CS Independent Vol. 1 Issue 16 | December 26, 2024
PUBLISHER
Francis J. Zankowski
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ben Trollinger
REPORTERS Andrew Rogers, Cannon Taylor, Noel Black and Karin Zeitvogel
CONTRIBUTORS
Lauren Ciborowski, Bryan Oller, Bob Falcone and Rob Brezny
COPY EDITOR Willow Welter
SALES
AD DIRECTOR JT Slivka
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
Monty Hatch, Josh Graham, Carla Wink and Karen Hazlehurst
AD COORDINATOR
Lanny Adams
ART &
SENIOR EDITORIAL DESIGNER
Adam Biddle
OPERATIONS
DIGITAL AND MARKETING MANAGER
Sean Cassady
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER
Kay Williams
Night Ramen recently opened in a downtown location to capitalize on new residential development. | Credit: Bryan Oller
Patrick Treptow
Nancy Henjum
EDITOR’S NOTE .
THE BLOODTHIRST TRAP
By BEN TROLLINGER ben.trollinger@ppmc.live
Luigi Mangione stands accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in cold blood outside of a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4. We all saw the shocking CCTV footage of a hooded assailant pumping three rounds into the back of Thompson. We all heard about the inscriptions on the shell casings — “deny,” “defend” and “depose.” This was obviously an act of political violence, perhaps of exquisite payback.
As a media spectacle, this means we, the viewers, should have “conversations” on what this means about How We Live Now. We should then have conversations about those conversations. Above all, it is imperative that we post. This is the Discourse, and our participation is mandatory. What does it say about us as a country that people are celebrating Mangione as a folk hero? Should I sympathize with the CEO and his family? Maybe just a little bit before I opine on the sorry state of our health care system? And why are we paying such close attention to the death of a rich man, when lots of poor people are dying? Shouldn’t we pretend to care about them more? Or is raw schadenfreude the best approach? Didn’t the profits-before-people Thompson have it coming, after all?
The novelist Kurt Vonnegut once observed that we live more according to the Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian king who lived 4,000 years ago, than we do the words of Jesus Christ.
“A categorical imperative for all who live
in obedience to the Code of Hammurabi, which includes heroes of every cowboy show and gangster show you ever saw, is this: Every injury, real or imagined, shall be avenged. Somebody’s going to be really sorry,” Vonnegut writes in the title essay of “If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? Advice to the Young.” “When Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross, he said, ‘Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do.’ What kind of a man was that? Any real man … would have said, ‘Kill them, Dad, and all their friends and relatives, and make their deaths slow and painful.’”
Vonnegut was a humanist, not a Christian, but he believed that Christ’s radical idea of forgiveness was our only hope — this from a man who witnessed unspeakable destruction and inhumanity in World War II. Nonetheless, revenge fantasies — “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” to quote a Babylonian king — continue to dominate our media and entertainment landscape. Our heroes today, in film and IRL, don’t turn the other cheek; they get even. And we find that deeply satisfying, sexy even.
Here’s a headline from The Hill: “Shock poll: 41 percent of young voters find killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO acceptable.” Here’s another from Newsweek:
“‘Too Hot to Convict’: Is Luigi Mangione Getting Fan Mail in Prison?”
We probably shouldn’t make too much of this. The headlines are just the latest examples of media trivialization. Opinions are cheap — easy to share and just as easy to abandon. But personal conduct still matters, according to Vonnegut:
“We may never dissuade leaders of our nation or any other nation from responding vengefully, violently, to every insult or injury. In this, the Age of Television, they will continue to find irresistible the temptation to become entertainers, to compete with movies by blowing up bridges and police stations and factories and so on. … But in our personal lives, our inner lives, at least, we can learn to live without the sick excitement, without the kick of having scores to settle with this particular person, or that bunch of people, or that particular institution or race or nation. And we can then reasonably ask forgiveness for our trespasses, since we forgive those who trespass against us.”
LETTERS
.
SYSTEM UPDATE
After reading “Fear Itself” in the Nov. 28 edition of The Independent, I’m compelled to write to you. I’m 81, single and female. I’ve favored women all my life and have had a few pretty long-term relationships with them — the last one lasting 10 years. With this said, I know a bit about fear and hiding my preference. You say, “It would be nice to imagine that we could break ourselves of the two-party system.” Is this the answer to our nation’s and the world’s long list of inadequacies? Our current governing system needs to be updated, and a workable alternative needs to be presented to our nation and the world’s people. What if an economic model aimed to create a sustainable future where the economy, human needs and the Earth’s natural systems could all thrive were in place? Many cities and nations are experimenting with this model: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Copenhagen, Leeds, Glasgow, Berlin, Sydney, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., New York City, Charlotte, North Carolina and Indianapolis. Finland, Iceland, Scotland, Wales and New Zealand. Would you happen to know the model I speak to?
Gail Black Colorado Springs
STAYING HUMAN
Re: “The Turd Test” in the Oct. 31 edition of The Independent Your reference to Kenneth Anger, without further identification, suggests you might be considerably older than your photo, but in any case, I was glad to find, in your “Turd Test” column, someone who views our current computer worship with as great loathing as I do. I feared I might just be indulging in oldfart syndrome.
CORRECTIONS .
Jonathan Weiner, in “Time, Love, Memory,” reports that the socio-biologist E.O. Wilson, viewing the explosion of genetic knowledge, wrote, “‘Soon we must look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become.’ He is sure we will not want to turn ourselves into protein-based computers; we will not want to lose what makes us human.” I wish I could share Wilson’s optimism. Albert Einstein wrote somewhere, “Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” Since we began to discover how to practically exploit scientific knowledge, the only question we’ve seemed able to ask of technology is, “How fast and how loud can this baby go?” We’ve so far not learned to ask better questions, such as, “How can we use this technology to improve daily human life?” or “What threats does this technology pose to daily human life, and how can we guard against those threats?”
Thanks for your column, and for your editorial resistance to computerized intrusions posing as human speech.
Malcolm McCollum
Colorado Springs •
CHANGES AHEAD
We receive The Independent magazine you mail out. Near as I can tell, you are anything but an independent source of information. I think you might be more like a far-left-wing propaganda source of garbage than anything else. I read through most of the magazine, and I didn’t see one word of encouragement or excitement about our new president-elect and the great changes his administration has ahead for us. That tells me volumes about your integrity. Shame on you!
Craig Beal
Peyton
• In the story about Colorado College’s Mobile Arts program in the Dec. 12 issue, the amount of grant funding that Naomi Wood received to develop Mobile Arts was misstated. She was given access to $150,000 in grant funding from a $1 million endowment..
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR must be signed with full name and include daytime phone number, full address, or email address. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. | EMAIL ADDRESS: letters@ppmc.live
Colorado Springs one step closer to skyline makeover
By NOEL BLACK noel.black@ppmc.live
After decades of debate about sprawl versus density, mountain views versus urban skyline, Colorado Springs is one step closer to getting its first high rise apartment building, the first “skyscraper” since the completion of the 16-story Wells Fargo Tower office building at Colorado and Cascade avenues in 1990.
At its last meeting of the year on Tuesday, Dec. 10, City Council members voted 7 to 2 to approve a new urban renewal authority (URA) designation and tax increment financing (TIF) requested by the O’Neil Group for the development of ONE VeLa. Councilors Nancy Henjum and Dave Donelson were the two dissenting votes on the matters.
Donelson objected to the project on multiple grounds and asked that fellow council members who had received campaign contributions from the O’Neil
Group recuse themselves from the vote. According to publicly available campaign finance reports on coloradosprings.gov, council members David Leinweber, Brian Risley and Lynette Crow-Iverson — all of whom approved the new URA and TIF — received $10,000 in campaign contributions from the O’Neil Group. Benjamin Bollinger of the City Attorney’s office reminded Donelson and other councilors that it is not illegal for members to vote on items pertaining to groups or individuals from whom they may have received campaign contributions.
The proposed 27-story, 367-foot-high ONE VeLa building would be built one block east of the Olympic and Paralympic Museum bordered by Sahwatch and Cucharras streets and West Vermijo and South Cascade avenues.
According to the plans, the building will have “400 residential units with a range
of studios, 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and 3-bedroom units.” Forty of the studio apartments will be rent controlled at “100 percent of area median income (AMI) or below … for the duration of the TIF period, 25 years.” It’s also slated to have retail and commercial space on the ground floor, and a parking garage.
Despite the new URA designation and the TIF approval, the project has several more hurdles to clear before it’s shovel ready, says Andy Merritt, chief strategy officer for the O’Neil Group, which has partnered with Vela Development Partners of Kansas City, Missouri, on the project.
(Full disclosure: The Independent is owned, in part, by Kevin O’Neil.)
“It’s a major step closer to breaking ground. We still have to get the development plan approved and to finalize the private financing now that the public financing is in place.”
City Planning Manager Ryan Tefertiller
says that development-plan review process will open the project up to more public input. Anyone can challenge the project on any aspect of the design during that time, the first round of which will take place in the coming months.
Attorney Kat Gayle, who represents Integrity Matters, a nonprofit citizenactivist group that has opposed many recent development proposals, says that she and others in her group don’t object to the site being developed but think the proposed building is too tall and will block iconic views of the mountains while casting long shadows across that area of downtown.
“By all means, have penthouse apartments with beautiful views, but don’t take away everyone else’s views. Two hundred and fifty feet is fine. But we don’t need this big erection up to the sky that says, ‘I am king, look what I built!” says Gayle.
Rendering of the newly proposed tower | Courtesy: The O’Neil Group
Donelson also objected to the height and has called for a public vote on height restrictions before any building over 250 feet, the height of the Wells Fargo Tower, could be built. However, the proposed ONE VeLa tower falls within the “form based zone” — a 1-square-mile area of downtown that was established by the city in 2009, “to further the revitalization currently underway by bringing residents into the downtown, encouraging mixeduse development and maximizing streetscape vibrancy to transform the area into the pedestrian-friendly heart of the region,” and there is no height limit on potential buildings in this zone.
Gayle also objects to the blight findings that were used to secure the URA and TIF financing, which will account for $11 million over the next 25 years to help pay for $23 million in public infrastructure related to the project as part of the total estimated $202 million cost for the project. By statute, URAs and the tax increment financing that can come with them are dependent on an official blight designations. Gayle presented a slide show of images to council that seem to show the proposed ONE VeLa site in relatively well-maintained condition.
“The thing is that people read that statute and come to different conclusions,” says Andrew Arnold, principal and founder of Pioneer Development Co., a consulting company in Durango that works with municipalities and private developers to build projects that might not otherwise be possible without URAs and TIFs.
“In Colorado’s Urban Renewal Law, CRS 31-25-101 to 116, there’s a section that talks about these blighting factors — Section 103. And it defines 11 different factors.”
Those factors include more obvious indicators of what many people think of as “blight,” like environmental contamination and slum conditions, but also include less clear definitions, like “unusual topography or inadequate public improvements or utilities.”
And in many cases, a property can be considered blighted by meeting only one
of the 11 factors.
The problem with blight designations, says Jariah Walker, executive director of the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority, is that the word “blight” is loaded and doesn’t necessarily correspond with the state’s statutory definition. Under the law, an empty field, for example, can be considered blighted because it doesn’t have any public infrastructure or improvements.
“We’re stuck with the jargon,” says Andrew Arnold, who says the terms “blight” and “urban renewal” originated on the East Coast at a time when New York City’s planner Robert Moses was tearing down whole neighborhoods and historic landmarks to make way for the new. “We’re in Colorado. How much blight do we have compared to New York or Philadelphia in the 1950s?”
Dana Duggan of Integrity Matters is also alarmed that downtown already has what she believes are dangerously high vacancy rates. She cited a November 2024 Costar report that showed downtown’s multifamily unit (MFU) vacancy rate at 24.7%.
But in her last presentation to City Council on Oct. 21, 2024, before
resigning, former Downtown Partnership CEO Susan Edmondson noted that vacancy rates are high because of the amount of new housing inventory that’s come online in the past several years with the boom in “podium”-style apartment buildings like Fiona and 333 Eco that only just opened.
According to Kevin Walker, City Planning Department director, the rise in vacancy rates is, overall, a good thing in the wake of spiking housing costs in the Colorado Springs area, where demand has outstripped supply since at least the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So there’s been focus on how do we encourage more supply to catch up with demand. It’s something that’s been facing the country, so it’s not anything new.”
Walker says he hasn’t done an analysis of Integrity Matters’ numbers, but acknowledges that “we have built a lot of apartments, and vacancy rates are going up, and rents are stabilizing. It does make the point that when you increase the supply that it can stabilize prices.”
Andy Merritt of the O’Neil Group says it always takes several years for new housing stock to fill up, and notes that the ONE VeLa project wouldn’t come online
for at least an additional three years at a time when Colorado’s population is expected to keep growing.
According to the Colorado State Demography Office, El Paso County is now the most populous county in the state, and it’s expected to top 1 million by 2045.
Merritt believes the project will succeed for this reason along with many others, including the desirability of Colorado Springs and its recent U.S. News and World Report ranking as one of the best places to live in the United States. He also anticipates opposition from Integrity Matters all the way through the development plan approval process.
“Just based on how vocal opponents have been, they will likely appeal it all the way to City Council. We believe it’s a good project, but we’ve got the rest of the process to go through.”
For her part, attorney Kat Gayle plans to keep fighting on behalf of Integrity Matters.
“I feel that the taxpayers of Colorado Springs are being abused so that developers can make an even greater profit.”
Rendering of the newly proposed tower | Courtesy: The O’Neil Group
2025 SEASON
JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT
Wednesday, April 30
DWIGHT YOAKAM
Friday, May 9
LEON BRIDGES
Thursday, May 22
STYX & KEVIN CRONIN
Sunday, June 29
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD
Friday, August 8
“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC
Thursday, September 4
MUSHROOM FOR DEBATE
Psilocybin healing centers in Colorado Springs sidelined after split City Council vote
by KARIN ZEITVOGEL karin.zeitvogel@ppmc.live
On his second deployment to Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Patrick Treptow watched as a man carried a young boy with gaping head wounds up to the gate of the joint forces base in Tarin Kowt, about 100 miles north of Kandahar. The boy had been shot in the face and the man who said he was his uncle was ostensibly there to seek help for him from the 438th Medical Detachment out of Fort Carson that Treptow served with. Medics weren’t able to save the boy, and that night, the base got mortared, Treptow said.
It became clear to him and others that the boy was a Taliban “blood sacrifice.” They had shot the child with an AK-47, ripping his face to shreds. The boy’s “uncle” had carried him to the base and into the medical unit not out of concern for the dying child but to be able to transmit the coordinates of the U.S. and Australian troops back to the Taliban.
Fortunately, he didn’t relay the correct information to the Taliban, and the attack missed the base hospital, landing instead near the flight line, Treptow said.
No one on base was killed, but “the evil was palpable,” he said. He struggled for years to erase the image of the mutilated boy from his memory. He found it impossible to reconcile himself with the cruelty and inhumanity he saw that day. When he left the military in 2015, he did what many service members do and selfmedicated. He was taking an alphabet soup of drugs with letters for names that pushed his suicide ideation “through the roof.”
On a daily basis, he would rub his gun against his forehead before somehow talking himself down off the ledge. His wife
left her job, knowing that if she didn’t, “she was going to come home one day and not have a husband,” Treptow said.
Then, about a decade after he’d seen the bloodied, mutilated little boy, Treptow found his way to psilocybin, a hallucinogen found in certain mushrooms. Research supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse has found that psilocybin is a potential clinical treatment for mental illnesses. Another study conducted by researchers at Imperial College, London, and published in 2021, found that it may be more effective at treating depression than a leading antidepressant.
For Treptow, it was a game changer. It provided him with relief from depression, and his relentless thoughts of suicide went away.
“I actually had a positive view of myself again,” he said. “I wasn’t, like, euphoric and sitting with glow sticks in the corner having a good time. I was just able to have conversations, deep conversations, and be OK with who I was — and that shifted everything.”
That was in 2022, the year that Coloradans voted to pass Proposition 122, which decriminalized the personal possession and use of a handful of natural psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, by people ages 21 and over.
Prop. 122 also called for the supervised use of psychedelic mushrooms to be allowed at licensed facilities by the end of 2024, and barred local governments from banning those facilities or the services they provide. But local governments are allowed, under the law, to “regulate the time, place and manner of operation of these facilities.”
Colorado Springs City Council seized on that last point and voted to extend the distance between a healing center that uses psilocybin, and schools, day cares and rehab facilities, from 1,000 feet to 1 mile
— the same distance restriction that was imposed on sellers of recreational marijuana in the city. A 1-mile setback would push supervised psilocybin treatment out of most of Colorado Springs, with the exception of parts of the southeast near the airport, and pockets along Interstate 25 near the Air Force Academy.
There may be “extra pockets” in the city for healing centers, because the 1-mile setback is measured as walking distance, not as a mile a crow would fly, licensed clinical social worker Scott DeWalt said.
DeWalt, who has a private mental health practice and recently earned a certificate in Psychedelic Assistive Neurology, foresaw what Colorado Springs would do. And so, with a partner and an angel investor who put up more than $500,000, he purchased an old garage in Manitou Springs.
He’s in the process of renovating the garage to turn it into a healing center and is waiting for the Department of Regulatory Agencies, or DORA, to post online that applications are open for licensed clinical facilitators. That should happen by Jan. 1, 2025, and DeWalt might be able to open his healing center’s doors within six months, he said.
He has the knowledge, the building, and the personal motivation to help others with psilocybin. The psychedelic allowed him to process the grief that he suppressed for six years after his brother, who worked as a food writer in Santa Fe, died by suicide in 2016, and DeWalt firmly believes it could have helped his brother.
“ For people who have tried everything, like him, people who are at their wits’ end and don’t know what to do,” psilocybin can be the last option to try to stay alive,
DeWalt said.
“Some people have said that it’s like five years of therapy in five hours,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s true for everybody, but … I think we can save lives” with psilocybin.
Psilocybin helped former Green Beret Lane Bellone to break with the “overwhelming, gripping” fear that he felt during his first combat deployment and brought back home with him.
He said he “unwittingly embraced that fear, that trauma, that perspective of not feeling safe, and let it guide decisions that I was making.”
Fear made him hypervigilant and more irritable. It was “bringing out anger, frustration and aggression,” he said. He held those negative feelings inside after he separated from the military in 2017.
It was when he had his first psilocybin experience that he became aware that he had “picked up this fear and it had become part of me,” Bellone said. Psilocybin helped him to finally let it go.
Bellone, Treptow, DeWalt and several other Springs residents addressed City Council at two separate council sessions ahead of a vote on increasing the setback distance.
Councilor David Leinweber became emotional during the first session where psilocybin was discussed.
Within a short space of time, about eight years ago, two employees at the fly-fishing store he owns died by suicide, he said. Both had military backgrounds.
“That’s where I started my journey on this whole thought process of, ‘How should
Psilocybin was a game changer for Army veteran Patrick Treptow, who grows his own mushrooms but would prefer getting treatment at a healing center. | Courtesy: Patrick Treptow
I, as a business leader, respond?’ And I discovered that Colorado Springs is No. 1 in the state for suicide,” he said. “We’re a city of champions. We shouldn’t be known for being No. 1 in suicide. Who’s addressing the problem? How do we get that number down?”
Leinweber, Yolanda Avila and Nancy Henjum voted against the broader setback, but the rest of the nine-member City Council voted for it, after hearing the stories of how psilocybin has helped military veterans and others overcome serious psychological issues. Many of those who testified said they would not have been alive to tell their stories if not for psilocybin.
When Avila asked the three veterans who serve on City Council why they voted “to make this very restrictive,” Council President Randy Helms, an Air Force veteran, said he wanted to wait for “ additional testing that either proves it is really helping a larger body of people … and it does more good than harm.”
“If this proves to be as good as some people think it is … the zoning can be changed,” he said.
Army veteran Dave Donelson said he voted for the broader setback in part because voters in El Paso County did not support Prop. 122, but added that he would “be willing to take another look at this in the future … as success is shown or there’s demand that can’t be met.”
And the third veteran, Mike O’Malley, retired Navy, said, “ It’s still federally illegal, which means that a lot more work has to be done on this.”
Henjum, who had proposed an amendment that would have carved out an exception to the 1-mile setback rule for healing centers that are collocated with a hospital or outpatient medical office, said she found the veteran council members’ positions “kind of hypocritical.”
Treptow had said two weeks earlier that he grows his own psilocybin mushrooms and treats himself — which is perfectly legal — “because he doesn’t have the option of going to a highly regulated, licensed center for this treatment,” Henjum reminded her fellow council members.
When Henjum asked Treptow at the previous council session if he would prefer taking psilocybin in a healing center with a facilitator present, he responded, “Absolutely.”
After councilors voted 6-3 to extend the setback to 1 mile from 1,000 feet, Treptow said he felt “sad for others.”
“I got buddies that struggle to get out of the house,” he said.
“And when they’re going through a really bad depressive episode, I would love for them to be able to have the experience that I did … and have it with a trained professional to walk them through it and help them get down to why they want to commit suicide or whatever is bothering them.
“I know hundreds of people that have utilized these natural medicines, and every single one of them got benefit,” Treptow said.
Bellone agreed. “I know dozens and
Patients are assessed to see if they have any contraindications for psilocybin treatment. Then they’re prepared, especially if they’ve never had psilocybin before. And only after that are they given psilocybin at a healing center, with trained facilitators and other people there for support.
The cost can be up to $1,000 a treatment, Leinweber said. DeWalt came up with a slightly lower price — $800 for a threehour session, much of which would not be reimbursed by health insurance.
If the number of healing centers is restricted through the 1-mile setback and demand soars in the military town that is Colorado Springs, the cost of psilocybin treatment could go even higher, said Leinweber.
“You’re limiting the ability to find a center that would be economically viable and deliver a product that would be less expensive to the consumer that needs it,” he said.
DeWalt, who has been offering ketamineassisted therapy at his practice, noticed at one point that his clientele was “white people, mainly men.”
“As a social worker, alarms were going off in my head. I also take Medicaid, so I have a lot of people that can’t afford even the therapy part.”
So he started a nonprofit in 2022, “just on a whim, you know. It may or may not work, but I am going to do this and see if I can get people to donate money for people to have ketamine- and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.” (Ketamine is frequently used for treatment-resistant depression.)
dozens of veterans that have been … wildly transformed (by psilocybin and other psychedelics) in so many different ways, and I think that the evidence is going to continue to get louder and that people are going to continue to share their truth,” he said.
But restricting access to healing centers within Colorado Springs by allowing them only in far corners of the city could put treatment with psilocybin out of reach for many, said Leinweber.
“With all new things, we should certainly be cautious,” he told The Independent. “But I think there would be better ways to do this than the 1-mile (setback), which basically locks healing centers out of the city.”
Treatment with psilocybin takes place over time, not in a single session.
People under age 21 can’t enter a healing center and wouldn’t be able to enter one where psilocybin is used, DeWalt said. Healing centers also require patients to be picked up and driven home by someone else after a dosing session, he said.
Afterward, patients go through an additional process of integration, a key part of therapy where they take what they learned during their psilocybin journey and incorporate it into their life.
“I think there’s this feeling that there’s going to be mushrooms everywhere, and people tripping out in the streets, but it’s a very specific, very regulated and safe process,” DeWalt said.
And, added Treptow, it’s liberating, powerful and lifesaving. He hasn’t rubbed a gun across his forehead since he discovered that psilocybin helps him heal.
Staff Sgt. Lane Bellone in Baghdad during his second combat deployment to Iraq | Credit: Lane Bellone
The chronicles of Rockrimmon
Council member calls for library board to revote, resign or be removed
by KARIN ZEITVOGEL
karin.zeitvogel@ppmc.live
Here are some key dates and incidents since the library closed its doors to the public on Nov. 30.
DEC. 3. The board of trustees of Pikes Peak Library District published the agenda of their next meeting, set for Dec. 4. It included a discussion and vote about rescinding the decision to close the library.
DEC. 4. At the board meeting, held at Library 21C, and in an interview with The Independent a few hours before it, outgoing board President Dora Gonzalez said what was being decided was whether to terminate the lease, not to close the library.
“ You keep saying ‘closure of Rockrimmon,’” Gonzalez told The Independent in the interview also attended by Debbie English — who, along with board Vice President Scott Taylor — voted against closing Rockrimmon, and PPLD Director of Communications Denise Abbott.
“Yes, the library, the building is going
to be closed, but the actual motion that was voted on was not to renew the lease.
“To me, that’s different because if — not if, when — we get new dollars, there’s a possibility that there will be a building that we’ll have in that vicinity.
… I’m very optimistic and hopeful that we will get a building somewhere in that vicinity,” she said.
Dozens of library supporters spoke during a public comment period at the meeting, but the vote ended the same way as the one in October, with five board members opposed to rescinding the termination of the lease, and two, English and Taylor, voting to keep the library open.
DEC. 5. Karla Powers, one of the founders and leaders of the Save Rockrimmon Library grassroots group, said in an email to supporters of the library, “Every rationale given has been rebutted. We have been shut out of further discussion. I believe that there is no way to reach this current Board. This is their decision, and it is a devastating one.”
DEC. 6. A lawsuit was filed, alleging that the decision by the board of trustees to close the library “was made without public notice, meaningful engagement, or required financial analysis.”
It accuses the seven-member board of trustees of the PPLD of taking actions — leading up to and surrounding the announcement of the decision to close the library — that violated Colorado’s Open Meetings Law, state statutes governing public libraries and the PPLD’s own bylaws, and of failing in their fiduciary duties.
Abbott said the library had not been served with the lawsuit.
DEC. 10. The closure of Rockrimmon Library again dominated the Colorado Springs City Council meeting, with dozens of supporters of the library testifying in person or remotely, and council members calling for closer oversight of board appointments. The Save Rockrimmon Library group has formed a limited liability company and raised nearly $100,000 in two
CLARIFICATION
In the story “Closing the books: Community rallies to save Rockrimmon Library, but board digs in its heels,” which appeared in print on Nov. 28 and online, Pikes Peak Library District asked that we clarify the following:
• The statement by PPLD CEO and Chief Librarian Teona Shainidze-Krebs in Paragraph 5 was paraphrased from an interview with The Gazette.
• The PPLD paid to fix flood damage at Rockrimmon Library in 2017, 2019 and 2023. The story only referenced flooding in 2023, which caused the most damage to the library.
• The PPLD denies that the decision to close Rockrimmon Library was made at a closed-door board retreat. PPLD spokeswoman Denise Abbott said the public could attend the meeting, “and a few did,” and “no decision about not renewing the lease was made there.” The only decisions made at the retreat were “when the Internal Affairs Committee could meet to discuss the Facilities Master Plan and its findings,” she said. “The board has always stated that when the final FMP was received, they would send it to committee to review it and let them decide whether to bring it to the board for a vote.”
• The PPLD also said a quote from a Rockrimmon resident that “$242,000 is half of 1% of the $41 million dollar budget’’ gives the impression that “the Library District in fact has a general fund of $41M.” The PPLD budget consists of three funds, one of which is the general fund. The overall expenditure budget for 2025 was $41.3 million. Of that, $37.2 million was the general fund for operating expenses, but the article was referring to the $41.3 million budget.
• The PPLD said statements regarding the budget from a former CFO were not “presented to the PPLD to explain.” The Independent was told in mid-October that requests for interviews with board staff must go through Abbott, with questions sent by email. We contacted the PPLD four times by email and called the main number on their website at least twice but got no response. We turned to the former CFO for more information about the budget of the library system, and he explained funding sources he used during the 30 years that he was at the PPLD, expressing surprise that columns in the PPLD’s budget for E-rate funding were zero. Abbott said after the article was published that E-Rate funding for three years was received in November and December. The article appeared at the end of November and was based on a version of the budget published before the date of publication.
A supporter of Rockrimmon Library carries posters out of the meeting room at Library 21C on Dec. 4, 2024, after the PPLD board of trustees voted to go ahead with the closure of Rockrimmon Library. | Credit: Karin Zeitvogel
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 ...
months, Powers said at the council meeting.
The LLC’s aim is to open a community center, hopefully in the same place as where the now-shuttered library stands, and use the funds “that have been pledged to us — and to hopefully get some money from you to be able to balance that out so we have enough to … be fiscally responsible,” Powers told City Council.
Supporters of Rockrimmon a month ago asked City Council for $200,000 to help keep the library open but were told that the library system is a quasigovernmental body that is funded through a mill levy on property taxes and was not in the city’s funding wheelhouse.
Mayor Yemi Mobolade’s chief of staff, Jamie Fabos, said the city can help fund a community center — but money is tight in the department that would do that.
“There may be a path,” Council President Randy Helms said.
“Parks (Recreation and Cultural
Services), who control our community centers … has a backlog, but it doesn’t mean we can’t start looking at this,” he said.
Save Rockrimmon Library’s new request for funding from the city would “help us to find one interim year while we explore grants, donations and partnerships in order to keep this critical community center in place,” said Powers.
Everything from the Girl Scouts to programs that give isolated seniors “a place where they can meet and have some community,” to early childhood and day care programs, literacy, math skills and computer classes for all ages; internet access for families that don’t have connectivity at home; support groups for people with mental issues; and more vital groups would no longer have a place to meet if the library is closed and nothing is put up as a replacement for it.
Councilor Dave Donelson, who represents the district that houses Rockrimmon Library, and who has sided from the get-go with residents
member Nancy Henjum, who is one of two liaisons. The other City Council liaison is Lynette Crow-Iverson. County Commission Chair Carrie Geitner and Vice Chair Cami Bremer are the commission’s liaisons.
Recent appointments to the board have been controversial, and yet Donelson supported them, Councilwoman Yolanda Avila said, referring to Erin Bents and Aaron Salt, who have been on the board since February 2022, after being rejected by City Council in an earlier vote.
Avila voted against Bents and Salt twice. All nine city councilors voted to appoint Angela Dougan to the board.
trying to save the facility, called on his fellow council members and county commissioners to “get involved … and hold accountable the people that we appoint” to serve on the library board.
“If they won’t listen to us after five of us sign a letter, strongly asking them to postpone this closure for one year … then I suggest we remove some of them,” Donelson said.
Donelson suggested that the board of trustees be elected, rather than appointed, so that it is answerable to voters.
Currently, applicants for a position on the board apply to a committee that is part of the board of trustees. That committee, called the governance board, narrows down the field of applicants and submits its selection to liaisons — two from City Council and two from the County Commission — for review.
The committee’s led by Julie Smyth, who voted twice to close Rockrimmon.
Liaisons from the City Council and Board of County Commissioners “make a recommendation … for who we would like to appoint,” said council
“We didn’t know to ask the question, ‘Are you going to close libraries?’ That was for me, off the table. If I had ever thought that the (candidates) we voted on had that in their pocket, I wouldn’t have supported them. I’m willing to remove them,” Donelson said.
DEC. 12. A week after it was filed, the lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop the closure of Rockrimmon Library was served.
DEC. 16. On advice from legal counsel, PPLD declined to comment on the lawsuit.
DEC. 18. Supporters of the library spoke virtually and in person at the County Commissioners’ meeting. The Independent was not able to attend the meeting, and the County Commission does not immediately post recordings online. But one of the speakers, Veronica Baker, who is also a plaintiff on the lawsuit, said she focused on how the process to close the library was “the exact opposite” of when it was created.
“We voted this library in, we voted the mill levy in, in 1986,” she told The Independent. “We all had a chance to say yes, we wanted it, or no, we didn’t.” When the lease was terminated and Rockrimmon was closed, there was “no public input, no engagement, no listening to the community,” she said.
Erin Bents, PPLD Board of Trustees President Dora Gonzalez, Angela Dougan, Debbie English, Julie Smyth and Scott Taylor at the Dec. 4, 2024, board meeting at Library 21C. Aaron Salt attended remotely. | Credit: Karin Zeitvogel
Eat or be eaten
Downtown is poised for a renaissance, but will established restaurants make the cut?
by CANNON TAYLOR • cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
Ifirst met Eva Zhang on a Friday afternoon. Despite the ice-coated freeways, dozens had come for lunch at China Town Restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs. Zhang scuttled about the restaurant like a speedy crab. I could barely get an introduction in before she had to run off to the next table of hungry customers. Ever since news broke that China Town Restaurant would be closing at the year’s
past few years. On the skyline, a massive red crane could be seen next to the latest block of residential units.
In May, the city’s urban planning manager said 2,000 new housing units would open over the next 18 months in the 1 square mile that makes up downtown. If approved, the proposed 27-story ONE VeLa high-rise apartment building will add an additional 500 units — as well as an unmistakable landmark (or eyesore, depending on how you view the viewshed) — in the next few years. As I approached my office, weaving my way around a series of metal gates and orange traffic cones blocking the sidewalk, the awkward growing pains of downtown were hard to ignore. The city’s core is at an inflection point — the old is making way for the new. Who gets to stay? Who gets pushed out?
CLOSING TIME
I returned to China Town Restaurant at opening the following Tuesday, shocked to find that several customers were already seated. Zhang quickly led me to the kitchen and pulled up a stool. As she began the repetitive task of folding pork into wonton dumplings, I was surprised by her bubbly chattiness. She laughed often, occasionally with a tinge of exasperation, but always with a twinkle in her eye.
Zhang falls asleep between midnight and 1 a.m. before getting up at 6 a.m. every day. On Sundays, the one day China Town Restaurant is closed, she comes in and cleans the building top to bottom. Somehow, the nearly 70-year-old woman is still bursting with energy.
she’ll savor the first break she’s had in 24 years.
China Town Restaurant is far from the only downtown restaurant to close its doors in 2024.
Austin Wilson-Bradley, director of economic development with Downtown Partnership, reported more than 23 downtown-business closures this year, including The Well food court, Bell Brothers Brewing, Wild Goose Meeting House, Munchies 719 and The Perk. It’s not just downtown; restaurants have been closing across Colorado Springs. December has been a bloodbath, with seemingly daily closure announcements (Mountain Shadows Restaurant, FH Beerworks, Mark Anthony’s Pretzels and Drifter’s Hamburgers, to name a few).
Colorado Springs chef Brother Luck, known for his appearances on cooking shows like “Beat Bobby Flay,” “Chopped” and “Top Chef,” said that a culling of restaurants is typical for December.
“As leases start to expire, you’re coming into new fiscal years. These are decisions that will affect your taxes. This is when you start to see a heavy increase in that decision-making,” Luck said. “You can’t find enough revenue to justify paying for all these expenses, and you can’t hike your menu prices any higher. How much are you actually going to pay for a burger before you’re like, ‘That’s absurd’? We’re past that right now.”
end after over 50 years of business, the employees barely had space to breathe. Zhang seemed far too overwhelmed for conversation, so I savored my candy-sweet sesame tofu and resolved to come back when the storm passed.
As I walked out of the restaurant, I noticed White Pie pizzeria next door, one of many hip eateries by a successful trio of entrepreneurs that opened downtown in the
Zhang grew up in China, immigrating to the United States in 1984. She lived in San Francisco before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, and then Breckenridge, working like mad at restaurant jobs and saving money for her two children along the way. She moved to Colorado Springs and purchased China Town Restaurant from its previous owners, who became the building’s landlords, in 2000. Zhang spoke positively of all her landlords except her current one, who’s raised the rent considerably. That, along with her relatively cheap meal prices and a spike in food costs, is putting her out of business.
“They follow the market,” she said of her landlords. “Not their fault.”
It’s not a subject Zhang likes to dwell on. Instead, she looks toward her future. She might open a small restaurant or write a cookbook. But for the immediate future,
Frankly, it’s never been easy to run a restaurant. It’s a breakeven endeavor driven by passion rather than profit. Some are great chefs, others are great businesspeople, but you have to be both to survive in the industry. When factored in with nationwide inflation raising rents and food prices while also decreasing foot traffic as people cut extraneous spending, it’s unsurprising that so many restaurants would shut their doors.
But Colorado Springs is somehow different. The city, particularly the downtown, stands at a crossroads as residential developments bring in more hungry mouths and kill any restaurant that can’t keep up. As historied, affordable restaurants like China Town close, it’s hard not to wonder where we’ll be going out to eat in the next few years.
RISING RENT
A select few are lucky to pay a reasonable rent agreed upon in a years-old lease; the truly fortunate own their property. But in most cases, restaurant owners are beholden
Brother Luck | Courtesy: Brother Luck
to landlords who, as Zhang generously put it, follow the market, raising rents to maximize profit. China Town Restaurant is just one of many restaurants forced out by economic demands they cannot afford.
Downtown Partnership is looking to address this reality through its Loan Program for Tenant Ownership, which launched in 2024. The program provides downtown businesses with the opportunity to purchase their buildings up to $250,000 in the form of a low-interest, friendly term loan period of up to 15 years. The recently reopened Icons Bar was the first business to take advantage of the program.
The program will be particularly helpful for locally owned and operated restaurants, which represent a riskier investment for banks compared with corporate chains.
While the downtown residential development boom and its ballooning effect on real estate values is putting some restaurants out of business, others are riding the wave. Jason Wallenta, co-owner of White Pie, as well as Dos Santos, Dos Dos, Sushi Row and Night Ramen, is one example.
Wallenta told The Gazette in December 2020 that part of the reason he wanted to open a White Pie location in Colorado Springs was the “surge of downtown apartment development” within walking and biking distance of the restaurant.
Wallenta’s bet on downtown seems to be paying off. He’s birthing new restaurants at rabbit pace. He opened Night Ramen in downtown earlier this year (right next to the chic Fiona apartments on Pikes Peak Avenue, no less), and recently moved to Nashville to open the fourth location of his Mexican restaurant, Dos Santos.
The struggles faced by some Colorado Springs restaurants in 2024 were not universal. Wilson-Bradley said that gross sales at downtown restaurants from January to October 2024 were up 1% from that same period in 2023. He’s also spoken to some owners who have said 2024 has been their best fiscal year.
For the restaurants that can afford the rising costs, the residential developments may be their key to economic prosperity as foot traffic increases. But in the short term, that story isn’t shared by the vast number of restaurants hanging on by their fingertips.
INCONSISTENCY OF BUSINESS
Even our celebrity-chef-in-residence
Luck has had a challenging year. A veteran of the industry, he’s no stranger to restaurant closures, most recently closing Folklore Irish Pub and replacing it with Eleven18, a Mexican restaurant, in December 2023. Changing consumer desires were part of the reason for Eleven18’s recent rebrand as a Latin tapas bar in June.
“It’s no longer just, ‘Here’s my menu. Come support it because it’s really good food,’” Luck explained. “It’s, ‘What social experiences are you offering? What am I going to be able to do? How am I going to be entertained?’”
Eleven18’s unique offerings include The Siesta Experience, marketed as “a 10-course culinary adventure,” and DJ parties called “Pancake Jams.” Despite these efforts, the restaurant has struggled to draw in customers when it’s not the weekend.
“I’ve been there for the last three nights, working Sunday and Tuesday and Wednesday, and it’s been slow. So, as much as I watch this social media frenzy of, ‘Why are all these restaurants closing? We’ve got to support local restaurants! We’ve got to get out there!’ a lot of it is talk,” Luck said.
“We appreciate the love on Friday, Saturday. We need you on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Those are the days that kill a restaurant.”
Aside from summer tourists coming to town, downtown Colorado Springs restaurants often have a limited idea of when to expect business. While most downtowns have a convention center
allowing restaurants to forecast business, ours does not. The closest is The Broadmoor Hotel, located 4 miles from downtown.
“There’s no way of saying, ‘This is when we’re getting a mass amount of people who are going to go to our restaurants, that are going to stay in our hotels, that are going to support our shops every week,’” Luck explained.
In reality, all the city’s downtown restaurants have is local support outside of those summer months. January and February, when people are feeling chilly and frugal following the holidays, will set the tone for the rest of the year.
“Every restaurant that I know takes a loss in Colorado Springs in January,” Luck said. “We have to fight an uphill battle the rest of the year to try to recover the losses that we took in January.”
This January, the increase of Colorado’s minimum wage from $14.42 to $14.81 will be an additional factor. For some restaurants, the 39-cent spike may be more than they can afford.
MICHELIN MADNESS
It’s impossible to deny that 2025 will see the deaths of many more restaurants. That’s always been the nature of the industry, and challenging factors in Colorado Springs are making it even more difficult to keep doors open. As new residential developments raise restaurant rents, further applying pressure on those barely cutting mustard, they also force us to consider how our overall restaurant scene may change in response to our city’s growth.
In 2023, for example, the Michelin Guides expanded to Colorado. The tourism boards
of Aspen, Boulder, Denver, Vail, Snowmass and Beaver Creek shelled out between $70,000 and $100,000 to have Michelin come to their restaurants for consideration in the state guide, according to Denverite. Colorado Springs declined to participate.
Luck thinks the price of having Michelin come to Colorado Springs would have paid off.
“We’ve blacklisted ourselves as a destination for fine food and fine experiences,” Luck said. “Because our cost of doing business is far less than some of those markets [in Colorado], many restaurateurs would have come to Colorado Springs with the possibility of earning a Michelin award. We would have far higher standards.”
Luck provided two examples of how Michelin restaurateurs could elevate the overall Colorado Springs restaurant scene in Till and Cowboy Star, which were opened by chefs with Michelin backgrounds.
“They trained so many cooks and servers to become better because they had a higher standard of what they were because of the Michelin background. That forced everyone else to step up,” Luck said.
Luck hopes the city revisits the Michelin conversation while including the expertise of restaurateurs.
“It shows the priority of how much your restaurants matter. Not much, obviously,” Luck said. “It’s almost like a slap in the face of all we’ve been doing to try to elevate our standard and get beyond fast food nation, to get beyond meat and potatoes, to get beyond a very close-minded perception that Colorado Springs had for so many years.”
Brother
China Town Restaurant | Credit: Ben Trollinger
Eleven18 Latin Tapas Bar | Credit: Bryan Oller
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE FOR THE NEXT 14 DAYS (12/26
On the eve of each new year since 1922, a group of mountaineers pack explosives in their bags and climb Pikes Peak. On Dec. 30, they’ll begin their chilly climb up Barr Trail (more like Brr Trail, am I right?), camp overnight and climb to the peak the following day. Their fireworks displays, which can be seen from anywhere with a view of the mountain, occur at 9 p.m. and midnight this New Year’s Eve.
HE WAS A SKATER BOY
Thursday, Dec. 26, through Friday, Jan. 31, Acacia Park, 115 E. Platte Ave. Times vary. downtowncs.com/skate
It’s the perfect time to slip and slide (while hockey players and figure skaters glide on by) at the outdoor skating rink at Acacia Park. You won’t catch me there, though; I’d get too self-conscious leaning on my upside-down, orange Home Depot bucket while 12-year-olds dance circles around me. Tickets are $13 and include skates.
SANTA CLAWS
Thursday, Dec. 26, through Saturday, Jan. 4, Pikes Peak International Raceway, 16650 Midway Ranch Road, 5:30 p.m. ppir.com
There’s still time to get in your Christmas-light gazing before we leave the holiday season. “Magic of Lights” may be your best bet. Why, you might ask?
Well, there are dinosaurs and monster trucks at this light show. You had me at Micropachycephalosaurus. It’s priced per car, so stuff as many friends and family members in your van as possible to save on cash.
SEVEN CANDLES
Thursday, Dec. 26, through Tuesday, Dec. 31, InBalance Wellness Studio, 2820 E. Pikes Peak Ave. 6 p.m. cospringskwanzaa.org
STOMP ALL NIGHT
Monday, Jan. 6, and Tuesday, Jan. 7, Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave., 7:30 p.m. pikespeakcenter.com
Twenty years before Anna Kendrick cursed elementary school talent shows with “The Cup Song,” “Stomp” had been imagining push brooms, milk cartons, trash cans and other junk as percussion instruments. You may have caught them on “Sesame Street” or “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” in the ’90s or the Olympics closing ceremony in 2012. They’re still dumpster diving for potential new instruments; come and see what inspiration they’ve found.
MUSLIM FUTURISM
Thursday, Dec. 26, through Saturday, Jan. 11, Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St. Times vary. fac.coloradocollege.edu
The “Alhamdu” exhibit boasts virtual reality experiences, comedy, fashion, sculptures, paintings and more imagining Muslim futures. The exhibit was curated by MIPSTERZ (Muslim hipsters), an East Coast arts and culture collective, and includes a few pieces by local artists. Intensely moving yet bright and fun (occasionally at the same time), “Alhamdu” is a must-see before it leaves the Fine Arts Center. Read more at csindy.com/mipsterz.
UNDERSEA PUPPETRY
Thursday, Dec. 26, through Sunday, Dec. 29, Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St. Times vary. fac.coloradocollege.edu
If you haven’t had the chance to watch the Fine Arts Center’s production of “The Little Mermaid,” now is your final chance! With its glimmering costumes, dreamy lighting, under-the-sea set design and multitude of over 50 crab, eel and fish puppets, “The Little Mermaid” is a production you won’t want to miss. 2 6 4 1 5 3 7
The cultural holiday of Kwanzaa was created in 1966 as a means for African Americans to celebrate and reconnect with their heritage. Thirteen years later, the Colorado Springs citywide Kwanzaa was celebrated for the first time. This organization grew into the Kuumba Cultural Collective, a local organization dedicated to the promotion of African cultures through events and programming. Their 35th citywide Kwanzaa celebration will include discussions, poetry and African drumming. All are welcome.
HAPPY BLUE YEAR
Monday, Dec. 30, and Tuesday, Dec. 31, Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave., 7:30 p.m. pikespeakcenter.com
BLUEGRASS TRASH
10
Tuesday, Dec. 31, The Black Sheep, 2106 E. Platte Ave., 9 p.m. blacksheeprocks.com
In an evolution of bluegrass music, Tejon Street Corner Thieves bring you “trashgrass” music. The difference between the two? Bluegrass is prim and proper, almost music recital-esque; trashgrass is a thudding and twanging soundtrack of late-night partying. If that sounds like your thing, you know where to be on New Year’s Eve.
113 GOING ON 114
Friday, Jan. 3, Gallery 113, 125 ½ N. Tejon St., 5 p.m. gallery113cos.com
This January, Gallery 113 celebrates its 14th anniversary (which is, obviously, our favorite number). Among their 17 featured artists, you’ll find stunning mountain landscapes, playful grizzly bears and ornately crafted bowls, pots and knives. Swing by during First Friday ArtWalk to wish them a happy birthday and meet some of the artists. If you can’t make it, they’re open seven days a week.
To commemorate the end of 2024, Colorado Springs Philharmonic will be performing George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” 100 years after its premiere. The rhapsody blends classical and jazz music in a composition emblematic of the Roaring ’20s and inspired by America’s musical melting pot. Fun fact: Gershwin conceived the piece while listening to the rhythms and sounds of a train (one of many reasons why trains are cool). 8 9 12 14
BUBBLE BATH
Tuesday, Dec. 31, Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon St. Times vary. themat.org Millibo Art Theatre co-owner and resident clown Jim Jackson will be donning a big red nose and goofy tie for a night of soapbubble artistry. Yeah, I know I’m too old for bubbles, but they’re just so whimsical! You might even get the chance to be encased in a giant bubble (if you can stand still enough not to pop it). Who needs a traveling circus when you have one on Tejon Street?
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s Electric Safari returns once again, boasting drone shows, sky rides and illuminated inflatable animals (and some real ones, too!). While some animals have strict bedtimes, others, like otters, tigers, lions and hippopotamuses will be awake for demonstrations. You can even buy Secret Santa items for the animals to drop off at the zoo. Time for me to buy a Kong toy for a grizzly bear instead of my rambunctious dogs.
SHOWING THAT MANITOU PRIDE
Thursday, Dec. 26, through Tuesday, Dec. 31, Manitou Springs Heritage Center, 517 Manitou Ave., noon. manitouspringsheritagecenter.org
11
Manitou Springs Heritage Center has two exhibits closing at the end of the year, one about the centenary of Manitou Springs High School, the other about Manitou Springs’ railroads. The former features the evolution of prom fashion and many dorky class photos, and the latter brings us back to a time when we didn’t have to worry about car insurance. Ah, the memories …
In the previous issue, we pushed a show by a band called The Toasters. This issue, we’re pushing a band called Cracker. I guess we’re big fans of alternative bands with names related to gluten products. They may be best known for their 1993 hit “Low,” but Cracker’s unique bite of rock, country, grunge, folk and blues is worth experiencing if you haven’t yet.
The 14er is a curated list of the best events you should experience in Colorado Springs over the next two weeks. Listed in order from “You can’t miss this!” (1) to “Check it out if you have a chance” (14).
Photo Credits: (1) Peter Holm, courtesy AdAmAn, (3) “Stomp,” (4) Magic of Lights, (7) Isaiah Downing, courtesy Fine Arts Center, (9) Cheyenne
Kerosene
COMPILED BY CANNON TAYLOR
Mountain Zoo, (10) Terrell Stewart, courtesy
Media, (13) Lulu’s Downtown, (14) Millibo Art Theatre
Art Appreciation
Colorado Springs game development duo blend puzzling fun and art education
by CANNON TAYLOR cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
Candy Crush. Wordle. Angry Birds. We all have our vices, and most of them involve idly thumbing our smartphone screens when we find ourselves in awkward social situations. But at least we could make the digital distraction a culturally enriching experience. That’s where Colorado Springs husband-wife game development duo Alex and Emilee Johnstone come in. They’re aiming to change the mobile-game landscape with their puzzle game Art’s Tiles.
Alex and Emilee met at the University of Utah as they pursued their master’s degrees in video game development. While most graduates of the prestigious program get funneled straight into Salt Lake City-headquartered Avalanche Software (Disney Infinity, Hogwarts Legacy), the Johnstones founded an indie studio, InkBlack Interactive.
They moved to a cabin in the woods in Utah and spent their free time between 2020 and 2022 dabbling in various concepts and prototypes, including an activismminded game about the 2020 Canadian pipeline protests. The gameplay is like Snake, except you play as a pipeline mowing down natural scenery, wildlife and protesters. The couple soon became enamored with a game concept called Ribbit Cube, in which low-poly models of animals are mixed up and solved like Rubik’s Cubes. As a twoperson studio with only personal savings for a budget, the Johnstones found themselves roadblocked by the quantity and quality of art assets they could produce.
Not long after they moved to Colorado Springs in 2022, the Johnstones began brainstorming how to get around their artistic limitations and landed on the idea of using public domain art. In February 2024, they conceptualized Art’s Tiles.
Since the game’s release in August, puzzles have been released daily. Each painting is divided into hexagonshape pieces that the player swaps around to create the full picture. The player is initially given just a handful of pieces, and as they succeed in stitching together the larger artwork, more pieces of the puzzle are given to them to solve.
This approach is intended to simulate the excitement of solving a jigsaw puzzle while forgoing the grueling wall of difficulty faced in the middle of the process.
“Usually, you get excited and interested in the beginning, you’re putting in edge pieces, and then you hit
this trough of pain and misery while it’s sitting on your table for weeks,” Alex said.
“Aha!” moments are common when playing Art’s Tiles. As you piece together an artwork, formless blobs take on new meaning as people, animals or objects. Expressionist paintings, with their distorted shapes and vivid colors, are particularly tricky to solve.
After completing a puzzle, the player is presented with a blurb about the piece that includes information about interpretations of its meaning and its place in art and world history. Descriptions are written by Emilee based on research from Wikipedia hyperlinks, museum websites and art history books from our very own Library 21C.
In some cases, Emilee’s research transcends language as she navigates international museum websites. For lesserknown international works, like “Sturm” by German
landscape painter Walter Moras, Emilee is among the first to analyze the work in English.
The process has increased the Johnstones’ knowledge of history, culture and copyright law.
For example, in the process of creating a cave art puzzle pack, Emilee learned that much of the cave art found in Australia’s national parks is illegal to photograph. Despite this, countless images end up online as so-called public domain works.
“We’re very careful about making sure everything is in the public domain,” Emilee said. “The whole goal is to celebrate artists, not take advantage of artists.”
The research-heavy work of developing Art’s Tiles is an evolution of the couple’s individual academic and professional careers. Alex’s work as the exhibits and programs manager at The Leonardo museum in Utah gave him a passion for the blending of art, science and technology.
For Emilee, the game’s psychological aspects reflect a project she completed at the University of Utah with neuropsychologist Dr. Sarah Shizuko Morimoto. Morimoto had been researching video games as treatment for clinical-resistant depression in elderly adults and asked Emilee to design a game for her study. Emilee designed Neurogrow, a puzzle game involving matching colors and objects to take care of a garden of flowers.
Seventy-five percent of the people who played Neurogrow in a clinical setting responded positively to it. It was shown to flex the frontal lobe, the executive function of the brain, which atrophies in people with long-term depression, making it more difficult for them to carry out the tasks that would make them feel better.
Emilee herself lost her grandparents to depression and was impassioned to create games with positive psychological impacts on players.
While many mobile games are Venus flytraps aiming to capture flies in addictive reward cycles that drain wallets, Art’s Tiles is more conscientious of the player’s time, money and mental health.
The game is free to play, with one 30-second ad for every 10 minutes of playtime. Compared with most mobile games, which constantly flash-bang the player with trashy, robot-voiced ads, it’s a generous model. The developers take a financial hit by minimizing the presence of ads in their game, but it’s about principle, not profit.
Alex and Emilee Johnstone of InkBlack Interactive| Credit: Alex Johnstone
“Starry Night” puzzle in Art’s Tiles | Credit: InkBlack Interactive
Cripple Creek!
“If Leonardo da Vinci saw me put a banner ad over the top of the “Mona Lisa,” he would rise from his grave,” Emilee joked.
A lifetime unlock of all puzzles (with no ads), currently costs $4.99. You could easily get away with playing Art’s Tiles for free, dealing with only occasional ads, but the lifetime unlock is the best way to show your support.
As for the future of Art’s Tiles, the Johnstones have plenty of ideas, such as including the works of contemporary
artists, partnering with art institutions and introducing new gameplay elements like achievements and customizable frames. And, of course, they want to develop more ambitious projects like Ribbit Cube.
“We’re trying to be the change that we want to see within our own game dev community,” Emilee said. “We’re giving back in the ways we can. We’re not gatekeeping information. We’re respecting our players’ time and money, saying, ‘Hey, thank you for playing it. I hope you get five bucks’ worth out of it.’”
Vultures launches concert series for up-and-coming local musicians
by CANNON TAYLOR cannon.taylor@ppmc.live
As a long string of comedians cracked up their audience at Vultures’ open mic night, a lost cowboy wandered into the room. Asking if he could play his sad tunes, staff explained that he had just missed the musician open mic, but that he could play a few songs after the comedians had their turn. When he took the stand, his emotional vulnerability and gentle strumming took over, and a few songs turned into a six-song acoustic set.
Just a few open mics later, Zane McLean, Vultures’ general manager, pulled that musician aside and asked him to open for alt-country singer Josh Meloy.
Vultures’ new Rising Talons concert series is, in a way, an evolution of the idea. It’s a symbiotic relationship of sorts; the musicians get to play a larger venue, and Vultures staff gets to identify new talent.
“We get a ton of emails all the time from bands that we just haven’t heard yet or don’t know what shows to put them on. And we feel bad because we can’t book everybody,” McLean said. “This is a whole win-win situation.”
Rising Talons features two local musicians/bands complementing each other in 35-minute sets. It’s free to attend and takes place twice a month.
Rising Talons is booked on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested musicians should email risingtalons719@gmail.com.
A-SIDE
The next show, taking place Jan. 9, features Noah Daniel, that same sad cowboy who impressed at Vultures’ open mic night.
Daniel grew up an Army brat. Following in his father’s footsteps, he joined the Army when he was 19. He’s now 26 and stationed at Fort Carson.
Although Daniel dabbled in songwriting with his brother at a young age, it wasn’t until his grandmother died in 2023 that he
picked up the guitar again. Songwriting became a diary of sorts, and he quickly realized that the military life wasn’t what he wanted.
“I found out that I don’t want to be a fighter. I don’t want to be a tough guy. I’m a lover,” Daniel said. “I want to plant roots down. I want to start a family. I want to live in one place and walk into a place and they already know what I’m going to order because I’ve been there for the past six years.”
Daniel’s been busy recording and releasing music since his epiphany, with an EP and multiple singles released throughout 2024. And now that he’s leaving the Army, he’ll only have more time to pursue his goal: to be a full-time musician starting a family on a farm in the middle of Nowhere, Colorado.
B-SIDE
The Jan. 9 Rising Talons show also features 18-year-old singer-songwriter Evan Bingham. When he was 15, he attended The Classical Academy’s college pathways program at Pikes Peak State College, where he befriended Hayden Wyatt, son of Brandon and Heather Wyatt, owners of School of Rock Colorado Springs. Hayden introduced Bingham to the program, which he quickly joined.
It was invaluable experience for Bingham, providing him opportunities at a young age to learn from professionals, collaborate with other musicians and play on the same stages as Dave Matthews Band and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Since aging out of the program, Bingham has been trying to get his name out there as an independent artist.
He began performing at local venues in February, when he was given an opportunity by Sunshine Studios Live to open for country musician Sam Grow as a last-minute replacement.
“The night of the show, it snowed about 3 feet, and about 15 people were there,
but that didn’t mean I wasn’t so, so, so nervous,” Bingham recalled.
Since then, he’s released several singles culminating in his freshman album, “Lovesickness,” which released last month.
The album is a folksy, Jack Johnson-esque grieving process broken up only by a brief rock rager called “Sick!”
Now that he’s got his soft acoustic tunes out of the way, Bingham wants to lean into the rock direction going forward and promises a blend of Drive-By Truckers and The 1975 from his sophomore release.
round Christmastime, you could say I toe the line between the nice and naughty lists, and so did some of the characters in “Searching for Santa,” the brand-spanking new, world-premiere musical by Joshua Franklin-Wolfe that I was lucky enough to see recently. This joint production of the Colorado College Department of Music and the Colorado Springs Conservatory was just pure delight. So much so that I’m not quite sure where to begin. I guess I’ll start with the plot. When taking my 4-year-old to a family-friendly musical, I’m never expecting much in that department — but boy was I wrong. Franklin-Wolfe managed to craft a stellar storyline, with just enough twists and turns to keep even adults interested.
The opening number was spunky, Christmassy, and elf-y — pretty much everything you could hope for in a Christmas musical. Turns out, Santa retired without having a clear succession plan (there’s a lesson to be learned here!), and he mistakenly entrusted the whole process to Amnesia the elf (kudos to the Conservatory’s Sam Elliott for excellent comedic timing in this role throughout). Cute setup. But wait. The next thing we know, we’re in a social worker’s office with a despondent teen, Ella (played brilliantly by Conservatory student Ella Illsley), singing about her foster family sending her back to a group home just before Christmas. Holy emotional whiplash. I did not see that coming.
So, long story short, the elves, led by Conservatory student Chloe Lee playing
a very energetic Spunk the elf, go off to find a replacement Santa, and they cleverly start with the kids at the top of the Nice List. Except, hold on, somehow the lists got switched, and they’re face to face with bad kid Sam Farkus, played charmingly by Colorado College student Henry Stafford. He’s had a rough childhood and learned some bad manners from his dad, as we learn in the song “Id iots,” but of course every villain needs a small hope of redemption, and Farkus’ is … wait for it … his burning desire to be a concert flautist. I was almost choking, I laughed so hard. What I’m getting at here is that Franklin-Wolfe has a quirky sense of humor in this production and in serts just enough to keep the heartwarm ing parts from getting too treacly.
Another example of this was a brilliant scene that parodied Chicago’s “Cell Block Tango.” It’s hard to pay homage to a famous melody without copying it, but Franklin-Wolfe pulled it off. It defies de scription a bit, but just imagine a bunch of perky elves in a Kander and Ebb universe, and maybe you can get a sense of the hilarious cognitive dissonance that it incited.
Meanwhile, various group numbers featured elementary- and middle-schoolage Conservatory kids doing some fairly elaborate choreography, thanks to director and choreographer Nathan Hal vorson. These numbers in particular were so boppy, they stayed in my head for days afterward. It helped that the music was actually live, with a small orchestra directed by Dan Brink that included sev eral Colorado College musicians.
By the by, everything works out in the end, even for Ella the foster teen. And so, after some clever Sondheim inside jokes, an encounter with the cops, and a bit of choose-your-own-adventure-style audience participation, the production came to a satisfying end. Congrats to the cast, crew and writer of “Searching for Santa”: I’m pretty sure you all made the Nice List.
You need art. Art needs you. Lauren Ciborowski writes about the arts and music in every issue. W.I.P. stands for Works in Progress.
THURSDAY, DEC. 26
Jazz Thursdays | Free, live jazz music at the Mining Exchange Hotel. 8 S. Nevada Ave. 5 p.m.
Stephen Brooks Trio | Jazz trio performing at Rico’s Cafe & Wine Bar. 322 ½ N. Tejon St. 5 p.m.
FlashJam | Classic rock jam band at Buzzed Crow Bistro. 5853 Palmer Park Blvd. 5:30 p.m.
Lookee Here Trio | Blues trio performing at Tokki. 182 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd. 6:30 p.m.
Dalonious Funk | Jazz band performing at Armadillo Ranch. 962 Manitou Ave. 7 p.m.
Jonathan Powell and Mambo Jazz Party | Jazz band performing at Lulu’s Downtown. 32 S. Tejon St. 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, DEC. 27
Gil Bierman & Kat’Mo | Acoustic musicians performing at Goat Patch Brewing Co. 2727 N. Cascade Ave., No. 123. 5 p.m.
Dead Man’s Raybans | Live band performing at Rico’s Cafe & Wine Bar. 322 ½ N. Tejon St. 6 p.m.
Moldy Figs Trio | Swing trio performing at Tokki. 182 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd. 7 p.m.
The Rocket Man Show | Elton John tribute show at Phil Long Music Hall. 13071 Bass Pro Drive. 7 p.m.
Tony Exum Jr. | Jazz musician performing at Stargazers Theatre. 10 S. Parkside Drive. 7 p.m.
Brother Nasty, Hala Hooper, Some Big Nothing, New Interstates | Alternative bands performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
Last Patrol Band | Variety band performing at Buzzed Crow Bistro. 5853 Palmer Park Blvd. 8 p.m.
Lindsey Meyers | Folk acoustic singer performing at Ohana Kava Bar. 112 E. Boulder St. 8 p.m.
RADO | Psychedelic rock band performing at Armadillo Ranch. 962 Manitou Ave. 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, DEC. 28
Songs and Hayrides With Santa | Christmas
festivities at Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort. 2 El Paso Blvd. 5 p.m.
Kevin Austin | Country musician performing at the Whiskey Baron Dance Hall and Saloon. 5781 N. Academy Blvd. 6 p.m.
Revele and Paul | Variety band performing at Rico’s Cafe & Wine Bar. 322 ½ N. Tejon St. 6 p.m.
Crystal & The Curious Band | Jazz band performing at Tokki. 182 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd. 7 p.m.
Zeppelin Alive | Led Zeppelin tribute band performing at Stargazers Theatre. 10 S. Parkside Drive. 7 p.m.
RADO | Psychedelic rock band performing at Armadillo Ranch. 962 Manitou Ave. 8 p.m.
Soapdish | Variety band performing at Buzzed Crow Bistro. 5853 Palmer Park Blvd. 8 p.m.
SUNDAY, DEC. 29
The Rocket Man Show | Elton John tribute show at Phil Long Music Hall. 13071 Bass Pro Drive. 7 p.m.
The Martini Shot | Variety band performing at Buzzed Crow Bistro. 5853 Palmer Park Blvd. 7:30 p.m.
Joslyn & The Sweet Compression | Funk band performing at Lulu’s Downtown. 32 S. Tejon St. 8 p.m.
TECH N9NE, X-Raided, Joey Cool, UnConventionAl KingZ | Hip-hop artists performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
MONDAY, DEC. 30
Colin McAllister and Nico Colucci Sax | Jazz musicians performing at Armadillo Ranch. 962 Manitou Ave. 6 p.m.
Rhapsody in Blue | Classical jazz performance at Pikes Peak Center. 190 S. Cascade Ave. 7:30 p.m.
Local Live Music, Dec. 26 through Jan. 8
MUSIC . SpringsSCENE
Cracker | Rock band performing at Lulu’s Downtown. 32 S. Tejon St. 8 p.m.
TUESDAY, DEC. 31
Undercover, Goya | New Year’s Eve party at Buzzed Crow Bistro. 5853 Palmer Park Blvd. 5 p.m.
Chauncy Crandall, Rick Starkey, Deirdre McCarthy | New Year’s Eve party at Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort. 2 El Paso Blvd. 6 p.m.
Triple Nickel Band | New Year’s Eve party at the Whiskey Baron Dance Hall and Saloon. 5781 N. Academy Blvd. 6 p.m.
Hot Like Wasabi | New Year’s Eve party at ViewHouse Eatery Bar & Rooftop. 7114 Campus Drive. 7 p.m.
Nube Nueve Latin Jazz | New Year’s Eve party in Old Colorado City. 2324 W. Colorado Ave. 7:30 p.m.
Rhapsody in Blue | Classical jazz performance at Pikes Peak Center. 190 S. Cascade Ave. 7:30 p.m.
Collective Groove | New Year’s Eve party at Stargazers Theatre. 10 S. Parkside Drive. 8 p.m.
SofaKillers, Soapdish | New Year’s Eve party at Phil Long Music Hall. 13071 Bass Pro Drive. 8 p.m.
Eternal Temples | Reggae band performing at Armadillo Ranch. 962 Manitou Ave. 9 p.m.
Tejon Street Corner Thieves, Crow Cavalier | Bluegrass bands performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 9 p.m.
Tha·Professa·DocB | DJ performing at Ohana Kava Bar. 112 E. Boulder St. 10 p.m.
FRIDAY, JAN. 3
Chuck Briseno, Harley Ray, Mia Zullo | Country singers performing at Oskar Blues Grill & Brew. 118 N. Tejon St. 7 p.m.
Reminiscent Wounds, Solar Point, Glitter Porn | Local alternative bands performing at Vultures. 2100 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, JAN. 4
Randall King | Country musician performing at Phil Long Music Hall. 13071 Bass Pro Drive. 7 p.m.
The Fab Four | The Beatles tribute band performing at Pikes Peak Center. 190 S. Cascade Ave. 7:30 p.m.
Ben Garcia | Americana musician performing at Ohana Kava Bar. 112 E. Boulder St. 8 p.m.
Wild Love Tigress | Funk band performing at Armadillo Ranch. 962 Manitou Ave. 8 p.m.
MONDAY, JAN. 6
STOMP | Percussion performance at Pikes Peak Center. 190 S. Cascade Ave. 7:30 p.m.
The Lowdown Drifters, Wade Forster, Kade Hoffman | Country musicians performing at the Black Sheep. 2106 E. Platte Ave. 8 p.m.
TUESDAY, JAN. 7
STOMP | Percussion performance at Pikes Peak Center. 190 S. Cascade Ave. 7:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 8
The Temptations and Four Tops | Vocal groups performing at Pikes Peak Center. 190 S. Cascade Ave. 7:30 p.m.
The Lowdown Drifters play the Black Sheep on Jan. 6. | Courtesy: The Black Sheep
Jonathan Powell and Mambo Jazz Party play Lulu’s Downtown on Dec. 26. | Courtesy: Lulu’s Downtown
APPETIZERS
TO PLACE YOUR ENTRY CALL 719-280-2086
MacKenzie’s Chop House
128 S Tejon St. (Historic Alamo Building) • 719-635-3536
Voted Best Power Lunch, Steakhouse, and Martini! Downtown’s choice for quality meats and mixed drinks. Open Monday-Friday 11:30am3:00pm for lunch and 5pm every day for dinner. MackenziesChopHouse.com
Tony’s Downtown Bar
326 N Tejon St. • 719-228-6566
Winners of 80+ Independent “Best Of” Awards in 25 years. A great Midwestern Tavern with warm beer, lousy food & poor service!!! Pabst, Leinenkugel’s, fried cheese curds, , walleye fish fry, cocktails, burgers, and more. 11am-2am daily. Happy Hour 3-6pm. GO PACK GO! TonysDowntownBar.com
Edelweiss
34 E. Ramona Ave. (South Nevada & Tejon) • 719-633-2220
For 55 years Edelweiss has brought Bavaria to Colorado Springs! Using fresh ingredients, the menu invites you to visit Germany. Voted Gold Best German, Silver Dessert Menu, and Bronze Best Patio by Indy readers! Reservations and the menu can be found online at EdelweissRest.com
José Muldoons
222 N Tejon St. • 719-636-2311
Celebrating 50 years! Authentic Tex-Mex & Mexican fare in a contemporary Santa Fe-styled establishment. Across from Acacia Park Downtown. Award-winning queso, chili rellenos, and mean green chili. JoseMuldoons.com
South Park Brewing 2028 Sheldon Ave. • 719-836-1932
Craft brewing at 6050’! Best Smashburger in Colorado Springs. Brewpub and Distillery Tasting Room. Family-owned, award-winning beer. Butter burgers, chicken tenders, and Nashville hot chicken on the menu. Cocktails and wine. Plenty of on-site parking. SouthParkBrewingColorado.com
THE WORD IN THE STONE
Brandon Shimoda’s new book dooms the history it repeats
By NOEL BLACK • noel.black@ppmc.live
After a recent visit to Amache, the World War II Japanese incarceration camp now managed by the National Park Service in Granada, Colorado, not far from the Kansas border, one of Brandon Shimoda’s students suggested that everyone in their Colorado College writing class bring in what they considered “a haunted object” — something unwanted but precious that they couldn’t bring themselves to let go of. The key to an ex’s house, perhaps, or a hideous sweater bequeathed by a dead relative. Shimoda loved the exercise. His most recent book, “The Afterlife Is Letting Go” (City Lights, 2024), is itself a haunted object of sorts, filled with difficult collective history, public memories, cultural history and personal memories that shape his reckoning with the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt’s Order 9066, which sent thousands of Japanese Americans, including Shimoda’s grandfather, to “relocation camps” like Amache, Manzanar and Tule Lake in California, Heart Mountain in Wyoming, and Topaz in Utah, among others, because they might be enemy combatants.
“I feel like this book is something that I’ve been either dreaming about or fearing for 30 years,” says Shimoda in his office on the second floor of Packard Hall on a recent afternoon, almost disappearing into his office couch beneath his baseball cap, his beard and years of long, black hair. “By fearing, I mean it’s a subject that is too big, really, to get into. And when I think about all the different ways I could have moved through it, it begins to nauseate me because it’s so massive.”
And the book begins with something massive, and massively haunted — a 2,000-pound stone that was used as an ad hoc memorial for James Hatsuaki Wakasa, who was shot and killed by a guard at Topaz while he reached for “an unusual flower” growing just outside the perimeter fence. Forgotten for years, it was rediscovered by a group of intrepid Japanese American archaeologists.
“Once they made this discovery of the stone, the question was: What do we do now that we’ve discovered that it wasn’t destroyed, that it’s right here? And the archaeologist said the best thing to do is to keep it in the ground. So that was kind of the official recommendation.”
Brandon Shimoda | Credit: Noel Black
But the stone’s story was irresistible to a well-meaning local teacher who’d created a private museum about Topaz and took it upon herself to have the stone unearthed and brought to her without consulting, informing or including any of the archaeologists, the camp’s survivors or their descendants.
“And the moment that stone came out of the ground, I mean, it’s really a Pandora’s box because all of those meanings were real and true, but I don’t think they were fully felt until the stone came out.”
Shimoda visited the stone in 2021, where it sat in beneath a tarp in a courtyard behind the museum. Again, the metaphor is almost too obvious.
“They haven’t actually found a respectful way to present it. So I don’t know what’s going on there. Yeah, the narrative of that, not just the stone but what the stone represents in terms of the camps, is kind of in the hands of this museum that is in the middle of nowhere. No Japanese American people live out there, which is, you know, that’s the reality of the camps. They were taken to places where people had never
even seen Asian people before. And those towns, a lot of those towns are still like that.”
The stone and what to do about it and do with it now, says Shimoda, has opened old wounds and rifts in the Japanese American community.
“It looked really embarrassed, like we had walked in on it in a private moment or like we were lifting something up, and it was like, ‘I’ve been taking a nap,’ and daylight had shaken it. In the book I use the word ‘humiliated,’ and I think it was embarrassed and/or humiliated that it was causing all of this commotion, you know, in the way the stone was like, ‘I didn’t mean to disrupt. I didn’t mean to create a crisis or retraumatize. I’m just a stone. I’m really sorry.’ There was something almost apologetic.”
It’s through the ongoing landscape of these wounds and rifts (pieces of the stone literally broke off in the process of removing it) that Shimoda’s book travels. It casts itself into the past both as a spell and a net, hauling history from the depths of memories in both word and monument, conjuring this haunted past that he can neither let go of nor hold onto in the present.
“How do we let go without forgetting?” Shimoda asks throughout as he visits camps and memorials, compiling notes from books and documentaries in his wide net and casting the spell of accretion of insight upon all of it. The book’s cover image — a photograph by his grandfather, Midori Shimoda — of a young man hauling some massive, unseen weight behind him with a rope and half-looking back while leaning forward, reveals itself as the driving metaphor with every chapter. When asked if he sees lessons of any kind in the history of the Japanese incarceration camps in anticipation of a second Trump administration that has openly promised to put immigrants in
camps and deport them, Shimoda is sanguine.
“It’s already happening now. It didn’t stop between Trump one and Trump two. It kept going, and in some ways it intensified. It just figured out some PR strategy that made people forget because here was not a figure like Trump to sort of pin all of that anxiety on.
" BY FEARING, I MEAN IT’S A SUBJECT THAT IS TOO BIG , REALLY, TO GET INTO. AND WHEN I THINK ABOUT ALL THE DIFFERENT WAYS I COULD HAVE MOVED THROUGH IT, IT BEGINS TO NAUSEATE ME BECAUSE IT’S SO MASSIVE. "
All those facilities have been kept up by the Biden administration, for example. Family separation happened before Trump. Obama was separating families.”
I ask him at the end if there’s anything he learned after finishing the book from the process of writing it — any thoughts he might have been wrestling with that have since congealed, and he nods, looks down and gives a small, defeated laugh as though remembering a joke that he just realized was on him.
“There’s that stupid saying that’s, you know, ‘We need to remember our history or else we’re doomed to repeat it.’ It’s so frustrating because it suggests that these things keep happening because of this ignorance or misunderstanding of history. But these things keep happening because power has an encyclopedic understanding of history, you know? Knowing the history does not prevent it from happening; it just keeps it going. Several generations of people are more aware of this history [of the Japanese incarceration camps] as well as other histories of oppression of different communities. Is that stopping it?”
Also, he adds, almost cheerfully, “My general feeling about memorials is that they’re not designed to inspire people to remember. Or they don’t necessarily invite remembrance. But they’re designed to enforce forgetting because they present a facet of something that ‘cannot be forgotten’ that is so multifaceted that it could never be encompassed by any memorial. And then, once people interact with that, in a way, everything surrounding it is erased.”
When he realizes it’s time to pick up his daughter from school, the present seems to offer some relief from the weight of all this past. And on our way out the door, he adds, “At some point, the trauma must lead to solidarity.” It’s almost like hope.
Brandon Shimoda is a 2020 Whiting Fellow, and the author of “Hydra Medusa” (Nightboat Books, 2023), “The Grave on the Wall” (City Lights, 2019), which received the PEN Open Book Award, and “Evening Oracle” (Letter Machine Editions, 2015), which received the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. He is also the co-editor of “To look at the sea is to become what one is: An Etel Adnan Reader” (Nightboat Books, 2014) and an anthology of poetry on WWII Nikkei incarceration (forthcoming from Haymarket Books in 2025). He currently lives in Colorado Springs and teaches at Colorado College.
NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR RECREATION
It’s normal at this time of the year make resolutions for the new year. Usually, they are to do things we don’t normally do — and therefore don’t really want to do — under the guise of making ourselves “better.” Even though we know that dieting or exercising more are laudable goals and good for us, no one really wants to do those things, and unfortunately, they are often doomed to fail. Ask the staff at a gym how many new members show up in January and, of them, how few are still coming in February.
So, while I could suggest “hike the Continental Divide Trail,” I know that 99.9% of us don’t have the time (especially the time), resources, stamina or sheer willpower to do that, so it’s kind of a useless suggestion. Side note: If you ARE planning on doing that, great! Drop me a line, and let’s talk about your plans. It might make a good story. New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be over-the-top to be worthy, they should just be something you want to do a little better or something new. Here are a few suggestions for you to resolve to do in 2025:
• Set a mileage goal. If you hiked 400 miles in 2024, then try for 450 in 2025. If you’re not tracking how far you hike, then you can resolve to create a simple spreadsheet and start
tracking your miles. Or just write it down. My goal is 800 miles each year, and, while it doesn’t matter to anyone but me, it does keep me going, and that is the goal of this resolution.
• Hike somewhere new. We are creatures of habit. We have our favorite hikes that are familiar, close by and meet our capabilities. While there is nothing wrong with that, make it a point to find a new trail to hike. Pull out a map and scour it for a trail you’ve never done, and then go do it. Find a state or national park you haven’t been to and go there. Make it a day trip or a long weekend, or use some vacation time and just go. Have you visited Colorado National Monument, or hiked down into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, or hiked in Fishers Peak State Park? If not, this is the year to do it.
• Learn something new. Read a book about a place you don’t know anything about. Or learn survival skills or map reading, or knot tying or how to take great photos. Whatever it is, learn something new.
• Get involved. Admittedly, this might take a little more time, effort and commitment, and it kind of goes along with “Learn something new.” Join a parks “Friends” group (find a list of them here: trailsandopenspaces.org/ get-involved/volunteer), or volunteer at a city, county or state park, even if just for a one-day event such as a cleanup. Go to a meeting of a city or county Parks Advisory Board meeting or, better yet, apply when a position on one of those boards opens up. There is no better way to be involved in — and to learn about the details of — how our parks departments are run and managed than by sitting on a
board that guides the decision-making.
• And finally, be a good steward of our lands. Respect park rules, respect wildlife and, just as importantly, respect other users. To that end, take the Leave No Trace 101 course, free and online: learn.lnt.org/courses/101 And most of all, enjoy yourself, and enjoy the company of friends and family.
Happy New Year.
Bob “Hiking Bob” Falcone is a retired career firefighter, USAF veteran, an accomplished photographer and 30year resident of Colorado Springs. He has served on boards and committees for city, county and state parks in the Pikes Peak region, and spends much of this time hiking 800 or more miles each year, looking for new places and trails to visit, often with his canine sidekick Coal.
By BOB “HIKING BOB” FALCONE
| Credit: Peter Holm. Courtesy: AdAmAn
PUZZLES!
News of the WEIRD
BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
FAMILY VALUES
An unnamed mother in Cheshire, England, was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison for “extreme neglect” after her 3-year-old daughter was found to have been living in a drawer under a bed, the BBC reported. The mother hid the child from her siblings and even from a boyfriend, who discovered her in 2023 after hearing her cry when the mom was away. The court said she was severely malnourished, looking more like a 7-month-old baby, and had a cleft palate, matted hair and other deformities. The mother told police she had not realized she was pregnant and was “really scared” when she gave birth, calling the child “not part of the family.” Judge Steven Everett said he could not “remember a case as bad as this in my 46 years.”
Three generations of a family in Palm Coast, Florida, celebrated Black Friday by shoplifting $400 worth of cosmetics and alcohol from a Target store, the Miami Herald reported. A 76-year-old woman, her 54-year-old daughter and a juvenile granddaughter were arrested after a Target loss specialist saw the juvenile putting items in her backpack, police said. The two adults were charged with theft and contributing to the delinquency of a minor; the girl was turned over to her father.
BUT WHY?
Tyler Wade Gibson, 35, and his wife, Bailey Alexus Gibson, 32, were charged with child abuse on Nov. 27 in Columbia, Missouri, after Tyler tried to perform a circumcision at home on their infant son, Law and Crime reported. The parents took the child to Lake Regional Hospital after being alarmed by the amount of blood; Bailey told police she was “very hesitant” about her husband doing the procedure but helped him do it. Social services went to the home on Nov. 29 and removed five children. The Gibsons are scheduled to be back in court on Jan. 28.
BRIGHT IDEAS
If you’re fortunate enough to live in California, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas or Florida over the next couple of weeks, you can have your photo snapped while driving through Taco Bell, KTLA-TV reported. “Every day in our drive-thrus, we see moments that are so uniquely ‘our fans,’” said Chief Marketing Officer Taylor Montgomery. Select locations will be transformed into photo booths, with some of the photos ending up on a Taco Bell commercial during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. Participating fans will need to have the TB app and scan a QR code at the drive-thru. Photos will be sent to the account holder’s email address. Smile!
In Lone Tree, Colorado, on Nov. 23, police officer Jacob Tarr was making an arrest in a theft when the suspect took off on foot, KY3-TV reported. Thinking fast, Tarr commandeered a kid’s bike to continue the chase, police said. “The suspect might’ve had a scooter, but Officer Tarr had determination, and a kid’s bike,” the police shared on social media. The suspect, who had three outstanding warrants, was eventually nabbed and charged with felony theft.
ANIMAL ANTICS
They say all fashion trends eventually come back around. Science Alert reported on Dec. 3 that orcas off the West Coast of North America have started wearing salmon as hats — again. The fad was first noticed in 1987 in Puget Sound, when orcas started balancing dead fish on their noses. Scientists believe they may be storing the food for later or “showing off,” or it may just feel good. Humpback whales, for example, have been known to wear hats of seaweed. “Honestly, your guess is as good as mine,” said Deborah Giles, science and research director at Wild Orca. With further study, “we may be able to gather enough information to show that, for instance, one carried a fish hat for 30 minutes or so, and then he ate it.”
AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, I THOUGHT
TURKEYS COULD FLY
No doubt inspired by “WKRP in Cincinnati,” Esther Keim of Anchorage, Alaska, this year completed her third Alaska Turkey Bomb, the Associated Press reported. When Keim was growing up in rural Alaska, a family friend would drop turkeys to her family and others from a plane, along with newspapers and chewing gum. She started her tradition with a small plane she rebuilt with her father, and this year she dropped 32 frozen
turkeys to people living beyond roads. Dave and Christina Luce live a 90-minute snowmobile ride from the nearest town. “I’m 80 years old now, so we make fewer and fewer trips,” Dave said. Keim has “been a real good friend.” She hopes to start a nonprofit organization to solicit donations and reach more people, with more than turkeys. “There’s so many kids out in the villages,” she said. “It would be cool to maybe add a stuffed animal or something they can hold.”
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In 2025, I would love for you to specialize in making new connections and deepening your existing connections. I hope you will summon extra creativity and panache as you regularly blend your beautiful energies with others’ beautiful energies. I predict you will thrive on linking elements that should be linked but never have been before. What do you think, Aries? Does it sound fun to become a playful master of mixing and combining? Would you enjoy generating splashy unifications that serve your dreams?
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Ohio’s Cuyahoga River used to catch on fire regularly. The cause was pollution. For a hundred years, industries poured their wastes into the waterway. The surface was often dotted with oil slicks. After a notorious river fire in 1969, the locals decided to remedy the situation, aided by the newly established Environmental Protection Agency. Today, the Cuyahoga still isn’t 100% clean, but it’s far better. It hosts kayaking, fishing and paddle boarding. I propose we use its rehabilitation as a potent symbol for you in 2025. The karmic debris you have to clean up isn’t anywhere near as messy or daunting, thank Goddess. But they will require focused, sustained work on your part.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): People in India were the first to discover diamonds buried in the earth. Most historians believe it happened in the fourth century B.C.E. For the next two millennia, India remained the only source of diamonds. Finally, new stashes were found in Brazil in 1725 and in South Africa in the 1870s. Let’s use this 2,000-year gap as a metaphor for your life. I suspect it has been a long time since you have located a new source of a certain treasure or bounty you love and crave. That will change in 2025. Here come unexpected blessings!
BY ROB BREZSNY
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Since 1985, musician David Gilmour has led Pink Floyd. The band has sold over 250 million records. He’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in both the U.K. and the U.S. But my favorite thing about Gilmour is that he’s a passionate activist who has crusaded for animal rights, environmentalism, poverty and human rights. A few years ago, he auctioned off 120 of his guitars, raising over $21 million for an environmentalist charity. In accordance with astrological omens, I propose we make him one of your inspirational role models in 2025, Capricorn. May he mobilize you to use your stature and clout to perform an extensive array of good works that are of service to your world.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):):
“Confidence is 10 percent hard work and 90 percent delusion,” declared Taurus comedian Tina Fey. If that assessment has any truth, I believe you will disprove it in the coming months. The work you do will be unusually replete with grace and dynamism. It will be focused and diligent work, yes, but more importantly, it will be smart work that’s largely free of delusion. That’s why I’m inclined to revise Fey’s formula for your sake. In 2025, your ever-brimming levels of confidence will be primarily due to your fine, conscientious, effective work.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Steve Jobs, founder of Apple computers, said, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” I propose that you make this one of your mottoes in 2025. More than ever before, you will have exceptional power to transform the environments you share with others. You will have an enhanced ability to revise and reinvigorate the systems and the rules you use. Don’t underestimate your influence during the coming months, Leo. Assume that people will be listening especially closely to your ideas and extra receptive to be affected by you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In my vision of your life in 2025, you will dramatically enhance how togetherness works for you. Below are four questions to help guide your explorations and breakthroughs. 1. Is it wise or feasible to change yourself in ways that enable you to have a more satisfying relationship with romantic love? 2. Will you include your intimate relationships as an essential part of your spiritual path—and vice versa? 3. What work on yourself can you do to steadily heal your old wounds and thereby make yourself a better partner and collaborator? 4. Can you help your best allies to heal their wounds and become better partners and collaborators?
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Virginia Woolf extolled the virtues of cultivating a supple soul. I recommend you make that one of your featured themes in 2025. To inspire your efforts, I will quote her radical perspective at length: “Let us simmer over our incalculable cauldron, our enthralling confusion, our hodgepodge of impulses, our perpetual miracle — for the soul throws up wonders every second. Movement and change are the essence of our being; rigidity is death; conformity is death: let us say what comes into our heads, repeat ourselves, contradict ourselves, fling out the wildest nonsense, and follow the most fantastic fancies without caring what the world does or thinks or says.”
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the 1960s, a Swedish journalist did an experiment to see if art critics could distinguish between abstract paintings made by skilled artists and those created by a chimpanzee whose pseudonym was Pierre Brassau. Surprise! Many critics treated all the paintings with equal respect. One even gave special praise to Pierre Brassau, describing his strokes of color as having “the delicacy of a ballet dancer.” I’m authorizing you to unleash your inner Pierre Brassau in the coming months, Gemini. Be an innocent rookie, a newcomer with great instincts, an exuberant amateur who specializes in fun experiments. Do you know what beginner’s mind is? You approach every experience with zero assumptions or expectations, as if you were seeing everything for the first time. For more, read this: wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshin
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I will give you four related terms to describe your key motif in 2025: 1. Your Soul’s Code. 2. Your Master Plan. 3. Your Destiny’s Blueprint. 4. Your Mission Statement. All four are variations on your epic question: What is your overarching purpose here on earth, and how are you fulfilling it? The coming months will be a time when you can make dramatic progress in formulating a vivid, detailed vision of the life you want to live. You can also undertake robust action steps to make that vision more of a practical reality. I encourage you to write your big-picture, long-range dreams in a special notebook or file on your tech device, and keep adding to the text throughout the coming months.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In Japanese, the word for “frog” sounds similar to the word meaning “to return.” That’s one reason frogs have been lucky in some circles of Japanese culture. They symbolize the blessing that occurs when travelers return home safely, or when health is restored or when spent money is replenished. I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because I suspect that 2025 will be a time when satisfying and enjoyable returns will be a key theme. Consider keeping the likeness of a lovable frog in your living space.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 1992, two friends promised each other that if either of them ever won the lottery, they would share it with the other. Twenty-eight years later, that’s exactly what happened. In 2020, Thomas Cook bought a ticket that turned out to be the winner of the Powerhouse jackpot in Wisconsin. He called Joseph Feeney with the good news. After paying taxes, both men were $5.7 million richer. I am not predicting the same sequence for your future, Pisces. But like Cook and Feeney, I expect you will glean fine rewards generated from seeds you planted in the past.
DISRUPTING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE IN MUSIC, ENTERTAINMENT, AND HOSPITALITY.
VENU isn’t just an entertainment brand; it’s a revolution in how fans experience live music and hospitality. As a disruptive force nationwide, we create destinations where every show, every meal, and every moment becomes unforgettable. VENU stands at the intersection of music and community, from luxury outdoor venues to immersive entertainment campuses featuring legendary restaurants and intimate music halls. With key partnerships with live music industry leaders like AEG Presents and three-time Super Bowl Champion and Founder of EIGHT Elite Light Lager, Troy Aikman, we deliver one-of-a-kind experiences that resonate beyond the stage.
Our impact speaks for itself, as we are recognized by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Denver Post, Billboard, VenuesNow, and Variety as leaders in transforming live events. But VENU is more than accolades – it’s a fan-powered movement. Founded by fans, owned by fans, and dedicated to fans, we’re here to connect, elevate, and reimagine what live entertainment can be.
Join the movement.
Discover and experience the future of entertainment at venu.live VENU, listed on the NYSE American [NYSE American:VENU]
