2023 Year in Review

Looking back and looking ahead to everything we’ve done and have yet to do.

Looking back on 2023, it is hard to feel anything other than pride. Pride for our integrity, our refusal to engage in pay-to-play or print any sponsored content. Pride for the stories we produced. YS covered topics others couldn’t, or wouldn’t, take on. We helped expose corruption and produce change in communities that desperately needed it. Pride for our voice. Every single piece we published told a story and provided more background depth and research than an average publication would. We know our readers are well informed. Pride for our perseverance. Despite all odds, we continue to produce real journalism, print a magazine nearly every month, and engage with readers in compelling ways that online media just cannot replicate.

Awards and Celebrations

YS was rewarded and recognized by the Colorado Press Association’s Better New Media contest. You may have heard that we took home 16 awards — 8 of them first places — including editorial wins for Best Overall Publication, Best Feature Story, Best Agriculture Story, Best Environmental Story, Best Headline, Best Investigative, and Best Opinion pieces.

Taken together this recognition not only shows the strength of our writers, photographers, and production team, but the variety of stories and topics YS has brought to your doorstep. One of the most intriguing parts of my job as managing editor is to have a hand in so many different areas, whether we are organizing a 50-chef, 10-writer, 5-course Indulgence meal, interviewing comedian and podcaster Marc Maron, or exposing small town corruption in Dacono, we covered a wide range of topics this year — all of them aimed to help you appreciate how cool this area is and to help make local politics a bit less murky.

The absolute highlight of the year was undoubtedly our Masquerade Carnivale Gala held at Roots Music Project. The fundraiser was a success, but the real treasure came from seeing so much community support from readers, activists, and artists alike. The band, Los Mocochettes, was full of energy. Their music not only blends genres but also carries a message. It’s dance-able, it’s full of intertwining guitars, and there are no straight 4/4s on the drums here. There was a tangible beat and rhythm to the evening that only they could have provided.

Los Mocochettes stole the show, but the never-ending parade of performers made the evening come alive. Lafayette’s poet laureate, Z Bass Speaks, punctuated each pause in the music performance by rhythmically speaking truth to power and evoking emotions of longing. From facepainting to palm reading, from a fire spinner to a juggler on stilts, the night was spectacular in every way. Not to mention the tacos. As a Los Angeles resident who has never lived more than two hours from the Mexico border, my standard for great tacos is set pretty high. Marcos Hotdogs & Tacos easily matched the quality and taste I crave. Plus, the salsa! Spicy enough to elevate and balance the savory meat but not overwhelm the tongue.

We could not have accomplished any of this without the incredible support of our sponsors and performers. YS wants to thank Roots Music, Los Mocochettes, Snarf’s Sandwiches, Marcos Hotdogs & Tacos, KGNU, the Fowler Group, Loveland Ski Area, Energy Arts, PNC, Paul’s Coffee & Tea, Berkelhammer Tree Experts, & the Righteous Rage Institute for supporting local journalism.

The gala was incredibly fun, but the whole point of the evening was to keep print and local media alive, to keep covering and telling the stories that need to be told, and to highlight what it is about our region that makes it so unique.

People’s History Series

One of the ways we helped connect readers to the area, to establish a sense of place and identity, was to dive into the deep history of many local cities. There are many similarities in the stories of the land between Boulder and Denver. The transformation from farmland and mining towns to suburbs and burgeoning cities has been rapid and disruptive at times. Understanding the recent history and hearing voices from local “old timers’’ who have lived through the changes can better help everyone who lives here connect to the Colorado story. Writer Doug Geiling told the oral history of striking coal miners, Cheyenne and Arapaho nations, and recent immigrants to Colorado to help fill in the gaps left by traditional history books and stories of settlers.

We did not shy away from atrocity. We never will. YS explored the fact that many histories of Colorado, and of the West as a whole, begin with Europeans despite the fact that the land you currently stand on has been continuously inhabited for well over 10,000 years. Sharing only the last 200 or 300 years of that story, and only from the settler’s point of view, obscures the true plot.

The point of our history series was not to shame. It is to learn about events such as the Sand Creek Massacre, and the genocide that followed, so that we do not repeat them. With the rise of neo-fascism, Nazism, and far-right racist rhetoric, it is more important than ever to understand what demonizing “the other” can lead to.

It is so crucial to learn from recent events, so we can build for a more resilient future.

One of the ways we helped connect readers to the area, to establish a sense of place and identity, was to dive into the deep history of many local cities.

We didn’t just talk about the long history of labor disputes and unsafe working conditions that led to machine gun fire and battles between miners and the government to merely share an interesting story. It was also to highlight the need for unions and the long struggle for workers rights, many which we take for granted today. With modern robber barons hoarding wealth and exploiting labor, echoes of the past ring loudly. Our intention was to show that a 40-hour work week, child labor laws, and the weekend off are not luxuries given to us by our overlords. Rather, these victories are the result of hard-fought battles.

It was not all dark, not by any means. YS explored the sugar beets that make Longmont sweet, touched on the railroads that made some towns thriving hubs while bypassing others, the dirt roads in Erie that slowly but surely were paved to make way for new traffic, the man who rode his horse to the bar and back, high school rivalries, cruising down Main Street just looking for things to do, and a tower constructed in the name of friendship.

It is these stories of individuals from the distant past up until today that really shape and create a place.

Marshall Fire Series

YS doesn’t just live in the distant past, however. Recent events like the Marshall Fire have also greatly shaped the future of our area. One of the most shocking and disheartening realizations many survivors experienced during the horrifying experience was the lack of support systems. Emergency alerts, efficient evacuations, and navigating insurance post-fire were all found wanting.

Carolyn Elerding’s Marshall Fire survivors interview series showed the frustrations many residents felt but also presented a new path forward: mutual aid. Many shared that their connections to neighbors were more valuable than any assistance immediately provided by government agencies. It is not just disasters that bring out mutual aid — Building communities that help support each other in more equitable ways can be a solution to a variety of societal ills from homelessness to mental health.

It is so crucial to learn from recent events, so we can build for a more resilient future. Many neighborhoods across the Front Range are built in fire territory. Understanding who to lean on, how to act, and what connections can truly help save your life and property are crucial for surviving an increasingly unpredictable future.

Investigative Reporting

Although we consider ourselves “slow news” — we take our time to explain the “why” behind the stories. We break our fair share of stories as well. We may not report on every city council meeting, but our role is to see the overall trends and shine a light into places that prefer the dark.

In 2023 our reporting helped expose corruption and scandal in Dacono that led to a recall election and the removal of an ethics panel committee member. Reporter Robert Davis followed the trail and uncovered the documents that connected the dots. Certain city council members were discussing votes beforehand, which violates the Colorado Open Meetings Law. The involvement of a local church, plus the outbursts and antics by one of the ousted council members, only added to the intrigue of this must-read story that led to real-world implications.

YS also exposed unethical behavior at the high school level. With dozens of accounts of verbal abuse and theft reported against a now-former cheer coach, we knew we had to take a stand. Following the first article, the floodgates opened, and numerous additional witnesses reached out. Former athletes, parents of athletes, and coaches all helped weave a concerning pattern of behavior, but it took YS media involvement for the school district to take the complaints seriously.

Extremism is still a growing threat. YS helped combat this by uplifting voices and sharing stories from communities that have been impacted by hateful rhetoric, targeted violence, and systemic oppression.

Writer Zoe Jennings shared the difficult story of an anonymous woman who was forced to travel across state lines from Texas to Colorado to receive an abortion. Not only is this an undue financial burden, it is representative of the systemic violence and oppression women increasingly face in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The foundation on which the court overturned the ruling should also send alarms about future rights for same-sex couples and potentially even interracial marriages.

Uplifting Voices

One of the most beautiful things to come out of 2023 was the YS “Why Do You Wear What You Do?” fashion shoot. We invited seven professionals across the area to wear something emblematic of who they are and tell the story of why they chose to wear it.

Photographer Dustin Doskocil captured stunning images of these individuals in their iconic outfits. Thankfully YS still prints — the images turned out beautifully in the magazine. Each answer was illuminating and unique. Each human is a story, and the clothes one chooses to wear, although not definitive, are akin to the cover art of each individual’s novel.

We also shared the themes from the Modern West’s latest season, Mending the Hoop, by interviewing some of the people who helped craft the podcast. They traced the displacement of Indigenous peoples through the massacres perpetrated on the plains, to slaughtered bison, straight through to boarding schools, the intentional destruction of culture, and the epidemic of missing women many tribes are experiencing today.

In 2023 our reporting helped expose corruption and scandal in Dacono that led to a recall election and the removal of an ethics panel committee member.

YS is able to publish an honest election guide each year, not only endorsing candidates but also letting you know which ones our election board found to be unqualified.

The “YS Voice”

For all the great things we do, one of the inherent weaknesses of print media that tells the truth is funding. We’ve toyed with the idea of going non-profit but ultimately do not know if that is the right path for YS at this moment. We launched our Sustaining Supporter program this year, and many of you have already shown you care deeply about our content by signing up. As I write this, we are pushing to reach our Matching Grant goal to help grow our revenue in 2024.

We value our voice too much to ever introduce an outside filter of any kind, on our content. We have never — and will never — print sponsored content. That means every restaurant, every chef, every artist, and every show we reviewed we did so because we enjoy their work. No one pays to be in our magazine.

YS is able to publish an honest election guide each year, not only endorsing candidates but also letting you know which ones our election board found to be unqualified. We covered school board elections and asked each candidate about book banning and freedom of speech and expression. We print “Refused interview” if a candidate does not answer our questions.

We believe every city we cover deserves an in-depth election guide. After all, it is local politicians that have the most say over your day-to-day laws.

Looking Forward

We cannot wait for our 2024 cover series. We chose to feature artists, especially in the wake of ever increasing artificial intelligence in the creative industries. How that will shape the future is unknowable, but its mark is already being felt.

Although we firmly believe in human-generated content, there is definitely an overlap between art and AI that continues to expand. We will explore what that means, be it a threat, a harbinger of a new era, or simply another tool humans can use to express themselves. We will be talking each month with local painters, sculptorss, musicians, poets, and more to bring the latest changes in the local art scene right to your doorstep.

Independent media is not easy. YS is dedicated to being your cultural voice and political insight, but the shape of the landscape is changing. We will need every sustaining supporter we can get to help keep our in-depth, high-quality coverage you’ve come to expect.

The Carnivale Masquerade Gala

With MC and resident columnist French Davis leading the ceremonies, a roomful of fire spinning, juggling, fortune-telling entertainment, the most kick-ass band we’ve seen live in some time, and some amazing food, our Masquerade Carnivale at Roots Music Project was the undoubtedly the highlight of the year. We could not have done it without all of our incredible supporters, thanks for a great 2023!