Jack Armstrong, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Jacob Gardenswartz, Adam Perry, Dan Savage, Toni Tresca, Gregory Wakeman
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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-holds-barred 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.
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DEVELOPERS WIN, BOULDER LOSES
When did this become the Developers Republic of Boulder? It seems like the Peoples have become only lobsters in the pot.
Look no further than Ash House, which was condemned just days ago and forced 60 students out. (Read an update on Ash House online: bit.ly/BoCoBrieflySept25.)
What an embarrassing failure by planning and development services. It took a tenant complaint to expose just how cluelessly this department operates and fails to ensure accountability of property owners.
Given its shady recent history, this was a completely predictable situation. Before John Kirkland bought it from Shambala,
historical landmark status was granted — much to his outrage against the city council for “restricting his freedom to make renovations,” as he told the Landmarks Board at the time. Though that certainly didn’t prevent him from turning it into a much-touted student housing project, then secretly adding 15 unpermitted bedrooms anyway.
Such an effort didn’t just happen accidentally or without enablers! Who were the workers involved? And what about C.J. Chapman, the registered agent for 891 12th St LLC, the property owning entity of Ash House? Are we seriously to believe everyone ignorant?
Chapman is a commercial real estate lawyer who was either complicit in illegality or acted wildly irresponsible, a potential breach of the code-of-conduct associated with his law license.
Such galling disregard for the rules and regulations — plus lackluster enforcement — only highlights how capitulated Boulder has become to monied interests. Before we buy any more lofty promises from bad-faith developers, how about ensuring delivery on those made prior? Otherwise, we’re only helping to protect speculative investment, corporate tax write-offs and monopolized ownership.
Why not explore viable solutions like taxes on vacant homes? Perhaps that should have been on the November ballot.
It seems that, in Boulder, developers always win, ultimately at the people’s expense. Regardless, the lawyers get paid.
— Garrett Rue, Gunbarrel
This opinion does not necessarily reflect the views of Boulder Weekly.
‘COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN’
A“communication breakdown” was the cause of confusion surrounding Pekoe Sip House’s exit from the CU Boulder campus, according to university officials. The business owners called it “gross incompetence.”
The university has since changed how it communicates with its commercial vendors, but the coffee shop may be forced to close its second location in North Boulder due to the financial fallout.
Pekoe’s owners first posted publicly about their dilemma Aug. 23. In a letter taped to the door of their North Boulder location and posted on GoFundMe and Reddit, owners Jeff Rommel and Alisha Mason detailed how their shop at CU Boulder’s ATLAS Institute came to close, a story that was later reported by the Daily Camera and other local media.
“Without notice, consideration, kindness, or ethics,” they wrote, “we lost everything within one day.”
‘A NO-BRAINER’
The couple have been running Pekoe since 2020, when they purchased the business from Paul Cattin, but the cafe has been operating at CU Boulder since August 2009.
Rommel and Mason’s lease started in 2020 as a one-year contract with options to renew for three years. Although the cafe was closed for 2020 and 2021, the lease was renewed each of the past three years.
In January, Mason and Rommel were approached by CU’s real estate services team about an opportunity to expand their business to other campus locations.
According to the couple, they expressed their interest in renewing Pekoe’s ATLAS lease at that time.
Rommel took that January conversation as a sign that CU Boulder wanted to keep Pekoe there, and decided to “focus on the ATLAS space.”
“I thought it was a no-brainer that they wanted to continue working with us,” he said.
On July 15, Pekoe received an email from Nick Feathers of CU’s real estate services division, letting them know ATLAS “would like to pursue other café options” — the first correspondence Rommel and Mason said they had received since the January conversation.
“Would you still like to be considered for renewal?” Feathers wrote. “Should the building want to move in another direction your lease will be terminated on 7/31/24.”
‘PEKOE WILL NOT BE CLOSING’
Unstated by Feathers, or in any subsequent communication from CU to Pekoe, was that the university was already in conversation with other vendors about the space. Nancy Kao, who operates the shop that replaced Pekoe, Fen’s Cafe, said she was notified in early July about the potential to rent the storefront.
“ATLAS was in the process of searching for new potential vendors to fill the space when the University asked Pekoe if it wished to be considered among other cafe options,” university spokesperson Nicole Mueksch confirmed via email.
The same day they received Feathers’ email, Rommel visited Mark Gross, director of CU Boulder’s ATLAS institute, and Sara Preston, the ATLAS Institute’s finance and accounting manager, to ask them to consider letting Pekoe stay. According to Rommel, Gross told him, “[I] can’t make any promises.”
Rommel said he went to see Preston again on July 16 to re-emphasize the importance of Pekoe’s lease renewal. According to Mason’s open letter to CU, during the visit, Preston said to Rommel that, “she didn’t think [Gross] was talking to anyone else about replacing us on the lease.”
The next day, Rommel and Mason received their first encouraging sign: an email from Preston confirming that Pekoe’s ATLAS location would not be shut down.
“Mark [Gross] and I talked and agree that terminating the lease as of 7/31 is not what any of us want,” Preston wrote in the email. “Pekoe will not be closing at the end of the month.”
But Preston also reminded the couple that Pekoe was only one option being considered.
“We are working as quickly as possible
to do our due diligence before making any final decisions,” she wrote.
“Prospective vendors are being asked for a brief description of food and beverages they plan on offering for the coming year.”
Reassured by Preston’s email, the couple hired 10 new students to add to the summer staff of four in preparation for the upcoming school year.
Rommel and his attorney sent two additional emails to CU in the following days seeking to confirm details; neither received a response.
So they were surprised when, two weeks later, an employee told them a woman had come into the shop and offered her a job at the new cafe that would be taking over Pekoe’s location. That same day, they received their first communication from CU’s real estate services division since Preston’s July 17 message: an email giving them two weeks to vacate the property.
“The lease expires today, 7/31/24,” the email read, “and after today, Pekoe is no longer permitted to operate the ATLAS café. Pekoe will have until 8/15/24 to vacate the café space in ATLAS.”
Unlike previous email correspondence from the university, there was no identifiable author or employee’s name included with the message.
“We were shocked,” Rommel said. “Our shop performed the best financially last year out of the history of that location.”
‘A MISUNDERSTANDING’
The university gave Pekoe two additional weeks to move out after an email from Rommel’s attorney, which threatened legal action. Rommel believes he was entitled to two months notice that his lease would expire, something his attorney communicated to CU on July 23.
CU disagrees. The specific lease provision applies only to early termination, Mueksch said in an interview. Moreover, Pekoe was never eligible for a renewal, despite Feathers’ use of that term in his July 15 email.
“There wasn’t an opportunity for a renewal of the lease,” Mueksch said. “There would have been an entirely new lease granted.”
Pekoe’s lease expiration date, July 31, “was very clearly stated in the lease,” she said. “We do expect all of our vendors to
Pekoe is down to one location in North Boulder, but due to the loss of revenue from the CU Boulder cafe, owner Jeff Rommel says it could close by Christmas of this year.
University changes rules after Pekoe Sip House exit
STORY AND PHOTO BY JACK ARMSTRONG RADIO 1190
understand the terms and conditions of their contracts.”
When asked about Preston’s July 17 email stating that Pekoe would not be closing when their lease expired, along with other communications between ATLAS staff and the business owners, Mueksch characterized it as a “communication breakdown.”
“There was a misunderstanding,” she said. “I can’t speculate the details on why that communication happened.”
Mueksch declined to make Feathers, Preston or Gross available for comment.
Following Pekoe’s exit, the university updated its rules for communicating with vendors. The “RES (Real Estate Services) Satellite Café Lease Management Procedures” now include a requirement to notify vendors six months before their lease is set to expire.
This “critical date monitoring” will “ensure all parties understand timelines and required actions prior to deadlines,” the policies state.
“Certainly through this process, CU Boulder has taken steps to improve its processes, particularly around vendor processes and communication,” Mueksch said. “The university, with real estate services, has really taken what transpired seriously.”
DOMINO EFFECTS
Rommel is not mollified by the university’s reaction.
“Changes to their policies… to me that’s an admission of guilt,” he said. “They are admitting to devastating a small company.”
Rommel and Mason were forced to lay off their entire staff across locations. “We went from 23 employees, 16 of those being students, to just the two of us now, six days a week,” Rommel said. “And it’s like, how long can I do that?”
With the revenue from the ATLAS location cut off, the owners were forced to close their commercial kitchen on 63rd and Arapahoe, which supplied the store with Pekoe’s own brand of food. The two still owe a monthly rent on the facility, a cost
Rommel says is getting difficult to afford.
The one remaining North Boulder shop “does not generate even close to the revenue cost to sustain those debts,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m going to be open by Christmas at this store.”
By far the most difficult part of the experience, Rommel said, was the attitude of some ATLAS officials — particularly Gross.
“He never came to the cafe,” Rommel
said. “He doesn’t realize the domino effect of his decision, even though I told him the lives he was affecting.”
Fen’s Kao, said communication was lacking during her move into the ATLAS space, which overlapped with Pekoe’s move out.
“I thought [The ATLAS directors] didn’t want my business anymore because I didn’t hear from them after July,” Kao said.
Still, Kao isn’t worried about Pekoe’s fate becoming her own.
“Life isn’t fair,” she said. “I had [Formosa Bakery] taken away from me back in 2019. I’m a single mom, and that was devastating for my family, but I found a way to move on.”
Shay Castle and Tyler Hickman contributed reporting.
DOWN WITH THE THICKNESS
Fat Bear Week celebrates 10 years of corpulence and conservation
BY SHAY CASTLE
There aren’t many celebrations of fatness in our thin-obsessed culture, where a perfectly chiseled face is just an Instagram filter away. Add in the influences of Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs, and it seems as if our society will never escape the endless race to the bony bottom.
another. To win requires one simple thing: become the roundest, fuzziest four-legged fatty on Brooks River.
Behold, the antidote: Fat Bear Week. The annual March Madness-style showdown pits the brown bears of Alaska’s Katmai Preserve against one
“Fat bears are successful bears,” reads the official Fat Bear Week website. “They exemplify the richness of Katmai National Park and Bristol Bay, Alaska, a wild region that is home to more brown bears than people and the largest, healthiest runs of sockeye salmon left on the planet.”
It’s these salmon that help the mas-
sive mammals achieve peak plumpness. During hibernation, bears can lose up to one-third of their body weight. From June to October, they gain it all back — and then some. The more they eat, the better they can withstand the long, dark Alaskan winters.
Katmai’s bears can weigh more than 1,200 lbs., but Fat Bear Week isn’t strictly about the numbers. Competitors aren’t weighed, but instead judged on two pictures: one taken early in the
FAT BEAR WEEK CHAMPIONS
2014 - 480 Otis
2015 - 409 Beadnose
2016 - 480 Otis
2017 - 480 Otis
2018 - 409 Beadnose
2019 - 435 Holly
2020 - 747
2021 - 480 Otis
2022 - 747
2023 - Grazer
Watch a live stream of the bears of Brooks River: bit.ly/BrownBearCamBW Learn more about past FBW competitors: explore. org/meet-the-bears
season, post-hibernation, and one taken shortly before they head back into their dens.
Dozens of corpulent ursines waddled their way into our hearts with the firstever Fat Bear Tuesday, a single day in October 2014. By the next year, much like the competitors’ waistlines, the festivities expanded. And they kept on growing.
FatBearWeek.org debuted in 2020. Fat Bear Junior started in 2021, giving younger competitors a chance at the crown.
This year, Fat Bear Junior runs Sept. 26-29, while the main event starts Oct. 2. Competitors will be unveiled during a Sept. 30 livestream/bracket release. Participants get one vote per day, submitted online. Votes are tied to and tracked by email accounts: One email address equals one vote.
The competition was marred by election tampering in 2022, when an apparent bot stuffed the ballot box for Holly, a repeat champion. Those votes were tossed, and the aptly named 747 flew in for the win.
Certain names and numbers will be familiar to fans of Fat Bear Week. Bear No. 408, Otis, has won four times. A fund has been set up in his name, with donations supporting the 4 million-acre Katmai National Park and Preserve.
Top: Bear 151, pictured here in September 2023, hasn’t yet nabbed the crown, but he’s still a winner to us. Credit: K. Moore, National Park Service (NPS) Above: Bears line up at the falls on Brooks River at Katmai Preserve in Alaska, hoping to catch some salmon. Credit: N. Boak, NPS
Bear 409, the 2018 Fat Bear Week champion. Credit: A. Ramos, NPS
Otis before bulking up for the 2021 season… Credit: N. Boak, NPS
Bear 435, aka Holly, a repeat Fat Bear Week champion. Credit: L. Carter, NPS
… when he grabbed the title of fattest bear for the fourth time. Credit:
3
00 Suns Brewing was really just an idea brought up years ago, that kept surfacing every time a brewery was toured, a GABF was attended, a new craft beer was tasted, a bottle of homebrew was shared on the back deck in the cool summer evening air. It was just a dream and one day (gulp), we worked up the nerve to make it a reality. We wanted to put our time and our work into something that brought joy to others the way those moments brought joy to both our palates and our souls. And we wanted to give the community a gathering place that was welcoming,
unpretentious and got back to the roots of craft brewing.
In 2019, we had the great luck of partnering with Nate Say of Scratch Food Truck to create a permanent kitchen inside 300 Suns. His craftfocused philosophy was a natural addition to our brewery and his scratch-made burgers, poutine and Nashville hot chicken keep our customers’ (and our) bellies happy.
We hope you enjoy our hyper-local craft brewery.
Since opening in 2003, Four Paws & Co. has specialized in premium natural foods and treats, including frozen diets and raw bones. Along with the excellent choices in food for cats and dogs, we carry supplements, grooming supplies, leashes & collars, toys, beds, and cat condos. It’s safe to say there is something for every pet in the store. There is also the Friends of Four Paws Frequent Buyer Program. You receive a punch card and once that is filled, you will receive a $10 Four Paws gift card. Last, but certainly not least, Four Paws
offers two special services. We can deliver the food you need to your door, and we have a pet sitting service. Stop in soon and see how Four Paws & Co. can help you care for your best friend.
At The Mountain Fountain, there’s a little something for everyone. Located smack dab in the center of Hygiene, our eclectic market and deli sources meats from local pastures, and homemade gluten-free bread to die for — combine the two, and you’ve got one of Boulder County’s best gluten-free sandwiches. As a matter of fact, everything at our bakery is homemade — and it makes all the difference — resulting in an airy, light bite across all
products: banana bread, brownies, pies, countryloafs, and so much more. Our butcher shop is many local’s little secret, but the word is out — you will walk out with the best, locally-sourced meat in the area. Grab a coffee, a sandwich and and a seat at The Mountain Fountain— we’ve got what you need.
HELP WANTED
Software Quality Engineer, Medtronic, Inc., Lafyette, CO. Req. Masters in Comp. Sci., Software Eng., Biomed. Eng. or rel. IT or eng. fld. & 1 yr. exp. as Software Quality Eng. or Software Eng.; OR Bachelors & 2 yrs. exp. Must possess at min. 1 yr. exp. w/ each of the following: FDA 21 CFR Parts 11 & 820, ISO 13485, ISO 14971, & IEC 62304; Defining & implementing software quality metrics; SW dFMEA; Product software requirements; Software Problem Reports or Software Defects; Med. Device Design Controls, Design History File, & SDLC; & Test Methods Development, Automation testing, & V&V of Product software. Position works a hybrid model and will be onsite in Lafayette, CO location – 3 days per week.
Relocation assistance not available for this position. Apply at https://medtronic. wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/ MedtronicCareers, Req. #R6672. No agencies or phone calls. Medtronic is an equal opportunity employer committed to cultural diversity in the workplace. All individuals are encouraged to apply.
GRIZZLY MEN
Bear Hat grows local following with a gritty brand of bluegrass
BY ADAM PERRY
After paying his dues along the Front Range, Charlie White has the world-weary look of a drifter who just stepped off a train he hopped — eager to share songs he wrote, or maybe stole, along the way.
In reality, White is a Berklee College of Music alum who prizes sincerity. During the two years his band Bear Hat has been on the local scene, the bluegrass outfit has played nearly every stage in the Boulder area — from free shows at Jamestown Mercantile to packed gigs at the Fox Theatre. Whatever the setting, the Baltimore native says earnestness is the name of the game.
“Authenticity is what we’re aiming for,” he says. “Grit is a good word for it. Grunge is something that’s come up, too.”
The effort it takes to maintain that grungy spirit is part of why the band has yet to release a debut album. Bear Hat is building buzz through live shows and performance videos on social media.
“It’s very raw,” says mandolin player David Stuhlemmer, who performs under
the stage name JD Songs. “I’ve recorded a fair amount over the past 15 years. I have a sense of when the energy is there, when it’s captured and when it’s not there.”
“We have absolutely no deadline,” White adds. “There’s no rush on anything. It’s not going to come out until we all really think it sounds the way it needs to.”
ORCHESTRATING A SOUND
Rounding out Bear Hat’s lineup is bassist Clay Bedell and flutist Josh Wexler, who cut their teeth in beloved local acts like The Alcapones and Poorfree. The pair have also befriended locals in Jamestown, Ward and Gold Hill — communities where genuineness isn’t just a plus: It’s a rule.
The band’s gritty vibes are juxtaposed by the clean proficiency of banjo player
Josy Rosales and CU Boulder grad Jonathan Galle on the fiddle. With all the pieces in place, the ensemble draws from influences like Kansas alt-bluegrass outfit Split Lip Rayfield and icons like the Grateful Dead for a singular mix incorporating swing, blues and Americana.
Bear Hat was originally just White and Stuhlemmer, whose paths first crossed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic at the Illegal Pete’s bluegrass jam in Boulder. White writes most of the band’s songs, and Stuhlemmer says his creative partner’s deep understanding of music pushes the band to new heights.
“When he orchestrates things, he sometimes tells me just to play certain notes, not even a chord structure I’ve ever even seen before,” says Stuhlemmer. “It’s pretty awesome just to watch him create these types of scenarios, thinking through each instrument and how he actually wants it to sound.”
RHYTHM AND ROOTS
This holistic attention to each player’s role is an essential part of the Bear Hat formula. With their down-home swirl of bass, flute, banjo, guitar, fiddle and mandolin, you might not even notice that the band produces all this commotion without drums.
“I’ve always played in electric bands growing up, and this is kind of a new genre of music to me,” White says. “Not having a drummer forces us to have better timing, and I like that pressure because it forces me to be a better rhythm player, which is something I’m always working on.”
Front Range roots music fans will have their next chance to catch this local rising act Sept. 28, when the band opens for Shawn James at the historic Boulder Theater.
Ultimately, White says that the outfit is “striving for something [that] feels communal.” But in the meantime, it’s about a simpler goal: “We’re just really having fun and enjoying each other.”
ON THE BILL: Shawn
James with Bear Hat and Cole Scheifele. 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $35
Over the last two years, local outfit Bear Hat has carved a place for their “raw” brand of bluegrass on the Front Range. Credit: Sal DeVincenzo Photography
BOATS AGAINST THE CURRENT
Time-warp comedy
‘My Old Ass’ is a disarming coming-of-age story
BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
It’s a typical fantasy: the desire to go back and tell the younger version of yourself something. Steer yourself in one direction over another, maximize pleasure and minimize pain. Do this, don’t do that, and you won’t have to experience sorrow. But it’s a fantasy because no one believes it could work. If you want to get from A to C, you have to go through B, no matter how bad B might be.
That’s more or less the premise of My Old Ass, a clever coming-of-age comedy that hits like a ton of bricks.
Elliott (Maisy Stella) sneaks off with her two friends on her 18th birthday to a remote island in the Pacific Northwest to ingest some hallucinogenic mushrooms instead of sitting at home and blowing out birthday candles with her parents and two brothers. Most 18-year-olds would agree with Elliott’s decision. A lot of 39-year-olds wouldn’t. They would look back and wish they spent time with their family. At least that’s what Elliott’s 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) says when she shows up in the middle of 18-year-old Elliott’s drug trip.
How this miracle of time travel hap-
pens is a mystery to both women — and one My Old Ass writer and director Megan Park isn’t interested in dwelling on. Thank god for that.
Following the hallucinatory meeting, the two Elliotts continue communicating via cell phone, with older Elliott occasionally dropping hints that things aren’t great in the future — apparently, the salmon will disappear in 11 years. But, much to younger Elliott’s chagrin, older Elliott won’t give her any investment advice and is cagey about specifics. The only knowledge older Elliott is willing to impart: Spend more time with your family and avoid anyone named Chad.
Younger Elliott knows no Chad, so this request is more confusing than instructive. But, spend more time with your family? Yeah, she already knows that. Elliott is leaving for the University of Toronto in a week and has entered the age where you realize things end. She hopes they won’t. She hopes she’ll go off and start a new life while the one she leaves behind continues in some parallel timeline encased in amber. But things don’t work like that. Yet, we hope.
It’s these recognizable wants that make My Old Ass as sweet, sincere and funny as it is. Park does a remarkable job disarming viewers with routine relationships and intergenerational ribbing until it’s time to drop the hammer — and what a hammer.
There’s a scene early in My Old Ass where Elliott pilots her motorboat across one of the many lakes dotting the Pacific Northwest. In the boat are her two friends, Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) and Ro (Kerrice Brooks), who are on their way to ingest mushrooms. The image, shot from above and set to a pop song, shows the boat swishing this way and that, slicing playfully through the shimmering water. There’s a cut, two, three, four, of the boat and the girls giggling. At first blush, the image and the editing seem conventional, clunky, even indulgent. But then Park returns to the set-up of Elliott piloting the boat twice more: the second time with another passenger, the third time with just herself. These moments only grow more significant, more precious, upon reflection.
My Old Ass isn’t a time travel movie, but a movie that wants to hold on to a
specific moment in time. As one character explains — in a scene of such profound simplicity — rarely do we get to decide when something ends. Elliott’s mother (Maria Dizzia) knew exactly when that moment occurred, and it’s emotionally arrested her ever since. Elliott’s brother (Seth Isaac Johnson) can pinpoint that moment, and its hurt transformed him into something off-putting. There’s a way his clothing is styled and his hair is combed that seems to signal that he’s on the path to something terrible. Then again, maybe the moment he shares with Elliott in the golf cart is enough to derail that tract.
And, yes, there is a Chad (Percy Hynes White). Why older Elliott wants her younger self to steer clear of him, I’ll leave to the movie. But that’s where your heart will break just enough to let the light in.
ON SCREEN: My Old Ass opens in theaters Sept. 27.
Maisy Stella (left) and Aubrey Plaza in My Old Ass Courtesy: Amazon MGM Studios
‘COME TO LIFE’
Justine Lupe traces her path from the Front Range to screen stardom
BY GREGORY WAKEMAN
Celebrated performer Justine Lupe has established her voice in the world of film and television, but she says her primary aim is to serve the creative spirit behind whatever project she’s working on.
“With every part I play, I love being a function in someone else’s vision. That’s what turns me on,” she says. “It’s less about what I want to achieve personally and more about seeing the idea and story come to life.”
Over the last few years, the stories Lupe has brought to life are ones you probably know. From her work on the prestige TV blockbuster Succession to roles in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the Apple TV+ series The Big Door Prize, the Colorado native has built a career most actors would envy — and worked with some big-name costars along the way.
“I just feel really lucky to be constantly surrounded by all these great actors,” Lupe, 35, says. “They’re just all so good in their own respective ways. And they are really nice people.”
Lupe’s latest series Nobody Wants This, streaming now on Netflix, finds her working with another impressive roster of performers. Kristen Bell stars as Joanne, an agnostic sex podcaster who falls in love with newly single rabbi Noah (Adam Brody). Lupe plays Morgan, Joanne’s sister and fellow podcast host, whom she describes as “unbridled.”
“She has no filter. She’s very reactionary. But she’s also self-conscious. She is very aware that she’s this very presentable woman and the effect she has on people,” Lupe says. “I just had so much fun with that dichotomy.”
‘COMPLETELY OBSESSED’
Born in New York, Lupe moved to the Colorado mountain town of Bailey at a young age. The family ultimately settled in
the Mile High City, where her dad was an installation manager at the Denver Art Museum. She spent most of her childhood watching movies and playing games with her younger brother, Colin.
Lupe would force her sibling to film “random sketches” with their dad’s video camera. It was just for fun, but the experience had a huge impact on Justine and Colin. Not only has she remained in front of the camera ever since, but today he works as a cinematographer.
Disney movies were Lupe’s early inspiration. She particularly loved Ariel from The Little Mermaid and the anthropomorphic critters from The Jungle Book. But her fascination with acting deepened when a babysitter put on the 1998 British period film, Elizabeth
“I was too young to understand what was going on. But I just remember it being incredible and epic,” she says. “Especially because Cate Blanchett starts out as this young girl and ages all the way through. She does the whole trajectory of the character. I just remember thinking she was this amazing actress.”
With her interest turning into an obsession, Lupe’s parents sent her to the Jewish Community Center, even though they weren’t Jewish, because it “had a really great theater program.” At the age of 11, she auditioned and got into the Denver School of the Arts, where she studied until she was 18.
“I was completely obsessed with [acting] as a kid. I wasn’t really good at much else,” she says. “I loved reading and writing. But I was terrible at sports.”
It wasn’t long before Lupe set her sights on furthering her education at New York City’s Juilliard School, having seen a PBS documentary on the prestigious performing arts institution as a kid.
“As I got older,” she says, “I realized there was nowhere else I wanted to go.”
‘I HIT THE JACKPOT’
Following her graduation in 2011, Lupe’s career took off with roles in films like David Chase’s Not Fade Away and Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha. But it was her work on the small screen that caught the attention of Nobody Wants This creator and writer Erin Foster, who thought Lupe would be perfect for the role of Morgan.
“As soon as I got the script, I just immediately fell in love with the character and the show’s humor,” Lupe says. “It was this weird mix of dry and biting. It was smart and cynical, but there was also this heart and joy to it that I found really interesting.”
Lupe says it also helps that she continues to be surrounded by actors of the highest caliber. She compares Bell to her Succession co-star Sarah Snook and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel lead Rachel Brosnahan, praising the trio’s skill, consistency and professionalism.
“That’s why they’re leading ladies,” she says. “They create an environment that’s safe, but the set is still lively and full of creativity. It’s so fun to work with people like that.”
Meanwhile, Lupe describes actor Timothy Simons — the Veep breakout with whom she shares most of her scenes in Nobody Wants This — as a comedy genius. As for Adam Brody: “There’s a reason why [he] always plays the dreamy guys,” she says. “He’s sweet and really warm.”
With her latest project continuing a hot streak that began more than a decade ago, Lupe can’t help but reflect on a dream start to her already impressive career. Given the fierce competition of a cutthroat industry, she knows just how rare of an opportunity that is.
“I’ve just been really lucky,” she says. “It feels like I hit the jackpot.”
ON SCREEN: Nobody Wants This is streaming now on Netflix.
Justine Lupe (right) and Kristen Bell in Nobody Wants This, streaming on Netflix starting Sept. 26. Courtesy: Netflix
Colorado-raised performer Justine Lupe has built an impressive career with roles in shows like Succession, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and more. Courtesy: Justine Lupe
NATIVE ROOTS
BY TONI TRESCA
If you’ve attended a Boulder County stage production in recent years, you’ve likely heard a pre-show announcement about the history of the land beneath your feet. Formal recognition of the Indigenous peoples who lived here before white settlement have become a common fixture on the Front Range and across the country as institutions grapple with their place in the legacy of colonial violence and displacement.
Ojibwe playwright Marty Strenczewilk has heard plenty of these proclamations. While some critics dismiss the speeches as empty gestures, the managing director of the Boulder-based Creative Nations artist collective believes they can do more than just check a box.
“There’s good and bad to curtain speeches with land acknowledgments,” Strenczewilk says. “Sometimes they expect the Indigenous people to do it, which is extremely uncool because we have nothing to acknowledge. They’re really about driving the conversation. Are there crappy parts of it? Sure, but it serves as a good starting point.”
Sparking meaningful dialogue is central to the Indigenous art coalition’s inaugural First Storyteller’s Festival taking place Sept. 30 to Oct. 6. The showcase will feature five new works by Indigenous playwrights from around the country, performed live by Native actors.
While the staged readings take place at eTown Hall and the Dairy Arts Center in
Boulder, a panel featuring the playwrights will be held at the Longmont Museum’s Stewart Auditorium on Oct. 3.
“The evening is an investigation of the complexities of telling Native stories,” says Justin Veach, curator of public programs and manager at the Stewart Auditorium.
Those complexities include everything from historical struggles against settler colonialism to modern identity crises, all informed by the cultural backgrounds of the artists. But Strenczewilk says the showcase is less about tackling these issues with fully formed works, and more about fine-tuning the pieces before they break out onto the stage.
“We wanted to create a festival for development, not production,” Strenczewilk says. “There are many incredible Native theaters, but what was missing was a development space where writers could revise and workshop their new plays.”
The festival comes two years after Creative Nations and the Dairy Arts Center entered into what Strenczewilk calls a “crucial” partnership. The arrangement provides the collective with a dedicated multi-use exhibition wing known as Sacred Space at the nonprofit arts center, along with funding and technical
resources to carry out its mission.
“It gives us the freedom and resources to bring in Native playwrights, give them time to develop their work and run multiple readings,” Strenczewilk says. “If we want to see more Native plays performed in major regional theaters, we must improve the play development process.”
Strenczewilk and Creative Nations have big plans for the future. The collective intends to become its own nonprofit within the next three to five years. Strenczewilk believes independence will allow for expanded programming and partnerships. In the meantime, he hopes the upcoming festival will help to expand the new play pipeline and make Boulder a hub for Native work.
“We’re already in conversations with major theaters who are interested in hearing more about these plays,” Strenczewilk says. “And that’s the whole point, right? This isn’t the end; this is a middle point.”
ON STAGE: First Storyteller’s Festival. Sept. 30 through Oct. 6, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St. and eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. $10-$15 | Voices of Change: An Evening with Native American Playwrights. Oct. 3, Longmont Museum - Stewart Auditorium, 400 Quail Road. Free
WHAT’S ON THE BILL?
The public readings begin Oct. 1 at eTown Hall with New Year’s Purun by Justin P. Lopez (Mapuche), a coming-of-age story set in urban Chile. Taiel, 16, must master the traditional Purun dance to fulfill his role as a healer while also navigating the challenges of modern life and bullying.
Following Lopez’s 10-minute play, Steve Callahan (Osage) will present The Counting of the Heads, a family drama about identity. The work is a dramatization of the real-life love story between his Osage grandfather and German grandmother in 1906, during the first tribal census in Indian Territory.
“There is the hint of future oil wealth. There is hope for wealth from steam automobiles. There is rich Osage lore,” Callahan says. “Shall Will and Annie’s four children take the Osage way — or the White Man’s way?”
On Oct. 2 at the Dairy, Savage: The Unconquerable Wanda Savage, written by Nicolette Blount (Chickasaw) and Lindel Hart, the musical tells the story of a Chickasaw sharpshooter and silent film actress who defied social expectations in Hollywood during the Vaudeville era.
For a contemporary spin on Native stories, Embers Borne West by Maddox K. Pennington (Cherokee) on Oct. 5 at the Dairy tells a time-bending tale of two generations of a Cherokee family: Jay is a nonbinary 30-year-old listening to their ancestors who moved to Los Angeles a century before.
“[They] find themselves asking some of the same questions about Native identity and belonging: assimilation vs. adaptation, family and home,” Pennington says.
The festival also includes dibaajimo (s/he tells, tells a story) following Pennington’s reading. This is a showcase of work created by students and parents from the Boulder Valley School District’s American Indian Parent’s Council in the Dairy’s lobby.
Strenczewilk’s Pink Man or The Only Indian in the Room that evening is the final reading of the festival. The semi-autobiographical work explores the complications of childhood through the playwright’s own search for belonging as an Ojibwe kid.
“My mom’s side was heavily engaged with this Native part of their life, but I lived in this small racist town where there was a Confederate flag that hung on our locker,” Strenczewilk says. “The stories are my experience of trying to figure out what it meant to live not on one side of my identity or the other, but somewhere in the middle.”
Creative Nations Managing Director Marty Strenczewilk speaks at the opening of the inaugural exhibition in the Sacred Space gallery at the Dairy Arts Center. Credit: Raymundo Muñoz
Left to right: Justin P. Lopez, Maddox K. Pennington, Marty Strenczewilk, Nicolette Blount and Steve Callahan. Courtesy: Creative Nations
27
LEFT HAND OKTOBERFEST
4-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27 and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, Left Hand Brewing Co. - The Garden, 1245 Boston Ave., Longmont. $12+
Head to the Garden at Left Hand in Longmont for the return of the awardwinning brewery’s annual Oktoberfest celebration. The day will feature live music from local bands like Card Catalog along with stein-holding, brateating and costume contests — plus sack races for kids, a craft artisan market and more.
27
PICATSSO PAINT NIGHT
6-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, Purrfect Pause Cat Cafe, 5290 Arapahoe Ave. Unit E, Boulder. $39
Hey all you cool cats and kittens, grab your paint brushes right meow and get ready for an artistic evening surrounded by furry friends. This fall-themed night is open to ages 14 and up, and a portion of proceeds will benefit Front Range Freedom Rescue veterinary bills.
Take your laughs with farm-fresh bites at this night of comedy at Longmont’s own Ollin Farms. Ticket price includes a meal made with local, seasonal ingredients and a night of comedy curated by Longmont Out Loud (LOL). The farm doesn’t have a liquor license, but you’re welcome to bring your own wine. Glasses will be provided.
28
LAUGH ART TOUR
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28. Various locations, Old Town Lafayette. Free.
Take a journey through the “funky, weird and whimsical” makings of the Lafayette Art Underground Hustle (LAUGH) at locations throughout Old Town Lafayette. Grab a “passport” at your first stop and collect stamps from each location to be entered for a chance to win a $100 gift card for brunch at Tangerine.
28
DAIRY COMEDY IN THE BOE
8:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, Dairy Arts Center - Boedecker Theater, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $15
Get ready for a side-splitting night at the Dairy when a half-dozen comics take the stage for a stand-up showcase at the Boedecker Theater. Second City alum Mia Wilson headlines this evening of comedy hosted and curated by local funny person Zoe Rogers. Additional performers include Ren Q. Dawe, Ali Kareem, Haley Raven and Ryan Ergo.
28
CORN FESTIVAL
10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, Agricultural Heritage Center, 8348 Ute Hwy, Longmont. $10
Indigenous knowledge takes center stage at the 2024 Corn Festival in Longmont. The third annual event celebrating Native cultures, music, dance and food includes traditional corn preparation and basket-weaving demos, educational workshops, horseback riding and live music from Stella Standingbear, Melissa Ivey & The Future Ancestors, Mono Verde and more.
Credit: Becky Jewell
28
BOULDER SYMPHONY SEASON OPENER
Various times. Saturday, Sept. 28 through Sunday, Sept. 29, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $42
Boulder Symphony kicks off its 20242025 season with a program of works by “neglected and traditionally underrepresented composers.” Opening weekend features the Colorado premiere of Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1, plus works by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Kuznetsov and more.
29
STEALING STARLIGHT
6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, Trident Booksellers & Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. $15
Cypherbird Projects founder and local playwright Lisa Wagner Erickson presents a staged reading of her new production, Stealing Starlight. Grab a glass of wine and a delicious pastry, sit back and enjoy this whimsical tale about a plot to steal a bedazzled sword from an evil king. The evening kicks off with a performance by drag artist Weird Alnite.
29
JAM NIGHT AT ASHER BREWING
4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, Asher Brewing Co., 4699 Nautilus Ct. S Ste. 104, Boulder. Free
End your weekend on a high note at Asher Brewing’s all-levels, open-style jam session. Sip on organic ales and join your neighborhood musicians with whatever instrument you play, or just bop along to the free-flowing vibes. Sessions are held the last Sunday of every month.
1
ARTS IN THE PARKS: LIGHT AND SHADOW
3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 1, Pella Crossing, 1600 N 75th St, Longmont. Free
Find inspiration in the sunlight and shadows during this guided art class hosted by Boulder County Parks & Open Space. Paint beside the peaceful ponds at Pella Crossing while you learn how to bring your art alive with light and shadow. Register: bit.ly/ArtsInTheParkBW
Grab a drink and vibe to hand-picked vinyl LPs from Paradise Records. The Velvet Elk Lounge will be spinning albums all night, but make sure you pop in for happy hour from 5-8 p.m. Records will be available for purchase in-house. Follow @thevelvetelklounge on Instagram to find out what’s on the turntable each week.
2
WEDNESDAY NIGHT FARMERS MARKET
4-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 2, Central Park, 13th and Canyon Streets, Boulder. Free
Soak in this year’s last weeknight Boulder Farmers Market, where you can peruse local harvests and handmade goods without the massive Saturday crowds. After you shop, grab a drink and hang out in the food court with tasty prepared bites and live music.
FRIDAY 9/27
THE KHABU AND FRIENDS
SATURDAY 9/28
ESPRESSO GYPSY JAZZ
SUNDAY 9/29
HAZEL MILLER & THE COLLECTIVE
LIVE MUSIC
THURSDAY, SEPT. 26
WOLF LOESCHER WITH TERESA STORCH
6 p.m. Longmont Public Media, 457 4th Ave. Free
TRIBONACCI TRIO. 6:30 p.m. Bricks on Main, 471 Main St., Longmont. Free
Vocalist, emcee and producer Anderson .Paak returns to the Front Range for a show at Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre with The Free Nationals and GAWD on Oct. 2. The Grammy-winning artist performs on the heels of his collaborative release Why Lawd? as neo-soul duo NxWorries, released this summer via Stones Throw See listing for details.
SHAWN JAMES WITH BEAR HAT AND COLE SCHEIFELE 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $25 STORY ON P. 13
MATT FLAHERTY BAND 9 p.m. Mountain Sun Pub, 1535 Pearl St., Boulder. Free
AL DI MEOLA 7:30 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. $43
WILD RIVERS 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. $30
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 2
ADAM BODINE 7 p.m. Dry Land Distillers, 519 Main St., Longmont. Free
KAVITA SHAH 7 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. $35
ANDERSON .PAAK & THE FREE NATIONALS WITH GAWD 8 p.m. Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Pkwy., Morrison. $106 BW PICK OF THE WEEK
OH SNAP! 7:30 p.m. Muse Performance Space, 200 E. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. Free
DANIEL RODRIGUEZ WITH DAVE BRUZZA. 7:30 p.m. Planet Bluegrass, 500 W. Main St., Lyons. $25
Want more Boulder County events? Check out the complete listings online by scanning this QR code.
Sunday, October 6
ASTROLOGY
BY ROB BREZSNY
ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19): Here comes the Hating and Mating Season. I want to help you minimize the “hating” part and maximize the “mating” part, so I will offer useful suggestions. 1. To the degree that you can, dissolve grudges and declare amnesty for intimate allies who have bugged you. 2. Ask your partners to help you manage your fears; do the same for them. 3. Propose to your collaborators that you come up with partial solutions to complicated dilemmas. 4. Do a ritual in which you and a beloved cohort praise each other for five minutes. 5. Let go of wishes that your companions would be more like how you want them to be.
TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20): Many fairy tales tell of protagonists who are assigned seemingly impossible missions. Perhaps they must carry water in a sieve or find “fire wrapped in paper” or sort a heap of wheat, barley, poppyseed, chickpeas and lentils into five separate piles. Invariably, the star of the story succeeds, usually because they exploit some loophole, get unexpected help or find a solution simply because they didn’t realize the task was supposedly impossible. I bring this up, Taurus, because I suspect you will soon be like one of those fairy-tale champions. Here’s a tip: They often get unexpected help because they have previously displayed kindness toward strangers or low-status characters. Their unselfishness attracts acts of grace into their lives.
LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22): On the morning of Jan. 27, 1970, Libran songwriter John Lennon woke up with an idea for a new song. He spent an hour perfecting the lyrics and composing the music on a piano. Then he phoned his producer and several musicians, including George Harrison, and arranged for them to meet him at a recording studio later that day. By Feb. 6, the song “Instant Karma” was playing on the radio. It soon sold over a million copies. Was it the fastest time ever for a song to go from a seed idea to a successful release? Probably. I envision a similar process in your life, Libra. You are in a prime position to manifest your good ideas quickly, efficiently and effectively.
SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21): You have passed the test of the First Threshold. Congratulations, Scorpio! Give yourself a kiss. Fling yourself a compliment. Then begin your preparations for the riddles you will encounter at the Second Threshold. To succeed, you must be extra tender and ingenious. You can do it! There will be one more challenge, as well: the Third Threshold. I’m confident you will glide through that trial not just unscathed but also healed. Here’s a tip from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “Those who do not expect the unexpected will not find it.”
GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20): You are in a phase with great potential for complex, unforeseen fun. To celebrate, I’m offering descriptions of your possible superpowers. 1. The best haggler ever. 2. Smoother of wrinkles and closer of gaps. 3. Laugher in overly solemn moments. 4. Unpredictability expert. 5. Resourceful summoner of allies. 6. Crafty truthteller who sometimes bends the truth to enrich sterile facts. 7. Riddle wrestler and conundrum connoisseur. 8. Lubricant for those who are stuck. 9. Creative destroyer of useless nonsense. 10. Master of good trickery. 11. Healer of unrecognized and unacknowledged illnesses.
CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22): Tanzanite is a rare blue and violet gemstone that is available in just one place on earth: a fivesquare-mile region of Tanzania. It was discovered in 1967 and mined intensively for a few years. Geologists believed it was all tapped out. But in 2020, a self-employed digger named Saniniu Lazier located two huge new pieces of tanzanite worth $3.4 million. Later, he uncovered another chunk valued at $2 million. I see you as having resemblances to Saniniu Lazier in the coming weeks. In my visions of your destiny, you will tap into resources that others have not been able to unearth. Or you will find treasure that has been invisible to everyone else.
LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22): Ultramarathon foot races are regularly held worldwide, with participants commonly running 100, 200 or even 400 miles over a matter of hours, days or weeks. There’s a downside to engaging in this herculean effort: Runners lose up to 6% of their brain volume during longer races, and their valuable gray matter isn’t fully reconstituted for eight months. Now here’s my radical prophecy for you, Leo. Unless you run in a marathon sometime soon, your brain may gain in volume during the coming weeks. At the very least, your intelligence will be operating at peak levels. It will be a good time to make key decisions.
VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22): Is there a greater waste of land than golf courses? They are typically over 150 acres in size and require huge amounts of water to maintain. Their construction may destroy precious wetlands, and their vast tracts of grass are doused with chemical pesticides. Yet there are only 67 million golfers in the world. Less than 1% of the population plays the sport. Let’s use the metaphor of the golf course as we analyze your life. Are there equivalents of this questionable use of resources and space? Now is a favorable time to downsize irrelevant, misused, and unproductive elements. Re-evaluate how you use your space and resources.
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21): What development are you so ready for that you’re almost too ready? What transformation have you been preparing for so earnestly that you’re on the verge of being overprepared? What lesson are you so ripe and eager to learn that you may be anxiously interfering with its full arrival? If any of the situations I just described are applicable to you, Sagittarius, I have good news. There will be no further postponements. The time has finally arrived to embrace what you have been anticipating.
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19): Capricorn screenwriter and TV producer Shonda Rhimes has had a spectacular career. Her company Shondaland has produced 11 prime-time TV shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and Bridgerton. She’s in the Television Hall of Fame, is one of the wealthiest women in America, and has won a Golden Globe award. As you enter into a phase when your ambitions are likely to shine extra brightly, I offer you two of her quotes. 1. “I realized a simple truth: that success, fame and having all my dreams come true would not fix or improve me. It wasn’t an instant potion for personal growth.” 2. “Happiness comes from living as your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.”
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18): I have performed in many poetry readings. Some have been in libraries, auditoriums, cafes and bookstores, but others have been in unexpected places: a laundromat, a bus station, a Walmart, a grocery store and an alley behind a thrift store. Both types of locations have been enjoyable. But the latter kind often brings the most raucous and engaging audiences, which I love. According to my analysis, you might generate luck and fun for yourself in the coming weeks by experimenting with non-typical scenarios — akin to me declaiming an epic poem on a street corner or parking lot. Brainstorm about doing what you do best in novel situations.
PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20): I have two related oracles for you. 1. During the unfoldment of your mysterious destiny, you have had several homecomings that have moved you and galvanized you beyond what you imagined possible. Are you ready for another homecoming that’s as moving and galvanizing as those that have come before? 2. During your long life, you have gathered amazing wisdom by dealing with your pain. Are you now prepared to gather a fresh batch of wisdom by dealing with pleasure and joy?
SAVAGE LOVE
BY DAN SAVAGE
I’m a gay man in his early 30s who’s into sex stripped down to its most basic elements: tops come in, fuck me, cum and go. I’ve moved to a new city. One guy in his mid-20s came over and we had awkward-but-passionate sex. I went to his apartment to see him a week later, and we did it again. It was hot; we have chemistry. Turns out, he’s also new in town. He’s from a conservative part of the country and says I’m the second man he’s ever had sex with. He’s got a lot of things I look for in romantic partners: smart, cute, soft-spoken, driven and into his job. The bad part: While he’s fairly apolitical, he says he will “probably” vote for Trump.
While there are certainly plenty of gay conservatives, I feel like he’s someone who hasn’t seriously given a lot of thought to politics outside of his strong belief in free enterprise. You said once not to fuck Republicans, because they should go fuck themselves. But I feel like there might be something here I can draw out of him. The sex is good, and I like the idea of fixing him. What to do?
— Aroused Slut Sees Ultimate Potential
For decades, ASSUP, I have urged sane gay men not to fuck gay Republicans, but in 2015 I singled out one gay Republican in particular that I didn’t want other gay men fucking: Tim Miller, former campaign staffer for John McCain, former spokesman for the Republican National Committee, and at the time of my tweet, communications director for Jeb Bush. Seeing as Tim is no longer a Republican (but still a gay man), and seeing as my position on fucking gay Republicans hasn’t changed (just say no), I thought Tim might be able to offer you an unbiased answer. Despite my having urged other gay men not to suck Tim’s dick (without effect, it seems), Tim graciously agreed to weigh in. His response follows.
“Yo ASSUP.
As a former Republican who Dan once tried to cockblock on account of his political views — unsuccessfully, I might add (very unsuccessfully) — I appreciate where your head is. Your instinct is downright humanitarian. It’s in
line with the message Barack Obama delivered at the DNC convention. No, not the dick joke, the part where he said, ‘Everyone deserves a chance, and even when we don’t agree with each other, we can find a way to live with each other.’ And here you are giving this middle manager a chance to live in you!
It’s a beautiful instinct really. Who knows, with your vice grip on his dick, maybe this young gay conservative might blossom into a coconut-pilled podcast host who eviscerates any MAGA moron that dares cross his path like yours truly.
On the other hand...
It’s 2024, not 2014. Donald Trump attempted an insurrection. He’s currently advancing a racist conspiracy about Black immigrants abducting and eating house pets. He is a worthless shart stain with no redeeming qualities or virtues, and that’s been abundantly clear to anyone with a brain for at least nine years now. Being for Trump at this point ... it’s not exactly the same as just mindlessly supporting Tom Tillis. It’s an act of active malice or supreme stupidity.
So, like you, ASSUP, I’m torn. Not a great quality in an advice columnist. But unfortunately for you, Dan passed your question off to a substitute.
I guess my ruling comes down to a practical calculation. If he lives in a swing state, hold your hole hostage until he pledges to support Kamala. We can’t fuck around with so much on the line. If he doesn’t live in a swing state, well, give it a few more whirls, at least until he reveals himself to be intentionally awful. Who knows what could happen, right? After all, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Maybe your hole has the change he seeks.” — Tim Miller
BONING UP ON BROTH
Boulder kitchen concentrates on crafting sippable meals
BY JOHN LEHNDORFF
For a city once labeled “Tofu Town,” Boulder’s latest obsession is a far cry from vegetarian cuisine.
These days, the soup du jour is bone broth, the product of simmering animal bones with vegetables for hours on end. Bone broth by the cup is a menu item at Blackbelly Market, Wonder Press, Flower Child, Skratch Labs Cafe and Just BE Kitchen.
At Boulder Broth, bones are the foundation Kirstine Raynor has built her entire business on. Raynor’s odyssey began in 2007 when she was recovering from a challenging childbirth and chronic back pain.
“I wanted to use bone broth to help heal myself, but I didn’t like any of the store broths,” she says. “I started making it for myself and my son so I knew where the ingredients came from.”
Friends and fellow patients started asking if they could get some of her collagenrich broths. Raynor sold her product in Ball jars for two years before Boulder Broth officially launched in 2019.
“I was a struggling single mom. I had no money. I didn’t even have a pot to cook in,” Raynor says. “But people really needed the broth.”
Broth evangelist is the fifth career for Raynor, a Navy veteran who has also worked as a firefighter, mail pilot and makeup artist. So far, it’s been a successful one: Raynor’s broths are available at Cheese Importers, Lucky’s Market, Moxie Feed & Seed, Nude Foods, Mountain Fountain, Black Cat Farm Stand and the Boulder Farmers Market.
al athletes. I supply a lot of pregnant moms, doulas and midwives. One of them told me she made bone broth pops for a mom who was in labor.”
The broths are cooked at a Longmont commercial kitchen and packaged frozen in BPA-free bags with a spout. These are not like those see-through broths packed in supermarket cans and boxes — some little more than salty flavored water.
When you thaw out a bag of beef Boulder Broth, it looks and ladles like cloudy Jell-o with a layer of fat on top. When warmed, it is a substantial, satisfying liquid meal.
“It’s a long process,” Raynor says. “Broth is slow-simmered for long periods of time, 24 to 72 hours. We use all the cartilage, and fat in the skin. That’s where the flavor is. At the end, we put all the bone marrow back into the broth,” she says. The bison broth takes about 100 hours to make from start to finish.
Digging up enough bones to make thousands of quarts of soup is an ongoing challenge for the company.
“I just sent someone to Montrose and Paonia to pick up 2,300 pounds of pastured bison and chicken bones,” she says. “It takes tons of high-quality bones to make a relatively small amount of good broth. It’s very expensive to make, but that’s what it takes.”
“A lot of people here are interested in health, whether they climb rocks or are battling chronic diseases,” she says. “Our customers include college and profession-
When Raynor launched Boulder Broth, her mission included supporting local regenerative ranchers and farmers. Longmont’s Buckner and Gramma Grass ranches supply beef knuckles, tails and necks.
“I guarantee my chicken farmer that I’ll buy all of his backs and necks,” Raynor says. “He’s over the moon that he’s get-
ting money per pound for something that would normally be trashed.”
There are also broths for non-meat eaters: The vegetable broth includes beets, celery root, fennel, Swiss chard, lemons, apples, wheatgrass, kombu and herbs. The mushroom broth is made from 10 varieties of locally grown fungi, shallots, onions, garlic, pepper, astragalus, saffron and coconut oil.
Because the ingredients are sourced locally, the look and taste of her broths change subtly from season to season.
“The crops change depending on the weather,” she says. “Sometimes it’s not a good harvest year for certain things, and we adjust.”
Next up on her menu is a ready-toheat seasonal autumn harvest soup made with roasted pureed squashes and root vegetables in broth.
“The veggies are sourced entirely from
Boulder regenerative farms including Aspen Moon and Black Cat farms,” she says. “We get our carrots from Metacarbon Farm and shallots from Michelle Croft.”
While it may not be a magical cure-all, reputable health resources suggest that consuming high-quality bone broth can support hydration, spur tissue and bone growth and reduce joint inflammation. Broth is also not a “new” prescription for health, according to Raynor.
Anthropologists suggest that bone broth may have been humankind’s first safe beverage; some form of it is served in almost every cuisine on earth. Chicken bone broth soup has long been hailed as “Jewish penicillin.”
“I love it so much,” Raynor says, sipping broth as she talks. “Broth soothes you and envelopes you. Sipping it is a safe feeling for me.”
Kirstine Raynor. Courtesy: Boulder Broth
A cup of Boulder Broth. Credit: John Lehndorff
LOCAL FOOD NEWS: THE CAFE AT THE J
The Cafe at the J opened recently inside the Boulder JCC, 6007 Oreg Ave. Beyond providing food and coffee in a corner of town with few options, The Cafe is operated by Boulder Bridge House, offering services and training programs for people experiencing homelessness. The nonprofit also operates the Community Table Kitchen at Boulder’s Foothills Hospital.
Shiwa Indian Grocery is open at 489 US-287 Suite 140 in Lafayette in a food island including Proto’s Pizza, Sushi Aji and Big Daddy’s Bagels
CULINARY CALENDAR: DESSERTS FOR ALL OF US
Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts in Boulder is offering a new six-week course on plant-based pastries and desserts starting Oct. 1. Register: discover.escoffier.edu/boulder
Baking show devotees should enter the Denver Bake Fest on Oct. 5 at Rebel Bread. Categories include brownies, whole grain savory, quick breads, sandwich cookies, fougasse and gluten-free cakes. Registration: rebelbreadco.com
The Wheatstock Grain & Music Festival on Sept. 28 at Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyons celebrates Colorado’s heirloom grain growers and bakers inspired by the late Andy Clark. The event includes music, pizza and complimentary shots of Barrel Fire 2.0, a collaboration between Spirit Hound and Dry Land Distillers. Tickets: events.humanitix.com/ wheatstock-grain-festival-cgc/tickets
CHEW
“Chili is not so much food as a state of mind. Addictions to it are formed early in life and the victims never recover. On blue days, I get this passionate yearning for a bowl of chili, and I nearly lose my mind.” — Margaret Cousins, novelist
TRUMP’S FENTANYL FIBS
Ex-president inflates overdose deaths
BY JACOB GARDENSWARTZ KFF HEALTH NEWS AND POLITIFACT
Former President Donald Trump claimed at a summer campaign rally that more than 300,000 Americans are dying each year from the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl, and that the number of fentanyl overdoses was the “lowest” during his administration and has skyrocketed since.
“We’re losing 300,000 people a year to fentanyl that comes through our border,” Trump told his supporters at a July 24 campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We had it down to the lowest number and now it’s worse than it’s ever been,” he said.
Government statistics show the number of drug overdose deaths per year is hovering around 100,000 to 110,000, with opioid-related deaths at about 81,000. That’s enough that the government has labeled opioid-related overdoses an “epidemic,” but nowhere close to the number Trump cited.
Moreover, though the number of opioid deaths has risen since Trump left office, it’s incorrect to claim they were the “lowest” while he was president.
NUMBERS ARE HIGH
Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt wouldn’t comment specifically on the source for Trump’s statistics.
She instead sent KFF Health News an email with several bullet points about the opioid crisis under the heading: “DRUGS ARE POURING OVER HARRIS’ OPEN BORDER INTO OUR COMMUNITIES.”
One such bullet noted that there were “112,000 fatal drug overdoses” last year and linked to a story from NPR reporting that fact — directly rebutting Trump’s own claim of 300,000 fentanyl deaths. Additionally, the number NPR reported is an overall figure, not for fentanyl-related deaths only.
More recent government figures estimated that there were 107,543 total drug overdose deaths in 2023, with an estimated 74,702 of those involving fentanyl. Those figures were in line with what experts on the topic told KFF Health News
“The number of actual deaths is probably significantly higher,” said Andrew Kolodny, medical director for the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, noting that many such overdose deaths go uncounted by government researchers.
“But I don’t know where one would get that number of 300,000,” Kolodny added.
Trump’s claim that fentanyl deaths were the “lowest” during his administration and are now worse than ever is also off the mark.
Overdose deaths — specifically those from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl — started climbing steadily in the 1990s. When Trump took office in January 2017, the number of overdose deaths related to synthetic opioids was about 21,000. By January 2021, when he left the White House, that tally was nearing 60,000, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System shows. Deaths involving synthetic opioids continued to increase after Trump left office.
“There’s some truth to saying that there are more Americans dying [of opioids] than ever before,” Kolodny said. “But again, if you were to look at trends during the Trump administration, deaths just pretty much kept getting worse.”
In the last year, though, statistics show that overdose numbers have plateaued or fallen slightly, though it’s too soon to say
whether that trend will hold.
Given that Trump’s claims about fentanyl came when discussing the southern border “invasion,” it’s worth noting that, according to the U.S. government, the vast majority of fentanyl caught being smuggled into the country illegally comes via legal ports of entry.
Moreover, nearly 90% of people convicted of fentanyl drug trafficking in 2022 were U.S. citizens, an analysis by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, showed. That year, U.S. citizens received 12 times as many fentanyl trafficking convictions as did immigrants who were in the U.S. without authorization, the analysis showed.
OUR RULING
Trump said, “We’re losing 300,000 people a year to fentanyl that comes through our border. We had it down to the lowest number and now it’s worse than it’s ever been.”
Annual U.S. fentanyl deaths have increased since he left office, but Trump’s claim about 300,000 deaths has no basis in fact and is contradicted by figures his press secretary shared.
Trump is wrong to assert that overdoses were the lowest when he was president. Moreover, Trump continues to link fentanyl trafficking to illegal immigration — a claim statistics do not support.
We rate Trump’s claim Pants on Fire!
KFF Health News produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Politifact is a fact-checking website.
President Donald Trump at a Make America Great Again rally in Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 26, 2018. Credit: Charlotte Cuthbertson
