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LOCAL

Hundreds help celebrate Westwood Community Center opening

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ENTERTAINMENT

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Odysseo to take flight from where Cavalia left off

Odysseo, an attempt to share that sense of wonder at the sheer beauty of nature, runs at the Big Top south of the Pepsi Center from Sept. 19 through Oct. 5.

More than 875 people enjoyed free food and fun celebrating the opening of the Westwood Community Center.

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LOCAL

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BuCu West Chile Fest Chili Cook Off a ‘sizzling’ good time

The Business and Culture District on Morrison Road hosted its fourth annual Chile Fest on Sept. 13.

Only

50¢ D I S P A T C H

S i n c e 19 2 6 September 18, 2014

www.HDnewspaper.com

Vol. 93 No. 40

¡Hola! to ‘Project Ñ’

Venture profiles children of Hispanic immigrants

By Peter Jones enise S o l e r had her “aha!” moment in the late 1990s in Miami. She was in her mid20s at the time and living in a city where more than half of the population was born outside the United States. But she was still grappling with her place as a first-generation American-born U.S. citizen with Cuban and Puerto Rican ancestry. It was during some light banter with several other young Hispanics that she suddenly felt an affinity for more than her proud ethnic heritage. She realized that other Latinos had similarly grown up with an odd mix of cultural tradition and an ongoing, sometimesawkward assimilation into the broader culture. As the evening’s lighthearted conversation with Eduardo (turned Eddie) and Ramon (turned Raymond) ensued, a bittersweet smile crossed Soler’s face while her childhood memories began to pour like sangria. “As a third-grader, people would call me Denise Soler System. Now, I think it’s funny, but

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Local filmmaker Denise Soler Cox is co-producer of Project Ñ, a film and multimedia platform focused on the first-generation children of Hispanic immigrants.

Photo courtesy of Project Ñ

it made me cry when I came home,” she said. “I thought I was alone having my own experience on the outside looking in and straddling two different worlds. Then I realized I was actually in the company of not only the people there in the room, but every single person that had been born with immigrant parents.” Before long, Soler – a name pronounced with an ever-soslightly rolled r – realized there was even a name for this brand of bicultural identity. As it happened, she was an “Enye,” a shorthand quasi-generational term derived from “eñe,” the word for “ñ,” the distinct Spanish letter to which many Denverites

became accustomed through the city’s onetime Mayor Federico Peña. Confused? Think Generation X or Y with a Hispanic twist. “We like Celia Cruz, who’s like the queen of salsa, but we also like Madonna,” said the now locally based Enye, in defining her “generation’s” cultural identity.

Enyes and frienyes

In the years since that fateful bull session in Florida, Denise Soler Cox – a new name that came by virtue of her marriage to a “frienye,” a non-Hispanic “friend” of the Enye community

– the now 43-year-old woman has sought to shed light on the stories, culture and challenges of her ever-growing community. Cox says she knew there was a book, movie or something else just waiting to get out of the ongoing conversation – but what is a graphic artist without a film background to do about it? “It was one of those ideas that wouldn’t let me go,” she said. The wait is over – sort of. A short film called Project Ñ will make its premier during CineLatino, Sept. 25-28, a Hispanic film festival, at the Sie Film Center in Denver. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.

Unlike most festivals, audience members, particularly those who qualify as Enyes, may have the opportunity to get involved, even after the documentary is screened. The short film is just the first step in a much larger project that will eventually include a full-length movie and an ongoing interactive Web presence. Henry Ansbacher, a locally based Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, is collaborating with Soler Cox. Ansbacher’s credits include last year’s American Mustang, a documentary produced by south metro’s Ellie Phipps Price. Continued on page 2

Jewels of Highlands Home Tour benefits DPS, Sept. 21

Those who enjoy peeking behind closed doors of northwest Denver’s homes will have the opportunity to see some of the jewels in the community at the upcoming Jewels of the Highlands Home Tour, Sunday, Sept. 21, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. For the third year, Brown International Academy is partnering with Nostalgic Homes to present this year’s tour. Eight spectacular homes in the Highlands neighborhood are anticipated to be open to the public. Homes on the tour range from new craftsmans, mid-century moderns, to stunningly renovated Victorians. A Victorian on 30th Avenue features a unique combination of a renovated 1891 Victorian joined with a modern three-story addition. Another Victorian on 32nd Avenue was once residence to former Denver Mayor W. F. R. Mills. Also featured on the tour is a custom-built, Pasadena-styled bungalow. All homes are fantastic examples of traditional to new architecture that shouldn’t be missed. Tickets are $20 in advance, $15

for seniors and $25 on the day of the tour. Tickets can be purchased online in advance at JewelsOfHighlands.com or at Nostalgic Homes, 3737 W 32nd Ave., on the day of the tour. All tour proceeds benefit Brown International Academy. Brown is a DPS neighborhood elementary school located at 26th Avenue and Lowell. Founded in 1951, Brown International Academy is particularly special because it is one of only 500 schools worldwide to be an authorized International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. This curriculum helps more than 550 of the community’s diverse children—half of whom qualify for free or reduced lunch—become responsible, globally-minded citizens. Be sure to catch the 32nd Avenue Farmer’s Market prior to enjoying to beginning your trek. All of the homes will be conveniently located within walking distance, making this tour a real “jem.” Visit JewelsOfHighlands. com for more information and to purchase tickets.

You won’t want to miss peaking inside this jewel on 3825 W. 32nd Ave. Also known as the Ford House, this home was once residence of former Denver Mayor W. F. R. Mills as well as Mary Ford, an early trail-blazing doctor. Courtesy photo


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