

he people quoted above want to ride with Via, a Boulderbased nonprofit provider of affordable, accessible transportation.

Our specially trained drivers help people with limited mobility enhance their independence and self-sufficiency. We 6

JUNE 27, 2024

“My husband, Albert, is a retired police officer. He is 87 years old and has had multiple surgeries. Recently, his right leg was amputated above the knee. He uses a wheelchair, and I can’t bring him in my car. Getting where we need to go has been challenging, like rehab facilities. I broke my arm, and I’ve had hip surgeries. We need accessible transportation to get where we need to go.” — Marie Sandoval

“It would help me a lot if I could get rides to and from the doctor and grocery stores. My family can’t bring me where I need to go. Sometimes, I can’t go to the doctor when I need to. I would ride with Via [Mobility Services] multiple times a week if I could. It would make a big difference.”

— Michael Gallegos

“My brother, Michael, recently passed. My sister and brother usually drove him to appointments; it was challenging because they both worked. I flew in from out of state multiple times to help my siblings and ensure Michael received the care he needed. We made it work to get him where he needed to go, but getting even a few rides a month would have greatly reduced the pressure on him and our family.”

— Dawn I. (last name withheld for privacy)

“My dad is 90 years old and lives in a retirement community. He relies on me, my husband and my sister for rides to dialysis three days a week. My dad feels guilty about taking up so much of our time. Transportation with Via would give him the independence he needs and be an amazing blessing for our family.” — Karen (last name withheld for privacy)

provide about 12,000 accessible trips for older adults and people with disabilities every year.

Karen, Michael, Dawn and Marie all reside in our service areas. But we

can’t accommodate them because we are at capacity. Marie and her husband used to ride with Via and lapsed. When they tried to register with us again, there was no room.

Despite serving thousands of Colorado residents each year, Via estimates that at least an additional 1,000 individuals need accessible transportation. That’s 1,000 older adults and BOULDER WEEKLY

A NEW CHAPTER: NORTH BOULDER LIBRARY GRAND OPENING

FREE EVENT: JUNE 29TH FROM 10 A.M. TO 1 P.M. 4500 13TH STREET, BOULDER

OPINION

Flatiron Sunrise by Kristen Ross

July 19 - 21 | Pearl Street Mall

Friday: 3pm-8pm / Saturday: 10am-7pm / Sunday: 10am-5pm From whimsical and modern sculptures to traditional watercolors, oils & more, Pearl Street Arts Fest is a beautiful outdoor gallery nestled in the heart of downtown Boulder on the renowned Pearl Street Mall.

PearlStreetArtsFest.com presented by

Every Saturday and Sunday, City of Boulder Parking Garages are free (BoulderParking.com).

Please leave pets at home - event is for humans only!

8

JUNE 27, 2024

people with disabilities missing a crucial medical appointment, not having enough groceries at home or remaining isolated instead of connecting with others.

The aging population means there are more older people than ever before needing accessible transportation. Existing funding sources are insufficient to support the increased need or Via’s desire to scale.

There are some government plans to increase funding for transportation.

Via’s CEO, Frank W. Bruno, played a pivotal role in ensuring that nonprofit public transit providers like Via are eligible recipients of funds from SB24-230. This recently passed bill taxes oil and gas companies to fund public transit in Colorado. But much more funding will be necessary to help organizations like Via meet the growing need for accessible transportation.

$3M NEEDED

This growth in the older population is driven mainly by the aging of the baby boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964. By 2030, all baby boomers will be 65 or older.

In 2020, about 1 in 6 people in the United States were 65 and over; in 1920, less than 1 in 20 were. Given this rapid aging, Pew Research Center concluded that “the cost of our programs for seniors will soon exceed half of the federal budget.”

Government spending will need to increase on the state and local levels as well. This worsening problem cannot be solved by nonprofits or residents.

Via does not charge riders the total service cost: 82% of our funding goes to direct services for our neighbors with limited mobility rather than on administration. Some rides are free for riders, paid for by grants or contracts. Riders in some service areas are charged a fare, capped at just $12 for longer trips across municipal boundaries.

To accommodate another 1,000 riders this year would cost roughly $3 million. That’s about 12% of Via’s annual budget. And we expect both the amount of people needing accessible transportation and the cost of each trip to rise every year.

Due to surging inflation and a nationwide driver and mechanic shortage, operating costs have increased significantly since 2020.

Revenues from grants and other sources have stayed the same or decreased.

Via has made progress toward financial stability by adopting new route management software and purchasing a satellite facility in Denver after leasing for over 20 years. These measures have improved operational efficiency and reduced costs.

Via also relies on grants and income-generating contracts as a BOULDER WEEKLY

OPINION

Around 1,000 older adults and people with disabilities are in need of Via’s accessible transportation services, the Boulder nonprofit estimates.

Courtesy: Via

social enterprise to assist its accessible transportation program and actively pursues new contracts to bridge this gap. We partner with municipalities like the City of Boulder to operate and maintain its HOP public buses. The HOP and a dozen other transit services contribute to the costs of Via’s founding mission services.

HOW TO HELP

Support from individuals is also an important piece of the funding pie that makes Via’s accessible transportation services possible. Donations can help Via meet the growing demand and continue our commitment to mobility for all, for life. Past gifts of stocks and bequests from caring donors’ wills have made a big difference in helping meet the needs of our older and disabled neighbors.

Some other ways to help: • Contact elected officials. Write or call your local and state representatives to express your support for increased funding for public transit and nonprofits like Via. • Stay informed. Follow legislative developments related to public transit funding and share updates within your network.

• Participate. Attend and testify at public hearings to advocate for policies that support accessible transportation services. You can BOULDER WEEKLY

attend the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners’ regular public hearings, where residents can provide input on various issues, including transportation. Upcoming meetings can be found on their public meetings page. Meetings are generally held weekly.

• Become an advocate. Join a local or national advocacy group focused on public transit and nonprofit funding, such as Boulder County Mobility for All. • Spread the word. Use social media to raise awareness about funding accessible transportation services. Start with sharing this piece to your networks.

Your support is crucial. For more information or to donate, please visit viacolorado.org/give or contact 720.507.8606.

Zoe DeVito is director of development and communications for Via Mobility Services. Founded in 1979, Via helps thousands of riders in multiple counties in Colorado live more self-sufficient lives by providing caring, accessible, door-through-door transportation. Via also operates several public transit bus services under contract, such as the City of Boulder’s HOP and Littleton Omnibus.

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

JUNE 27, 2024

9

1520 S. Hover St, Suite D, Longmont, CO (720) 680-0551 • www.wbu.com/longmont

303-477-1468 ApplewoodFixIt.com Family-owned and operated!

OPEN 6AM to 10PM 7 DAYS A WEEK

HAPPY HOUR

ALL DAY MONDAY - THURSDAY

Draft Beer - Buy one Get one for $1 $5 House Margarita - 12 oz $3 Mimosa Taco Tuesday $2 Tacos 2030 Ken Pratt Blvd. • Longmont, CO • 303-776-1747 blueagaverestaurant.net

www.bricksretail.com

Winner 6 Years Running!

Longmont’s source for BEAUTIFUL QUALITY GLASS 341 MAIN ST. • LONGMONT, CO

303-827-3181

LIKE US! facebook.com/publicmon

Thanks For Voting Us Best Longmont Bike Shop 6 Years In A Row!

Thank You Longmont!

One of Boulder County’s Largest Selections of Natural Pet Food!

BEST PET STORE

Four Paws & Co

1225 Ken Pratt Blvd #108

LongmontBikes.com 314 Main St. Longmont, CO | 303-834-9994

(Between Le Peep & Breeze Thru Car Wash)

Longmont, CO • 303.485.1565 www.fourpawsandco.com

Longmont’s

Over 90 dealers with new & used furniture, hOme decOr, & gifts

1201 S. Sunset St. Longmont, CO 80501 303.776.6605

Open Monday - Saturday 9am-6pm Closed Sunday @frontrangemercantile

461 MAIN STREET • LONGMONT, CO • 303-485-5020

www.rosaleespizzeria.com

Thank you for voting us

Best Shoe Store!

Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm • Sat 10am-5pm • Closed Sunday

Family-friendly brewery serving handcrafted lagers and ales Hours: Mon-Thurs 3-9pm • Fri 3-10pm • Sat 12-10pm • Sun 12-9m

6778 N. 79th St. Niwot, CO • 303-834-9123 fritzfamilybrewers.com

FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART, WE WANT TO THANK OUR COMMUNITY FOR SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES! 5340 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder • 1015 Pearl St, Boulder • 1521 Pearl St, Boulder 1898 S. Flatirons Ct, #110, Boulder • 1232-A S. Hoover St, Longmont OZOCOFFEE.COM

An eclectic mix of regionally sourced food Our hOmemade gluten-free bread makes all the difference (720) 487-2571 • 11809 N 75th Street, Longmont

PR ES ENT S A S PEC IAL EN GAG E M E NT

Penner’s 75-minute tour de force is spine-tingling, fierce and un-blinking.

July 11 - 21 TICKETS at BETC.ORG

NEWS

BOCO, BRIEFLY Local news at a glance

BY SHAY CASTLE

BOULDER MAKES BID FOR SUNDANCE

Boulder is bidding to become the new home of the iconic Sundance Film Festival. A formal proposal was submitted by the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Boulder), the City of Boulder, the Boulder Chamber, the University of Colorado and the Stanley Film Center in Estes Park.

Sundance Institute, the organization behind the nation’s largest independent film festival, in April announced its intentions to explore new locations after the current contract ends in 2026. The event has been held in Park City and Provo, Utah, since 1981.

Festival officials have not explicitly stated why they are considering a move, but many believe Utah’s antiLGBTQ+ laws were a factor. Sundance

published an explainer on HB257, which restricts changing room and restroom access for gender nonconforming individuals, and a news release announcing the bidding process stated, “The Institute is making sure that inclusivity and sustainability are always at the forefront of the festival experience.”

Multiple outlets reported 15 cities being in the running to host the festival, including Santa Fe (NM), San Francisco (CA) and Savannah (GA). Utah also submitted a bid to keep the festival in-state.

An affiliated Directors Lab already relocated to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Amy Redford, daughter of festival founder Robert Redford, sits on the committee. Robert Redford attended CU Boulder and worked at The Sink in Boulder.

The Colorado Economic Development Commission pledged $1.5 million if the festival relocates to Boulder.

GRAY WOLF PUP BORN IN COLORADO

At least one pup has been born to gray wolves released in Colorado last year, wildlife officials confirmed last week. “It is possible that other pups may be present, as wolf litters commonly consist of four to six pups,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said in a news release.

Using data from the wolves’ tracking collars, CPW in April suspected a female wolf had moved into a den to give birth. During “routine wolf monitoring efforts” on June 18, CPW biologists

ELECTION RESULTS

Junie Joseph and Judy Amabile are set to win their primary battles for Colorado House District 10 and Senate District 18, respectively. In the closely watched race for District 2 seat on the state board of education, Kathy Gebhardt led over the Gov. Jared Polis-endorsed Marisol Rodriguez despite the $1 million-plus in special interest money spent in support of Rodriguez.

Preliminary results from the Secretary of State’s Office, as of Wednesday afternoon are listed on the right (in order of appearance on the ballot).

In the Republican primary, Kathy Reeves won the HD11 seat over opponent Terri Goon, and Mark Milliam advanced to the general election for HD12 by besting Robert Mahler.

Voter turnout was 25% as of 1 p.m.

Wednesday, according to state election data.

That number may change as more ballots are counted. Polls closed Tuesday, June 25 at 7 p.m. Find unofficial results at bit.ly/3Vya6Kk.

confirmed the presence of one pup, though the agency did not say how.

“There are no photos or videos at this time,” the release stated.

The successful breeding officially makes the group of wolves a pack, which CPW has named the Copper Creek Pack.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION DISTRICT 2

Kathy Gebhardt: 56% Marisol Rodriguez: 44%

CU REGENT - AT LARGE Elliot Hood: 52% Charles “CJ” Johnson: 48%

SENATE DISTRICT 18 Judy Amabile: 77% Jovita Schiffer: 23%

HOUSE DISTRICT 10 Junie Joseph: 59% Tina Mueh: 41%

HOUSE DISTRICT 49 Lesley Smith: 72% Max Woodfin: 28%

• Boulder Creek reopened to inflatable tubes and rafts July 21. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office closed the creek from Boulder Falls to 55th Street amid high water volume and after three deaths on the waterway so far this year.

IN OTHER NEWS…

• The Nederland Fire Protection

District (NFPD) is evaluating cisterns on private property to ensure a proper water supply for firefighting efforts. Residents with cisterns, a type of underground water storage, are asked to fill out a form and schedule an inspection. Visit nfpd.org/cisterns.

Dine-in or orDer on-line for Take-ouT

phocafelafayette.com

1085 S Public Rd. Lafayette (303) 665-0666 Hours: Tues-Sun: 11a-8:30p Closed Monday BOULDER WEEKLY

Best Asian Fusion

Thank You for Voting us Best Asian Fusion Restaurant for 8 years!

JUNE 27, 2024

13

MORE FUN TRAILS • Volunteer to build/maintain trail • Meet up for a Group Ride • Come out for a Skills Clinic Connect with the Boulder mountain bike community Join (BMA membership) to support our programs Join BMA today and access social events and group rides--

bouldermountainbike.org

bouldermountainbike.org

FREE

In-Home Consultation, Installation & Warranty

WINDOW TREATMENTS TO BUZZ ABOUT Our custom window coverings, including energy-efficient options like honeycomb and roller shades, bring effortless elegance.

Plus, some products qualify for federal tax credits up to $1200!

Proudly supporting the local community as members of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce.

• Custom Drapery & Hardware • Flexible Financing • Quality Modern Styles

• Expert Service and Repair

720.704.4149 bumblebeeblinds.com/boulder-co

NEWS

‘THERE IS MAGIC AT ALAYA’ Parents, teachers scramble as Naropa plans to sell historic preschool property

BY ADAM PERRY

O

n a mild May day, a dozenplus four- and five-year-olds traipsed across a small bridge that served as a stage of sorts, grasping diplomas in their tiny hands.

Parents wept as teachers read a personal poem for each student. It was the annual celebration for graduating “garudas,” the name Alaya Preschool gives its oldest students.

The small, Buddhist-inspired organization was founded alongside Naropa University in 1976 to serve Boulder’s budding intentional community. Today, Naropa owns both the school itself and the property on which it is located.

Like its higher education twin, Alaya’s curriculum is grounded in contemplative education. The grounds, tucked away from view on 19th Street in North Boulder, are rich with trees and gardens, a bicycle obstacle course and play structures built by devoted teachers, parents and community members over the past 45 years.

“There is something unique and special about the land that Alaya

Alaya has instilled in all of us is ‘What is the information that we have at the present moment?’” says Rachel Euser, parent of an Alaya grad who now lives in California. “I’m sure that this plan will sort of forge as we move forward with the intention in mind that we are going to keep the school afloat, knowing that children are being fostered in this way to go out into the world. I just think this community will band together.”

Euser says her family loves Alaya so much that their houseplants are named after Alaya teachers. They visit Boulder in the summers so their kids

Charles “Chuck” Lief. “We are always tight financially.”

But the COVID-19 pandemic added stress to an already precarious economic environment.

“Unlike many, many schools, we didn’t lay off a single person during the entire pandemic,” Lief explains. “That cost us a lot of money, because we lost students for natural reasons. We made the decision that we were not going to furlough our staff because they had families in need. But that no question cost us money, and we’re still catching up.”

can go to Alaya camps.

“There is magic at Alaya,” Euser says, “and I do know that magic tends to deliver itself. This is a tall order, and I believe with my full heart that we can do it.”

Other effects of COVID also factored into the decision to sell Alaya, like the switch to remote learning.

“We are now at a place where 50% of our student body is online,” Lief says.

“That was from virtually zero pre-COVID. We have more real estate than we are going to have any near- or longterm need for. We still have a lot of inperson students, but we have way more space than we need.”

The property was recently appraised for $3 million, according to Alaya’s director, Rachel Steele. (Naropa officials declined to confirm the appraisal price.)

Naropa agreed that, however much the land was worth, that’s what Friends of Alaya would pay for the land and business combined.

Preschool sits on,” says Kaitlyn Sullivan, the school’s assistant director. “The impact from the families and children that have been there in the past is held on that land.”

The future of the property, however, is less secure. Finding itself with too much space and too little money post-COVID, Naropa is trying to sell the school and the land it sits on. Parents, teachers and other supporters have organized themselves into a group called Friends of Alaya and are attempting to raise the millions of dollars needed to buy the school and its property.

Passion is high, but so is the price tag. The group is still at least $1.5 million short, and the clock is ticking. But the community isn’t losing faith.

“I think that one thing Naropa president Charles “Chuck” Lief speaks at a recent Alaya graduation. Credit: Will Matuska

‘ALWAYS TIGHT’

Alaya Preschool was founded alongside Naropa University, which owns the school and the land it sits on.

Naropa hopes to sell the property by the end of the year. Credit: Will Matuska

BOULDER WEEKLY

Institutions of higher learning across the nation have tightened their belts as college enrollment has faced more than a decade of overall decline. For Naropa, a private university with less than 1,200 students, that’s nothing new.

“Naropa is a small liberalarts college,” says President

JUNE 27, 2024

15

Boulder Weekly Market

New merchants and specials added regularly Check it out so you can start saving!

An online market for discounts on local dining & retail up to 30% off

bestofboulderdeals.kostizi.com Go to website to purchase

NEWS “If I were to sell it to Bright Horizons or one of the bigger early childhood chains, that’s a different story,” Lief says. “Then I would want to value the business as well, because it makes decent revenue. But for this group, that number is zero.”

So far, the group has raised $400,000 in actual and pledged donations. They have until December to get the rest, which is when Naropa wants to have the sale completed.

Steele praised Lief as a “champion” of Alaya. He and his wife, Judy, were founding Alaya parents. One of his children went on to teach there.

Lief himself was Alaya’s lawyer in the 1980s.

“The reason Alaya stayed connected to Naropa so long was because of Chuck and his dedication to the school,” Euser adds.

Though there was confusion and fear over the sale in the beginning, Lief says Naropa and Friends of Alaya are now “on the same page.”

“I don’t have to take a backseat to anybody in terms of my commitment to the place, for sure,” he says. “It’s just a question of whether or not Naropa is the right home for a preschool when we don’t have a preschool education program. I think the answer is no.”

‘WE’RE GOING TO GET THAT MONEY’

For parents, keeping Alaya alive is about more than preserving the school’s unique education offerings and history. They also worry about where they and other parents might go.

“If Alaya closes,” says assistant director Sullivan, “43 [preschool] spots in Boulder would be lost.”

Boulder County is “facing somewhat of a crisis” when it comes to availability and affordability of childcare for kids ages zero to five, says Kaycee Headrick, CEO of the Early Childhood Council of Boulder County.

Since July 2023, 11 licensed child care programs have closed in Boulder County, removing capacity for approximately 450 children. The most common reasons for closures are workforce shortages, financial hardships and regulations require16

JUNE 27, 2024

ments, according to Headrick.

“While during this same time new programs have opened, these new programs are skewed heavily towards toddler/preschool slots, leaving pervasive gaps in care for children ages 0-3,” Headrick wrote in response to emailed followup questions. “We estimate in Boulder County that for every five infant/toddlers who need care, only one can access it.

“Our council has really deep relationships with providers across the county,” Headrick says. “We don’t want any providers closed, and we know that Alaya in particular serves as such a legacy entity. Generations of families have gone there. We’re working with Rachel and her team to support them in any way they might need.”

Another location is “not off the table as a last resort” if Friends of Alaya can’t come up with $3 million by December, Steele says. But, in her mind, “there is no other comparable location.”

For now, everyone involved is focused on their financial goal. Lief says that if Alaya ends up on the open market, Naropa would not be including the business in the sale.

“With all eyes on this right now, we’re going to get that money,” says Paige Doughty, an Alaya parent who is chairing the fundraising efforts.

“This has been in our awareness for at least a year.

“I talk to the teachers, and they’re, like, ‘We’re going to do our job and we know it’s going to work out because we’re so held by this community.’”

Louise Brooke, who has taught at Alaya for 15 years, says at the beginning of the process, “there was definitely a bit of stress, but even then, there was optimism.”

“Basically what I felt is just a little bit of sadness or disappointment or stress at the very beginning, hearing about it all,” she says. Since then, “I’ve just heard a determination, a kind of a fierce determination mixed with optimism. We can do this together.”

Editor’s note: Adam Perry helped organize an upcoming benefit concert for Alaya.

BOULDER WEEKLY

NEWS

GOV’T WATCH What your local officials are up to this week

BY WILL MATUSKA BOULDER CITY COUNCIL

Council summer recess is scheduled from June 29 through July 21. The next meeting will be July 25.

BOULDER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

During the week of July 1, commissioners will: • Hold a public hearing and make a decision July 2 at 1 p.m. on a special use review submitted by the City of Boulder for subsurface coal fire mitigation at the Marshall Number 3 coal mine and for redevelopment of the Marshall Mesa trailhead (1842 S. Foothills Highway). According to the state, five acres will be excavated in the area, down 30 feet to the coal seam, as crews remove smoldering coal and blend it with soil.

State mitigation work is expected to take four months to complete, starting this fall. The trailhead will be closed for a year due to mitigation work and trailhead renovations, according to the city. The last state assessment in 2018 found 38 coal mine fires in Colorado, including “low activity” at the Marshall coal mine.

Boulder County offices will be closed July 4 and 5.

LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL

On June 24, council: • Received an update on Phase II of exploring a Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to oversee the development of Lafayette as the town’s Urban Renewal Authority expires.

This phase includes finalizing the boundaries and financial projections for the sales and property tax that will fund the DDA. Staff will recommend whether or not to move forward with the initiative at a July 22 city council workshop. Council will take a preliminary vote Aug. 6 on whether to put the measure on the November ballot.

• Learned about the city’s financial performance for 2023.

Overall, staff reported slower growth in sales and use tax compared to the previous year. Sales tax, which makes up 55% of the city’s budget, grew less than half a percent, down from a 9.1% growth in 2022. Use tax decreased by 17%, to $4.3 million, mostly due to taxes from construction activity continuing a multi-year decline.

The city’s total expenditures in 2023 were $61.4 million.

Revenue is projected to stay flat into 2024 and 2025 amid high interest rates and inflation.

All agendas are subject to change. Karen Norback contributed to this reporting.

Sandal HeadquarterS Birkenstock, Chaco, Teva, Dansko, OluKai, Ecco, Taos, Naot and more!

Comfortableshoes.com BOULDER On the Downtown Mall at 1425 Pearl St. 303-449-5260 & in The Village next to McGuckin 303-449-7440

DENVER Next to REI at 15th & Platte at 2368 15th St. 720-532-1084

The World’s Most Comfortable Brands of Shoes

all ClOGS $10 - $50 OFF Set the summer trend.

Choose high MPG or–better yet—an EV to reduce ground-level ozone.

Created from pollutants like car exhaust, ozone is the Front Range’s biggest air quality issue and a leading cause of respiratory problems.

Text “BETTERAIRCO” to 21000 to sign up for ozone alerts.

BOULDER WEEKLY

JUNE 27, 2024

17

NEWS

ON THE UPSWING Fewer Colorado youth feel sad, suicidal, health survey finds

JUUL SUIT PAYS OFF

BY ANN SCHIMKE CHALKBEAT COLORADO

F

ewer Colorado youth felt consistently sad or hopeless and fewer considered suicide last year compared with 2021, a large statewide health survey found.

The results from the Healthy Kids Colorado survey represent a bright spot after unprecedented levels of teen anxiety and depression surfaced during the pandemic. The situation was dire enough that state lawmakers took swift action, creating a program in 2021 to provide free counseling sessions to children and youth. Many school districts also launched free counseling programs and hired additional social workers, counselors and psychologists.

Leaders at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which publishes the survey results, were pleased with the survey findings released last week.

“There have been dramatic changes in the right direction around indicators of mental health, suicide risk, and substance use,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, the department’s executive director, in a press release. “We’re hopeful this is an indication of state and community investments in prevention programming and protective factors paying off.”

LGBTQ+ DISPARITIES

The 2023 Healthy Kids findings on youth mental health are among the most notable of the survey results. In some cases they improved to well beyond pre-pandemic levels.

For example, 26% of high-schoolers reported persistent feelings of BOULDER WEEKLY

students generally. Gay and lesbian students also reported higher rates of sadness and hopelessness, and that they’d seriously considered suicide.

More efforts to improve youth mental health are on the way in Colorado.

hopelessness or sadness in the 2023 survey, down from 40% in 2021 and 35% in 2019. In addition, 11% of high schoolers seriously considered suicide, down from 17% in 2021. Middle schoolers also saw drops in both categories.

Among both middle and high school students, 58% reported their stress level was manageable most days — an improvement for high

In May, the state announced a program that will train young adults ages 18 to 24 to connect youth with mental health support. This month, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced a new youth mental health grant program funded with millions from a lawsuit settlement with e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. Colorado will spend $20 million of its $31.7 million lawsuit settlement with the company on a program to prioritize collaborations between

school students compared with 2021, but the same for middle schoolers.

While bullying overall didn’t increase in 2023 compared with 2021, LGBTQ+ students reported significantly higher rates of bullying than other students. For example, 29% of gay and lesbian high school students reported being bullied during the previous year, compared with 12% of

school districts and community organizations. School districts will ​​ be invited to apply for grants later this year.

Colorado sued Juul in 2020, alleging that it targeted youth with deceptive marketing and played down the health risks of vaping. The state was one of several that settled with the company. Juul did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. An

$11.4 million grant program for school districts to address the youth vaping crisis will also be paid for from the settlement.

Thirty percent of Colorado high school students reported having vaped at least once, according to the most recent data from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, which is administered every other year.

Sixteen percent of students said they’d vaped in the last 30 days.

LARGEST RESPONSE

The Healthy Kids survey has been given under various names since 1991. It has occasionally sparked backlash over concerns about data privacy or because some critics say the questions are too explicit.

Public health officials emphasize the survey is voluntary for students and provides key information about how pre-teens and teens are faring when it comes to physical, sexual and mental health.

More than 120,000 students completed the survey in 2023 — the most ever.

State officials added several new questions to the 2023 survey, including about feeling safe at school, nightly sleep hours, use of psychedelic drugs, body image and eating disorders.

One of the new questions revealed that nearly a quarter of high-schoolers and middle schoolers reported trying to lose weight or maintain their weight in unhealthy ways during the previous month — for example, by using diet pills, skipping meals or vomiting.

Another new question revealed that large proportions of students worry about their physical appearance all or most of the time — 39% for high schoolers and 32% for middle schoolers.

Melanie Asmar contributed reporting.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization committed to covering education and related issues.

JUNE 27, 2024

19

MUSIC

BUMMER IN THE SUMMER Southwest Emo Fest brings big feels to the Front Range

BY JEZY J. GRAY

I

n the 1964 Supreme Court case Jacobellis v. Ohio, a First Amendment tangle over the line between art and obscenity, Justice Potter Stewart offered a famously subjective metric for identifying pornography that has echoed through the ages: “I know it when I see it.”

The same could be said of the subgenre known (sometimes pejoratively) as emo. Originally shorthand for “emotional hardcore” in the frenetic D.C. punk scene of the 1980s, the term has since come to describe a broad swath of sincere sounds with seemingly little in common — from the arena-ready catharsis of millenni-

al mall-rockers Paramore to the bummer beats of late Long Island mumble rapper Lil Peep.

“I rarely actually use the word when I’m talking to folks who aren’t immersed in the scene, or aren’t hyper-online or punk or whatever,” says singer-songwriter Ben Sooy of Denver band A Place for Owls, whose gentle-rocking take on the style is marked by shimmering guitars and reflective lyrics on love, loss and belonging. “But we do claim emo as a badge of honor. It essentially means elevated emotions. You’re going to feel big feelings when you listen to our band.”

Big feelings will abound when Southwest Emo Fest makes its Front Range debut at Larimer Lounge on June 29. The all-day showcase got its start last year in New Mexico when two emo-adjacent tours collided in Albuquerque, featuring a handful of bands who will return for this year’s Colorado iteration: Troubled Minds, Savings and Right on Kid. They’ll be joined on the upcoming Denver bill by local headliners A Place for Owls and fellow homegrown acts Oh Drifter, Summer Stars, The Losers Club and more. “​​There aren’t a whole lot of fests dedicated to this kind of sound in our part of the country,” says Matt Aldawood of Phoenix pop-punk emo outfit Troubled Minds, who helped orchestrate the inaugural festival. “I felt like we should be doing something to bring people together. This is us, as bands, seeing a need and taking initiative to try and make our scene better.”

That scene has faced its share of slings and arrows over the years.

After decades at sea in the choppy waters of critical consensus — online tastemaker Pitchfork famously gave Jimmy Eat World’s 1999 masterpiece Clarity a score of 3.5 before revising it more than 20 years later to 8.6 — the organizers behind Southwest Emo Fest hope the tide has turned for good.

“When the genre kind of died down, people moved on to different things,” says this year’s co-organizer Matthew Hanson, frontman of the Denver-based band Oh Drifter. “They had these pictures from high school with goofy haircuts, but then people got older and it became a meme: Felt emo, might delete later. The nostalgia came back, and people realized they liked that stuff in high school — and they still like it.”

ON THE BILL: Southwest

Denver band A Place for Owls headlines Southwest Emo Fest at Larimer Lounge on June 29. Credit: Eric Wencel

22

JUNE 27, 2024

Emo Fest feat. A Place for Owls, Oh Drifter, Troubled Minds and more. Noon7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 29, Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $18

‘WHAT WAVE OF EMO ARE YOU?’ Understanding the many lives of an elusive word FIRST WAVE (1984–1991)

Essential bands: Rites of Spring, Embrace, Moss Icon. Sounds like: hemorrhaging apologetically in the pit Fed up with the chest-thumping machismo of hardcore spaces in the early 1980s, a subset of artists began to turn the scene on its head. One of those musicians was Guy Picciotto, a creatively restless 19-year-old from the DIY hotbed of Washington, D.C. whose band Rites of Spring would set a template for a new style of extreme punk that emphasized vulnerability over violence.

Picciotto would again redraw the map with his more politically charged outfit Fugazi, spearheading a principled new era of independent rock that wore its anti-sellout ethics on its sleeve. Despite only being active from 1983 to 1986, Rites of Spring left an equally influential blueprint for a tumultuous style of guitar music that carved much-needed space for feelings amid the clamor and clangor of the mosh pit.

As the punk-rock iconoclast told a local zine at the time: “To hurt yourself playing guitar while falling around on stage is more noble than sitting weeping to yourself somewhere.”

SECOND WAVE (1992–2000)

Essential bands: Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid, American Football. Sounds like: the unnameable sadness of summer’s end As the grime of grunge lost its flannel-clad luster in the mid-90s, a new sound began to color the edges of DIY music scenes at house shows and punk clubs across the country. Growing out of the tradition sparked

by Picciotto and co. in the previous decade, emo’s second wave was beginning to crest.

Trading walls of distortion for twinkling guitars, wistful lyrics and off-kilter time signatures, this new mutation largely eschewed its hardcore roots in favor of something more polished and polite. Often dubbed “midwest emo” due to the heartland origins of bands like American Football, Braid and The Get BOULDER WEEKLY

MUSIC Up Kids, the second-wave era is arguably the slippery subgenre’s most defining.

In his seminal 2003 book Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers and Emo, music journalist Andy Greenwald sums it up like so: “This was the period when emo earned many, if not all, of the stereotypes that have lasted to this day: boy-driven, glasses-wearing, overly sensitive, overly brainy, chiming-guitar college music.”

THIRD WAVE (2001-2009)

Essential bands: My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Jimmy Eat World. Sounds like: being too nervous to talk to the Hot Topic cashier with a septum piercing While the Arizona-based quartet Jimmy Eat World got off the ground during emo’s fabled second wave, the band’s 2001 mega-hit “The Middle” would mark the subgenre’s unlikely divebomb into the mainstream. With its bouncy palm-muted guitars, crashing cymbals and life-affirming chorus, the track sailed to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Jimmy Eat World’s gate-crashing rise during the death rattle of the MTV era opened the door for a sonically diverse constellation of artists with disparate sounds and arena-sized ambitions. Bands like My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday and Paramore would soon follow suit, launching an ill-defined genre from the obscurity of sweaty midwestern basement shows to the profit ledgers of major labels and stadium marquees around the world.

FOURTH WAVE (2010-2018) Essential bands: Modern Baseball, Joyce Manor, Foxing. Sounds like: second-wave emo

Its stylistic boundaries more fluid than ever, the commercial success of thirdwave emo came with a head-splitting cultural hangover. Associated with the angular haircuts and “rawr xD” aesthetics of the early social media platform MySpace, the term fell more out of fashion than ever amid the rapid BOULDER WEEKLY

WANNA HURT YOUR OWN FEELINGS? Follow the QR

code for an emo mixtape curated by Ben Sooy of A Place for Owls, featuring modern classics and choice cuts from Southwest Emo Fest 2024.

rise of indie-sleaze hipsterism.

The genre’s tanking reputation had gone deeper than losing a few cool points, blossoming into a full-blown moral panic. In response to an imagined plague of suicidal teens in eyeliner typing tearful odes to self-harm on the internet, a 2008 article in the Daily Mail ran with the headline: “Why no child is safe from the sinister cult of emo.”

From this low point grew a new crop of artists who skipped the baggage of the previous decade by harkening back to the genre’s more innocent second wave. From the sensitive pop-punk stylings of Joyce Manor and Modern Baseball to the melancholic yearning of Foxing and The Hotelier, this new movement — dubbed the “emo revival” by culture writers — would mark a critical turning point for the scene that continues today.

FIFTH WAVE (2018–PRESENT)

Essential bands: Pool Kids, Sweet Pill, Home Is Where. Sounds like: secondwave emo with fewer dudes For a bridge between emo’s past and future, look to the festival circuit. The anticipated Best Friends Forever Fest happening this October in Las Vegas brings the old guard together with the new, featuring giants like Sunny Day Real Estate and American Football alongside an emerging slate of younger and more diverse acts like Sweet Pill, Mannequin Pussy and Pool Kids.

“I definitely grew up listening to the more commercial side, like Taking Back Sunday, Armor for Sleep and Paramore,” 29-year-old Sweet Pill frontwoman Zayna Youssef said in an interview last year. “I feel like that’d be a fun Buzzfeed quiz: ‘What Wave of Emo Are You?’”

50-60% Off

Selected MerchandiSe Lingerie, Swimwear & Apparel

2425 Canyon • 303-443-2421 www.christinasluxuries.com Mon-Sat 10-6 JUNE 27, 2024

23

STAGE

SPARKING CHANGE

affordability of our space. Summers had been relatively slow, but we now have a large number of people using our space, which is fantastic, so we reduced our programming to make more room for other organizations.”

In addition to renting space, The Spark stages its own theater productions, where students perform alongside experienced professionals who serve as mentors. This mentorship model allows students of all ages — from middle schoolers to adults — to learn directly from active theater artists, bridging the gap between educational and professional theater.

The organization recently announced its 2024-2025 season, which includes Carrie: The Musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Eurydice, Cinderella and The Prom. All of these

‘IT COSTS A LOT TO BE HERE’

Despite successful shows, The Spark faces steep operational challenges.

Local venue wants to help fill Boulder’s need The organization pays $12,000 per for accessible performing arts space month in rent ($144,000 per year), accounting for roughly half of its $300,000 annual operating budget.

BY TONI TRESCA The building owner suspended rent payments during the peak of the pandemic and forgave half of the accumutransformed the warehouse into a funcoulder prides itself on its arts lated rent, which they are still working tional arts venue, complete with two scene, but the city has long to repay. suffered from a lack of low-cost dance studios and a flexible 100-seat “We move a lot of money, and as a performance space. Enter The Spark, a theater space. nonprofit, we have to be open about it, “All of the rentable spaces have performing arts venue founded by but it costs a lot to be here,” Kenyon sprung floors designed so dancers can locals Dillon Kenyon and Marla Schulz says. “That’s the reality, and our taxes practice and perform without injury,” in 2019 to offer an outlet for creatives. went up 62% last year, so that’s an Kenyon says. “We have noticed that “We wanted to provide an affordable extra $1,000 a month. We’re making it houses in Boulder are rarely full for space for artists,” Kenyon explained work because that’s the cost of doing shows, so The Spark is an ideal size during a recent facilities tour with business in Boulder.” because it is not too big, making selling Boulder Weekly. “I met so many artists In addition to these financial working side jobs or teaching hurdles, The Spark also faces a [who] could not afford to make major obstacle when it comes their own art because Boulder is to marketing. so expensive. This was before “Our biggest challenge has COVID, and the Dairy Center been getting people to believe was always full, so we decided that we’re a legit place,” to take matters into our own Kenyon says. “When a new hands.” business starts, there is always They eventually settled on a the question of whether it will building just off Foothills Parkway survive, so the most difficult on east Pearl Street to house part has been getting the word rentable art space. The location out so people know who we eliminated the need for travelers are.” to drive through downtown Looking ahead, The Spark Boulder, which was important for hopes to secure additional Kenyon and Schulz since they grants — including critical dolhoped to attract clients from all lars from the Scientific and over Boulder County and Cultural Facilities District, a taxDenver. payer-supported funding mech“When we took over, it was a anism serving seven Front huge warehouse with no walls or Range counties, for which they bathrooms — it was just one big are now eligible. Current needs room,” Kenyon recalls. “Our goal The Spark co-founder Dillon Kenyon says the impetus for launching the venue on east Pearl Street was “to proinclude upgrades to equipment was to make the space as neuvide an affordable space for artists.” Courtesy: The Spark and infrastructure like outdoor tral as possible … we host shows will feature both children and signage and website improvements. everything from youth theater to burout a realistic possibility.” adult mentors working side by side.

“My number one goal is to become lesque. We are willing to do whatever The Spark has become a hub for a financially stable, so we can pay Mentors are paid or volunteer, and stuyou want as long as you are respectful, variety of arts organizations, including everyone what they are worth and dents pay flexible tuition based on their help us clean and pay the rent.”

Boulder Performing Arts Co., The allow anyone to participate without financial situation.

Dance Front and Synthesis Theatre “The Spark is not for everybody; not worrying about money,” Kenyon says.

Company.

Additionally, independent artWAREHOUSE TO “We aren’t there yet, but that’s the every adult wants to help coach teenists and smaller organizations use the WONDERLAND dream — the team is working hard to agers, but the people who do love it,” space for rehearsals and performancTheir first major project was obtaining a make it a reality.”

Kenyon says. “We stop to break things es. $20,000 grant from the City of Boulder down, and the adults talk about their “We typically work with 20 to 50 to install gender-neutral restrooms, process, which bumps up the quality of organizations at a time,” Kenyon says. which Fenyon says wasn’t enough to For more on The Spark’s upcoming the productions, so they don’t feel like “It varies, but we have a lot of repeat cover the entire construction cost, but productions, classes and camps, youth theater.” renters who love the flexibility and was “a nice start.” From there, they visit thesparkcreates.org.

B

24

JUNE 27, 2024

BOULDER WEEKLY

FILM Kinds of Kindness is a return to form for the Greek filmmaker behind last year’s Oscar-winning Poor Things.

Courtesy: Searchlight Pictures

RETURN TO WEIRD Yorgos Lanthimos embraces his roots with the inscrutable ‘Kinds of Kindness’ BY MICHAEL J. CASEY

W

hat do you even say about a movie like Kinds of Kindness? Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the film is composed of three stories, each involving a handful of characters, each played by the same handful of actors. The stories don’t really connect, except for the character of R.M.F. (Yorgos Stefanakos), a middle-aged man who never speaks. In the first story, R.M.F. must be killed. In the third story, R.M.F. must be resurrected. What happens in between is your best guess.

Born in Athens in 1973, Lanthimos came to prominence at the turn of the century with a handful of fellow filmmakers in a movement known as the “Greek Weird Wave.” Much like other contained movements in postmodern cinema — say Dogme 95 — the Greek Weird Wave was a jolt of energy into world cinema for its unusual stories, eccentric characters, quizzical structures and stilted pacing. If you haven’t seen Lanthimos’ Alps, you really should. It’s

BOULDER WEEKLY

about rhythmic gymnastics and professional impersonators. It’s wild.

Naturally, when they label a movement and make you the poster boy, Hollywood comes calling. And after 2011’s Alps, Lanthimos left Greece to make The Lobster and hasn’t looked back. The Lobster and its follow-up, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, are weird, but not nearly as weird as his Greek films. Then, in 2018, Lanthimos made The Favourite with Emma Stone, and a match made in weird heaven was born.

Stone is back for Kindness, first as Rita, a woman under the thumb of the domineering Raymond (Willem Dafoe).

Then as Liz, a shipwrecked marine biologist who returns home to find her husband, Daniel (Jesse Plemons), a cold and domineering man. And finally as Emily, a cult follower searching for a woman of a certain age, height and weight, a particular distance from nipple to navel, with an identical twin — preferably deceased — that can raise the dead.

Talk about a mouthful. Kinds of Kindness is like that. Screenwriters Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou, who co-wrote two of Lathimos’ Greek movies, Dogtooth and Alps, construct every section and scene with suffocating specificity. Only the players, Stone, Dafoe and Plemmons, alongside Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, Hong Chau and Margaret Qualley, breathe humanity into it. Everyone is good in Kindness; everyone is game — 100% necessary in a Lanthimos film. There’s also a lot of sex and nudity, which you might expect from the maker of Poor Things.

But Lanthimos might be the least erotic filmmaker of all time. Sex, nakedness or near nakedness seems to be a hallmark he enjoys returning to, though it is not an enjoyment he is interested in sharing with the audience. Instead, he offers the mechanical act of intercourse sans sensuality and the absence of modesty sans desire. Yet, it never feels exploitative or titillating the way many Hollywood movies are. Oh, speaking of

sex, in the third story, Emily (Stone) is drugged and raped by her ex-husband (Alwyn). Just thought I should warn you because it’s not brief.

Maybe that’s what a review of Kinds of Kindness is: not an analysis (good luck), a recounting (godspeed) or a recommendation (ha!) but a warning.

You may not find narrative coherence here. You may not find a single solitary character to like. You may not understand those characters’ motivations.

You may not understand who put certain structures in place and why others follow them blindly. And you may not find any kinds of kindness. You will see a weird dance by Emma Stone — it’s almost a requirement for a Lanthimos movie at this point. Some things you can count on.

ON SCREEN: Kinds of

Kindness opens in theaters June 28.

JUNE 27, 2024

25

LL (1300 BLOCK ) MA •

'S FREE O LDER UT U DO BO OR

T EE TR

SO SERIE N THE P T EA ER RL C N S O C

PRESENTED BY:

P

•W

LY

31

•7

M

ED

NES

DAYS, JUNE

12

J TO

U

Featuring

June 12 The Reminders June 19 ZiMBiRA June 26 Hazel Miller & The Collective July 3 Foxfeather July 10 The 5280’s Band July 17 Mighty Mystic July 24 Roka Hueka July 31 The Long Run

5 :3 0 P .

M Beer Garden Opens .

6 PM Opening Acts Perform

BandsOnTheBricks.com Please remember that this is a pet-free event. Kindly leave your furry family members in a safe environment!

EVENTS

BOOM GOES BOCO

DENVER

Your guide to upcoming holiday fireworks displays

Post-game. Thurs.-Fri., July 4-5 Coors Field 2001 Blake St.

ooking for some good old-fashioned family fun this Fourth of July? To help you celebrate, Boulder Weekly put together this handy roundup of firework displays and light shows on the Front Range and beyond.

9 p.m. Friday, July 5 Elitch Gardens 2000 Elitch Circle

L

ARVADA

7-10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Stenger Soccer Complex 11200 W. 58th Ave.

AURORA

5 p.m. Wednesday, July 3 Denver Civic Center 101 14th Ave. LIGHT SHOW

ENGLEWOOD

FORT COLLINS

LONE TREE

GRAND LAKE

LONGMONT

HIGHLANDS RANCH

9:15 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Dicken’s Farm Nature Center Boston Ave. DRONE SHOW

All day. Thursday, July 4 Sheldon Lake at City Park 1500 W. Mulberry St.

10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 536 Cairns Ave.

9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Highland Heritage Regional Park 9651 S. Quebec St.

5-10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Belleview Park 5001 S. Inca Drive

IDAHO SPRINGS

ERIE

LAFAYETTE

6-10 p.m. Wednesday, July 3 Erie Community Park 450 Powers St.

10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Charlie Tayler Waterwheel, I-70

4-10 p.m. Saturday, June 29 Waneka Lake Park - Boat House 1600 Caria Drive

6-10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Aurora Municipal Center 15151 E. Alameda Parkway

6-10:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Coal Creek Golf Course 585 W. Dillon Road

LOVELAND

4-10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 North Lake Park 2750 N. Taft Ave.

PARKER

BRIGHTON

9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Salisbury Park 11920 N. Motsenbocker Road

All day. Thursday, July 4 Carmichael Park 650 Southern St.

THORNTON

BROOMFIELD

Noon to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Carpenter Park Fields 11000 Colorado Blvd.

5-10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Broomfield County Commons Park 13200 Sheridan Blvd.

CASTLE ROCK

ESTES PARK

COMMERCE CITY

FIRESTONE

BOULDER WEEKLY

LOUISVILLE

Noon to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4 E.B. Rains Jr. Memorial Park 11800 Community Center Drive

5-9:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 3 Waggener Farm Park 1000 N. Berthoud Parkway

5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Dick’s Sporting Goods Park 6000 Victory Way

9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Longmont Fire Training Center 111 1st Ave.

NORTHGLENN

BERTHOUD

9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Acme Brick 401 Prairie Hawk Drive

All day. Thursday, July 4 Prairie Sky Park 9381 Crossington Way

6 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Lake Estes 1770 Big Thompson Ave.

10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Miners Park 170 Grant Ave.

LAKEWOOD

5-10 p.m. Wednesday, July 3 Belmar Plaza 7180 W. Alaska Drive DRONE SHOW

WESTMINSTER

9:15-10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Westminster City Park 10455 Sheridan Blvd.

LITTLETON

5-10 p.m. Thursday, July 4 Cornerstone Park 5150 S. Windermere St. JUNE 27, 2024

27

EVENTS

day

Wednes

6th

June 2

show timme 8:00p

ay

Thursd

7th

June 2

show timme 8:00p

Friday

8th

June 2

show timme 8:00p

ay

Saturd

9th

June 2

show timme 8:00p

Sunday

th

June 30

show timme 8:00p

ay

Thursd

th

July 4

show timme 8:00p

Friday

th

July 5

show timme 8:00p

ay

Saturd

th

July 6

show timme 8:00p

Sunday

th

July 7

show timme 8:00p

day

Wednes

th

July 10

show timme 8:00p

Friday

th

July 12

show timme 8:00p

ay

Saturd

th

July 13

show timme 8:00p

28

Lionel Young Duo In the Bar

Mamma’s Marmalade and jack cloonan

Amaryllis and river mann

$17 All Fees included

$17 All Fees included

27

28–29

6-7:30 p.m, Thursday, June 27, Ron Stewart Parks and Open Space Building, 5201 St. Vrain Road, Longmont. Free

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fri.-Sat., June 28-29, 713 Pearl St., Boulder. $76

STORY ON THE ROCKS Lionel Young Duo In the Bar

Magnolia boulevard with tiffany christopher

$19 All Fees included

Chuck sitero & dylan kober In the Bar

High Lonesome

Explore nearly two billion years of geologic history in your own backyard. Volunteer naturalists will teach you all about the local landscape, revealing “a record of the Earth’s history that can be read like the pages in a book.” Registration required: bit.ly/ RocksBW

BOTANICAL BANDANA DYE CLASS

Learn about the science of natural plant dyes during this 18+ workshop led by artist Leah Rich. After learning the basics of fibers and plant pigments, you’ll steam and infuse botanicals into your complementary hand-sewn cotton bandana using the bundle-dye method.

$20

29

CENTRAL PARK LECTURE SERIES

11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 29, Central Park Bandshell, 1212 Canyon Blvd., Boulder. Free Celebrate 100 years of Boulder’s iconic Central Park during this free community event happening in conjunction with the Boulder Farmers Market. Festivities will include live music by the School of Rock Boulder House Band, followed by a slate of presentations on the park’s storied history.

All Fees included

Lionel Young Duo In the Bar

KENNYTHEINDIGO In the Bar

28

Chuck Sitero In the Bar

Illegal Smile

COMEDY UNDERGROUND $21

a tribute to the life & music of john prine featuring derek dames All Fees included ohl and special guests presented by 105.5 the colorado sound

Mackenzie Rae & Buckshot Moon with Good Music Medicine

JUNE 27, 2024

$19 All Fees included

8-11 p.m. Friday, June 28, The Louisville Underground, 640 Main St. Free

Celebrated local comic David Testroet headlines this month’s Comedy Underground showcase in Louisville.

With more than a decade of stand-up touring experience — “from Walla Walla to Tokyo” — this fast and funny comedy show is sure to have you and your crew in stitches.

29

HYGIENE ARTS AND MUSIC FESTIVAL

10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 29, 7510 Hygiene Road, Hygiene. Free Head north for a day of live entertainment and family fun during the Hygiene Music and Art Festival.

Complete with a pancake breakfast, two stages of music, artist booths, food trucks and more. All proceeds benefit the Hygiene Volunteer Fire Department.

29

QUEER CIRCUS

7-10:30 p.m. Saturday, June 29, Junkyard Social Club, 2525 Frontier Ave., Boulder. $20 Head to Junkyard Social Club for an 18+ cabaret-style show featuring local LGBTQ+ comedians, dancers, poets, musicians and other performing artists. Drinks will be available to purchase for attendees over 21.

BOULDER WEEKLY

EVENTS

29

BOULDER GARDEN TOUR

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 29, Mapleton Early Childhood Center, 840 Mapleton Ave., Boulder. $22-$37 Take in the sights, sounds and aromas of the lush gardens of historic Mapleton Hill during the 20th annual Boulder Garden Tour. This guided experience takes guests through 10 private gardens and homesteads complete with stunning flowers, fruit trees, water features and more.

29

ART AND MEDITATION

30

BOULDER PRIDE FESTIVAL 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, June 30, Pearl Street Mall, Boulder. Free

Pride Month goes out with a bang during this fabulous flagship festival in the heart of the People’s Republic.

Reps from local nonprofits, businesses and food trucks will be on hand alongside a full slate of performances at the Boulder Bandshell for a day of free, family-friendly fun.

30

COLORADO PRIDE KIKI BALL

10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 29, 291 2nd Ave., Niwot. $30

5-10 p.m. Sunday, June 30, Glenn Miller Ballroom, University Memorial Center Level 2, Boulder. $20+

Paintings from the 2024 Boulder County Plein Air Festival will be a catalyst for contemplation and reflection during this guided meditation session with instructor Michael Franklin of Naropa University, exploring the intersection between art and mindfulness.

Get ready to serve during the Colorado Pride KiKi Ball. Compete for trophies and cash prizes up to $1,600 in the categories of realness, runway, sex appeal and more while enjoying a supportive night out with the community.

BOULDER WEEKLY

30

RED, WHITE & BREWS 5K @ WILD PROVISIONS 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, June 30, Wild Provisions by 4 Noses Brewing Company, 2209 Central Ave., Boulder. $35

Stressed Out? Think Massage!

Call 720.253.4710

All credit cards accepted No text messages

“Walk, jog, run or crawl…” your way to victory during this low-stakes race in beautiful Boulder. At the end, you’ll receive a token for a free beer and a collectible pint glass courtesy of Wild Provisions. Registration required: bit.ly/wildprovisions_5k

3

NEW MOON YOGA + SOUND HEALING

7:15-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 3, Yoga Pearl, 900 Pearl St., Unit 4, Boulder. $27 Looking to start your month in the right mindset? Join instructor Valerie at Yoga Pearl to ring in the new moon with a restorative yoga session and sound bath featuring gongs, singing bowls and sacred instruments.

JUNE 27, 2024

29

LIVE MUSIC TH U RSD AY, JU N E 27 MAGIC BUS. 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder.

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

Free TERESA STORCH BAND. 6 p.m.

Bootstrap Brewing, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free FORRESTDWLR. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

YUGS WITH KEDDJRA, TONGUEBYTE AND SUNSTONEY. 8 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $15 BILL MCKAY TRIO. 9 p.m. Mountain Sun Pub, 1535 Pearl St., Boulder.

Free

SATURDAY, JUNE 29 TANASI. 5:30 p.m. Stone Cottage Studios, 3091 7th St., Boulder. $30

DIANA ROSS. 7:30 p.m. Red Rocks Park Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $45

FACE VOCAL BAND. 5:30 p.m.

Left Hand Brewing, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. $20

MAMMA’S MARMALADE WITH JACK CLOONAN AND SILAS HERMAN. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $17

JAY STOTT TRIO. 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free

BRETT DENNEN. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $25 DIRTY TURKEYS. 9 p.m. Southern Sun Pub, 627 S. Broadway, Boulder.

Free

PHOEBE NIX WITH YUGS AND HAPLESS SUNDAY. 6 p.m. Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Free THE JACK HADLEY BAND. 6 p.m.

Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free JOE C. WAILS GANG. 6 p.m.

Bootstrap Brewing, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free

FRIDAY, JUN E 28

RECKLESS AND BLUE. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

DAVE BOYLAN. 6 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder.

Free

ERIC STONE DUO. 7 p.m. Longs Peak Pub, 600 Longs Peak Ave., Longmont. Free

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

LIONEL YOUNG DUO. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder.

Free

DENNY DRISCOLL. 6 p.m. Bootstrap Brewing, 142 Pratt St., Longmont.

Free AMY BIONDO QUINTET. 7 p.m.

Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20

JUNE 27, 2024

BOB BARRICK. 8 p.m. The Laughing Goat, 1709 Pearl St., Boulder. Free

MOKOOMBA. 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $24

CHRISTOPHER PAUL STELLING WITH ZACH JACKSON AND LONELY CHOIR. 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $20

30

AMARYLLIS WITH RIVER MANN. 8 p.m. Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $17

SOUTHWEST EMO FEST FEAT. A PLACE FOR OWLS, OH DRIFTER, TROUBLED MINDS AND MORE. Noon-7:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 29, Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., Denver. $18 STORY ON P. 22

LAURENT FRIHAUF. 7 p.m.

Rayback Collective, 2775 Valmont Road, Boulder. Free

PEAK 2 PEAK. 8 p.m. Roots Music Project, 4747 Pearl St., Suite V3A, Boulder. $15

DAMIAN “JR. GONG” MARLEY WITH STEPHEN MARLEY, THE COLORADO SYMPHONY AND BURNING SPEAR. 7 p.m. Red Rocks Park Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison.

OMNI WITH FAKE FRUIT AND TENDER OBJECT. 9 p.m. Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver. $17 SPIRIT MOTEL (ODESZA AFTER PARTY). 11 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. $20 BOULDER WEEKLY

ON THE BILL

LIVE MUSIC just announced

just announced

AUG 22 & 23 .................................................................................... SULLIVAN KING SEP 18 ........................................................................................................... WEEEKLY SEP 25 .............................................................................................................. TALISK OCT 19 ....................................................................................................... BOOMBOX

AUG 17 ..................................... EXTRA GOLD (FREE FOLSOM FIELD AFTER PARTY)

SAT. jUN 29

KBCO & WESTWORD PRESENT: MOON MOUNTAIN TRIO TOUR

FOLSOM FIELD AFTER PARTY

SPIRIT MOTEL

RIZZY RAILS B2B KVNDYCE ROSE, hAMMERhYPE B2B MURRA FRI. jUL 5 PERFECT NIGhT PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

TAYLOR FEST FRI. jUL 12 ROOSTER PRESENTS

ThE PAMLICO SOUND

B-LOVE EXPERIENCE, KEDDjRA AND hER CONTRABAND SAT. jUL 13

Oklahoma emo-pop party rockers CLIFFDIVER bring their fun-forward sound from the Southern Plains to the Front Range for a July 2 show at the Marquis Theatre.

Following their latest LP Exercise Your Demons, the Tulsa-based band performs in support of early-00s standard bearers The Early November. Flip to p. 22 for a primer on all things emo before you go. See listing for details.

DAB RECORDS & KGNU PRESENT

COLORADO’S FINEST UNDERGROUND hIP hOP

FT. ACEYALONE, SUISIDE CYNICATE, MIKE WIRD, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES & MORE! ThU. jUL 18 ROOSTER PRESENTS

FLAT CREEK

COYOTE ROSE, SQUASh FRI. jUL 19

SU N D AY, J U N E 30

T UE SDAY, JULY 2

BROADWAY RAVE

DANCE PARTY CELEBRATING ThE BEST IN ShOW-TUNES & MUSICAL ThEATRE! SAT. jUL 20

PETER GARLAND. 1 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free LOCO UKELELE JAM. 2 p.m.

Bootstrap Brewing, 142 Pratt St., Longmont. Free BACKSTREET JAZZ. 4 p.m. BOCO Cider, 1501 Lee Hill Drive, Unit 14, Boulder. Free SCOTT VON. 4 p.m. Left Hand Brewing, 1265 Boston Ave., Longmont. Free GABE RUPE. 7 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. $20 DANIEL RODRIGUEZ. 7 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. $20 NAS WITH TOBE NWIGWE AND THE COLORADO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. 7 p.m. Red Rocks Park Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $60 MAGNOLIA BOULEVARD WITH TIFFANY CHRISTOPHER. 8 p.m.

Velvet Elk Lounge, 2037 13th St., Boulder. $19

MON D AY, J U LY 1 MEADOW MUSIC. 5:30 p.m.

Chautauqua Park, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Free DIRTY HEADS WITH ALLEN STONE AND TUNNEL VISION. 7 p.m. Red Rocks Park Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. $132 BOULDER WEEKLY

LIVE MUSIC AT ROSETTA HALL. 7 p.m. Rosetta Hall, 1109 Walnut St., Boulder. Free THE EARLY NOVEMBER WITH HELLOGOODBYE, CLIFFDIVER AND REPLICA CITY. 7:30 p.m.

Marquis Theatre, 2009 Larimer St., Denver. $42 BW PICK OF THE WEEK

ROOSTER PRESENTS

EASY hONEY

ThE hIGh LINES, ROSEBAY

WWW.FOXTHEATRE.COM

1135 13TH STREET BOULDER 720.645.2467

ThU. jUN 27

BRETT DENNEN CERTAINLY SO

SAT. jUL 6 KBCO PRESENTS

DARK STAR ORChESTRA ThU. jUL 11

OLD GODS OF APPALAChIA FRI. jUL 19 ROOSTER PRESENTS: ThE SPREAD EAGLE TOUR

WhEELER WALKER jR. SAT. jUL 20 KGNU PRESENTS

STEEP CANYON RANGERS hEAD FOR ThE hILLS

SUN. jUL 21 KGNU PRESENTS

LADYSMITh BLACK MAMBAZO TUE. AUG 6

ThE jAPANESE hOUSE SKULLCRUShER

WWW.BOULDERTHEATER.COM 2032 14TH STREET BOULDER 303.786.7030

WE DNE SDAY, JULY 3 BANDS ON THE BRICKS. 5:30 p.m.

1300 Block of Pearl, Boulder. Free CONCRETE FEEDBACK. 6 p.m.

Rosalee’s Pizzeria, 461 Main St., Longmont. Free DONAVON FRANKENREITER WITH DONOVAN WOODS. 7 p.m. eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $25 VIC DILLAHAY WITH TIM CARMICHAEL. 7 p.m. Dry Land Distillers, 519 Main St., Longmont.

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

Free

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

JUNE 27, 2024

31

Look and Feel Your Best

ASTROLOGY

WITH OUR SERVICES

BY ROB BREZSNY

• Cosmetic Skin Care Treatment • Hormone Replacement • Medically Supervised Weight Loss • Mental Health Medications • Sports and Camp Physicals • Illness & Injury Care

Let us help you enjoy a happier and healthier life! Book a tele-health or in-person appointment with us to experience the personalized care and support you deserve.

LYONS

HEALTH & WELLNESS 435 High Street, Lyons, CO 80540 303-498-5941 www.lyonshealthandwellness.com

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): This may sound weird, but I think now is a perfect time to acquire a fresh problem. Not just any old boring problem, of course. Rather, I’m hoping you will carefully ponder what kind of dilemma would be most educational for you — which riddle might challenge you to grow in ways you need to. Here’s another reason you should be proactive about hunting down a juicy challenge: Doing so will ensure that you won’t attract mediocre, meaningless problems.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): Now is an excellent time to start learning a new language or to increase your proficiency in your native tongue. Or both. It’s also a favorable phase to enrich your communication skills and acquire resources that will help you do that.

Would you like to enhance your ability to cultivate friendships and influence people? Are you interested in becoming more persuasive, articulate and expressive? If so, Taurus, attend to these self-improvement tasks with graceful intensity. Life will conspire benevolently on your behalf if you do. (PS: I’m not implying you’re weak in any of these departments, just that now is a favorable time to boost your capacities.)

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): Barbara Sher and Barbara Smith wrote the book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It. I invite you to think and feel deeply about this theme during the coming months. In my experience with Geminis, you are often so versatile and multi-faceted that it can be challenging to focus on just one or two of your various callings. And that may confuse your ability to know what you want more than anything else. But here’s the good news. You may soon enjoy a grace period when you feel really good about devoting yourself to one goal more than any other.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): You are entering a phase when you will be wise to question fixed patterns and shed ageold habits. The more excited you get about reevaluating everything you know and believe, the more likely it is that exciting new possibilities will open up for you. If you are staunchly committed to resolving longstanding confusions and instigating fresh approaches, you will launch an epic chapter of your life story. Wow! That sounds dramatic. But it’s quite factual. Here’s the kicker: You’re now in prime position to get vivid glimpses of specific successes you can accomplish between now and your birthday in 2025.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): How many different ways can you think of to ripen your spiritual wisdom? I suggest you choose two and pursue them with gleeful vigor in the coming weeks. You are primed to come into contact with streams of divine revelations that can change your life for the better. All the conditions are favorable for you to encounter teachings that will ennoble your soul and hone your highest ideals. Don’t underestimate your power to get the precise enlightenment you need.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Border collies are dogs with a herding instinct. Their urges to usher, steer and manage are strong. They will not only round up sheep and cattle, but also pigs, chickens and ostriches — and even try to herd cats. In my estimation, Virgo, border collies are your spirit creatures these days. You have a special inclination and talent to be a good shepherd. So use your aptitude with flair. Provide extra navigational help for people and animals who would benefit from your nurturing guidance. And remember to do the same for your own wayward impulses.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): We have arrived at the midpoint of 2024. It’s check-in time. Do you recall the promises you made to yourself last January? Are you about halfway into the frontier you vowed to explore? What inspirational measures could you instigate to renew your energy and motivation

32

JUNE 27, 2024

for the two most important goals in your life?

What would you identify as the main obstacle to your blissful success and how could you diminish it? If you’d like to refresh your memory of the long-term predictions I made for your destiny in 2024, go here: tinyurl.com/Libra2024. For 2023’s big-picture prophecies, go here: tinyurl. com/2023Libra.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): Scorpio-born Gary Hug was educated as a machinist and food scientist, but for many years he has worked primarily as an amateur astronomer.

Using a seven-foot telescope he built in the backyard of his home, he has discovered a comet and 300 asteroids, including two that may come hazardously close to Earth. Extolling the joys of being an amateur, he says he enjoys “a sense of freedom that you don’t have when you’re a professional.” In the coming weeks, Scorpio, I encourage you to explore and experiment with the joys of tasks done out of joy rather than duty. Identify the work and play that feel liberating and indulge in them lavishly.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): Your power spots will be places that no one has visited or looked into for a while.

Sexy secrets and missing information will be revealed to you as you nose around in situations where you supposedly should not investigate.

The light at the end of the tunnel is likely to appear well before you imagined it would. Your lucky number is 8, your lucky color is black and your lucky emotion is the surprise of discovery.

My advice: Call on your memory to serve you in amazing ways; use it as a superpower.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Happy Unbirthday, Capricorn! It’s time to celebrate the season halfway between your last birthday and your next. I hope you will give yourself a fun gift every day for at least the next seven days. Fourteen days would be even better. See if you can coax friends and allies to also shower you with amusing blessings. Tell them your astrologer said that would be a very good idea. Now here’s an unbirthday favor from me: I promise that between now and January 2025, you will create healing changes in your relationship with your job and with work in general.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): While sleeping, my Aquarian friend Janelle dreamed that she and her family lived in a cabin in the woods. When dusk was falling, a strange animal put its face against the main window. Was it a bear? A mountain lion? Her family freaked out and hid in a back bedroom. But Janelle stayed to investigate. Looking closely, she saw the creature was a deer. She opened up the window and spoke to it, saying, “What can I do for you?” The deer, who was a talking deer, said, “I want to give you and your family a gift. See this necklace I’m wearing? It has a magic ruby that will heal a health problem for everyone who touches it.” Janelle managed to remove the necklace, whereupon the deer wandered away and she woke up from the dream.

During subsequent weeks, welcome changes occurred in her waking life. She and three of her family members lost physical ailments that had been bothering them. I think this dream is a true fairy tale for you in the coming weeks, Aquarius.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): A psychologist friend tells me that if we have an intense craving for sugar, it may be a sign that deeper emotional needs are going unmet. I see merit in her theory. But here’s a caveat. What if we are currently not in position to get our deeper emotional needs met? What if there is at least temporarily some barrier to achieving that lovely goal? Would it be wrong to seek a partial quenching of our soul cravings by communing with fudge brownies, peach pie and crème brûlée? I don’t think it would be wrong.

On the contrary. It might be an effective way to tide ourselves over until more profound gratification is available. But now here’s the good news, Pisces: I suspect more profound gratification will be available sooner than you imagine.

BOULDER WEEKLY

SAVAGE LOVE

BY DAN SAVAGE

Follow Leigh Wakeford is on Instagram and Threads @LeighWakefordTherapy. His website is LeighWakefordTherapy.com

Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan!

Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love BOULDER WEEKLY

FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART, WE WANT TO THANK OUR COMMUNITY FOR SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES!

FRI T S

5 N

oB o

.

Art District

july

or

g

FIR

5340 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder • 1015 Pearl St, Boulder • 1521 Pearl St, Boulder 1898 S. Flatirons Ct, #110, Boulder • 1232-A S. Hoover St, Longmont OZOCOFFEE.COM

MAP ›

I asked therapist Leigh Wakeford to weigh in on your question.

“Recreating a traumatic sexual experience is not uncommon among survivors of abuse,” says Wakeford, “So most importantly, SUB needs to hear that he is not alone. And he also needs to know that one of the beautiful offerings of BDSM play is the potential for revisiting and re-narrating traumatic encounters in a safe, consensual and empowering way, which can help us reclaim things that were taken from us without our permission.”

What your abusive ex took from you is a kind of consensual D/s sex play — involving humiliation, degradation, verbal abuse, etc. — that you

may not have been consciously aware you were into before his abuse started. Right now, these things may be tainted by their association with your ex, SUB, but that doesn’t make them bad things. Just as sex in the missionary position in the absence of consent will be experienced as assault by someone who might otherwise enjoy sex in the missionary position, kinky like humiliation and degradation in the absence of consent will be experienced as abuse by someone who might otherwise enjoy them.

“SUB had some shitty and bad things happen to him,” adds Wakeford, “but he is not a bad or shitty person for wanting to experience pleasure in ways that are uniquely exciting to him.”

Which may be exactly what you did that night, SUB: In an effort to create new and positive associations with your kinks, you went out and found someone you intuitively felt you could trust — and your intuition proved to be correct, as evidenced by the way he took care of you when you had to tap out.

“But in my experience, the most effective and safest way to create a new narrative around a past traumatic encounter is also the most sober possible way,” says Wakeford.

AY D

I had a sexual experience that’s left me feeling shitty. Met another gay man on an apps, got wasted together at a leather bar, fucked at his place on a number of substances. He stopped when I was too out of it to proceed. He played some music and let me crash with him until I’d sobered up enough to get a Lyft.

When we fucked, I’d asked him to degrade me. I asked him to do and say things an abusive ex had often done to me without consent.

Why, when wasted and fucking, did I try and recreate sexual assaults I had experienced? In the moment: hot. In the aftermath, I feel as horrible as I did when those events first happened to me.

— Super Upset Boy

6-9pm

JUNE 27, 2024

33

S I M P L E

|

L O C A L

|

FA R M

T O

TA B L E VOTED

BEST AMERICAN RESTAUR ANT

5 7 8 B r i g g s S t re e t E r i e, C O 8 0 5 1 6 303.828.1392

BRUNCH

S AT & SU N 9 AM - 2 PM

LUNCH

TUE-FRI 11AM-2PM

DINNER

TUE-SUN 4:30PM-9PM

R E S E RVAT I O N S AVA I L A B L E ONLINE

www.24carrotbistro.com

Kanpai!

E AT a taste of modern Japan in the heart of beautiful Boulder DR I N K an unmatched selection of rare whiskey, sake, and craft cocktails E NJOY the scenery on one of our 3 fireside patios, a feast alongside the jellyfish, or a front row seat at a lively bar

Sun-Thur 11am to 10pm | Fri-Sat 11am to 11pm BoulderJapango.com | 303.938.0330 | 1136 Pearl

JapangoRestaurant

JapangoBoulder

NIBBLES

HOW TO GRILL AN ICEBERG Fire, smoke and fresh summer veggies are all you need for a backyard BBQ

BY JOHN LEHNDORFF

W

ith summer’s heat comes the great unsheathing. For people, it’s shedding the layers of cold-weather clothing to take in the sun’s rays and feel the air on their skin. For backyard grills, it’s the tarps or tapered covers that have (hopefully) kept them protected from the Colorado winter.

Grilling is a signature of the season, beloved because it’s fast, doesn’t heat up the kitchen and makes food taste great. Burgers and brats and all manner of meats are the most obvious meals to reach for. But smoke and fire can transform the bountiful summer produce from something you consume for nutritional value into a food you eat for pure joy.

“I love grilling,” says Aaron Lande, the executive sous chef at Academy Boulder, a senior living campus. “Grilling brings out the greatest expression of a vegetable — the sweetness, the aroma, the complexity.”

While grill lines look good and impart a certain flavor, you can’t just throw a rutabaga on the gas or charcoal heat and assume it will taste dreamy. Here are Lande’s hacks for elevated summer produce, honed during thousands of hours of grilling at Boulder-area restaurants such as Eridu, Lucky Pie, Blackbelly and Laudisio.

Choose your grill: “I love charcoal, just because of the flavor you can’t get otherwise. The critical thing is to let the charcoal burn down until it’s glowing red,” Lande says.

For practical reasons, most backyard cooks will opt for gas grills.

High heat always: Whether charcoal or gas, the single absolute rule is that the grill must be “screaming hot,” according to Lande. “You can hear a real sizzle as soon as you put anything

BOULDER WEEKLY

on there. If you grill over low or medium heat, you won’t get that flavor and char.

That’s the whole point, right?”

Skip the smoker: They’re great for proteins, but not for most vegetables except for brief exposure. “It has to be really quick, or they absorb too much smoke.”

“Whatever you do,” Lande advises, “avoid Liquid Smoke,” a bottled flavor substitute often used on meats. An easy way to add a hint of smokiness is using a high-quality smoked salt.

Salt, pepper and oil: That simple trio is all you need to quickly grill favorites like asparagus, baby artichokes, scallions, pre-cooked Yukon gold potatoes (for potato salad), yellow onion slices, broccolini and baby bok choy.

Oil is essential when grilling. “You want the same amount of cooking everywhere on the vegetable, and oil facilitates it,” he says. Sunflower oil is Lande’s favorite because it doesn’t burn, unlike olive oil. Save the good olive oil to dress and finish veggies post-grilling.

A common error is under-seasoning.

Be sure to apply salt and pepper before and after grilling, he adds.

Rubs and marinades: Seasoned spice rubs can be used lightly before grilling, and marinades like a basic vinaigrette dressing are an easy way to add additional flavor. Tweaking those spices determines where in the world you are grilling. Lande notes the central role vegetable grilling plays is so many cuisines — Italian, Spanish, Greek, Indian, Mexican and Thai.

Summer squash: Zucchini and other summer squash varieties are perfect for grilling and are sponges for flavor. Lande recommends grilling quarter-inch lengthwise squash slices to expose more surface to the heat. Squash has to be grilled over high heat and quickly removed.

Eggplant: There are two eggplant options: Long, thin whole or halved Asian eggplant grill quickly and don’t need to be peeled. The insides are soft and savory.

Classic Italian eggplant must be peeled. Lande recommends salting half- to three-quarter-inch eggplant slices before draining for an hour in a colander. “Give them a squeeze and then add oil, salt and pepper before grilling,” he says. Try eggplant slices in eggplant Parmesan with fresh mozzarella, grated Parmesan and basil leaves.

Iceberg and romaine lettuce: Much-maligned iceberg lettuce is wonderful on the grill. Oil and season a half

head and sizzle for a few minutes before you compose that wedge salad with grilled croutons.

To grill romaine for caesar salads, wash, dry and trim off the stem bottom.

“Cut the head in half, season, and place on a hot grill until you get those nice grill marks but retain the crunch,” Lande says.

Sweet corn: One word — “Olathe” — signals summer to Coloradans.

There are two ways to grill whole cobs.

For simple corn on the cob, peel back the husk, strip off the silk, rub the cob with butter and seasonings and then grill for about five minutes.

For corn salads, charred corn salsa or Mexican street corn (elote), remove the husk, oil and season it and cook until grill marks appear.

Tomatoes: Extremely firm larger tomatoes, red or green, can be grilled in thick slices for burgers. Lande suggests grilling sweet little local cherry tomatoes whole on the grill before adding them to salads.

Chiles: Small sweet peppers can be de-seeded and grilled whole. Bell peppers grill best in quarters or on kebobs.

Grilling hot chiles (from Anaheims to habaneros) make it easier to remove tough skins before using in various dishes.

Peaches and cantaloupe: Sweet, juicy Palisade peaches and Rocky Ford melons can also be grilled. Lande loves to serve grilled peaches with burrata cheese and aged balsamic vinegar.

Grilled fruits can also be used in fruit salsas.

JUNE 27, 2024

35

NIBBLES TASTE OF THE WEEK: GAS STATION VINDALOO

FROM THE DIVIDE TO YOUR DOOR! Offering Glass Bottle Options

My food needs are specific when I venture inside gas stations. I expect marginal coffee, Hostess Cherry pies (yum!), jerky, chips and, of course, microwave burritos. Nobody expects to get shrimp vindaloo, gulab jamun and mango lassi with their fill-up. Yet, that’s what I found at Mountain Bites, a food counter tucked inside a gas station and market at 1208 Centaur Village Drive in Lafayette.

The takeout and delivery roster focuses on Indian and Nepali classics including curries, momo and biryani rice dishes. I was impressed

by Mountain Bites’ creamy, spinach-heavy saag loaded with big chunks of chewy paneer cheese with perfectly steamed, aromatic basmati. The medium spice was still hot enough to make my buds notice. I added garlic cheese naan for scooping.

One definite perk: gas station chai.

LOCAL FOOD NEWS: A NEW PERSONA INTRODUCTORY OFFER: Free Two 5-Gallon Bottles of Water & One Months Rental on the Dispenser of Your Choice 303.440.0432 • www.IndianPeaksSpringWater.com LOOK FOR OUR SOLAR WATER CART AT BOULDER EVENTS

Persona Wine, a small craft wine shop, is open at 2299 Pearl St. Suite 6, Boulder.

The Den On Eleventh has opened at 1111 Francis St. in Longmont serving New American fare with a focus on Italian-style seafood.

Hard-to-find cardoons and fava beans are in season at the Black Cat Organic Farm Store, 4975 Jay Road. (A cardoon is a thistle that tastes like a bitter giant artichoke.)

Boulder-born Illegal Pete’s has opened its third location in the city at 657 South Broadway.

National Food Truck Day is June 28. Celebrate by enjoying one of the food trucks dotting roadsides and tasting room parking lots across Boulder County ranging from Los Dos Bros (55th and Arapahoe) and Fleishman’s Bagels (Full Cycle Bikes) to Pupusas (CO. 42 at S. Boulder Road) and Bee’s Thai Kitchen (Erie).

Courtesy: Pupusas

WORDS TO CHEW ON: LOVE AND CHERRIES

“So we grew together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted, But yet an union in partition, Two lovely berries molded on one stem.”

— From A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

The Boulder Weekly’s annual Roadside Farm Stand Guide is coming soon! Send detailed information about your favorite stands to: nibbles@boulderweekly.com

36

JUNE 27, 2024

BOULDER WEEKLY

Join Us On The Patio!

Full Bar Available

New Hours: Open 7 days a week 7:30am-3:00pm

303.604.6351 | 1377 FOREST PARK CIRCLE, LAFAYETTE

20TH ANNUAL BOULDER A self-guided tour of unique private gardens. Back on historic Mapleton Hill for the 20th anniversary event!

SATURDAY JUNE 29, 2024

Thank you for Voting Raza Fresa Best Burrito

9AM - 2PM

NEW HAPPY HOUR - Mon thru Fri - 2:30pm - 5:30pm

TICKETS $27 ADVANCE/$32 DAY OF CHILDREN UNDER 12 FREE TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT

BoulderGardenTour.com

RDEN-BASED GA ED IT

ION AT UC

TO B EN EF

$2 Off House Margaritas • $1.50 Off 16 and 22 oz. Drafts $1.00 Off House Wine by the Glass

DAILY SPECIALS

MARGARITA MONDAY - $6 House Margaritas THIRSTY THURSDAY - Happy Hour All Day

JOIN US ON THE PATIO! HOURS: Mon - Wed 11am - 8:30pm • Thur - Sat 11am - 9pm • Sun 11am - 8:30pm

7960 Niwot Rd. Niwot, CO • 303-652-3995 • www.razafresa.com

ON DRUGS

LEAVING THE HATERS BEHIND

subjected to the respectability politics that have long targeted Black women athletes, a pattern scholars say needs to change.

Sha’Carri Richardson qualifies for 2024 Olympics “It’s all kind of a discourse of respectafter cannabis-related disqualification four years ago ability politics,” says Sabrina Razack, an assistant professor in the University of Toronto’s Kinesiology and Physical

BY NADRA NITTLE Education department and the Canada THE 19TH project lead for the Centre for Sport and Human Rights. “What’s respectable for women to do? What’s respectable for self-confidence or rule breaking in ways merican runner Sha’Carri how she behaves, how she talks, how that other athletes have not, experts Richardson was disqualified she presents herself, how she treats told The 19th. from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics her body? If you’re aligning with what is “It almost seems like we have to be after testing positive for cannabis. On a respectable woman, it’s one who is superheroes,” Richardson told Teen June 23, Richardson was the winner of obedient, one who behaves, one who Vogue in 2022. “It’s just irritating the 100-meter race at the U.S. Track answers questions when asked, one and Field Championships, qualifying for because you take away the abilities, who doesn’t show anger. But this is you take away the speed, you take the Paris Olympics that begin July 26. also a classic case of misogynoir that is away the talent … and we’re still This article was originally published by specific toward Black women in the human.”

The 19th in September 2023. media.”

With a bold personality and sense of During her last race of the 2023 track Whether on or off the field, Razack style, Richardson lives at the intersecand field season, sprinter Sha’Carri said, the bar for how women conduct tion of multiple marginalized identities.

Richardson finished in fourth place, but themselves is much higher than it is for In addition to being a Black woman, that outcome didn’t demoralize her. men. When race and class are also Richardson has said that she is bisexuInstead, the 23-year-old beamed involved, the expectaafter the Prefontaine tions become more rigid.

Classic in Eugene, After Richardson first Oregon — telling reportgarnered widespread ers that there’s no limit public attention two to what she can achieve years ago, her colorful in her career. hair and long, ornate “I feel like for a while I nails elicited favorable saw this sport more as a comparisons to Flo-Jo. job than the love I knew But then she tested posI had for it,” she said, itive for cannabis follownoting that she has been ing her biological mothworking toward joy and er’s death. Her marijuainner peace. “I’m just na use led the U.S. Antiwhole all over again.”

Doping Agency With her hair in a (USADA) to suspend wavy two-toned Afro her for a month, keeping instead of the brightly Sha’Carri Richardson at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. her from the Tokyo colored wigs and braids Credit: Erik van Leeuwen Olympics — and public she tends to wear while al and a survivor of initmate partner vio- sentiment toward her soured. competing, Richardson looked whole, “Some people are just fairweather lence, a suicide attempt and parental too. Her hairstyle made headlines, as fans; they’ll switch with the tides,” says abandonment, having grown up in Richardson has since she gained globChristina Greer, an associate professor largely impoverished South Dallas with al recognition as an Olympic trials conof political science at Fordham her grandmother and aunt as caregivtender in 2021.

University who has written about sports Richardson is just one of many Black ers. and respectability politics. “She strugDespite the trauma she’s endured, it women athletes, including Serena and gled after her mother died. We’re took her becoming the fastest woman Venus Williams, Coco Gauff, Angel expecting someone to go do their job at in the world after winning the women’s Reese, Brittney Griner and the late the highest levels after their mother 100 meter at the track and field world Florence “Flo-Jo” Griffith Joyner, who died. Grief doesn’t doesn’t go away in championships in Budapest in August have attracted intense scrutiny around 24 hours, and there was some trauma 2023 to renew a skeptical public’s faith — and been attacked for — their in the family. … I think there’s a level of in her. And, after that feat, there’s no behavior during competition, interacguarantee that she won’t continue to be grace and understanding that people tions with reporters, flair for fashion,

A

38

JUNE 27, 2024

just don’t have for public figures, and that goes for all public figures, especially athletes, but especially for Black athletes, and most especially for Black women.”

Richardson’s supporters have argued that both the public and the USADA were too hard on the young runner, given that athletes such as Michael Phelps have used marijuana and many others have been ensnared in doping scandals, which Richardson herself pointed out after she was sanctioned.

Specifically, Richardson questioned why the Olympics allowed then-15year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva to compete last year after the Russian youth tested positive for a banned heart medication. While the USADA suspended Richardson, a different organization, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, allowed Valieva to compete, noting that she was just a minor and therefore a “protected person” in the context of the World Anti-Doping Code. Phelps, on the other hand, was suspended for three months in 2009 after a photograph of him smoking cannabis surfaced. The suspension did not prevent him from competing because he consumed marijuana after the Olympics, not before it.

The differences in these cases have done little to change the perception that the USADA treated Richardson unfairly.

“She was definitely treated more harshly because marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug,” says Mia Moody-Ramirez, chair and professor of journalism, public relations and new media at Baylor University’s College of Arts & Sciences and whose research includes image repair theory. “Many people would say, if anything, it would hamper her performance. And there are other athletes who have actually used performance-enhancing drugs, but they were still allowed to compete.”

A 2018 article in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine found that “there is no direct evidence of performanceenhancing effects in athletes” who use cannabis. But the USADA prohibits cannabis consumption because athletes could presumably hurt themselves or others due to the sluggishness induced by the drug. While legal in many states, marijuana is still an illicit substance nationally, casting doubt on BOULDER WEEKLY

ON DRUGS whether athletes who use it can serve as role models, according to the agency. Also of concern is that many countries that compete in the Olympics ban the drug, and that it could enhance performance by curbing anxiety, a plus for nervous athletes. Since Richardson did not use cannabis before a competition, however, none of these concerns apply to her consumption of the substance.

After her suspension, advocates for marijuana legalization, medical professionals and politicians were among the individuals questioning the USADA rules. But the anger directed at Richardson didn’t dissipate, with some of her detractors taking aim at her appearance, particularly her artificial eyelashes, colorful wigs, numerous tattoos and piercings, about which they made classist comments.

“In response to her behavior, I heard every word in the lexicon — from ‘hood-rat,’ ‘ghetto,’ ‘low-life,’ etc.,” Ciera Graham, a higher education professional and writer, noted in a Medium post shortly after Richardson’s positive drug test in 2021. “Of course, society has never granted Black women the grace of separating or distinguishing their behavior from their character — weed is bad and thus all Black people who use it must be bad too.”

Brittney Griner, the WNBA star convicted of drug smuggling in Russia after cannabis oil was found in her luggage, was regarded similarly. Although President Joe Biden secured her release from the country in December, some Americans wanted her to remain in a Russian prison because they

BOULDER WEEKLY

woman that the mainstream does not on to win the U.S. Open this month, believed her “crime” warranted it, view as representative of the United sparked debate after she complained experts told Business Insider last year.

States, “whether it’s the hair, the makeabout an opponent’s regulation violaBut Griner had a doctor’s prescription up, the nails, or where she’s from, and tions. She earned both praise and to use the cannabis oil and said she her background or her story,” Greer pushback, often divided along race and didn’t know it had been packed in her says. “To her credit, she didn’t just go gender lines, for approaching the chair luggage. Scholars also told the publicaaway. She trained, she got better and umpire with her concerns. tion that the fact that Griner is Black, she came back to queer and gender-nonbecome the fastest conforming reduced woman in the world.” public sympathy for her, That Richardson an argument that could made a comeback after also be applied to a notorious comeupRichardson minus the pance gives Razack gender-nonconforming hope that the public component. won’t continue to harshly “She is a unique perjudge Black women athson, and she takes pride letes, but she does not in her style, in the way expect misogynoir in she dresses, in her sports to disappear. nails, and she’s just “Each time a moment going to keep doing like this happens, we do what she does,” Moodymove the needle a little Ramirez says. “But I bit,” Razack says of think she probably will Swimmer Michael Phelps was suspended for three months in 2009 after a photo Richardson’s recent succontinue to be criticized was released showing him smoking weed. He was still allowed to compete since cess. “What we’ve seen because people expect the suspension took place in the off season. Credit: Fernando Frazão, Agência Brasil after George Floyd is women to behave a certhis racial reckoning. The rock has Razack said that Black women tain way, and because she doesn’t fit been pushed up the hill, but now we exhibiting the same bravado as other that mold, she’s going to be criticized.” see the rock coming back down a little athletes sparks backlash because they How Black women behave as combit, and we still have to continue pushare perpetually expected to be “humpetitors has also been heavily scrutiing it up the hill. I think that we’ll continble” or simply “grateful to be there” to nized. Richardson and Venus Williams ue to have these instances happen. remain in society’s good graces. For have both been questioned for daring Yes, there will always be the haters, so having swagger and the guts to say to exude confidence. Richardson and we must continue to protect, support “I’m that girl,” Richardson has been tennis star Naomi Osaka have also and rally around Sha’Carri. I am happy called “arrogant,” widely believed to be been called out for snubbing the news that I see her smiling.” a modern-day way to call Black people media. Osaka was actually fined for “uppity.” doing so. And acting in a way that’s More than anything, Greer believes even perceived to be aggressive has The 19th is an independent, nonprofit Richardson has been denigrated and led to criticism of Black women athnewsroom reporting on gender, politics maligned because she is a Black letes. In August, Coco Gauff, who went and policy.

JUNE 27, 2024

39

$59

1/2 OZ OTD

PREMIER SHELF

3390 28TH ST, BOULDER

BEST PHO

TRADITIONAL VIETNAMESE PHO HOUSE

COME SEE WHAT WE’VE BEEN GROWING

11am-9pm Longmont & Boulder Open 7 days a Week

2855 28th St, Boulder, (303)-449-0350 2321 Clover Basin Dr, Longmont, (303) 834-9765

GROWN

LOVE

NATIVEROOTSCANNABIS.COM

T T WENTY WENTY LOC LOC ATIONS! ATIONS! F F IND IND ONE ONE NEAR NEAR YOU YOU