2013

Is the American Dream broken? The 50th anniversary of “The March” is both a timely reminder about how far we’ve come and of how much we’re stilled mired in old ways…

Tunnel project is just the beginning What a blast!  The project at the Twin Tunnels, soon to be renamed since they’re no longer identical, is looking as if it’s rounding third…

Only you can change your life The sixth and final piece in this series: Over the years, I have taken to task those who hold capitalism to be the most liberating…

The road to finding acceptance Note: This is the fifth in a series on personal transformation In last week’s piece, I explored the course of those who leave home due to…

Can anyone really go home? “You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood … back home to the old forms and systems of things which once…

The importance of empathy to others There’s a delightful woman who has been taking ticket stubs at the Denver West theaters for 17 years, she tells me.  She happens to be…

Accepting one’s self is empowering Above my work station hangs a poster emblazoned with one of my guiding maxims, a statement made by Pastor Niemoeller after World War II when the…

Can we control our own life’s journey? I cannot recall who said or wrote it, but I love the insight about the ultimate form of control is attempting to control the…

Gays now ride the marriage equality bus In striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, the Supreme Court struck a blow for justice.  In so doing, it validated a group of…

True conservatives need to step up “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”…

Freedom’s death will come knocking Keep your Uzis and other rapid-fire, mass-loaded weaponry.  They’re mere toys.  Deadly ones, to be sure, but in the symbolic sense, they’re laughable.  Guns and an…

Criminal justice needs a new focus We’re doing something wrong, or perhaps it’s better to say we’re not doing something right.  I’m not talking morally or ethically but pragmatically, although one…

Feeling the rhythms, the vibrations of life In his quiet work “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen,” Mark Nepo writes about percussionist Evelyn Glennie who is “profoundly deaf.” Nepo explains Glennie “lives…

Congress, public to blame for IRS scandal I love ironies, especially double ones.  Yes, yes, the IRS improperly red-flagged Tea Party applications for non-profit status, but it is delicious to watch…

Colorado Dems Deliver Governance is far easier in states such as Utah, Idaho, or Texas, where the minority is effectively ignored since it has no potential for upsetting the ruling culture. …