A taste of reality

During a recent trip to Chicago, I got a heavy dose of reality vs. perception. Part of that is due to media coverage which, in my opinion, is part of why trust in the industry I love and value is at an all-time low.

Before taking the trip with my husband and son, my brother, who lives in Texas, asked if I packed my bulletproof vest.

He was referring to the constant media reports about the shootings and crime in Chicago. Given some media reports — he thought you get o a plane and take cover.

I must admit, I didn’t know what to expect in getting the rental car and hitting the streets to head downtown where my son had some big dream of touching the famous massive bean sculpture. For context, it was from a YouTube video he had watched.

We got downtown and found the huge silver bean and my son touched it. We walked around, crossed streets, and did some shopping. e parks were lovely. e area where kids were playing in a fountain and splash pad were full and vibrant.

You see — the reality is Chicago is nothing like I had imagined from ongoing media reports over the last few years. In fact, I was sad in seeing a vibrant downtown Chicago and comparing it to Denver.

On a recent brewery hopping trip with my brother — Denver’s downtown did not instill any con dence. In our day of walking all over the area, from Coors Field to a few miles away — I saw a lot of problems.

For one, here in Denver, I saw people using drugs on the wide-open sidewalk. To say I was completely unnerved to see that needle and spoon is an understatement.

As kids played in the water and ran around the park in Chicago, I thought about how there is no way I will, at this point, take my children to downtown Denver. A favorite pastime for my family used to be heading down to the 16th Street Mall and exploring the stores and walking and enjoying a nice day.

Today — with boarded-up buildings and an unsafe atmosphere — I will not take my children to my own city’s downtown.

We sit back and hear media reports and judge other cities, but really, the reality is our own backyard needs attention. Downtown Denver and the region need true solutions to our homeless, crime and drug issues.

I feel like everything I write about these days leads right back to this — If our state does not start addressing growing problems in car thefts, drugs, homelessness, and cost of living — families are going to keep leaving.

I know the reality is Chicago probably has a “bad side of town” that I didn’t get to see. However, over three days of traveling to various ice-skating rinks and touring the city — I changed my tune about the Windy City and became a lot more concerned with my own.

elma Grimes is the south metro editor for Colorado Community Media.

LINDA SHAPLEY Publisher lshapley@coloradocommunitymedia.com

MICHAEL DE YOANNA

Editor-in-Chief michael@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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It was right before the pandemic of 2020 was announced. My wife and I had the opportunity to participate in a certi cation program put on by the Zig Ziglar Corporation. It is a program called Ziglar Legacy Certi cation, or ZLC for those who have gone through it and graduated. Although I was the previous president of the company, and knew the content in depth, I wanted to share this experience with my wife and carry the o cial designation as a Ziglar Legacy Certi ed trainer and coach. e group that we joined was a ectionately known as ZLC23, as we were the 23rd group to complete the certi cation. On the very rst day we met our classmates, each came up with their own story, their business story, their personal story, and then there was their life story. We met Jessica, Shelly, Marvin, Sundiata, JillMarie, Brent, David, Amy, Jerrod, and a few others. But there was one woman who stood out amongst the rest, Jill. Jill’s smile, enthusiasm, and passion for wanting to complete the program and to begin helping others was contagious. Her energy and intentionality for being a di erence maker in the lives of others was abundantly clear. Her purpose and mission for attending were evident in how she participated in the learning through role playing, table exercise, and group discussions. I remember sitting

CHRISTY STEADMAN

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LINDSAY NICOLETTI Operations/ Circulation Manager lnicoletti@coloradocommunitymedia.com next to her for two of those group discussions and table exercises. And I remember walking away from both feeling the impact of her presence and contributions to the conversations.

THELMA GRIMES

South Metro Editor tgrimes@coloradocommunitymedia.com

ERIN ADDENBROOKE Marketing Consultant eaddenbrooke@coloradocommunitymedia.com

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One of these exercises required us to share at our table what we liked, appreciated, or loved about someone else we had gotten to know during the week. We had to write it down privately on a note, and then read it out loud before handing it to the person at our table that we were writing about. I will share with you that the person reading the note and receiving the compliments was usually in tears, happy tears. As it was Jill’s turn to be the center of attention, we all eagerly wrote our messages of love, a ection, and appreciation. And as we all read our note, the consistency was unreal; Jill was light, love, passionate, determined, a role model of success, bright, beautiful, and someone who exuded the desire to help others.

Why am I sharing this story? Sadly, Jill passed away suddenly last month. Her

SEE NORTON, P17

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