Boulder Weekly 10.27.2022

GerRee Hinshaw’s musical memoir ‘Raised on Ronstadt’ explores music, memory and identity

Chad Robert

Jezy

Publisher, Fran Zankowski

Circulation Manager, Cal Winn

EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief, Caitlin Rockett

Arts & Culture Editor, Jezy J. Gray

General Assignment Reporter, Will Matuska Food Editor, John Lehndorff

Intern, Chad Robert Peterson

Contributing Writers: Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Angela K. Evans, Mark Fearer, Nick Hutchinson, Dave Kirby, Ari LeVaux, Adam Perry, Dan Savage, Bart Schaneman, Alan Sculley, Toni Tresca, Colin Wrenn

SALES AND MARKETING

Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson

Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Carter Ferryman, Chris Allred

Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar

PRODUCTION

Art Director, Susan France

Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman

CIRCULATION TEAM

Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer

BUSINESS OFFICE

Bookkeeper, Emily Weinberg

Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer

Oct. 27, 2022

Volume XXX, number 11

Cover: GerRee Hinshaw in ‘Raised on Ronstadt.’

Photo by Michael Ensminger.

As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminat ing 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 que ries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper.

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Defeating GOP zombie Reagonomics and fossil fuel autocracy

by Dave Anderson

On Sept. 23, Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow exclaimed, “ e U.S. midterm elections cavalry arrived early in London! … e new British prime minister, Liz Truss, has laid out a terri c supply-side economic growth plan which looks a lot like the basic thrust of Kevin McCarthy’s Commitment to America plan.”

commentator even said she was removed by a “globalist coup.”

Economist and New York Times col umnist Paul Krugman has talked about the persistence of “zombie Reagan omics.” He has documented how “four decades of experience” have disproved the Republicans’ trickle-down theory that deregulation and tax cuts for the rich result in higher wages and faster economic growth.

Boulder Weekly

welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@boul derweekly.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 verifcation. 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.

Kudlow was the former director of the National Eco nomic Council under Trump. He gushed that Truss’ plan of slashing taxes for the rich and deregulating energy was a “Reagan- atcher-Trump economic policy.” Another Trump economic adviser, Stephen Moore, also celebrated. ey were echoed by several right-wing media gures and prominent Republicans.

But in the U.K., there was a public uproar and the pound plunged. en, 44 days later, Truss was forced to resign. at didn’t change the views of Truss’ U.S. fans. One Fox News

e GOP economic policies have been immensely un popular, so Republicans would deploy a dog whistle strategy of bigotry (race, gender, anti-LGBTQ) while campaigning. Since Trump, they are more and more explicitly nasty. It’s “let them eat hate.”

Meanwhile, Eric Lipton of the New York Times reports that oil and gas industry lobbyists are hoping that the Repub licans can take control of the House in the midterms. ey are preparing to attack what they consider to be “the Biden administration’s anti-fossil-fuel agenda.”

ey are “preparing to team up with House Republicans

Editor’s note: We ran the wrong col umn from Rob Brezny last week (Astrology, Oct. 20, 2022). We apologize for any astrological confusion this may have caused.

DISAPPOINTED IN BOULDER WEEKLY

It is disappointing that the edito rial board of Boulder Weekly has ignored the reality of global warming and climate change and chosen to believe in the competence of the City’s flood plan and that there are benevolent intentions in the University’s South Boulder expansion. It has long been an American ethic that the Earth exists for man to use and abuse for profit. The proposed “South Campus” site thus is seen as a wasteland awaiting development which will result in a net gain for the people of Boulder, despite the result ing increase of neighborhood traffic, during and after construction, and the loss of free access to a truly unique and irreplaceable piece of the natural world. The truth that the pro posed flood plan, paid for by all of Boulder, protects only a fraction of the homes impacted by the 2013 flood and that the real beneficiary is the University’s corporate business model, a massive rental empire oper ating largely tax free, goes unmen tioned. The net loss is heartbreaking for anyone truly caring for both the environment and the soul of man kind. Vote Yes on 2F. For photos from the area, please visit notes fromtheprovinces.com/photography

Robert Porath/Boulder

SUPPORT A RENTERS TAX CREDIT

Programs to help tenants know their rights when faced with eviction are a good idea. (‘Help for tenants facing eviction’ by Mark Fearer, Boulder Weekly, October 20, 2022) But what about helping tenants and landlords with a refundable renters tax credit? Once proposed by then Senator Harris and Senator Booker, it could be the answer needed. It could be modeled after the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) that Sen. Bennet worked so hard to pass and when it did, 40% of our children were lifted out of poverty. Senator Bennet is doing his best to have the CTC renewed which would help families

pay rent as well. With these two tax credits providing ladders out of pov erty, tenants and landlords would be able to count on housing stability and rent paid. This would free up courts from dealing with so many evictions and help stop the flow to homeless ness. As we get ready to vote in the midterms, let’s ask candidates to sup port these two initiatives and vote based on their answers.

Willie Dickerson/Snohomish, Washington

SUPPORT KAREN MCCORMICK

I’ve had the pleasure to have cof fee with both friendly candidates for Colorado House District 11, which includes southwest Longmont. Full disclosure, I’m a moderate Democrat.

It took many questions to get Republican Tara Menza’s stands on issues. She believes she is a moderate, and for some, she might be. However, as I probed on issues, I found her local and national knowledge lacking. Tara is new to Colorado, arriving after Jared Polis became governor. Her sources were right-wing. She is not totally against abortion, though doesn’t understand that there are late conditions where there can be a choice between baby and mother. She says “it’s not so bad to stand in line” (to vote), so perhaps she doesn’t understand our secure and convenient voting system, and how important it is for seniors, disabled, and every busy person to be able to sit down at home with the blue book and ballot and make well-informed choices. She supports school vouchers, which hurt public schools. I made a point to her that I appreciated the public school education that I’d had, in a very diverse high school. It taught me that we are all the same inside.

She made statements about Democrats that she’d “heard” but couldn’t substantiate. When I’d ask about something like our voting sys tem or policies on guns, she’d say it was already law here, but it was unclear if she would support those things if they came back up for a vote on her watch.

In contrast, with Democrat Karen McCormick, when I asked a ques

to intensify oversight of the Energy Department.” In particular, Lipton notes:

“ eir hope is to undercut a $4.5 billion program that will give rebates worth as much as $14,000 per house hold to low- and moderate-income families to install electric-powered heat pumps, water heaters, induction stoves and other devices that would in many cases replace appliances that use natural gas.”

e Biden program is designed to improve air quality inside homes and reduce carbon emissions from burning natural gas.

Republicans are blaming Biden for in ation. But according to a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, enormous corporate pro ts are behind 53% of the higher prices Americans are paying for gas, groceries and other essentials.

United Nations Secretary Gener al António Guterres has denounced energy companies for price gouging at a time of global crisis and urged govern ments to aggressively tax these corpora tions’ pro ts.

“It is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record pro ts from this energy crisis on the backs of the poorest people and communi ties, at a massive cost to the climate,” Guterres said. “ is grotesque greed … is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people, while destroying our only home.”

e fossil fuel industry is also endangering democracy. Research by anthropologist Eve Darian-Smith shows that creeping authoritarianism

around the world is often supported by the industry. e biggest oil and gas barons, the Koch brothers, are poison ing our politics. Vladimir Putin’s brutal colonial war against Ukraine is funded by his oil and gas. At an OPEC Plus meeting, Saudi Arabia took Putin’s side and raised the price of oil.

Meanwhile, the Republicans threaten to refuse to fund the government unless Biden and the Democrats reverse their policies. They have an extortion tool called “the debt ceiling.” Refusing to lift the debt ceiling means that Congress refuses to pay the bills. If that happens, it could trigger a global financial crisis. Political analyst Ryan Cooper explained in The American Prospect: “...the debt ceiling is a legal anachronism dating from World War I that has nothing to do with spending and borrowing as such … No other country has anything like this, because it is logically assumed that if the government has voted through a budget, it has therefore authorized any required borrowing.”

Republicans are aiming at Social Security and Medicare. Sens. Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) and Rick Scott (Florida) have said the programs shouldn’t be considered mandatory pro grams and should instead be brought up for a vote every ve years, or even annually.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) accused the GOP of planning to “hold the full faith and credit of the U.S. gov ernment hostage unless they are able to enact huge cuts” to the programs.

Do you need any more reasons to vote?

is opinion column does not necessarily re ect the views of Boulder Weekly.

THE ANDERSON FILES from Page 5

We love our libraries. We want to keep them owned and operated by the City of Boulder and an elected council who appoints the library commission.

The current City of Boulder Library System is a recognized nationaland state-award winning library system. Why x something that is not broken?

The proposed tax increase of $18.78 M/year is an overreach and too extreme.

Currently, a majority of the library’s operating funding is paid through sales taxes, nearly half paid by visitors to Boulder. Anyone who now lives in Boulder County can have a free City of Boulder library card.

The proposed tax increase will be $200+/year for the average Boulder home, and $800+/year for an equivalent-valued small business property.

tion, I’d get a specific answer, with examples. If I asked her where she stood or how she voted on an issue, she told me, and explained. Karen has served one term in the legislature, and I believe that she listens to us and votes accordingly. She is a veteri narian, has a business background, and can read deeply into legislation that affects our lives. She supports our voting system and our medical choices.

Karen is knowledgeable, has his tory in Longmont, and her values reflect mine.

Sondra Singer/Longmont

WILDFIRE MITIGATION IS FOR EVERYONE

As a 30-year veteran volunteer fire fighter and 20 as fire chief, I can hon estly say we must pass (Boulder County Ballot Measure) 1A, the wildfire miti gation ballot initiative. The Four Mile Fire Department has been actively mit igating our district for over 20 years. We have done well but have only miti gated less than 10% of our district. We simply do not have the resources to do more. Even with grants to help pay the costs we don’t have the bandwidth or staff to do more. 1A will provide a much needed capacity to have our part ner Watersheds take on the manage ment portion. This will lead to broader collaboration between districts, the County, and the Forest Service, both state and federal, thus creating access to much larger federal and state grants. It doesn’t matter where you live in Boulder County, any fire will affect some aspect of your lives. Be it your home, or drinking watershed, property values, outdoor experience, viewshed, air quality — the list is too long for an editorial. Please support 1A.

Bret Gibson, Four Mile Fire Chief

REPEAL CU ANNEXATION

I will be saying “yes” on 2F to Repeal the City Council “emergency” vote on the CU annexation.

The traffic on Table Mesa, Highway 36, Table Mesa and Moorhead will be horrific. 7,000 trips a day anticipated. A trip cap that only starts after construction and will never stop increased trips only fine CU for additional trips…

The 750,000 non-residential building will mean more housing will

be needed beyond the 1,100 antici pated for employees working there.

The 10% affordable housing isn’t enough.

Increasing my water bill to pay to bring dirt in so CU can build itself out of the floodplain is a big no. Building in a floodplain should be a big no. We should be taking down the berm and increasing the ability for that land to absorb flood waters!

The 100-year flood protection isn’t enough! Why are we spending this much money for such little pro tection when climate change experts are telling us worse storms will come. That means all of this will be useless and Frasier Meadow residents will be faced with flooding again!

CU should be ashamed for hold ing the safety of people hostage by insisting the dam could only be built if annexation went through.

Rosemary Hegarty

MITZI NICOLETTI FOR LONGMONT COUNCIL

It is exciting to see an individual running for Longmont City Council with the experience, determination and compassion of Mitzi Nicoletti.

Mitzi’s experience includes service as a Board Member for Sustainable Resilient Longmont, and as co-founder and member of the Longmont Climate Community. Her work in Longmont has also included serving as a Board Member of Longmont Art Walk, Longmont Downtown Association and the local Girl Scouts. Mitzi co-founded Women Chocolate and Wine which assists local women business owners in networking and building our com munity. Mitzi will connect neighbors with community partners to support local business, affordable housing and environmental sustainability.

Aside from her community involvement, Mitzi is a listener and problem solver. As Longmont contin ues its growth, she will work to make Longmont a great place for us all to live and work. Please join former Senator Mike Foote, Mayor Joan Peck, and many other community leaders in supporting Mitzi Nicoletti for Longmont City Council.

Bill Wilson/Longmont

FEDERAL OFFICES

UNITED STATES SENATOR

Michael Bennet

REP — DISTRICT 2

Joe Neguse

STATE OFFICES

SECRETARY OF STATE

Jena Griswold

STATE TREASURER

Dave Young

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Phil Weiser

BOARD OF EDUCATION — AT LARGE Kathy Plomer

SENATOR — DISTRICT 15 Janice Marchman

REP — DISTRICT 10 Junie Joseph

REP — DISTRICT 11 Karen McCormick

REP — DISTRICT 12 Tracey Bernett

REP — DISTRICT 19 Jennifer Lea Parenti

REP — DISTRICT 49 Judy Amabile

RTD DIRECTOR — DISTRICT 1

Erik Davidson

RTD DIRECTOR — DISTRICT 10 Lynn Guissinger

COUNTY OFFICES

COMMISSIONER — DISTRICT 2 Ashley Stolzmann

CLERK AND RECORDER

Molly Fitzpatrick

TREASURER Paul Weissmann

ASSESSOR

Cynthia Braddock

SHERIFF Curtis Johnson

SURVEYOR Lee Stradele

CORONER Emma R. Hall

LOCAL OFFICES

LONGMONT CITY COUN CILMEMBER AT-LARGE Mitzi Nicoletti

STATE BALLOT MEASURES

AMENDMENT D: DESIGNATE JUDGES TO 23RD JUDICIAL DISTRICT Yes/For

AMENDMENT E: HOME STEAD EXEMPTION TO SURVIVING SPOUSES OF U.S. ARMED FORCES MEMBERS AND VETERANS Yes/For

AMENDMENT F: CHARITABLE GAMING Yes/For

PROPOSITION FF: REDUCE INCOME TAX DEDUCTION AMOUNTS TO FUND SCHOOL MEALS Yes/For

PROPOSITION GG: TABLE OF CHANGES TO INCOME TAX OWED No/Against

PROPOSITION 121: STATE INCOME TAX RATE REDUCTION No/Against

PROPOSITION 122: FUNGI INITIATIVE Yes/For

PROPOSITION 123: HOUSING PROJECTS INITIATIVE Yes/For

PROPOSITION 124: ALLOWABLE LIQUOR STORE LOCATIONS No/Against

PROPOSITION 125: WINE AT GROCERY AND CONVENIENCE STORES No/Against

PROPOSITION 126: THIRD-PARTY DELIVERY OF ALCOHOL BEVERAGES Yes/For COUNTY BALLOT MEASURES

COUNTY ISSUE 1A: WILD FIRE Yes/For

COUNTY ISSUE 1B: EMERGENCY SERVICES Yes/For

COUNTY ISSUE 1C: TRANSPORTATION Yes/For

LOCAL BALLOT MEASURES

BOULDER BALLOT ISSUE 2A: CLIMATE TAX Yes/For

BOULDER BALLOT ISSUE 2B: BONDS TO BE PAID FROM CLIMATE TAX Yes/For

BOULDER BALLOT QUESTION 2C: REPEAL OF LIBRARY COMMISSION AND TAX IF LIBRARY DISTRICT CREATED Yes/For

BOULDER BALLOT QUES TION 2D: CLARIFICATION OF CANDIDATE ISSUES Yes/For

BOULDER BALLOT QUESTION 2E: EVEN-YEAR MUNICIPAL ELECTION Yes/For

BOULDER BALLOT QUESTION 2F: REPEAL THE ANNEXATION OF CU SOUTH No/Against

LONGMONT BALLOT QUESTION 3A: MODERN IZATION OF CONDUCT OF CITY BUSINESS Yes/For

LONGMONT BALLOT QUESTION 3B: CHARTER AMENDMENT TO PROSPECTIVELY VACATE OFFICE No/Against

LONGMONT BALLOT QUESTION 3C: BONDS TO FUND RESILIENT ST. VRAIN PROJECT IMPROVEMENTS Yes/For

BOULDER VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT RE-2 BALLOT ISSUE 5A Yes/For

COUNTY ELECTORS PETITION ISSUE 6C: PRO POSED BOULDER PUBLIC LIBRARY DISTRICT Yes/For

An option for death brings a mindset for life

A FUNNY GUY: Greg Fischer and Courtney Vick on the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon.

by Will Matuska

Greg Fischer had a lot of hobbies — mak ing inappropriate 3D-printed gurines, headbanging, watching e Big Lebowski and crashing cars were just a few.

Courtney Vick, Fischer’s partner for eight years, describes him endearingly as always seeking to learn new things, try di erent foods and overcome challenges. e rst time Vick met Fischer, she says he was sporting a “man bun,” satchel and plaid shirt — a typical out t for the Paci c Northwest native.

“Greg was like a 14 year-old-boy,” she says. “He was very funny.”

Fischer didn’t take life too seriously — only needing a moment’s notice to crack another crowd-pleasing dad joke.

On May 26, 2022, Fischer died from a heart attack at 51 years old. Between tears and laughter, Vick speaks about her partner fondly.

After his death, she knew exactly what he would have wanted: natural organic reduction.

Natural organic reduction (NOR) is the slow decomposition of a human body into soil — human composting. e process marries the funeral indus try with sustainable agricultural composting.

Fischer’s body was sent from Arizona, where he lived and where NOR isn’t legal, to the rst company to practice NOR in the country: Wash ington-based Recompose.

Katrina Spade, the founder and CEO of Recompose, developed the process herself using techniques from the well-researched and tested process of composting farm animals, with a more humane mindset.

“ is is someone’s loved one, and we have a lot of responsibility in the way we care for that body

along the way,” Spade says. “So, similarly, our com posting system has been designed very carefully.”

Vick says that Fischer had his own de nition of NOR.

“Greg called this being ‘rotisserie chickened,’ because you get spun and you’re heated up,” she says between laughs.

Compost needs oxygen, typically introduced by turning over or rotating compost piles, and creates heat as millions of microbes break down organic matter throughout the composting process.

NOR is becoming increasingly accessible to folks across the country. Since Recompose rst did it in 2019, NOR is being o ered by more and more funeral homes in states where it is legal — includ ing e Natural Funeral, based in Lafayette.

It’s clear NOR is quickly changing the funeral landscape in our state and across the country — not only introducing an innovative option for peo ple after death, but also bringing a new mindset throughout life.

Keeping it Natural

Since Washington legalized NOR in 2019, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and California have all followed suit.

e Natural Funeral is the NOR pioneer in Colorado — laying the rst person in a vessel just two weeks after Gov. Polis signed the Human Remains Natural Reduction Soil act into law on Sept. 7, 2021.

e act includes a few rules businesses have to follow, including prohibiting the use of the soil to grow food for human consumption and commin

gling human remains or soil without consent.

Since then, e Natural Funeral has expanded from eight to 32 vessels, perfecting their process along the way.

ey reach the same end product as Recom pose, which will open a facility in northeast Denver in the spring of 2023, but have a slightly di erent process.

It starts with the vessel: a three-foot wide, three-foot deep and seven-foot long wood contain er where the composting process occurs. Each is insulated and sealed airtight to closely control the interior environment.

Along with the body, the vessel is carefully layered with organic material: woodchips, straw and alfalfa. e Natural Funeral also inoculates the ves sel with four gallons of a cloudy bacteria-rich “tea” to help speed the decomposition process.

e sta monitors the vessel for its temperature, oxygen, nitrogen and moisture content over the next four months. After 7-10 days, the vessel reach es 150 degrees — signaling the bacteria are doing their job breaking down organic material. When the temperature goes back down, sta will roll the vessel to re-introduce oxygen to the system.

ey know the process is complete after three heat cycles, when the temperature no longer reaches 150 degrees because there is no more organic mate rial for the microbes to break down. Because bones take much longer to decompose, they break them down using the same equipment used for crema tion, then put the bone powder back into the soil.

At the end of the four-month period, the result is about 600 pounds of dark, chocolatey brown, pathogen-free soil that gets returned to the family.

Seth Viddal, a co-owner and managing part

The expanding practice of human composting innovates the funeral industry, climate change and death

COURTESY COURTNEY VICK

ner with e Natural Funeral, helped design the vessels and NOR process for the funeral home. He realizes how important it is to combine composting science with the dignity and ceremo ny that comes with more traditional funeral disposition types.

“We created a beautiful ritual and we want to honor this person,” says Viddal.

Part of that ritual is to create moments of participation, both at the beginning and end of the process. During the laying-in ceremony, where the body is placed in the vessel, they encourage families to bring a “shoe box size” of organic material that the person connected to.

Viddal says people have brought parts of trees, cannabis, hops, blue berries and salmon to place with their loved ones in a moment of remem brance.

After the composting process is complete, the laying-out ceremony is the family’s rst opportunity to reunite with their loved one as regenerative, living soil.

e Natural Funeral’s rst lay ing-out ceremony was of a young man who died unexpectedly at 19 years old. Viddal describes the emotional experience for the parents, who, upon seeing the nal product, “shot their hands into this pile of soil almost to the elbow, as if they were embracing the body of their son.”

“It’s the tactile moments of physi cal participation that are really mean ingful [for families],” Viddal says.

From there, families are free to do what they will with the composted remains. Viddal says families have used it for things like at-home gardening projects and tree plantings.

Innovating death

Spade says people are often sur prised when she tells them about her career.

“It’s really common for me to be at a dinner party and say what I do, and have someone go, ‘Oh, that sounds icky.’”

She takes these opportunities to make death more approachable.

“I think when people get through that hurdle of, ‘OK, I’m mortal. ere will be a body leftover when I leave

this place,’ then you’re looking at op tions in a more balanced way.”

One strategy she uses is to have her service team wear informal clothing that mimics a forest palette, rather than dark-colored attire.

NOR also introduces a much more environmentally friendly disposition option than conventional burial or cremation.

“It’s the most ecological form of disposition that exists on the planet right now,” says Viddal.

In burials, people are typically embalmed with formaldehyde (which can break down and release toxins into surrounding soils), placed in a bronze casket inside a reinforced steel vault in a cemetery, where lawns are consistent ly watered and mowed, under a granite or marble headstone.

Cremation is increasingly popular, but uses vast amounts of energy and releases carbon — it takes two to three hours at 1,800 degrees to cremate one corpse.

Recompose claims their process requires one-eighth the energy of con ventional burial or cremation.

e nal product of human com posting takes up less space. In heavily populated areas, cemeteries are simply running out of space — and charging more and more for each plot.

The National Funeral Directors Association found the national me dian cost of a funeral with viewing and burial was $7,848 in 2021, and $6,970 for viewing and crema tion. NOR at The Natural Funeral costs about $8,000, and $7,000 at Recompose.

Spade, from Recompose, says NOR uses fewer resources and creates a product that can help combat climate change.

“If we could make human com posting the default, we would be creat ing soil and sequestering carbon with every single person’s death,” she says.

at’s one reason Fischer wanted to be composted — he was passionate about recycling, the environment and reducing his carbon footprint.

Vick says NOR was comforting to her because it would continue Fischer’s interests.

“I can take something that he was passionate about in day-to-day life, and be able to do that with him in the end,” she says.

But, Spade says she’s been sur prised at the breadth of people who want this option for themselves, not just environmentalists.

“We have 20 year olds that have signed up for our pre-arrangement process and we have 95 year olds who have signed up for it, and everyone in between.”

Viddal says that the resistance he has seen to NOR has come from two camps: the conventional funeral indus try and the Catholic Church.

e Colorado Catholic Confer ence wrote in a statement that the Church would not participate because “the reduction of human remains into soil is not consistent with our belief that our bodies are made in the image and likeness of God and should not be used as compost or any similar desecration.”

Spade says Recompose ves sels are designed for gentle and pleasant experi ences that “honor the human body [while] compost ing it.” e informal, back-to-earth nature of Re compose was the perfect t for Greg Fischer.

On Oct. 11, Courtney Vick trav eled to pick Fischer’s remains up from Recompose in Washington. e rich soil that came from his decomposi tion, weighing 460 pounds, waited in burlap bags and boxes for family and friends to take home.

In Fischer’s obituary, it says BYOB — bring your own bucket.

Along with putting Fischer’s nutrient-rich soil on some newly planted trees, Vick thought it would be tting to keep some of Fischer’s soil remains in a shimmering red Folgers can — just like Donnie’s ashes in e Big Lebowski. “ e idea that his urn would be a movie reference,” Vick says, “is very Greg.”

Fischer’s family picked up his com posted remains from Recompose on Oct. 11. From the back of this tailgate, his remains were distributed among friends and family.

COURTESY COURTNEY VICK

BACK TO EARTH:

St. vrain habitat restore

Did you know when you shop with St. Vrain Habitat ReStore you transform lives? We are proud to raise money to build affordable homes. Your purchases and donations help us serve more families.

“We worried we would have to leave Colorado due to the high cost of housing and rent. Now, we take pride in building equity and having a secure future.” ~ Habitat homeowner

Cleaning out your home, garage, or office? ReStore accepts new or gently used furniture,

Farow

Farow is a farm to table restaurant that sources 90% of its ingredients from our local farmers and ranchers.

We believe a great meal starts with great ingredients. Through care and attention to detail, we morph those ingredients into a truly special dining experience.

LEFT HAND LASER STUDIO

Armene Piper is a Boulder native who grew up on the outskirts of town; she can still remember when Arapahoe and 75th Street were dirt roads. Now she lives in Longmont with her husband, five children and four dogs. She is deeply committed to her clients and takes great pride in providing the best customer experience with unparalleled results.

ZO Coffee Company is a coffee roaster & retail operator based in Boulder, Colorado with Espresso Cafe locations in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado.

Founded in 2007, OZO Coffee has based its growth on core principles of service, quality,

building supplies, appliances, tools, hardware, and more! Free pick-ups in Longmont area. Donations accepted at staff discretion. Learn more. Visit our website or call. ReStoreLife in moments that matter.

St. Vrain Habitat ReStore

1351 Sherman Drive, Longmont 303-776-3334

www.stvrainhabitat.org/restore

Supporting out local community is the best way forward and we take advantage of every opportunity to do that.

We make EVERYTHING in house from bread and pasta to our desserts and ice cream.

7916 Niwot Road, 303-827-3949

Armene also works closely with the transgender community to help them feel more authentic in their own body’s. Armene offers Cryoskin slimming and toning, laser hair removal, vein treatments, sun and age spot treatments, toenail fungus treatments, as well as Boleyn stretch mark and scar camouflage. 1446 Hover Street, Longmont 303-551-4701

www.lefthandlaserstudio.com

community, and sustainability. We are grateful for the opportunity to share our passion for coffee with you.

HARTMAN, OZO FOUNDER

1232-A S. Hover St. www.ozocoffee.com

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by Chad Robert Peterson

After a grueling campaign that killed or wounded thousands of its members, the 10th Mountain Division of World War II marked Germany’s surrender to the Allied Forces in May 1945 the best way they knew how: with a ski race.

Using a cache of captured ird Reich ski gear, the contest was held on the slopes of Mount Man gart in the Julian Alps along the border between Italy and modern-day Slovenia. For an experimen tal infantry unit trained as skiers in the Colorado Rockies, the snowy celebration was a tting end to a devastating war.

Nearly 80 years later, the soldiers and their commemorative race are the subject of a documen tary by Colorado lmmaker and ski legend Chris Anthony. Currently on a screening tour stretching from Austria to Aspen — with a Denver stop scheduled for Nov. 3 — Mission Mt. Mangart tells the untold stories of the 10th Mountain Division and their crucial e orts that marked a turning point in the war.

“ eir assaults on Italy were just legendary,” says Anthony, who was inducted into the Colora do Snowsports Hall of Fame in 2018. “And even though they were one of the youngest mountain divisions, what they did during World War II is amazing.”

e path to the lm began during one of Anthony’s yearly ski trips to the Julian Alps. After recognizing the professional skier’s name in a local newspaper article, retired Slovenian Brigadier Gen eral Janez Kavar reached out to discuss the e orts of the 10th Mountain Division and his country’s

annual ski race taking place each year in their honor.

“He wanted to get this across to somebody that [Slovenia] celebrates [the 10th Mountain Division] because it’s when Ameri ca came and helped liberate [them],” Anthony says.

“I could see his passion, and I felt obligated to do something with it.”

Much of this was news to Anthony, who lives about 40 miles from Camp Hale where the 10th Mountain Division was trained. After exploring the region with Kavar during his next visit, he returned to the U.S. to pitch the lm idea to multiple stu dios. All of them declined. e party that showed the most interest in the story was the government of Slovenia.

“ e Slovenians were so loyal to this story, and were so supportive of doing anything they could to share the story with me,” Anthony says. “ ey ew me around in helicopters. Basically, I had the whole country to get the story forward.”

is marked the beginning of a six-year journey that Anthony took in order to tell the story of the 10th Mountain Division. Anthony used the lmmaking knowledge he learned at Warren Miller Entertainment — the production company of the eponymous American ski and snowboarding lm maker — to piece together the documentary.

“I used every bit of [that] knowledge to pull this o ,” Anthony says.

e skier and lmmaker, who grew up in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood, now screens

the documentary at schools as a part of his Chris Anthony Youth Initiative Project. e story of the 10th Moun tain Division helps An thony stress the impact skiing had on him as a child growing up on the Front Range.

ON SCREEN: Mission Mt. Mangart screening. 6:30 p.m. Nov. 3, University of Denver: Newman Center for Perform ing Arts, 2344 E Iliff Ave. Tickets: $25, newmancenter presents.com

“I de nitely ran into some trouble as a kid as all kids do, and thank fully my parents, who were struggling at the time, worked part-time jobs at ski areas so that’s how I got to ski,” he says. “ at helped keep me out of trouble.”

But when it comes to the broader story of how skiing helped defeat the fascists in World War II, it’s not just Anthony and his lm audiences who are recognizing the e orts of the 10th Mountain Division. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden visited Colorado and designated the unit’s Camp Hale training site as the rst National Landmark designated under his watch.

“It’s long overdue,” Anthony says. “It’s a massive part of our history … [and] a lot of what they did got buried in the closets.”

Southern hostility

by Jezy J. Gray

ON THE BILL: $UICIDEBOY$ with Ski Mask

The Slump God, Knocked Loose and DJ Scheme. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31-Nov. 1, Red Rocks Amphi theatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $66, axs.com

The frst moments on the latest Knocked Loose EP feel something like the open ing credit sequence of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Recalling the flm’s unsettling helicopter shot trailing Jack Torrance’s VW Beetle across the treacherous twists of a Rocky Mountain pass, vocalist and songwriter Bryan Garris takes a similar aerial view of an ill-fated vehicle skidding through a southern sun-stained valley, “foating around the bend / where light divides the holler.” And like the doomed Boul der family at the heart of Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece, the song soon explodes in an unforgettable ft of violence and grief.

Such cinematic fair, married with a knack for reaching beyond typical genre tropes, lights up the rest of the brief but bruising 21-minute runtime of A Tear in the Fabric of Life. Signaling a high wa ter mark for the exceedingly heavy Kentucky quintet, these six ferocious studio cuts fnd the restless breakout act experimenting with dramatic fourishes and an expanded musical vocabulary that feels light years ahead of the band’s more straight-ahead 2016 debut Laugh Tracks

“With every release, you try to challenge yourself and grow. We expanded where we draw infuence from in order to challenge ourselves as musicians,” Garris says. “We also tour pretty heavily, and I think a lot of our infu ence comes from trial and error when it comes to live shows.”

That willingness to tinker with the possi bilities of a style not always known for nuance has earned praise for Knocked Loose in

unexpected outlets like NPR, suggesting the band’s appeal transcends the insular world of metalcore — a scene-driven blend of metal and hardcore punk that broke through in the early 2000s. The band was instrumental in reviving the sub-genre for contemporary audiences, including a cultish devotion to its signature slow and groove-forward breakdowns, but it’s their propensity for playing with the formula that continues to set them apart.

“I really enjoy taking infuence from outside of heavy music, and I think that’s really import ant. On [A Tear in the Fabric of Life] I drew a lot of infuence from country music,” Garris says. “There are Easter eggs throughout the EP relat ed to that genre just because I wanted to create the environment in which the story takes place — I wanted it to feel like Kentucky.”

Such references include a nod to the Bren da Lee classic “Sweet Nothings,” a karaoke standard for Garris’ country music-loving grand mother whose lyrics get repurposed on the punishing track “Contorted in the Fraile.” But it’s not just sly cultural nudges that tie Knocked Loose to the Bluegrass State. The band’s roots in the Louisville DIY scene have grown the quintet into the genre-scrambling metalcore mainstay listeners know today.

“Our scene is very diverse because it’s too small to divide. You don’t want to have just a punk show or just a hardcore show or just a metal show. There’s not enough people,” Garris says. “So you have a show that has punk and metal and hardcore, so you can get the biggest turnout possible. I think that really infuenced how we handle touring to this day. We’ll do a pop-punk tour. We’ll do a rap tour. We’ll do a metal tour.”

In addition to an omnivorous appetite for

touring, cutting their teeth in Kentucky also gave the band a sense of urgency to establish themselves with audiences across the country. “Nobody’s gonna come there to see us, so we gotta take it everywhere,” Garris says of those early days. “So as soon as we could afford it, we bought a $1,500 van from a church and have been on tour ever since.”

The near-nonstop touring and restless ambition to connect with new listeners brings Knocked Loose to Red Rocks on Oct. 31, where the band will support New Orleans horrorcore hip-hop duo $UICIDEBOY$ and a slate of other rappers and DJs. It’s not the frst place you might expect to encounter the band’s measured brand of metalcore, but Garris sees their placement on such bills as an opportunity to push themselves as a live act.

“In the position we’re in now, we’re able to play all these stages in front of all these new crowds,” he says. “Learning how to communi cate in these different spaces and how to inter act with the audience and get them involved is a challenge I really enjoy.”

The sloping red rock formations and cavernous quality of the treasured Front Range venue may be a far cry from the crowded basement and club shows where metal and hardcore bands typically thrive. But don’t expect the hugeness of the open-air amphitheater or the gig’s lack of heavy music fellow travelers to dull the ferocity of a traditional Knocked Loose show.

“In some ways, I feel like there are aspects that can be more intense sometimes in my opinion,” he says. “If you can get that amount of people to respond to what you’re doing, it’s overwhelming in a really positive way.”

Kentucky hardcore heroes Knocked Loose break it down at Red Rocks

SING IT LOUD

Like her idol Linda Ronstadt, the genre-hopping music legend who has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, GerRee Hinshaw wants to share her story with you through song. The world premiere of Raised on Ronstad t, written and performed by Hinshaw and produced by Boulder’s Local Theatre Company, is a deeply moving original work about the memories that bring Hinshaw joy and music’s ability to connect people across cultures.

Raised on Ronstadt is a uniquely American story. Hinshaw illustrates her family’s "American Dream" along with her struggles as a Mexican American who has lost some of her culture and language. Through a series of monologues and musical performances, Hinshaw draws audiences into her inner world through poignant vignettes about growing up between two cultures. She mines her specific experience as a Latina in the United States to speak to fundamental truths about identity that transcend cultural differences.

Listening to Ronstadt's music allowed Hinshaw to feel more connected to her Mexican roots. Hinshaw explains that Ronstadt had to fight with her producers to record an album in Spanish because they were afraid it would alienate En glish-speaking audiences. Nevertheless, Ron stadt persisted, and the result was her ground breaking 1987 LP Canciones de Mi Padre , which went double platinum and remains the bestselling non-English language album in U.S. history. Ronstadt’s music taught Hinshaw that you shine your brightest when you're true to yourself.

Production designer David J. Castellano does an excellent job of turning eTown Hall into Hinshaw’s family home. The room is decorated with records, family photos and musical instru

ments. The lighting design by Sean Mallary is incredibly effective at blending concert-style and the atrical lighting. His use of colored lighting to represent the American and Mexican fags is particularly striking.

ON STAGE: Raised on Ronstadt by GerRee Hinshaw. Various times through Nov. 6, eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., Boulder. Tickets: $1240, localtheaterco.org

Director Dee Covington and Hinshaw have worked together for 20 years, and their trust in each other is evident. Hinshaw seamlessly transitions from family jam sessions to church to her parents' divorce. Covington cleverly directs the band members to be active participants in the story; they not only play music but portray people from Hinshaw’s memories.

Every song in Raised on Ronstadt is pulled from a story that Hinshaw tells the audience. The ensemble performs songs from Ronstadt's discography and those of other artists who infuenced Hinshaw’s life. You'll be tapping your toes and fghting the urge not to sing along to hits like "Somewhere Out There," "Natural Woman," "You're No Good," and more.

To help audiences connect with the material and each other, Local Theatre Company Co-Artistic Director Betty Hart is hosting two post-show "Come Together" events to further explore the work. Following the performance on Oct. 29, Hart will lead a 20-minute community discussion on the show's themes. The Nov. 5 performance will be followed by a community meal where audience members can break bread and refect on Hinshaw's journey together.

The show is only scheduled to run through Nov. 6, but I sincerely hope this is not its last iteration. This is so much more than a traditional jukebox musical. With its crucial message of embracing all parts of your identity, Raised on Ronstadt is a show that needs to be seen onstage and a story that deserves to be shared with as many people as possible.

The world premiere of GerRee Hinshaw’s musical memoir 'Raised on Ronstadt' is a powerful evening of storytelling that needs to be seen and heard

by Toni Tresca

H A Nightmare on Pearl Street

9 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28, Trident Booksellers and Cafe, 940 Pearl St., Boulder. Tickets: $10, eventbrite.com (18+)

Head downtown to celebrate Halloween weekend in your best costume during Trident’s “A Nightmare on Pearl Street” event. The costume party and show will include live music and lots of dancing, along with visual artists and creatives from across the Front Range.

H Guardians of the Light Workshop with SweetBird Studio

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway. Tickets: $175, sweetbirdstudio.com

The Museum of Boulder hosts a Día de los Muertos workshop where participants will create and learn techniques for their own shrine to a family member, friend or pet. Mixed media artist Nancy Anderson will guide the design of your own LED shrine box through writing, painting, collaging and metal stamping. Artists of all levels are invited to join.

H Psychedelia: Immersive Blacklight Climbing

9 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29, The Spot Climbing Gym, 3240 Prairie Ave., Boulder. Tickets: prices vary, thespotgym.com

Get psyched in your tightest lycra for the return of one of the most unique parties in Boulder. Psychedelia is an immersive blacklight climbing competi tion with tape art, unique bouldering problems, live entertainment, food and beer. The Spot Bouldering series is bringing back an ’80s-retro theme this year, with prizes for the best costumes and the strongest adult and youth competitors.

H Gift Cards For Guns

10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Oct. 29, UCC Longmont, 1500 Ninth Ave.

The United Church of Christ (UCC) Longmont is organizing a gun collection event to help reduce gun violence in Boulder County. If you’ve got a frearm you’re looking to get rid of, head to UCC Longmont and exchange it for a gift card. Guns will be safely disabled and recycled.

H Noche De Museo: Celebrating Day of the Dead

7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, Longmont Museum, 350 Kimbark

The Longmont Museum is hosting a multigenerational evening of music and dance to celebrate Día de los Muertos — a tradition that has become part of the cultural fabric of Long mont. Mariachi groups will join professional musicians and performers from local schools to fll Stewart Auditorium with tradition

H Exotica Erotica Ball

9-11 p.m., Monday, Oct. 31, Riverside, 1724 Broadway, Boulder. Tickets: $35, eventbrite.com

Put on your most risqué costume and prepare yourself for a night of fantasy at the Exotica Erotica Ball. Col orado’s longest running adult-themed event and masquerade party will host multiple DJs, burlesque aerialists and kink and fetish stations.

H Jeanine M. Canty: ‘Returning the Self to Nature’

6:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St. Tickets: $5, eventbrite.com

Want to create a healthier relationship between yourself, your community and your planet? Author Jeanine M. Canty will speak about and sign copies of Returning the Self to Nature, her latest work of ecopsychology, during this reading event at Boulder Book Store.

H Maria Chávez: DCMP Visiting Artist

5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, Hale Science 270, 1350 Pleasant Drive, Boulder. Free

What do marble sculptures and your turntable have in common? Join CU Boulder in welcoming Peruvian-born, NYC-based sound artist Maria Chávez as she delivers a fascinating lecture on the parallels between working with marble and vinyl.

El Centro AMISTAD

6-8 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 2, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Free

The Dairy Arts Center is collaborating with El Centro AMISTAD to celebrate the Day of the Dead during this free event. Festivities will include documentary presentations, live music, traditional dancing and more. Be sure and stay for a panel discussion after the event.

H YWCA Dancing With Boulder Stars

5:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. Tickets: $35-$50, axs.com

Head to Boulder Theater to view the homegrown version of the hit show Dancing with the Stars. In this fun twist, local dancers practice for months with a paired professional dance instructor before laying it all onstage. The event serves as a fundraiser for YWCA Boulder County’s programs and services.

GUSTAVO

ON THE BILL: Omar Apollo brings his genre-shifting bedroom R&B to the Boulder Theater on Saturday, Oct. 29, with support from Ravyn Lenae. The soulful Mexican American sing er-songwriter from Indiana will perform songs from his debut studio LP, Ivory, released in April by Warner Records. See listing below for details.

H FRIDAY, OCT. 28

The Floozies with Luzcid, McWavy and GIBBZ. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. Tickets: $35-$40, axs.com

TAARKA. 8:30 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. Tickets: $15

Big Richard with Pixie and The Partygrass Boys. 7 p.m. Gothic Theater, 3263 S. Broadway, Engle wood. Tickets: $20, axs.com

H SATURDAY, OCT. 29

Omar Apollo with Ravyn Lenae. 7:45 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. Tickets: $27.50, z2ent.com

Humbird with King Cardinal. 8 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Base line Road, Boulder. Tickets: $15-$18, chautauqua.com

gogoLab celebrates Samhain. 8 p.m. Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Tickets: $17-$20, thedairy.org

Marc Rebillet. 9 p.m. Mission Ballroom, 4242 Wynkoop St., Denver. Tickets: $50-$179, axs.com

H SUNDAY, OCT. 30

The Alcapones. 8 p.m. Gold Hill Inn, 401 Main St., Boulder. Tickets: $15

Jayme Stone with Alexa Wildish. 8 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Tickets: $17-$20, chautauqua.com

Globe Hall, 483 Logan St., Denver. Tickets: $20, etix.com

H MONDAY, OCT. 31

Lizzo: The Special Tour. 8 p.m. Ball Arena, 1000 Chopper Circle, Denver. Tickets: $80, ticketmaster.com

The Fright Fest Tour with Slacker University. 9 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$30, axs.com

$UICIDEBOY$ w/ Ski Mask The Slump God, Knocked Loose and DJ Scheme. 7:30 p.m. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Parkway, Morrison. Tickets: $66, axs. com

H TUESDAY, NOV. 1

The Milk Carton Kids and Katie Pruitt. 8 p.m. Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St. Tickets: $30-$35, axs.com

H WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2

The Longest Johns. 7:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $15-$18, axs.com

Sammy Rae & The Friends. 8 p.m. Gothic Theater, 3263 S. Broadway, Englewood. Tickets: $32, axs.com

H THURSDAY, NOV. 3

Bonnie and Taylor Sims & Sturtz. 8 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, 900 Baseline Road, Boulder. Tickets: $22-$25, chautauqua.com

Spafford with Mr. Mota. 8:30 p.m. Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder. Tickets: $25-$30, axs.com

by Michael J. Casey

Good trouble

The year is 1923, and civil war wages on Irish soil. The country won indepen dence from British rule the year prior, but conditions of the truce have motivated brothers in arms to take up rifes against one another and shed more blood. And off the coast of County Galway, another civil war wages on the island of Inisherin, this one between Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson). The two are old drinking buddies, and every afternoon, Pádraic follows Inisherin’s famine walls down to the sea, where he collects Colm for a pint at the pub.

But one day, Colm doesn’t answer. He’s sitting inside, smoking, but he makes no acknowledgment of Pádraic’s presence. Flummoxed, Pádra ic returns home to his sister, Siobhan (Kerry Condon), who wants to know if they’ve been rowing with each other. Pádraic doesn’t think so, but once the rest of the town wonders the same thing, Pádraic starts to think they have been. Well, they haven’t, but they are now.

ON SCREEN: The Banshees of Inisherin opens Oct. 28 in wide release.

I won’t reveal the reason for Colm’s cold shoulder, but it is both incredibly petty and perfectly understandable. It’s also not very nice, and Pádraic might be the nicest man in Inisherin — a little dull, sure, but an all-around decent fellow. Not that that’s stopping Colm. Inisherin is a small island with a smaller population, and turning your back on one is easier said than done. You know the phrase “cut off one’s nose to spite to one’s face”? It’s a lot like that.

Written and directed by Irish playwright and flmmaker Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin is his frst feature set on home turf and his frst to feel like a play brought to the screen. Sometimes that phrase is used to slight a flm, but not here. The Banshees of Inisherin features the types of modest conficts and spectacular writing that don’t always make it to the silver screen.

Cinema is a bombastic medium, and McDonagh’s previous works — In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — contain volume ftting of a 40-foot screen. All three are good, but Banshees is better. It’s quieter, more thoughtful and beautifully rendered. The speaking roles are limited to about 10 players, four or so locations and a confict encompassing everyone without overreaching. The cinematography from Ben Davis is stunning (a shot of Colm sitting in his home smoking and not talking to Pádraic features sunshine fltering through the window in an image beftting a Vermeer), and Carter Burwell’s score, laced simply and touchingly through out, brings an Old World romance with a touch of melancholy.

Banshees is a mature work, one where McDonagh realizes that a microcosm can say more than an entire war. And that the movie carries as many laughs as it does, not to mention the sheer pleasure of keenly written dialogue, only makes a gorgeous experience all the more enjoyable. In real life, Ireland’s troubles were just beginning, but McDonagh fnds a way to bring peace. François Truffaut was right: “Cinema is an improvement on life.”

For more movie reviews, tune in to After Image, Fridays at 3 p.m., on KGNU: 88.5 FM and online at kgnu.org.

Strong performances anchor ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ but it’s the filmmaking that sings

by Dan Savage

Q: Can someone be both homosexual and asexual? I can’t wrap my brain around this one.

A: Sure, a person can be asexual while also being homosexual… because asexuality is a spectrum, and that spectrum is broad and vast and includes people who experience sexual attraction and sometimes choose to act on their sexual at traction. Basically, some asexual guys want boyfriends but don’t wanna fuck ‘em at all, other asexual guys want boyfriends but don’t wanna fuck ‘em much. It’s really not that confusing… unless you happen to be dating a guy who either doesn’t know he’s asexual or knows it and hasn’t told you, in which case you’re likely to be as confused as you are frustrated.

Q: I’m a recently divorced 53-year-old bi-curious woman living on the East Coast. I was with my ex for most of my life and he never mentioned this, but since I have begun dating, each new partner has told me how tight I am. You would think this was a good thing! I recently began dating a man who says he loves how tight I am. However, he also says it is making him come quickly. His marriage recently ended too, so he hasn’t had a lot of sexual experience either. So, I don’t know if he just comes quickly or if it’s because of me. Do you have any suggestions?

A: Maybe it’s you — maybe it’s that you’re tight (which most men regard as a good thing) — or maybe he’s a premature ejaculator and he’d rather blame you than admit to it. Either way, don’t let him stick his dick in you until after he’s made you come at least once.

Q: Any tips for safe sex during threesomes? Thinking about having a MFF threesome!

A; There’s no such thing as safe sex, there’s only safer sex. To be completely safe, skip the threesome, stay home, and take a nice, long, relaxing bath instead. Or not. According to the CDC, every year a quarter of a million people wind up in the emergency room after a fall in the bathroom and thousands more never make it to the ER because they DIED naked, wet, and alone after falling out of their tubs. Meanwhile, fewer than 50,000 people are diagnosed with primary and secondary syphilis annually. So, you’re probably safer at that threesome—provided you don’t shower before or after it. Or ever again.

(Full disclosure: Almost 700,000 people got gonorrhea in 2020 and 1.5 million people got chlamydia.)

As for making the sex safer, get tested, share your STI statuses, and use condoms. (Condoms, when correctly used, will protect you from syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV, and pregnancy.) Basically, follow the same risk-reduction strategies you would follow for a twosome — with one addition: if M wants to fuck both Fs, he needs to change condoms each time he swaps holes. And to make your threesome emotionally safer, all three of you should be clear about what you do and don’t want, and everyone should agree — out loud — that if someone feels left out, unsafe, or uncomfortable, they can call a timeout without the other two pouting about it.

Q: Newly non-monogamous and dating after 16 years of monogamy. How to lighten the “let down” feeling when a date I’ve been looking forward to is over and I have to go back to my “regular” life?

A: Your marriage, aka your “regular” life, will fall apart if fun (going out, doing things, having adventures) is reserved for dates and stress (paying bills, doing chores, raising kids) is reserved for your spouse. New-relationship-energy-infused dates are effortless fun (usually), whereas keeping things fun with a spouse requires thought, effort, and MDMA.

Q: You always say that a new dad has to be willing to go with little or no sex for a long time and can’t bring up non-monoga my. Does the same go for the mom if she’s the one who wants it more?

A: Women who’ve just given birth are usually less interested in (or capable of) sex for all the obvious reasons (physical trauma, physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion), but studies have shown that men’s testosterone levels dip after becom ing fathers, which can tank their libidos.

Regardless of who wants it more, the best time for two people to discuss non-monog amy is BEFORE they’ve scrambled their DNA together, not after. If you didn’t have that conversation before becoming parents, you should wait a year — at least — before bringing it up.

Email questions@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Find columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love.

Andrea Uzarowski

spent more than two decades dreaming of opening a bakery.

But frst, she had to work at Noma, the beloved Copenhagen eatery.

She also had to do some time as an investment banker in New York. And move to the States from her native Denmark on more than one occasion. And deal with more than her fair share of sexist hazing as she honed her craft and rose the ranks in kitchens across Europe and the U.S.

Just over a month ago, Uzarowski opened Süti and Co. in a marvelous former house just off 16th and Pearl Street. Spread over two intimate hangout rooms, a serving counter and an inviting patio, the bakery and coffee shop serve a range of pastries alongside shelves of hand-selected home goods.

The süti — which Uzarowski describes as “a little sweet treat at the end of the day” — are plentiful here. Six staples, all named after signifcant people in Uzarowski’s life, are joined by a rotating cast of delectables suited both to season and whimsy. Classic coffee drinks — with beans from Boxcar Coffee Roasters — are joined by a matcha latte, a pistachio latte and a must-try honey latte.

“I have said for the longest time that I would open a bakery dedicated to my grandmother,” says Uzarowski. Well before her career in some of the globe’s more forward-thinking kitchens, Uzarowski grew up cooking and baking with her grandmother, Magdalena. Many of her current recipes come straight from the food-stained pages

of a hand-embroidered binder with recipes that were handwritten by both Magdale na and Uzarowski’s great-grandmother, Kathryn.

“I remember when some of the spots on the page happened,” Uzarowski says, noting that she recently came across a page marked with tear drops she recalls dripping onto the surface. Many of the recipes are generations in the making, with early reci pes from Kathryn marked by Magdalena’s notes and alterations.

Uzarowski’s recipes are highly guarded: “I will not give you my recipe unless you promise not to deviate. Guess how many recipes I’ve given away. Zero,” she grins, noting that she will sometimes write out new ideas in Danish just to keep potential copy cats off the scent. It’s clear that everything about Süti & Co — from the hand-painted fowers Uzarowski applied to the front entry way down to the cookie names — is highly personal. The Magdalena — a shortbread

ON THE MENU:

Andrea Uzarowski has worked in some of the most-lauded kitchens in Europe. The treats she serves at Süti and Co. in Boulder refect her Nordic upbringing.

‘A sweet little treat at the end of the day’

Süti & Co. blends memory with Nordic sweets for a whimsical experience by Colin Wrenn

with fg jam and walnut topping — is of course a tribute to Uzarowski’s grandma, with the Lilly — a chocolate shortbread flled with chocolate ganache and then dipped in chocolate — named after her daughter.

“I grew up with food that let me know that what we eat now is not what we should be eating,” Uzarowski says of growing up in Copenhagen. “We grew everything, harvested everything, pickled everything, preserved everything.” Everything at Süti and Co. is made with Danish butter and locally-milled four.

The chef’s frst visit to the United States came in the form of a student exchange in Detroit during her senior year of high school. “I vowed I would never come back,” she says with a laugh. Though she would return years later to kick-start her career as an investment banker. “I learned to run with the wolves.”

The work was soul-cleaving, so Uzarowski found an escape in her love of cooking. “I’m a chef by heart and by trade,” she beams. Still in The Big Apple, she began working in kitchens, experiencing the kind of unsavory initiations she hopes to be more symptomatic of the era than they are now. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard ‘a woman’s place is not in the kitchen,’” she says.

Even as chefs loaded her with the most mundane unpleasantries they could muster, Uzarowski re mained undaunted. “The mistake people make is they underesti mate me.”

After returning to Copenha gen, Uzarowski began what would become a two-year stint at Noma, the three-Michelin-star restaurant run by internationally acclaimed chef Rene Redzepi. Opened in 2003, Noma made a global splash for its New Nordic cuisine that pushed the boundaries of gastronomic heights. Uzarowski says she and Redzepi bonded over the experience of being an immi grant working in kitchens, he coming from Macedonia and she just returning from her somewhat harrowing experience in New York.

“It was a completely fair and level playground. It was OK to be creative. It was OK to come up with ideas that didn’t come to fruition,” says Uzarowski, noting that Noma was integral to the development of a creative approach that has defned her career ever since. “I like to play with my food.”

ON THE MENU: Lo cated in a charming former home off 16th and Pearl Street, Süti and Co. offers patrons a Nordic-style es cape with elevated sweet treats.

Up next was yet another of Europe’s most-lauded kitch ens, Hisa Franko in Slovenia. Uzarowski spent roughly 18 months working as sous chef under Ana Ros, who was named the best female chef by The World’s 50 Best Restau rants Academy in 2017. Hisa Franko has since been awarded two Michelin stars after the guide started presenting in the country in 2020.

Since returning stateside, Uzarowski has worked as the executive chef at an athletic club in Iowa City, taught at Johnson and Wales in Denver, overseen the catering department at the University of Colorado and acted as the executive chef for A Spice of Life Catering in Boulder. She currently runs her own catering company, the acutely cli ent-driven Fresh Food Further, which boasts patrons like Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson and actor Tom Cruise.

While Süti & Co. now only operates as a daytime cafe, Uzarowski plans to intro duce a dinner series before the end of the year. “With all the good vibes, I want to share it in the evenings,” she says.

This holiday season, Uzarowski will be selling ornate cookie boxes complete with a selection of treats that are and will remain unavailable outside of what is set to be an annual tradition. This year’s box will feature cover art by Scandinavian artist Annie Bailey, and will be flled with morsels dedicated to six different women who have been important to Uzarowski’s life and particularly the development of Süti & Co. “These are not the cookies you should give to your children,” she laughs, noting each one’s particu lar intricacies. Boxes will be available for pickup between Nov. 20 and Dec. 20.

Considering Uzarowski’s high-profle career, Süti & Co. feels like a quiet triumph and a victory lap that the whole town can enjoy.

hen contemplating the appealing aspects of drinking in Europe, ordering a bottle of wine with lunch or sipping an afternoon beer at a cafe with out shame come to mind. Certainly, the freedom to enjoy an alcoholic beverage when voyaging abroad (the drinking age in Europe is 18, though it’s not generally

tipples such as the Negroni (and its many variations, including the Boulevardier, which uses whiskey in place of gin; the Mezcal Negroni; or the Negroni Sbagliato, a Prosecco-laced spin on the classic cocktail) and the ubiquitous Aperol Spritz, which features the bitter Italian apéritif.

something of an art form and a social pastime.

by Nick Hutchinson

enforced) has put a smile on the face of many a young American traveler. Yet a quick online search reveals that several European countries, including England, France, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark, among others, while generally more relaxed in their approach to imbibing, experience some of the same issues with binge drinking and alcohol abuse that we do on this side of the pond. Given that no culture appears to be perfect when it comes to approaching the hooch, what’s the major difference between here and there when enjoying a glass?

The answer isn’t clearly defned, but thanks to the Internet and relatively affordable travel options, we’re all more connected than ever before — and, like a pour of good liquor, boozy fashions and practices are, thankfully, very free to fow. As a result, Europe and other countries now dabble in making American-style IPAs (to varying degrees of success in terms of taste), while Americans widely enjoy

Happily, spirits are seeping through the borders and infuencing enthusiasts everywhere. Knowing one’s stuff when it comes to international imbibing has become something of a mark of distinction in the burgeoning cocktail culture, which got an unforeseen lift during the pandemic, when people started experimenting with new drinks at home. Fun cocktail fact: Mixology lore has it that the Negroni came into being in a Florence bar, when its namesake Count Camillo Negroni, who had developed a taste for harder booze while working as a rodeo clown in the American West, asked for a stronger ver sion of the alcoholically lighter Americano (which does not include gin).

With the advent of food halls and craft-drinking establishments, such as local favorites Rosetta Hall (1109 Walnut St.) or Avanti Food and Beverage (1401 Pearl St.) in Boulder, some of the charms from Europe and beyond have made their way to the United States. We’ve begun to consider what we consume and drink and how we do it. Many Americans seem to be coming around to the good life associated with a thoughtful quaff-and-nosh. It’s now normal to enjoy a glass of natural wine, a Chartreuse spritz, or a hard cider with a wood-fred pizza, a street taco or a healthy salad, while craft-cocktailing has become

A visit to The Bitter Bar (835 Walnut St.) in Boulder reveals a few Europe an-inspired cocktails — from The Italian Job, a refreshing blend of Amalf blood orange gin and fresh lemon juice, to The Boulder (v 2.0), an earthy swirl of bourbon, rhubarb aperitivo and Italian vermouth. Sipping one of the thoughtfully concocted creations in the bar’s comfortable and relaxed setting, indoor or out, allows for the kind of mixological nuance that might mark a drinking experience in one of the old countries. Owner James Lee, also brings in alcohol from Japan, with the sake-based Demon Slayer, and Ireland, in the Irish Old Fashioned, which mixes Irish whiskey, sugar and bitters.

At nearby Brasserie Ten Ten (1011 Walnut St.), in addition to a good wine selection and its Coravin (higher-end wines by the glass) options, popular French-themed cocktails, which were developed to pair with food, include the Violette Sparkler, a light mélange of citron vodka, lemongrass syrup and creme de violet; the Strawberry Basilic, a refreshing blend of strawberry basil cordial, vodka, aloe liqueur and St-Germain; or the Reve de Framboi se, with gin, chamomile syrup, fresh raspberries and absinthe. All of these can be enjoyed while dining al fresco on the front patio, or inside the restaurant, in a setting that evokes the cafés and brasseries of the City of Light.

Be it on the cobble-stoned streets of Croatia, Italy, France or on the bricks of the Pearl Street Mall, we can thankfully savor the tastes of good drink and food and celebrate whatever culture we please. The river of booze fows both ways.

Longmont Humane Society

Critter Classifeds is a column where you can meet four-legged friends who need your love and support. Boulder Weekly is currently working with Longmont Humane Society to feature a few pets each week who are looking for forever homes. We hope to bring other organizations in on the fun in the future.

Longmont Humane Society pro vides temporary shelter to thousands of animals every year, including dogs, cats and small mammals who are lost, surren dered or abandoned. Visit the shelter to learn more about these featured pets and others up for adoption and fostering.

If your organization has volunteer needs, please reach out to us at editori al@boulderweekly.com.

H Roderick

H Adam

Adam came to LHS this month with his brothers and sisters to have a shot at a new life. He is still just a baby at 2 months old, but he is learning the ropes fast. Adam is 10 pounds of puppy love and we expect he will be over 40 pounds fully grown. He is a very sweet and smart baby who wants nothing more than a friend who will play with him and rub his tummy.

This 5-year-old guy has wonderful droopy jowls and a sparkling personality. Roderick loves other dogs and cats and would be so happy to have another animal in the home to keep him company. Roderick is a big boy at 71.5 pounds, so he would need a home with older children that don’t mind his rambunctious play style. Roderick has head-tilted his way into all our hearts and would make an excellent family pet.

H Fluffluf

Here is proof that looks can be deceiving. Behind her grumpy face, this sweet girl has a heart of gold. At 10 years old, Fluffuf is looking for a place where she can spend her golden years lounging around like the royalty she is. She loves to curl up in a sunny spot and supervise everything going on. Fluffuf is extremely mellow and would do well in a home with older children who won’t disturb her from her perch.

Note: The animals you see here may have been adopted since this article was written. Visit long monthumane.org to view all available animals.

Your support makes a big difference to the Longmont Humane Society. For those in a position to help, LHS is currently experiencing a shortage of adult dog food, dog treats and small/medium milk bone biscuits. Donate these supplies and more directly from the LHS Amazon Wish List — visit the longmonthumane.org to learn more.

9595 Nelson Road, Longmont, longmonthumane.org

Treating Tourette’s

Boston was 10 years old when he started to exhibit symptoms of Tourette Syndrome. At frst, he says he only had little tics. He’d impulsively clear his throat, or make clicking sounds. But it wasn’t severe, and it wasn’t distracting for him or others. Then, around 14, when he was about to go into high school, the symptoms got worse — a lot worse. He started having vocal and motor tics nonstop, from the moment he woke up to the moment he went to sleep at night.

“He twitches, jumps, he might fail his arms. He can torque his head. And this can all be happening at one time,” his mother, Jill, describes. “He also experiences the audible tic, which is an urge to make noise.”

That uncontrolla ble, irrepressible urge makes him bark or woof like a dog when he has what Boston and Jill call “attacks.”

It was a dramatic change in Boston’s life. Jill says he lost almost 20 pounds in just a couple of months during this time.

“We started to look into the treatments,” Boston says. “We didn’t really feel like we wanted to take the pharma ceutical route because of how pharmaceuticals can be. So we took the eastern [medicine] route.”

He tried acupuncture, which he liked, but says didn’t really help with his symptoms. He tried CBD, which offered marginal alleviation. Then, he was out with his friends doing what teenagers do, and someone busted

out some weed. Boston had never tried smoking before, so he gave it a shot. Almost instantly he felt relief. He “quieted out” he says. The vocal tics were all-but eradicated and his motor tics subdued.

“At frst I was a little freaked out by it,” Boston says. “At frst I thought I’d be getting in trouble, you know, because it’s cannabis.”

But when he told his parents what had happened and what he’d felt, he wasn’t in trouble. In fact, his par ents felt relief of their own.

“Once they realized that it helped me, we committed to it,” Boston says.

It was an easy and natural course of action from Boston’s perspective. Here’s this fower, and when he smokes it, the urges he’s constantly battling and that are so often con trolling him, subside. It’s a natural, non-addictive substance that, lucky for him, is legal in the state he resides in. Cannabis seemed like an ideal treatment option.

However, for his parents, and his mother in particular, it wasn’t such an easy thing to grapple with.

“We grew up hearing, ‘Well, you know, if you’re going to use it every day, you’re going to be a pothead and a burn out. You’re not going to be productive in your life,’” Jill says. “I had those stories playing in my mind because it’s what I was told.”

She doesn’t shy away from it: The rhetoric and propaganda of the drug war had gotten to her over the years. It had been ingrained in her, and to suddenly have to accept that this supposedly dangerous Schedule I narcotic was actually helping her son, and that he might become a regular daily user of it, was hard.

“I had to accept that the stigmas around [cannabis] that we were brought up with in my generation are not true,” she says. “That you can still be productive and you can function productively.”

It took some getting used to, she says. But seeing the results, and knowing how much it was helping Boston, there was no way she was going to deny this treatment option to him. And besides, Boston’s grades weren’t suffering and his creativity was as keen as ever.

They got Boston a medical card not long afterwards. Today they say they use a variety of different products, from tinctures to edibles, vape pens, oil and fower; because, as Boston explains, mixing up the form of con sumption helps maintain the medicine’s effectiveness. Though, he adds, smoking fower helps the most.

Thanks to HB 1095, passed in May 2018 in Colo rado, students like Boston can legally use cannabis to self-medicate during school hours — when they often need it most. Understandably, his tics can be extremely distracting to his learning and that of other students. So when Boston feels an attack coming on, he excuses himself, leaves campus and uses a vape pen to control his symptoms discreetly.

“Unlike other things, you can’t just medicate in the morning, at noon and at night,” Jill says. “With Tourette’s you have to medicate when it’s coming.”

Boston is a year and a half away from being able to walk into a dispensary and purchase his own medication. For now, his parents do it for him. But across the country there are many other young adults just like Boston who don’t have access to this treatment option at all. Because of the federal prohibition and Schedule I status of canna bis, a lot of people suffering from Tourette Syndrome will continue to suffer without relief.

And even in states where cannabis is legal, some parents might be too nervous and hesitant to try it with their own children — even if it may help them, and even if a doctor recommends it for them.

“Look at marijuana as an alternative to pharmaceuti cals,” Jill says. “I would say try to let go of your judg ments and your conditioning … I’m trusting my intuition and I’m still trying to serve [Boston] the best I can and in a way that he’s comfortable with, even if it makes me a little uncomfortable at times.”

suffering teen finds relief in cannabis

Will Brendza