Today, I was on a mission to mail a birthday card to my friend, Clare, regardless of snowy roads and snow-covered vehicle. Why the urgency one may ask? Clare has been a friend for over 50 years, since we were freshmen in college. Over all that time, she always remembered[Read More…]
Columns
Local ideas become 2024 legislation
The 2024 Legislative Session has begun! On Jan. 10, we started our 120-day session at the Colorado State Capitol. Alongside my colleagues from both sides of the aisle and as a member of the Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee and Education Committee, I anticipate an exciting session as I[Read More…]
CNCC Corner – Busy month for CNCC
The month of February will be a busy one at CNCC. We had a great start to the spring semester welcoming returning students and a double-digit increase in new students compared to a year ago! As we get into the heart of the semester, we have turned our attention to[Read More…]
Teacher Talk
What your local educators want you to know … Parents are frequently invited to give feedback to their children’s local schools through district surveys, conferences, and school board meetings. The education system needs the support of parents to function. Another essential force that powers education is seldom given the chance[Read More…]
Editor’s Column – February 1st, 2024
“There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts which are prompted by our own questionable inclinations and impulses. Both the strong and the weak grasp at this alibi. The latter[Read More…]
Guest Column – Everything is a hammer
Our White River Museum has a room full of tools. OK … some of them we call kitchen appliances, but they are still tools. I believe the first tool a man ever used was a rock. He used it as a hammer to crack open acorns and walnuts and dispatch[Read More…]
Guest Column – Kitchen window
I feel very fortunate to have a window over our kitchen sink that translates into an outside view of the world as I cook and prepare meals. It’s a comforting companion because cooking is primarily a solo event. Today, the sky was just awesome with multiple colors of blue, purple[Read More…]
Loose Ends – Groundhog Day is here again
January is officially over today and with it a number of unresolved resolutions. A few stalwart souls continue to work on one or two of these hopeful goals that were forged out of the best intentions. The beginning of February brings forth another celebration of sorts that starts with extricating[Read More…]
Editor’s Column: Live and let live
If you haven’t been reading the heretofore unpublished letters between Nathan Meeker and his contacts in Washington, D.C., you should be. Meeker, an ill-suited idealist sent to the area as Indian agent — maybe the original “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help” tale — who had a[Read More…]
Loose Ends: Child’s Play
At this stage of life, it often feels as if I am surrounded by children again. After a lifetime of teaching, as well as spending so much time with my grandchildren and elementary school students, I often find myself attempting to stop a reasonable conversation from escalating into a heated[Read More…]
Student Spotlight: Life beyond Meeker
EDITOR’S NOTE: This student narrative was submitted by MHS instructor Kathleen Kelley. We’re publishing it here as the first in what we hope will be a series of “Student Spotlights,” showcasing the thoughts, perspectives and writing abilities of our local students much the same way athletic prowess is highlighted on[Read More…]
Editor: Big Brother is watching … and it’s not who we expected
A high school friend has been sharing her collection of photos from the late 1980s and early 1990s on social media. The grainy pictures evoke feelings of nostalgia for what now feels like a “simpler” and “better” time (it wasn’t, of course) accompanied by intense gratitude that the internet wasn’t[Read More…]