Daniel Holtzclaw, the former police officer accused of using his position of power to commit a string of sexual assaults against black women, was found guilty by a jury in Oklahoma City.

In June 2014, a 57-year-old woman came forward reporting that Holtzclaw had sexually assaulted her during a traffic stop. The allegation prompted an investigation into related incidents of sexual violence committed by an officer who matched Holtzclaw’s description. With the aid of the GPS tracking data from his patrol car, detectives determined he was the one behind the crimes, and was fired in January 2015.

Although the former officer plead not guilty, the controversial all-white jury found him guilty on five counts of rape and 13 other counts of sexual assault, and faces a sentence of more than 200 years.

While justice was served on Holtzclaw’s case, many officers are able to get away with mistreating and sexually abusing women. A recent investigation by the Associated Press found that hundreds of American police officers have lost their jobs as a result of sexual misconduct on duty. It uncovered that about 1,000 law enforcement officials were taken off the force for charges that included sexual assault and rape over the course of six years.

AP reported: “Even as cases around the country have sparked a national conversation about excessive force by police, sexual misconduct by officers has largely escaped widespread notice due to a patchwork of laws, piecemeal reporting and victims frequently reluctant to come forward because of their vulnerabilities—they often are young, poor, struggling with addiction or plagued by their own checkered pasts.”

This is true for Holtzclaw’s victims. His crimes follow several distinct patterns. Although no particular ages were targeted, many of the women were suspected of crimes such as drug use or prostitution. All of the women were black. Some of them claimed that he would pardon their crimes if they complied with performing sexual acts. He targeted women who he thought would steer clear of reporting him.

But Holtzclaw’s abuse is not the only problem here. No one is talking about this issue. There has been no outrage, or mass posting on Facebook. The coverage in media gets buried, or overlooked. At a time when report of black violence against black women and men flood headlines across America, why is this one pushed to the back burner? It shows that as a nation, we still don’t know how to talk about rape or sexual assault, especially when the accusations come from black women, who have been historically exploited and subjected to sexual violence by those in positions of power.

But this verdict is ground breaking, and can hold more power if we only pay attention to it. Out of the thousands of police officers released from their jobs for sexual misconduct, only a handful were faced with criminal charges, and even fewer were convicted. Holtzclaw’s conviction should be a wake up call that if we stop fearing the talk about rape, the men who commit these atrocious acts will be held accountable.

The post Former Oklahoma Cop Convicted of Serial Rape appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Back in November of 2000, Colorado passed a groundbreaking amendment to the state’s constitution that changed Colorado. It changed the way people viewed the state. It changed the way people in the state lived, and more importantly how they took care of themselves. Amendment 20 effectively legalized limited amounts of medical marijuana for patients and their primary caregivers.

The amendment authorized patients who has been issued a medical marijuana registry identification card, or that patient’s primary caregiver who has been identified on the patient’s medical marijuana registry identification card, to possess: No more than two ounces of a usable form of marijuana; and no more than six marijuana plants, with three or fewer being mature, flowering plants that are producing a usable form of marijuana.

This was huge. Medical marijuana is now legal in 23 states. And every year we learn about a new way that cannabis is helping sick people, even when pharmaceuticals are not. The list of treatable illnesses by cannabis is continually growing and now includes anything from eating disorders to psoriasis. It helps arthritis, stuttering, schizophrenia, chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder, and seizures. It helps people sleep, or ease the pain of chemotherapy. The list goes on and on.

On November 19, 2015, the Colorado Medical Board approved the final draft of guidelines for medical marijuana physicians that brought medical marijuana recommendations up to par with other medical practices. With the firmer regulations, the pool of 100,000-plus medical marijuana patients in Colorado is likely to decrease. The guidelines, written by the Colorado Medical Board’s Medical Marijuana Workgroup, call for physicians to further evaluate and follow up with potential patients when recommending medical marijuana, alongside capping the number of recommended patients to 3,000.

These new regulations include a mandatory 30-minute health evaluation, including a detailed medical history, physical evaluation, and patient assessment, with a physician in a clinical setting. Patients must be educated on dosage and disposal, and must follow up with their doctor regularly. Physicians recommending marijuana as a therapeutic option for their patients should collaborate with that patient’s other healthcare providers to ensure and promote a collaborative, coordinated, approach to patient care. Finally, a medical record should be created and maintained for each patient evaluated for marijuana as a therapeutic option.

The record must, at a minimum, contain documentation of each physician-patient encounter; an appropriate medical history; an appropriate physical examination; documentation of the patient diagnoses, including the patient’s qualifying debilitating medical condition; patient education; the patient’s longitudinal plan of care; and, a signed copy of the state required certification form.

This is something Dr. Joe Cohen believes is a good thing. For the last five years, Cohen has been the go-to guy in Boulder when it comes to functional medicine. The use of pharmaceuticals is a second line of attack. Because of this, cannabis has become his main practice. And although he sees more than 4,000 patients a year, he has always played by the rules.

“The new regulations needed to happen a long time ago,” Cohen says. “It’s our job to really try and treat these patients. It’s the mills that pump out prescription after prescription from a table at Starbucks that are bringing the industry down. It’s a farce.”

For Cohen, cannabis is what he does. Somewhere in the five years since he opened Holos Health, the doctor and his staff became medical marijuana gurus. And they are showing no signs of stopping. With the new regulations, Cohen has to reevaluate his practice. No longer can he see 4,000 patients a year, both lawfully and logistically.

At the beginning of the year, Holos Health, Dr. Cohen’s company, is expanding within the building. Two new physicians are joining rank, one part time and one full time, to keep the same volume of patients, but still follow state regulations and make sure whoever walks through the door will get the attention they deserve.

“We get patients with all kinds of illnesses,” Cohen said. “Spending two minutes with them is a disservice. By bringing on two new people, every patient will be given the amount of attention needed to help them get better, or ease pain.”

In the years that Cohen has been in the medical cannabis industry, he has seen some amazing feats. A little more than a month ago, he had a young girl walk through his door that was having up to 1,000 seizures a day. Cannabis was her final option as it got to the point where her parents were hoping she would pass, Cohen said. After her evaluation, he prescribed her medical marijuana, and the seizures have completely stopped.

“It gave this little girl a childhood she hadn’t had before,” Cohen said.

It’s not only doctors and dispensaries who are seeing these results. The word is out that medical marijuana is helping people in ways that traditional medicine is not.

“We are often the last ditch effort, and for many of those cases, it works,” Cohen said.

No one knows this better than Robin Hackett. At age 45, a drastic career change was forced upon her. She went from being the first female journeyman steelworker in Colorado to the first medical dispensary to track all of her patients needs in a detailed database. But, it wasn’t an easy journey.

During her time as a steelworker, Hackett fell 35 feet suffering a spinal injury. At first she turned to western medicine and grew dependent on Percocet, morphine, Neurontin and Etodolac. Her liver was failing, which would soon mean that she couldn’t take her medication. It took a friend three months to convince her to give medical marijuana a try.

“I thought ‘this is a crock, people do it to get high,’” Hackett said. “I thought ‘this isn’t what is going to help me, morphine does. I could do heroine and I wouldn’t be out of pain.’”

Eventually, she took the bait and gave cannabis a try. She stopped taking her medications cold turkey, and for 30 days she went through hell and back. Staying in her home, she shook, she vomited, she paced and she consumed a lot of THC.

After her conversion to medical marijuana, Hackett knew that she wanted to get into the business. So, with her sister Cheri, she opened BotanaCare’s doors in May 2011 as a medical dispensary, but unlike any other in the state. Unlike any other in nation, because they didn’t want to just open another dispensary and milk some coins out of the cash cow it was becoming, but rather help people the same way Robin was helped.

“I expected 50 percent of people to come in and exploit the system just to get high legally,” Hackett said. “I was so wrong. What I saw were people with extreme disease and injury. People that have suffered beyond what a human could bear. I had no idea what suffering was before I saw these people.”

She realized that 85 percent of her customers were in need of the medical qualities cannabis offers. These people were in the same boat that Robin was in just a year before, and they were turning to BotanaCare as their final stop.

They walked into the store with a tiny drop of hope that these two sisters could help them in any way, even if it was just to alleviate some of their pain. After these people walked out, the Hackett’s realized that they meant so much more to their customers than they ever imagined.

“These people were putting their trust in us because the word ‘medical’ was in the name, and we have not earned that. That scared me,” Hackett said. “Also, they thought we knew what we were doing and we didn’t, but I wasn’t going to let a soul down.”

So Hackett hit the books, and began studying exactly what cannabis had to offer. She barely slept. She read nearly 8,000 research papers. She was determined to find the answers to help these people’s problems, no matter how much research and time it consumed. She told every customer that came in, as she held his or her hand, that she would do everything in her power to help them as long as they continued to come in. It had to be a team effort.

She created an online database that tracked every strain, every attempt and every visit for every single customer brave enough to work with her. She was, and continues to be, the only medical marijuana dispensary in the nation that keeps a detailed database of costumers and the products that work for them.

That’s what makes the Hackett sister’s dispensary a stand out. But it’s only part of the equation. The dispensary also consults with every new costumer, and will even develop a new medication to their needs.

Her mission is directly on par with that of Dr. Cohen. They aim to help people, and they are doing so every day.

There was a change, however when amendment 64 passed in 2012 legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. At first, it threatened business, at least in their minds. But, as recreational use become legal, people turned to medical. And the medical marijuana industry continues to boom, as this season was the busiest Dr. Cohen has ever seen.

But, how do traditional doctors view medical marijuana? Some are embracing it. Some are ignoring it. Some are indifferent. But, most are still unwilling to talk about it. After reaching out to numerous doctors, both in public hospitals and private practices, not a single doctor, with the exception of Dr. Cohen, agreed to chat with Yellow Scene about the issue.

And while they don’t prescribe medical marijuana to their patients, they are branching out and giving unconventional methods of health a try. Take Boulder Community Hospital, who at the first of the year will be training employees to bring specific modalities of alternative care to patients in hospital settings such as yoga, in bed movements, breathing exercises, essential oils, and reiki, as an example.

The hospital, which already uses integrative care in the form of acupuncture, massage, and occasionally reiki, will be working with the organization Urban Zen to introduce the new alternative care programs.

Urban Zen’s mission is, “to change the present healthcare paradigm, to treat the patient and not just the disease. Through our partnerships, we are transforming patient care in hospitals, healthcare education in nursing schools, self-care in the home and emergency relief in disasters.”

The training will take months, but the hospital is aiming to have at least 80 staff members trained by the end of the year. Those 80 spots will be offered to nurses and physicians who express interest, and will be scattered throughout the different sections of the hospital.

“Training isn’t going to be easy,” Mary Taylor, core faculty member of Urban Zen, said. “They are going to be trained in all of the modalities in a methodical way. They will be tested, and required to do homework. Above all, they have to practice yoga daily, use the essential oils, and incorporate these practices into their daily lives.”

The practices would be integrated into the hospital fully. It will not be a special section. If a trained nurse recognizes an illness or pain that could be helped by one of the modalities offered by Urban Zen, they are to recommend it.

“We are really excited to bring it into our hospital,” Virginia Carducci, director of rehabilitation, behavioral health, and innovative care at Boulder Community Hospital, said. “It’s a really wonderful addition for our patients, and we are all looking forward to getting it started.”

Even as they welcome new alternative medicines, they still stray away from medical marijuana. But, maybe this isn’t a bad thing. Dr. Cohen knows the importance of understanding what you are working with, and makes sure that the people around him do the same. Through Holos Healing, he leads budtender classes so his patients get the care they deserve outside of his office walls.

“You have to care about your patients, and offer them the best solution,” Dr. Cohen said. “Sometimes it’s cannabis, sometimes it’s not. The patient comes first, no matter where you work.”

The post A look at alternative medicine appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Local restaurants and food venues share holiday recipe ideas!

Tocabe

Founded in 2008 and owned by Matt Chandra and Ben Jacobs, Tocabe is the only American Indian owned and operated restaurant in Metro Denver. The restaurant’s warm, open space features American Indian cultural elements infused with contemporary design to create a unique, welcoming atmosphere. Tocabe takes it origin from Grayhorse: An American Indian Eatery, which was established in downtown Denver in 1989 by the Jacobs family (tribal members of the Osage Nation). Tocabe uses some of the family recipes from Grayhorse along with additional Osage recipes to create a fresh take on American Indian cuisine. www.tocabe.com

An American Indian Eatery’s Green Chile Stew

INGREDIENTS 

1 large potato

8 ounces fresh ground beef

kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

4 cups cold water

1?3 cup flour (might need more depending on how much grease is in the meat)

3?4 cup mild green chili (prefer fresh, but can substitute with frozen or canned)

1?2 cup hot green chili (prefer fresh, but can substitute with frozen or canned)

1 1?2 cups corn (prefer cut off cob, but can substitute frozen or canned)

2 teaspoons green chili powder (optional)

grated cheese (optional)

sour cream (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Peel and cube the potato into 1/2 inch diameter pieces and set aside.

In a saute pan on medium heat, cook the ground beef and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Break into serving sized pieces (whatever size you want).

Cook the green chili powder, if you are using, into the beef.

While the beef is cooking, place 4 cups water in a stock pot with the potatoes and bring to a boil. Cook the potatoes until fork tender; do not cook until the potatoes mash.

When all the rawness is cooked out of the beef, turn off the heat. Slowly add the flour while mixing into the beef in order to make a roux. Mix the flour into the beef completely until no dry flour remains.

Once your roux is complete, add to the stockpot with the cooked potatoes. Add the green chiles, corn, 2 teaspoons salt and 2 teaspoons black pepper. Fully mix all the ingredients and place the stockpot back on the stove top.

Bring up to temperature on medium heat, stirring occasionally. This may take up to 30 minutes or more. Feel free to add cheese or sour cream, if desired.

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The Art of Cheese

An artisan cheesemaking school in Longmont, CO – now located in the new Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese Creamery.  Offering 15 different classes covering over 30 different cheeses.  Register online at www.theartofcheese.com.  Gift Cards available, too! 

Part I: Make your Handmade Artisan Ricotta

INGREDIENTS

1 gallon whole milk

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

3 TBSP butter

¼ tsp baking soda

DIRECTIONS

Start with 1 gallon milk ( Cow, goat or sheep milk will work; whole milk preferred)

Heat milk in a heavy pot (double-clad stainless steel or enameled cast iron works well) to 185 degrees, stirring regularly to keep from scalding.

At 185 degrees, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. Stir for about a couple of minutes. You should see curds begin to develop and eventually the milk they are floating in will look somewhat clear with a yellow-ish tinge. If you don’t get this clear separation between the curds and whey, keep heating up to about 200 degrees and if needed, add another teaspoon or two of vinegar.

Ladle the curds into a cheesecloth-lined strainer. Drain for 1 minute.

Add 3 TBSP butter and 1/4 tsp baking soda. Stir.

Part II: Combine  with other simple ingredients and bake

INGREDIENTS

2-3 cups fresh, warm ricotta

zest of 1 lemon

1 ½ tsp dried herbs*

2-3 TBSP olive oil

DIRECTIONS 

Add lemon zest to your warm ricotta and stir

Add 1 tsp of your favorite dried herb blend and mix into the lemony ricotta. (*I like HerbSalt produced by Gayle’s Salts out of Boulder but you can use any blend of herbs you like. If your blend doesn’t contain salt, add a pinch of nice sea salt to bring up the flavor.)

Put 2 TBSP of good olive oil in an oven-proof skillet or baking dish and swirl around to coat the dish.

Spoon your ricotta mixture into the dish, drizzle the top with a little more olive oil and sprinkle a few more herbs on it.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes until bubbly and slightly browned.

Serve with lightly toasted baguette slices.

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The Kitchen

The Kitchen is a family of restaurants co-founded by Hugo Matheson and Kimbal Musk with the mission of “Community Through Food.” The Kitchen family includes The Kitchen community bistro, Next Door community pub, and Next Door cocktail lounge. The Kitchen was established with the driving philosophy that ingredients should be consciously sourced from a community of like-minded farmers, ranchers and purveyors to ensure the highest quality results. The Kitchen seeks to promote organically grown foods that support health and wellbeing and is committed to environmentally-friendly practices, including composting, eco-friendly packaging and recycling.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Farro and Chickpeas

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut

into 2/3-inch cubes

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Sea salt and black pepper

1 pound farro

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 cup chopped whole canned tomatoes

1 15-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzos), drained

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons chopped fresh Fresno chili pepper

Tahini Sauce:

1 clove garlic

Kosher salt

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons tahini paste

Water

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425º. In a large bowl, toss butternut squash cubes with garlic, allspice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Leave in the bowl for 5 minutes to let seasonings penetrate. Place on a baking sheet and roast until soft and slightly caramelized. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Rinse farro in a bowl and remove any floating bits. In a pot, combine farro with 1 tablespoon salt and cool water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until farro is soft—about 10 minutes after it comes to boil. Drain and rinse under running water to stop the cooking.

Make the tahini sauce: Finely chop garlic. Sprinkle coarse salt over chopped garlic, then press garlic with the flat side of a chef’s knife. The salt will grind the garlic into a paste under the knife. Mix crushed garlic with lemon juice and tahini paste. Thin with a little water and olive oil. Taste for seasoning. The sauce should be very bright and flavorful. If it isn’t, add tahini and/or lemon juice to spruce it up.

Redstone Meadery

MeadMosa

2 parts Redstone Black Raspberry, Sunshine or Boysenberry Nectar

1 part orange juice

A dirty little cocktail that will make you smile

The Sunshine

Jigger of Stohl’O

2 thin slices of orange

Shaker of Redstone Sunshine Nectar

Serve over ice in a rocks glass or tulip glass

A nice mixer without the heavy alcohol taste

The post Holiday Recipes – From the Traditional to the Not-So-Much appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Due to the relative lack of Internet provider competition in Boulder (likely either Comcast or CenturyLink), monthly costs often run in the neighborhood of $100 with speeds well below what modern technology is capable of delivering and the bare minimum of customer service. “I feel like nobody’s happy with their Internet,” said Matt Monaco, of Boulder, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science, at one of the city’s Monday meetings. “I’m interested to what options there are for bringing competition to the area, but technically how that happens is not as important as it just happening.” Boulder is planning to reduce the cap on free parking at the Main Public Library from three hours to 90 minutes, but increase the overall number of free spaces available to people doing business with the city or using parks downtown. The changes will take effect January 15 and are part of the Civic Area park improvements. After eight years, Longmont City Councilwoman Sarah Levison cast her last vote Monday night — to adjourn the current council. Levison got up from her seat and Joan Peck took her place. Peck beat out local attorney Scott Dunn for Levison’s at-large council seat by a slim margin — 10,254 to 9,916. A public hearing for the license application is scheduled for Nov. 20. Under concurrent review, when the Longmont Liquor Licensing Authority — Municipal Judge Diana VanDeHey is the sole member — accepts the application for a liquor license, the application is also sent to the state government for simultaneous processing. Blood drops on a 3-foot-tall marijuana plant inside an Agate greenhouse provided a clue that helped close a homicide case in which the victim was found 100 miles away in the trunk of a burned-up car. The DNA from the blood linked the legal grow operation to the charred remains of Jason Michael Dosa, 44. The body was discovered September 20 in the trunk of a Nissan Maxima after firefighters extinguished the car fire in a ditch on South Cougar Road in Jefferson County.

__________

Small Talk

“They were trading them like Pokémon cards.”

– Canon City student Donivan Willard on the sexting scandal

“Artists should be making art. We want to support them the best we can so they can do that.”

– RiNo Art District board chairman Tracy Weil

“We’re going to maintain our aggression as a team. I don’t ever want to take that away, but we’ve got to make sure that we’re thinking about the team in every situation, in everything we do.”

– Broncos coach Gary Kubiak

“Strollers, a 6’ bronze sculpture by artist Pat Kennedy ,was installed at 400 E. Simpson Street as a permanent tribute to Jean Mellblom.”

– ART!Lafayette press release

“We actually have a lot of family and friends from Detroit that are living in Denver, so it’s a home away from home. We can stay with friends, reminisce and enjoy the city. It’s a great stop for us for sure.”

– Puhy of rock band Wilson

(Sources: Boulder Weekly, Daily Camera, Broomfield Enterprise, Longmont Times-Call, Denver Post, Westword, YellowScene.com) 

__________

By The Numbers

1,000 – Families fed by Fresca Foods on Thanksgiving.

$25,000 – The cost of a Longmont study on organic weed management.

125,000 – Square footage of forthcoming Erie King Soopers.

$329,933 – Tolls collected after three months of US-36.

The post Month in Review appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

For years, the 13th Floor and The Asylum, have been Denver’s most popular haunted houses. But, it’s not just Coloradans who love these spooky spots, as they have garnered national attention as some of the best haunted houses in the nation. We sat down with Marketing Director Kaitlyn Jaffke to ask her about overseeing not just the Denver locations, but also six others throughout Colorado.F

The post Kaitlyn Jaffke appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Pan

Director: Joe Wright

Writer: Jason Fuchs

Release Dates: October 8

Starring: Levi Miller
Hugh Jackman
Garrett Hedlund
Rooney Mara
C

Pan should have been magical. It should have filled me with joy, and plastered a smile across my face so when I walked out of the theater my cheeks hurt. I wanted so much more from Pan, but my dreams were crushed the second we landed in Neverland. P

Serving as a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan stories, the film loses itself amidst the steampunk design, cliché narrative, laughable script and ruthless fairies. But it had so much potential.

The beginning was promising, starting with a backstory of Peter’s (portrayed by the brilliant newcomer Levi Miller) humble beginnings in a London orphanage during the worst of the Nazi air raids. We learn that his gate-jumping mother left him at the orphanage with nothing but a note and pan-pipes medallion. We see his affinity for mischief and justice, as he undermines authority and tries investigating why the other boys in the orphanage are disappearing. We soon learn that the nun in charge is selling the kids to pirates from Neverland. Pirates that bungee from the ceiling scooping the terrified children while they sleep. Visually it was phenomenal, but what came after is just confusing.

Things start to get muddy as soon as we land in Neverland. First we learn that Hugh Jackman as pirate Blackbeard is mining for fairy dust, or “pixum,” in a desperate attempt to keep his youthful look, like a Neverland Elizabeth Báthory. He uses slave labor to mine the fields.

We also learn that Blackbeard has an attraction to grunge music, as his entire slave team sings along with him to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which makes no sense in the theme of the movie but provided a small number of chuckles throughout the adults in the theater.

To maintain order, Blackbeard routinely makes troublemakers walk the plank into a bed of rocks. Of course, rebel Peter lands on the plank on his first day, but shocks all when he takes flight before hitting the ground. Cue in a prophecy of half fairy, half human boy who will overthrow Blackbeard and win a rebellion for the natives of Neverland and free the fairies who went into hiding.

So Peter sets off with James Hook, a fellow miner and future nemesis, and a white Tiger Lily to take down Blackbeard.

Visually, the movie is phenomenal. Recreating Neverland into the modern day, director Joe Wright created a place full of wonder and CGI. If only he paid more attention to the scenes where Peter flew, as they resembled a limp marionette doll. The film lost its “umph” with the cliché plot and weak script. Fully aware that the film was written for children, it was oftentimes hard to listen to as the characters throw every predictable one-liner into the audience.

Pan had potential, but the visuals and superb performance by the young Miller couldn’t even save this film.

Pan opens this Friday in theaters.

The post Movie Review: Pan appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Fans were stranded overnight at a major music festival outside of Atlanta after three days of nearly continuous rain. F

TommorowWorld Music Festival in Chattahoochee Hills, which is about 30 miles southwest of downtown Atlanta, resembled something something of a B rated horror film as concert goers found refuge from the flooding wherever they could. Sleeping on top of cars, on boxes, or less than luxurious tents surrounded by mud.

The fields and parking lots were so muddy, the festival had to be shut down Sunday. No one could get in or out and fans and staff were still trying to leave Monday afternoon.

Organizers had to shut down the shuttles, parking lots and some of the stages Sunday. Disappointed fans were turned away and now organizers are making plans to refund the money they paid for their tickets.

But refunds were the least of the worries for the fans that got stuck at the venue, and slept in the mud.

Check out some of the photos, displaying the poor, poor conditions.

The post TomorrowWorld gets flooded appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Boulder County’s Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence is a community of people committed to ending violence against adults, youth and children. That commitment shines through with everything they do for a community with domestic violence rates that nearly doubles the state average. We sat down with Alexandra Lynch, the development director of SPAN, to talk about what the program does.B

The post Boulder County’s SPAN appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Transgender issues are at the forefront of America’s collective mind. Shows like Becoming Us on ABC Family, and I am Cait on E!, and Netflix’s original series Orange is the New Black and Sense 8, are bringing these stories and issues into homes that may have never been exposed to a trans person. While some are concerned about being too light-hearted, the shows are aimed at cisgender (non transgender) heterosexual people, and their entertainment. But even the entertainment is riddled with issues that trans people face.T

It’s not only on TV that the nation is taking note of trans issues. When Olympic gold medalist and icon Bruce Jenner transitioned into Caitlyn, he broke barriers and pushed this issue into the light.

The nation is noticing, and it’s having an impact at the military level.
On July 13, Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement that over the next six months, top military officials will hammer out details of a new policy to allow active-duty troops to transition from one gender to another. This raised a whole slew of questions that remain unanswered.

“The Defense Department’s current regulations regarding transgender service members are outdated and are causing uncertainty that distracts commanders from our core missions,” Carter said in his statement. He continued with, “moreover, we have transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines – real, patriotic Americans – who I know are being hurt by an outdated, confusing, inconsistent approach that’s contrary to our value of service and individual merit.”

But what does this mean? The statement raised a whole slew of questions that remain unanswered. On the social side, it comes with relief. No one will have to hide a part of their life in a duffle bag with three padlocks. But that is only one factor going into this six-month period where officials will have to make decisions on healthcare, combat jobs, and protection.

For example, will a soldier who was born female but now lives as a man be permitted to hold one of more than 200,000 armor, infantry, artillery and special operations positions that still prohibit women?

What will the Military Health System accommodate for trans people? Will it cover their hormones needed to transition, top and bottom surgery, or facial reconstructive surgery? Will there be protections put in place regarding harassment of these individuals?

These questions aren’t only on the weight of the individuals who are rewriting the policy, but on the shoulders of current transgender troops and advocates. For Brianna Matthews, a trans veteran and advocate, who credits her career success to her time in the Air Force, it’s an issue that everyone needs to pay close attention to.

“It’s going to be a very important six months, and even longer, for the military to really assess what needs to be done, and done right,” Matthews said. “It’s monumental, but if we are going to applaud them on the decision we need to make sure they are heading in the right direction.”

The post Military focuses on transgender service equality appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

STONEWALL

Director: Roland Emmerich

Writer: Jon Robin Baitz

Release Dates: September 25

Starring: Jeremy Irvine
Jonny Beauchamp
Joey King
D-

There’s no denying that the controversy surrounding the film Stonewall has taken the queer community by storm. When the trailer was released, a large portion of the LGBT community was in shock, and the backlash began. Yellow Scene even joined in, writing a trailer review and mixing in a brief history lesson about the Stonewall bar and riots. T

We were ecstatic to get invited to screening of the film, and see if the film was as bad as everyone expected. Spoiler Alert! It was.

The film opens with a black and white, slow motion sequence of the first night of the Stonewall riots, complete with fire, stones, yelling and a brief history of life as a gay man in NYC in the late 1960s. It was an appropriate opening sequence. One that filled us with hope that maybe, just maybe, this film wouldn’t be as bad as we all thought.

But then the black and white montage fades away, and the story begins. Danny (Jeremy Irvine) is a gay, white man from Indiana. (Not so different from our associate editor.) In Indiana, he is living a closeted life. He is somewhat popular and plays on the high school football team that his father coaches. But when he is caught performing fellatio to the quarterback, everything comes crashing down and Danny is rejected by his friends and family, and ejected from his household, compliments of his father.

Danny leaves Indiana and heads for the Big Apple. Once there he heads to Christopher Street, where gay men were known to hang out in 1969. It is there that he meets a ragtag group of young gay hustlers who have turned to sex work to survive. (This was, and continues to be, a reality for many queer youth.) Ray (Jonny Beauchamp) is the leader of the ragtag group of hustlers, and immediately takes Danny under his wing, introducing him to Christopher Street regulars and showing him the ropes.

For the first hour of the film we see Danny’s backstory, and what brought him to New York, and how he is transitioning from a seemingly picture perfect upbringing to being homeless and gay in New York. We see him meet his first drag queen, get hit on, sleep on the street and try drugs for the first time. We also see him start to feel comfortable in his skin, and come out of his shell, especially after he steps into Stonewall.

There were plenty of red flags throughout the first hour. But nothing compared to the disappointment that washed over us when we got the first glimpse of the iconic bar. The bar was filled with white people. Actually, it was filled with white men, who act and dress like men. We could count the number of non-white men on one hand.

For those that don’t know, Stonewall was a bar that minorities within the already marginalized gay community could come together. There were people of color. There were trans women. There were drag queens. There were butch lesbians. Of course there were white men, but a lot of them were poor and turning tricks, or they were professionals hiding their sexuality.

This was the point we realized that the movie was as bad as everyone had anticipated. We struggled not to roll our eyes for the following hour of Danny navigating his way through a gay NYC summer complete with a job at a corner store, and budding relationship.

The final nail in the coffin for this film was the climax. No one knows for sure who threw the first brick that started the Stonewall riots, but it is credited to trans women of color. But in the film, Danny throws the first brick and is backed by a group of white men.

This is the reason the film is surrounded by controversy. The film completely rewrites and white-washes queer history. But that isn’t the only thing that makes this film terrible. The plot is boring and predictable. Even the ending is wrapped almost too perfectly together. It is insulting to the audience.

Stonewall hits theaters this Friday.

The post Movie Review: Stonewall appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The Internet has exploded. Exploded with posts, rants, support and hatred for the Kentucky county clerk who has received her fifteen minutes of fame for denying same sex couples marriage licenses. Kim Davis has become a household name, and this is a problem. T

Let’s start with what Davis is. She is a zealot. She is unwavering in her mission to stand up for her god, and she will resort to any fanatical measure to make sure that her god sees her as an outstanding human. She is solidifying her place in heaven the only way she knows how. To her, the gay community are not worthy of marriage because the Bible tells her so. There are plenty of people like her in the world, make no mistake, but the difference between her and the man preaching from his soapbox on the corner is that she is an elected official.

As an elected official, Davis can’t be fired. Kentucky law largely shields an elected official like Davis from being forced out of her post. Until the next election, when the voters can boot her, she can be removed only through impeachment by the state legislature. That is a lengthy process that has rarely been pursued in Kentucky. The simpler solution would be for Davis to resign, or start issuing the licenses. Neither of which a zealot would even consider.

So yes, this is a problem. Yes, we should be mad about this. Yes, this deserves our attention.

However, this problem is exponentially smaller than any other problem being faced in the queer community. We are homeless. Our kids don’t feel safe. We are discriminated against. We can’t get jobs. We are still struggling to survive. We are dying.

A name that should be on everyone’s lips is Tamara Dominguez. Don’t know her? Shocking. Dominguez was the 17th transgender person reported as killed in the United States this year. On August 15th, Dominguez was ran down with an SUV in Kansas City, Missouri. What about Kandis Capri or Elisha Walker who were also murdered in August? That’s three in a span of a month. But these names were not shouted from the rooftops, or spamming every single person’s newsfeed.

This is the real problem. As the gay community gains more visibility, representation and rights, they are forgetting about their less privileged brothers and sisters who have stood beside them for equality every step of the way. Hell, they were the ones who cast the first stones at Stonewall. They threw the first punch, and it’s as if we are punishing them now.

Not everything is about heteronormative gay men gaining and keeping their rights. We boast that being queer is about acceptance and love, but is that only catered to those that can afford it? Those that can slide into the public’s eye without notice, assimilating into the world? It shouldn’t be.

Yes, what Kim Davis is doing is wrong, but is she much different from us? We have chosen to stand up for what we believe and we will fight for it no matter the cost, even if that means sweeping the more important issues under the rug.

The post The name on everyone’s lips: Kim Davis appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Dear White People

Director: Justin Simien

Writer: Justin Simien

Starring: Tessa Thompson, Tyler James Williams, Kyle Gallner
A

“Dear white people, the minimum requirement of black friends needed to not seem racist has just been raised to two. Sorry, but your weed man, Tyrone, does not count.” D

Dear White People, the debut film from Justin Simien, is a smart, fearless, campy look at race, class, sex, privilege and power at the collegiate level. The black comedy, pun definitely intended, does a great job at balancing the multiple issues and squeezing it into a narrative that works. This is a movie that you will want to see. This is a movie that is going to make you uncomfortable, and if it doesn’t then pull yourself out of your iPhone and pay attention to the screen.

The film focuses on a number of students at a fictional Ivy League campus, where the students look as if they walked out of a collegiate catalogue and have zero amount of chill, that becomes a sort of elite microcosm of present-day race relations.

Sam White, played by the beautifully talented Tessa Thompson, hosts a campus radio show and viral YouTube series titles “Dear White People” that to call out the hypocrisies, blind spots and micro-aggressions that African-Americans experience in their daily encounters with well-meaning caucasians. Ironically, it’s the same people that make up a large part of her fan base. They aren’t glutton for punishment or ridicule, rather they think that they understand and don’t fall into the category of “Dear White People.” It’s what makes the film so real and uncomfortable.

During the past couple of years, the depressing number of college parties, filled with a majority of white people, that mock race have popped up on everyone’s social media feeds. From rocking sombreros and margaritas to black face and oversized clothes, these parties have sparked outrage. Simien uses this absurd trend to start his film, where the main antagonist hosts a “Black Party.”

This is what White is fighting against, even when everyone around her thinks that she is overreacting. Her ex-boyfriend, her current boyfriend, her professors and even the dean of students all try and discourage her from continuing the radio show and step down from her pedestal.

“I think you long for days when blacks were hanging from trees and denied actual rights that way you’d have something to actually fight against.”

Harsh, right? Extreme, definitely. But it’s lines like this that make this film so jarring, and so important. These people exist, and Simien is not only drawing attention to it in his film, but also advancing the conversation.

The film is littered with a number of subplots and characters, that add a new level of racism to the film, but on a few occasions mud up the narrative. Regardless, the film touches on a number of social issues plaguing the good ‘ole red, white and blue, and does it brilliantly so. Just don’t expect to feel comfort.

The post Netflix Review: Dear White People appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Last year, when Yellow Scene was interviewing Governor Hickenlooper for our annual election guide, we asked him about the over-militarization of local police forces, highlighting the fact that Lafayette had been given 42 M-26’s. Lafayette doesn’t seem like the kind of city that requires that sort of firepower, and the governor agreed.L

“This whole program of taking surplus military hardware and then distributing it to communities all over the country, a) in many case those communities don’t need as much firepower as they’re getting and b) it really does send out the wrong message,” Hickenlooper told us. “It implies that there’s something to be fearful of, that the government is fearful of being attacked. I don’t think that’s the case anywhere – not in Lafayette, not anywhere. I think that program is going to be reevaluated now, and we’ll see if it doesn’t get reconfigured in a more constructive way. You look at some of the gigantic vehicles that these small communities have – it’s hard to imagine them ever needing a vehicle like that.”

This sentiment, coming straight from the mouth of the governor himself, got our minds working. The police is supposed to be in place to “protect and serve,” right? Boulder County doesn’t have the kind of community that needs fear striking into it; while we do have crime here, the numbers are way lower that at other places in the country, largely because poverty isn’t a big problem here. So the questions that kept going around our collective heads were, just how militarized do our local police forces need to be? When stopping people for, say, speeding, how aggressive do the police officers need to be? And when you really start digging into it, is protection always the priority over collecting revenue for the city?

It should be a given that our police officers have our best interests at heart. And we believe that most of the police officers out there are good and decent people who get into the profession for the right reasons. But there are too many stories of mistreatment of citizens for it to be a coincidence.

Take Stacy Lock, a Longmont resident who sued the City of Longmont, the Longmont Police Department, and four of its officers last year for an incident in May 2013. According to the Times-Call, Lock alleged that, “officers Paul Beach, Phillip Piotrowski, Tyler Schall and J. Winship used excessive force while arresting her, breaking her ribs and puncturing her lung in the process… The city and police department claim in the police report and court documents that Lock was interfering and obstructing the officers from doing their jobs that night and she was injured before police showed up.”

Now, to be fair, the officers implied that Lock was intoxicated and behaving badly, but still, her injuries don’t correspond with the story from either side. Take a look at Yelp, and the Longmont PD has an overall rating of one star, with one reviewer going by KT stating, “I have never had a good experience with the Longmont PD (they are slightly better than Boulder PD but that’s like saying one pile of dung smells better than another.) [I]was at a party, guy drank too much started vomiting and raving wildly. So we did the right thing, called 911 to get him help. Cops showed up [and] wrote tickets to everyone who was under 21 for drinking even though of the eight who got a ticket only one had actually had anything to drink, then proceeded to interrogate me like I’m some sort of terrorist or psychopath even though I called 911 in the first place, and were that not all screwed up enough they pulled me over half a block from the house after I finally got to leave their witch hunt and gave me a ticket for ‘speeding.’

Supposedly I was doing 48 in a 35 because, yes, I speed with tons of cops right behind me, in a 14-year-old car that physically could not get to 48 in the 200 some feet I had driven at that point. In other words, the Longmont PD is far more concerned with making money, meeting ticket quotas, and doing their best to control people’s personal lives when they aren’t hurting anyone than they are with protecting or serving anyone.”

Those opinions are not uncommon. Boulder PD gets a slightly better 2.5 overall rating, but the stories are still disturbing. That said, if we in the publishing industry know anything at all, it’s that people really only ever feel inclined to write something online if they’re angry.

That same mentality of sharing our opinion whilst angry doesn’t only apply to scathing Yelp reviews or letters to the editor. For officer Sue Barcklow of the Boulder PD, people on the street are more likely to voice their disdain than praise. With the recent scrutiny police departments throughout the nation have received, even the officers in Boulder County have had their share of protests and comments from citizens.

“In the last year I’ve had people stop and stare at me, throw their hands towards the sky and yell, or mouth, ‘don’t shoot,’” Barcklow said. “This would have never happened fifteen years ago. A lot of people are pulling out cell phones as well, no matter why we stop to talk to them. It’s as if they are expecting us to be cruel and mean.”

But is this is an irrational fear? Rather it be on the news, on Facebook or through Twitter our newsfeeds have been flooded by viral videos of officers abusing their power, leading to deaths, mistreatments and racial profiling. Since the George Zimmerman verdict, there have been several other high profile stories of police brutality, notably Michael Brown, Eric Garner and most recently Sandra Bland.

In every case, social media became both the engine for raising awareness and an outlet for outrage. But the outrage doesn’t only rest behind the computer screen.

For Barcklow, a few instances shouldn’t shape the overall view of police work and the people sporting a badge and a gun.

Barcklow knew she wanted to be a police officer from a very early age. With the absence of her father, it was a family friend, and police officer, who checked on her and her siblings when they were teenagers. She knew she wanted to be like him when she grew up. She wanted to protect people, make them feel safe and secure.

After studying criminal justice at a college in Long Beach, Barcklow joined the force in California and found out it was something that she no longer wanted to do. So she moved out to Boulder to get her masters degree and waiting tables on the side. When to police officers who ate the restaurant found out she used to be a police officer, they convinced her to join the force again.

The stress is still there, but Boulder has a relatively low crime rate compared to other cities with the same population. Most of the calls Barcklow responds to are petty thefts, or home invasions. On any given shift, she spends part of it doing community outreach, talking to children or people on the street, and then responding to small calls with the occassional fight, or active robbery.

“There isn’t an average day,” she said. “You are always dealing with someone different, in a different situation, at a different place. It’s one of my favorite parts of the job.”

But, there are downsides to working a job with so much danger and scrutiny. Barcklow said if she knew how technology would interfere with her work that she would have chosen a different career.

“I come home jaded, and it’s not fair to my family,” Barcklow said. “I don’t have anything to hide, but the way people are treating officers all around is discouraging. Eventually every officer will have to wear a body cam, which will help show both sides of a story and not just the perspective of an observer’s cell phone.”

Even in Boulder, however, where the crime rate is low and most of the calls are domestic there is still a racial disparity that has some people concerned. In 2013, Boulder had a population of 103,163 people. Of that population, 89.9 percent was made up of white people, while the black population made up only 0.9 percent. However, when you look at the arrest citations provided on boulder-police.com, the black population accounted for 5.8 percent of the arrests.

According to a recent analysis by USA Today, Boulder had the second-highest disparity in the frequency of arrests for blacks and non-blacks in the state of Colorado between 2011 and 2012. African Americans in Boulder were about five times more likely to be arrested than all other races. The only police department in the report with a higher disparity was Arvada, where black people were about six times more likely to be arrested than other races.

None of the police officers commented on the disparity among arrests.

Only last year, four Boulder County sheriff’s deputies were cleared after being accused of using excessive force against inmate Robert Kirkland who said he had suffered a broken leg and multiple other injuries while in custody.

“We are gratified for the vindication of our deputies, who are good cops with good hearts, and who were falsely accused,” Sheriff Joe Pelle said in a statement. “This gentleman claimed he was beaten in the intake garage, and we have video of his intake, and there was no altercation at all. Period. Then he said he was beaten in his cell, that he was thrown down on the bed… We felt very steadfast in our deputies’ behavior, that it was appropriate, that nothing nefarious took place and that nobody was beaten up.”

So the important thing to note here is that the deputies were cleared, and we have to trust that the judge heard the evidence and the resulting verdict is correct. However, it’s worrying just how often these stories pop up.

Brian Rosipajla, support services commender for Lafayette P.D., was kind enough to provide us with some answers and, in part, put our minds at rest. Regarding the 42 M-26’s that we opened this story with, Rosipajla clarified, saying that, “The Lafayette Police Department received 40 M-16’s through the 1033 Program. Since the early 1990s police departments have switched from carrying exclusively shotguns in their patrol vehicles, to carrying patrol rifles. This has occurred because of many high profile incidents to include the Hollywood bank robbery, the Aurora Theater shooting, Sandy Hook, and Columbine to name a few. In many of these cases the active aggressor had high powered rifles and they were wearing body armor. The patrol rifles were the answers to help protect the lives of police officers and the citizens. As for the rifles we received from the government, these are modified rifles that anyone could go to a sporting goods store and purchase. They were all modified to semi-automatic weapons when they arrived and were then placed into service.”

In addition, when it comes to the issue of revenue generation, Rosipajla said that, “The Lafayette Police Department states in our policies that, ‘The goal of traffic law enforcement is to reduce traffic collisions and improve the safety and quality of life for the community through traffic law compliance,’ We strive on reducing the amount of serious and fatal crashes which occur on our streets. I can’t speak for every officer across the county, however police officers generally join this profession to help people, reduce crime, and make it a safer place for the citizens they serve to live. They are not there to worry about whether their actions are generating revenue or not. As you probably saw on the Channel 9 News’ report a couple of months ago on this topic, the City of Lafayette was shown to be well below the average amount for fines generated by citations compared to the budget. The Colorado average was shown at 4 percent while the City of Lafayette was at 2.8 percent. When it comes to changing perceptions of the public that police officers are only there to generate revenue, this is something only education can assist with. One way we reach out to our community is by inviting them to the Lafayette Police Department Citizens Police Academy. This gives citizens the ability to see first hand why and how police officers do their job. We have an entire section in the academy just on the traffic unit and why they do what they do.”

That’s fine, but it’s worth nothing that Hispanics make up 18.2 percent of the population, and African Americans 0.9 percent, so there is still an imbalance.

Of the 1,033 arrests that the Lafayette P.D. made in 2014, 63 percent were white/non-Hispanic, 21 percent were white/Hispanic, and 3 percent were black. Rasipajla said that, “The Lafayette Police Department has a mission statement of, ‘Service with Honor and Integrity.’ Our fine police officers stand by this mission and treat everyone equally while they are patrolling the streets of Lafayette and taking official action.”

Even in Boulder County, where the crime rate is low and the racial diversity is even lower, the citizens are still questioning the tactics and motives behind the men and women sporting a badge. BoCo is part of this national trend, and people are entitled to ask difficult questions. And sometimes there is smoke without fire. But our police departments have to remain accountable and that’s where we come in.

Ryan Howe contributed to this story.

The post And Justice For All appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Dream Makers owner, Deb Gedenberg, counts out rocks with her students.

The Dream Makers quaint classroom was eerily quiet, like the soothing calm just before a summer storm. The preschool’s three teachers took the time to prep for their second day of Spy Camp, hiding clues on bookshelves, under toys and even under a rock in a fish tank complete with a giant gold fish. T

The two small rooms had been overrun by the theme of the week. One, which features a play loft and buckets of both educational and enjoyable toys, was roped off with thin red string creating a laser affect while the theme to “The Pink Panther” boomed out of a small Bluetooth speaker. The other was much more tame, with clues hidden among the multiple arts and crafts stations riddled along the walls.

“We want the kids to have fun while they are here,” Deb Gedenberg, creator and owner of Dream Makers, said. “We create a balance of fun, education and structure. We know the importance of each of those, and want to prepare these children for what is coming in a few short years.”

Dream Makers is a preschool in Boulder that focuses on preparing kids for elementary school. With a 5:1 student to teacher ratio, the school focuses on the social, educational and structural development of children ages two to five. It’s something that Gedenberg felt was a necessity after a few short years working for the school system.

Gedenberg started her career in education nearly two decades ago when she accepted a position with the kindergarten enrichment program. It was during those four years that she realized a lot of the children weren’t ready for school.

“Some of the kids would just come in and sit by themselves, they would cry, they would be aggressive, some would even fall asleep,” Gedenberg said. “They weren’t ready for school. And with the pressure we put on kids in school there wasn’t enough time to integrate them socially while they were catching up on the lessons.”

Gedenberg decided to leave the kindergarten enrichment program and start something completely her own. Combining the learning styles of Waldorf, Montessori, and others Dream Makers was born. After the first year however, Gedenberg reassessed what worked and what didn’t. Now, fifteen years later she continues to integrate new philosophies while staying true to her original mission: prepping her students for long structured days, an abundance of work and the pressure of social integration.

Her approach is simple. Let the kids have fun, while participating in educational activities.

Students are able to flow freely between two classrooms inside and the outdoor, creek side play area complete with a lemonade stand, a kiddie pool, tricycles and a climbing structure built from displaced rocks, courtesy of 2013’s flood.

Throughout the day, the students, which are all integrated together regardless of age, are given ample time to play and socialize alongside the structured daily lessons that include music, art, writing, German, cooking, math and physical activity.

During the summer, the school stays open but is treated as a camp of sorts. Each week a new theme is featured, giving the students a different cultural experience.

“We really do the best we can to help these children succeed,” Gedenberg said. “I’ve heard positive feedback from most of the parents that bring their kids here.”

Dream Makers student, Courtney, paints her dinosaur egg from Dino Camp.

For Justine Allison, Dream Makers is less like a school, resembling more of a family of people coming together with one common goal.

Allison was one of the first moms to drop off her two kids, Lucien and Tristan, at spy camp. Lucien attended Dream Makers before he started kindergarten at Crest View elementary.

From the get go, Lucien was bombarded with work. Every night he came home with math and reading homework, after sitting in his desk for hours. Allison recalled Lucien’s stories of the other students skipping lunch to go play at recess. To her, the workload was, and continues to be, too much for such a young boy.

“He would come home and be completely exhausted,” Allison said. “I could read it all over his face, but we still had to sit down and work through his homework. If I could afford it, he would be put in a Waldorf school.”

Waldorf schools are play-based characterized by a predictable structure, providing children with a dependable routine, such as certain days of the week for set activities like baking or gardening, as well as mixed-age classrooms with the same teacher for multiple years.

And for parents, such as Allison, it’s hard to sit back and watch children become a ghost of who they once were. As the workload continually grows, parents have noticed their children becoming withdrawn, sporting an exhausted demeanor and lacking the energy to be a kid even after school is out.

“It’s unreal the amount of work our kids are forced to do in school,” Allison said. “I bring both my boys here because not only does it help prepare them socially and mentally, but it’s also educational. For example, Lucien learned to spell his name by writing it in paint, or with shaving cream. To me, that’s the best way to go.”

But to continue on with nontraditional types of education after the toddler years is expensive, and out of the question for a lot of families. So it’s off to public school in the fall, where even some teachers are abandoning ship.

Amy Field, a fairly recent college graduate, started out her career in education teaching fifth grade at a public school. Her passion for education however seemed to slip further and further away from her heart, and seep itself slowly into the dark part of her mind. She had only been teaching for a year, and she was already burnt out.

“I would have kids come into the fifth grade when they were still working at a third grade level,” Field said. “But I had to follow the curriculum and test them on things that were nearly impossible for them to understand. It was heartbreaking.”

Field left teaching at public school after her first year. She moved on to teach a Montessori elementary. Montessori, developed by Maria Montessori in Rome in the early 1900s, is child-centered, with teachers serving as guides. The students learn through play, or problem solving. And for Field, it was a match.

Unlike public schools, most Montessori schools aren’t forced to take standardized tests. This is something that Field said lowers the level of stress on both the students and the teachers. Her time at public school carried a totally different mindset, where the focus was meeting test score criteria, and forgetting about the child.

“I would go home from work and just cry some days,” Field said.

For Boulder Valley School District, the work is worth it as the third grade class’s test scores for the district are nearly 10 percent higher than the surrounding areas. But Field feels that the pressure isn’t worth the higher scores, and it is this reason that she will not go back to teaching public school. As she continues teaching at a Montessori school, Field will undergo three summers of training, which is a testament to her commitment and beliefs in the Montessori school.

But not all parents, or teachers, share the same outlook on homework. For DeAndra Arndt, homework is something that lets her know just what her three elementary school children are learning on a day-to-day basis and a way to reinforce the lesson.

Arndt enrolled her children into the Rocky Mountain Christian Academy in Niwot. The school was a good fit, meeting Arndt’s needs for the first three and a half years that she kept her children enrolled. Last year, however, when the school changed their policy and curriculum for kindergarten through second grade, Arndt began to question the longevity of her children’s stay at the academy. The curriculum switched over to more of a discovery based method as opposed to the more traditional approach.

“They stopped sending homework home, which to me was extreme,” Arndt said. “So we left in December, and started researching every Christian private school in northern Colorado.”

The family finally decided on Longmont Christian in Longmont. The school met Arndt’s criteria, maintained a more traditional style of education and had room for all three of her children.

The Arndt’s wanted to keep their children in a private school at least until middle school. Even though the $13,000 out of pocket to attend a private school restricts them from taking family vacations, or having extra cash, the importance of the quality of education comes first. Finding the school with the perfect balance of quality and quantity wasn’t easy.

“Going on nature walks and exploring nature is great, but if this is the only teaching style your exposing to my second grader, I have a problem with it,” Arndt said. “There should be an equal part of creativity, and equal part fact driven approach.”

But, how far do the efforts put in by places similar to Dream Makers, such as full day kindergarten, really take these students?

Since 1977, the percentage of kindergartners enrolled in full-day programs has nearly tripled, increasing from 28 to 77 percent between 1977 and 2013. Overall, these students are more likely to o devote time every day to reading, mathematics, and social studies.

These programs also allow teachers more time to promote formal and informal learning, reduce the number of transitions in a child’s day, and allows children to get used to a schedule similar to that which they will have in first grade.

There are very few conclusive results on what these programs do long term, however. A nationally representative study, using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Kindergarten Cohort, found that academic gains of full-day programs had largely disappeared by the end of first grade. Other studies have shown that students who attended full day kindergarten showed better testing results into the second grade.

Boulder County has a total of 63 public elementary schools, with only seven schools offering full day kindergarten at Columbine, Creekside, Emerald, Pioneer, Sanchez, University Hill and Whittier.

For Sophie Pinnell, a fifth grader at Whittier Elementary in Boulder, her time at Dream Makers, and going to a full day kindergarten, the most prominent take away from these programs was the social development they helped her develop.

“Dream Makers made me feel comfortable making friends, and I wasn’t scared to go up and talk to the other kids at school,” Pinnell said after she demonstrated how to use a bubble wand to the toddlers crowding around her. Pinnell is spending her summer helping the three teachers at Dream Makers. “They call me a ‘counselor in training,’ and it’s actually a lot of fun. I get to practice responsibility, while still having fun. It’s as fun as when I was a student, and I’m still learning new things.”

Dream Makers students, Cameron and Tristan, play with a bubble wand on school’s patio playground.

This is something Gedenberg recognizes, and strives to achieve with Dream Makers. As the children filed in, ran the obstacle course and moved on to the patio to enjoy the early summer heat before it became unbearable, Gedenberg sat with two young girls counting out pebbles as they created a silhouette of a fish.

“After 15 years of working with children, you learn a thing or two about how far you can push them, and how far they are willing to get pushed,” Gedenberg said. “It’s a fine line that you have to learn to straddle.”

The post Toddler University appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In Boulder County many students are lucky to have the means to make it through school without a single blip, but for those living in the lower income districts of the county it isn’t that simple. The people at the “I Have a Dream” Foundation are doing everything they can to change that. We chatted with CEO Lori Canova about the program.I

The post Lori Canova appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

We all know how great it is to live in Boulder County, but sometimes a little recognition is exactly what we need to remind us just how great our little community is. When Money magazine recognized two different communities in Boulder County as the best U.S. small towns to live in, we weren’t surprised. W

Coming in at number 13, Erie is finally getting the recognition it deserves. With a population barely surpassing 20,000, our little residential neighborhood is praised for the average household income, $102,490, and the 14.4 percent in job growth.

The magazine wrote, “Erie is sitting pretty—30 minutes from Denver and the international airport and just 15 minutes east of Boulder, it’s in a perfect spot for workers wanting an easy commute to major employers like the University of Colorado and IBM. With the Rocky Mountains within view, it’s a short drive to world-class hiking and skiing. While the former coal mining town is still small, it has some big numbers: 56% of residents have college degrees, and the median household income is upwards of $100,000.”

It’s not wrong, but it’s not what makes Erie a great place to live. Even though the number of homes popping up greatly outweighs the amount of retail powerhouses making their way into the former coal-mining town, we don’t mind. The sense of community, respect and compassion for our ever-growing neighbors is apparent, when walking trough the neighborhoods or cooling off at the local ice cream shop, Sweets. The quaint downtown is booming, with new restaurants popping up and foot traffic escalating. It’s not about the numbers, Money magazine; it’s about the people.

Erie wasn’t the only BoCo community highlighted on the list. Louisville broke the top five, receiving the number four spot. And again, we aren’t surprised. Louisville is similar to Erie in size with a population of 20,075, and a job growth of 10.1 percent.

The magazine noted, “Smack in the middle of the job-rich corridor between Denver and Boulder, Louisville has great weather, good schools, and the Rockies right out the back door. But its popularity comes at a price: A nice three-bedroom home sells for $500,000—if you can find one.

“Louisville is tackling its growth challenges head-on, with improvements designed to accommodate an increasing population while preserving the open spaces that people love. Those include steps to ease traffic carrying workers to the tech companies along Highway 36, the main ¬Boulder–Denver route, and adding more commuter buses to the two big cities. (There are employers in town too, including Sierra Nevada’s Space Systems unit and bike accessory maker Pearl -Izumi’s U.S. headquarters.)”

Again, they aren’t wrong. And moving to either one of these places based on income, job growth and retail prevalence is a terrible idea. Luckily, bot of these towns have an ever-growing music, art and dining scene. They deserve the recognition.

The post Erie and Louisville rank in top small towns appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

DARK PLACES

Director: Shira Piven

Writer: Eliot Laurence

Starring: Kristen Wiig, James Mardsen, Linda Cardellini, Joan Cusack and Wes Bently
A-

A master collection of swan memorabilia. An obsession with Oprah Winfrey. A winning lottery ticket. Kristen Wiig, James Mardsen, Linda Cardellini, Joan Cusack and Wes Bently. What more would anyone want from an indie comedy centered on a woman with borderline personality disorder? The answer: not much. Welcome to Me, now streaming on Netflix, does a superb job of mixing hilarity with unrest, while throwing in a tinge of pathos. It was hard to watch and hard to turn away from. A

Wiig plays Alice Krieg, a summer baby born in 1971 in Simi Valley, California, who has been using masturbation as a sedative since 1991. She also adores swans, holds grudges, practices a color code emotional philosophy, has borderline personality disorder and just won the $86 million lottery. That gives her the freedom to change her life around. “As a new member of the rich and famous, I simply don’t have time for the pain,” she says, reading off a prepared statement, as she attempts to bid good-bye to her state-mandated shrink. This isn’t unlike Alice, as she often prepares statements, and almost always talks in a monotone, disconnected voice when having everyday conversations. It’s not unlike the characters Wiig portrayed during her time on SNL, but in the film there is an underlying emotion that shines through: pain.

With her newfound riches, Alice decides to do “something big” with her life. Modeling herself after her hero, Oprah, Wiig approaches a local television studio and offers them money to have her own show that focuses on her life, and the people in it. There isn’t a theme for the show, nor does she know exactly what she wants to do, besides entering on a swan boat, and it needs to be two hours long. The two brothers (Marsden and Bentley) accept the outlandish offer as a way to get money for their studio. There is resistance from the other employees, especially the producer (Cusack). From the moment she steps on set, the audience becomes captivated, as do we.

Welcome to Me dives deep into the mind of this eccentric, troubled woman. And how her “big” change affects everyone around her. It’s also riddled with outlandish circumstances that would never be allowed in the real world. (I mean, who would let a woman castrate dogs on live television after yelling at woman about stealing her makeup at summer camp?) But we suspend our disbelief, because the film is funny.

It’s not only funny, but uncomfortable. And walking away without resolve adds to that feeling of unrest. It perfectly leaves us wanting more, and not knowing what happened to the woman who has been using masturbation as a sedative since 1991.

The post Netflix Review: Welcome to Me appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

It’s hard to sit down and write about the GOP debate without filling the entire page with “LOL,” “hahahahahahaha” and eye rolling emojis. The two-hour debate seemed more like a new reality show for Fox News than anything. But instead of harassing you with preteen text talk, I’ll just fill you in with the nights highlights. I

1. Donald Trump

From the very beginning, Trump caused waves when he kept open the possibility of running as an independent by refusing to support the Republican nominee. “I will not make that pledge at this time… I have to respect the person.”

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s responded to Mr. Trump’s refusal to make a pledge: “This is what’s wrong. [Mr. Trump] buys and sells politicians of all stripes… He’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons… He’s already hedging his bets because he’s used to buying politicians.” Mr. Trump responded: “Well, I’ve given him plenty of money,” referring to Mr. Paul.

2. More Trump

When host Megyn Kelly called out Trump about his disrespectful comments towards women he had a very simple answer, one that would definitely warrant a lot of eye-rolling emojis.

Kelly: “You’ve called women you don’t like “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.”

Trump: “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”

Kelly: “No, it wasn’t. For the record, it was well beyond Rosie O’Donnell.”

Trump: “Yes, I’m sure it was.”

Kelly: “Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women’s looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?”

Trump: “I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct.”

3. Social issues

It was painful to even sit through the social issues section of the debate. Especially when asked about #blacklivesmatter, and the candidates wouldn’t even touch the subject. But the real stand out was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee when asked about the new trans policy in the military.

“The military is not a social experience,” Huckabee said. “The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things.”

4. Paul and Christie face off

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul had a heated debate on the subject of terror and national security, which started with Mr. Paul’s statement, “I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people.”

Mr. Christie responded: “Listen, senator, you know, when you’re sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that.”

Mr. Paul: “I don’t trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead.”

5. Translation needed

Sen. Rand Paul responded to the Supreme Court’s recent decision on gay marriage.

A Facebook user asked Paul what he would do to ensure that Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and if Christians will be forced to conduct business that interferes with their religious beliefs.

“I don’t want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington,” Paul stated.

What does this even mean? A lot of Americans would have been a lot better off with translated captions.

The post GOP Debate Highlights appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This weekend is the 17th annual Crestone Music Festival in Crestone. The music festival is hosted by Crestone Performances Inc. (CPI), a non-profit organization in San Luis Valley. In addition to hosting the music festival, CPI offers community support for local events as well as organizing youth enrichment programs. T

The music festival is described as “over-the-top quality at under-the-table prices.” There are activities for both children and adults, making it an event for the whole family.

Throughout the weekend, there are wood chopping, limbo and pie eating contests for the adults, and the Salida Circus, We Are The Drum Workshop, hula-hoops, beach balls and a jump machine for the kids. Each year, the Festival has a raffle, door prizes and auctions. Additionally, there is on-site camping and delicious food.

The Festival hosts a variety of different artists across different genres, including River Bottom Blues Band, Lunar Fire, Global Soul Experience, Fiji Acoustic, and CB Jazz. Performances and activities fill the entire three days, letting festival-goers make the most of their weekend.

CPI’s Youth Enrichment Program caters to children in the San Luis Valley, introducing them to diverse educational and cultural presentations. The program reaches 35 schools in addition to the San Luis Valley Boys & Girls Clubs. Kids are exposed to a variety of presentations, including a robotics troupe, Indian traditional music and Celtic art. CPI is able to subsidize the cost through support and donations.

CPI is involved in community service endeavors and events throughout the San Luis Valley. They assist many community events by helping with behind the scenes production aspects for organizations such as local volunteer fire departments, and events like the Crestone Energy Fair, and Yaktoberfest.

Interested in attending the music festival? Advance ticket sales prices end today, Aug. 6, at 6 pm. Tickets can be purchased at crestfest.org.

The post Crestone Music Festival this weekend appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Stonewall: a gay bar in Greenwich Village that provided a safe haven for queers that had nowhere else to go before the gay rights movement began in 1969. S

Stonewall: the birthplace of the gay rights movement after patrons started the Stonewall Riots in 1969.

Stonewall: an iconic queer landmark that remains open on Christopher Street in Manhattan as a gay bar.

Stonewall: a film about the birthplace of the gay rights movement that erases the trans women of color who started the movement and replaces them with a gay white man.

After watching the trailer for Stonewall, slated to release on September 25, I was confused. Then I was angry. Then I was furious. Now, I’m a mixture of those emotions with a large dose of disappointment. My initial excitement about a film that could educate these young queers about our history diminished within the first minute of the trailer, when most of the cast was revealed as white, cisgender men. This is a problem, Hollywood.

Let’s all gather around our computer screens for a brief history lesson. The Stonewall riots were a series of violent protests against the police by the queer community in New York in 1969. Many cite the Stonewall Riots as the single most important event that led to the queer liberation movement in America, and the foundation upon which all modern queer rights are founded.

The two people most credited with sparking the riots and paving the way for modern LGBT+ rights were Marsha P.Johnson, a black transwoman who performed as a drag queen, and Silvia Rivera, Puerto Rican transgender woman.

Others credited for playing a huge part in the riots were Allyson Allante, who was just 14 when she was arrested, as well as Diane Kearney, Zazu Nova and Miss Peaches.

Yet the film’s description reads, “STONEWALL is a drama about a fictional young man caught up during the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Danny Winters (Jeremy Irvine) is forced to leave behind friends and loved ones when he is kicked out of his parent’s home and flees to New York. Alone in Greenwich Village, homeless and destitute, he befriends a group of street kids who soon introduce him to the local watering hole The Stonewall Inn; however, this shady, mafia-run club is far from a safe-haven. As Danny and his friends experience discrimination, endure atrocities and are repeatedly harassed by the police, we see a rage begin to build. This emotion runs through Danny and the entire community of young gays, lesbians and drag queens who populate the Stonewall Inn and erupts in a storm of anger. With the toss of a single brick, a riot ensues and a crusade for equality is born.”

This is a massive problem, Hollywood.

You targeting a movie, which looks a little too much like a musical than it should, to young queer people and claiming that this little white boy started a revolution. You are erasing the trans women of color completely. The word ‘transgender’ isn’t even in the description.

I’m disappointed, but not shocked. For years the media attention and the movement focuses on the most heteronormative sub community in LGBT+ culture: middle and upper class, cis gender, white men. If we continue to further marginalize the LBT+ communities in our already marginalized family, we will get nowhere.

We need to remember our predecessors. Remember them for their bravery. Remember them for their resilience. Remember them for who they were, not what Hollywood wants them to be.

The post Stonewall movie whitewashes historical beginning of a movement appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

DARK PLACES

Director/Writer: Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Release Dates: August 7

Starring: Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Corey Stoll, Christina Hendricks, Chloë Grace Moretz and Tye Sheridan
B-

Viewers who are looking to fill their mystery thriller fix may want to stray away from Dark Places. Although the idea came from the same mind that brought the twisted, dysfunctional marriage thriller Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn, Dark Places is a relative disappointment. The film is rich with raw materials including mass murder, serial killers, satan worshippers, closed off victims, and Charlize Theron leading an all-star cast, but it failed to control and deliver an exciting plot line.V

Charlize Theron portrays the beaten, broken and mooching Libby Day, who has run out of donated money and hope 30 years after her mother and two older sisters were massacred at their farm home nearly 30 years ago. Desperate for cash, Libby joins the ranks of the “Kill Club,” a private investigator club that is led by a young entrepreneur Lyle (Nicholas Hoult). The club offers to pay her only if she helps them prove that her brother Ben, who Libby testified against during the trial, is innocent.

The film jumps around from the present to the day of the massacre. The present focuses on Libby navigating her way through old memories, case files and intuition to piece together the reality of what happened. The past, however, is where much of the story comes together. It is here that we find out about the mother’s financial troubles, Libby’s father’s abusive behavior, Ben’s Satan-worshipping friends and his alleged sexual abuse of four young girls. All of the films plot twists, both good and bad, happen in the flashbacks. The flashbacks make the film watchable.

It wasn’t only the backstory that made Dark Places a step above an original Lifetime movie. The cast hold the film together with strong, believable performances. Theron slays the screen with her portrayal of the off-putting heroine, while Chloë Grace Moretz camped up her role as Ben’s satanic, drama-loving girlfriend. But the real stand out was Christina Hendricks’ portrayal of Libby’s desperate mother, Patty Day.

Although the film lacked gut-wrenching moments, I couldn’t look away. It was unfortunately rushed, as the action started right from the beginning and lasted until the final twist, which was less shocking and more confusing. There was a thin line between seriousness and camp that the film straddled, and it worked. Without the underlying campiness of the film, interest would have been lost in the first half hour.

The final redeeming quality for the film was the portrayal of women in the film. There was no man to save the day at the end. Libby did it on her own, just as her mother did before the massacre. If anything, Flynn knows how to write a strong female, and luckily they aren’t lost once Hollywood gets its hands on the rights.

The post Movie Review: Dark Places appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

IRRATIONAL MAN

Written & Directed by: Woody Allen

Produced by: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum, Edward Walson

Starring: Jamie Blackley, Joaquin Phoenix, Parker Posey, Emma Stone
C-

Woody Allen’s latest film Irrational Man should have been a tour de force with the powerhouse cast behind his 45th feature film. But even Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Parker Posey couldn’t save the film, which puts a twist on the tired, college professor overcoming a midlife crisis with the help of two beautiful women plot line. W

The idea is there, as Phoenix portrays Abe Lucas, a radical philosophy professor who has a bad reputation and is in a downward spiral of depression when he accepts a job at a hermetic New England college town. He is an alcoholic, a loner and a cynic. He is a cliché. But his presence at the university sends the women on campus into a frenzy of lust and intrigue. As Rita (Posey), an unhappily married professor who is looking for any escape she can find, and Jill (Stone), a promising student who develops a crush on the new mysterious professor, do whatever they can to seduce Abe.

The first half of the movie lacks any from of transition from scene to scene and seems rushed and choppy. The entire mood of the movie changes when Abe and Jill overhear a woman at a diner complaining about a crooked judge who is ruining her life in the form of a custody battle. In some twisted form of heroism and self-entitlement, Abe decides to murder the judge. The remainder of film, centers around him planning the perfect murder and the women still trying to get his attention.

Irrational Man disappoints on many levels. The first being that the characters aren’t developed enough for any form of sympathy or compassion from the audience. Of course there were funny moments that received a few chuckles from the audience, but it wasn’t enough. Posey, who got the least amount of screen time is the only character that is placed in reality. This is sad, being that both Rita and Stone are relying on the men in their lives to find happiness or excitement. Not all women need a man to save them from the mundane.

The film, which revolves around what is morally and ethically right, fails on presenting a new look at these philosophies. It’s an insult to the audience to assume we need blatant explanations, either through dialogue or voiceovers, about what the movie is trying to say. It’s as if Allen created a live action Philosophy for Dummies.

It’s not all bad though. Irrational Man never lost my interest. The twist in the plot was something unexpected and creative, and the cast did a phenomenal job of portraying the less than developed characters.

Go see Irrational Man at the matinee, or wait until it comes out on DVD.

Irrational man opens in Denver on Friday, July 31 at the Landmark Esquire.

The post Movie Review: Irrational Man appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The owner of Indulge Bakery in Lafayette was charged last week with sexual assault after investigators say he molested a teenage girl who sought a job at the bakery.

Jaime Herrera Naranjo, 60, was formally charged with sexual assault on a child in a position of trust, a Class 4 felony, on Thursday, July 23.

Naranjo is free on $10,000 bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Aug. 10.

The post Owner of Lafayette’s Indulge Bakery charged with sexual assault appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The Netflix original documentary Hot Girls Wanted, which chronicles the lives of four young porn actresses, isn’t as revolutionary or groundbreaking as it could be. If anything, it’s more of a less-staged reality show on MTV. However, this does not mean that the film is bad, but for viewers who expect to see a fresh take on the porn industry will walk away from the film filled with disappointment. T

The film tries to hard to be something it’s not. If it was marketed as an inside look at four women, who all entered the industry for different reasons but all ended up in the same Florida suburban home with a young and awkward talent agent, then it would have succeeded. But it’s not. And the not so subtle hints of making the porn industry into the big bad wolf blowing down these young women’s houses one puff at a time, is uncomfortable to watch. Not because of the subject matter, but showing close ups of douches and dirty housing conditions beat viewers over the head, insulting our own intelligence.

It’s not all bad though. The film does a great job at showing the different experiences women have in the industry. It was hard to look away as one of the characters, Tressa, returns home and tells her mom her newest career path. It’s even harder to look away as her “thick” body forces her into more niche scenes, such as bondage or forcing XXL sex toys into her body. These aren’t even the most cringe worthy parts of the film, as some of the women get pushed into similar situations, such as extreme oral scenes that involve vomit and verbal abuse.

It also does a great job at examining class. These women are desperate to get out of their current situations, and move to Miami with promise of being a star and a place to stay. Once they are there, they are living beyond their means. Even with the high paying scenes, these women have to buy their clothes, makeup and transportation to different shoots outside of Miami. As Rachel, another girl living in the house with Tressa, said after a shoot: “Are you kidding me? I made $900 in five hours. I’m going to go home and make $8.25 an hour? No. No no no no.”

Hot Girls Wanted is worth the watch, and is currently streaming on Netflix.

The post Netflix review: Hot Girls Wanted appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Caitlyn Jenner’s acceptance speech for the ESPY’s Arthur Ashe Award for courage touched on a lot of issues, both personal and on a broader spectrum of trans issues. But one of the most touching and important issues she covered was that of ending the cultural discrimination against trans people, and whether we could have prevented the murder of trans girl Mercedes Williamson and the suicide of trans boy Sam Taub. C

This is something that Jenner could have avoided. She could have continued to joke about the process it takes to slide into a form fitting dress, or applauded the women’s soccer team a little longer. But she didn’t. She used the honor as a platform to bring attention to trans issues to people who may not have any connection to the trans community.

This is important. The killing of trans women, which occurs every two days, is an epidemic. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality and the LGBTQ Task Force, 41 percent of trans people attempt suicide in their lifetime, a rate that stands at nearly ten times the average of their non-trans peers.

Trans women, and especially women of color, are also the group most targeted for murder among all LGBT groups, representing 72 percent of LGBT homicide victims, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence. 67 percent of those victims were specifically trans women of color.

But it was Taub’s story that really hit home with Jenner.

“Sam’s story haunts me in particular because his death came just a few days before ABC aired my interview with Diane Sawyer,” Jenner said during her speech. “Every time something like this happens, people wonder, ‘Could it have been different, if spotlighting this issue with more attention could have changed the way things happen?’ We’ll never know.”

Taub, a 15-year-old roller derby skater, took his life in April after coming out as a trans boy, facing ridicule and harassment for his gender-nonconformity. He is just one of many. This is something that Jenner recognizes and asked that the audience and viewers stand by her side in the attempt to change these statistics.

She stated that she can handle the jokes and ridicule, but there are young people out there who can’t.

“For the thousands of kids out there, coming to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn’t have to take it,” she said.

We applaud you Caitlyn Jenner.

Check out the full acceptance speech here.

The post Caitlyn Jenner accepts the Arthur Ashe Courage Award appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

For those that have been locked away in a hot, dark room with no connection to the outside world, the U.S. has been taking a few baby steps, and one huge leap, in projecting the LGBT community towards equal rights.F

The Supreme Court won over the hearts of nearly every queer in America when they announced their ruling for marriage equality on June 26. The announcement took the nation, and Facebook, by storm resulting in overwhelming support for the queer community and a lot of backlash. As a radical queer, the support directed at my community was phenomenal, but changing a Facebook photo isn’t enough to really change the injustices that continue to plague the queer community. If anything the ruling should be a soapbox for us to focus on the more important issues.

This is something that our House Representative Jared Polis, alongside Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), is trying to accomplish with the Student Non-Discrimination Act.

The SNDA is a bill that would help protect public school students from bullying, harassment, and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill would establish a comprehensive federal prohibition against discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. It would also forbid schools from discriminating against LGBT students or ignoring harassing behavior.

“Every single child deserves a quality education that is free from discrimination and prepares them for college and a career,” Polis said in a statement. “It’s simply unacceptable that in 2015, there are thousands of students who face bullying and harassment every day when they get to school simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity.”

The bill was first introduced in 2010 with support from Obama, but is still struggling to find the support in the Senate and the House. Yesterday, the measure received 52 votes in favor of amending the Every Child Achieves Act, failing to meet the 60 votes needed for passage.

It’s a tremendous letdown. According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, three-quarters of LGBT students report verbal harassment at school while half report being bullied online, and more than a third face physical attacks or harassment.

This is a problem. A problem that Polis, the first openly gay parent in Congress, is not done fighting for.

“While it didn’t receive the 60 votes necessary for passage, this represents a giant step forward in our effort to make sure LGBT students have a safe and welcoming place to learn,” he said.

The post Representative Polis fights for LGBT students appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The Dairy Center for the Arts is bringing back one of their most popular exhibits Friday, as the artists from Imagine! Colorado hosts their opening reception. T

Imagine is a local non-profit that serves individuals with developmental delays and disabilities throughout their lives. With a budget of $31 million, the organization works with more than two thousand people in the Front Range. It’s mission is to “create and offer innovative supports to people of all ages with cognitive, developmental, physical, and health related needs so they may live fulfilling lives of independence and quality in their homes and communities.”

The expression of oneself through art is one of the ways Imagine brings its mission to life. The exhibit, which runs through July 31, displays the artist’s original artwork. It also shows how Imagine’s art teachers build adaptive art-making tools when needed to assist artists who encounter difficulty with tasks like holding a paintbrush or steadying a camera.

The opening reception is Friday at 5 p.m. with performances by some of the artists at 7 p.m.

The post Dairy Center partners with Imagine! Colorado appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Note: This review reveals an early plot twist that may anger a few readers, so read on with caution. You have been warned. N

It’s hard to reimagine a film about marriage therapy. There are countless movies about struggling relationships, ranging from downright heartbreaking to almost, kind of funny, but Charlie McDowell’s first feature length film The One I Love brought a surprising twist to an overdone plot.

The film opens with a simple scene, as a couple sit in a marriage counseling, talking about the changes relationships go through. Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss) discuss about the first time they met, the instant connection they both felt, and the radical decision to break into someone’s pool for a night swim. They then move on to talk about breaking into the same pool years later to spark the excitement that has washed away as the relationship developed. It’s through this scene that we see the duo still love each other, but haven’t adapted to the changing feelings that come with every relationship.

Upon their therapist’s request, Ethan and Sophie decide to take a weekend getaway to a secluded retreat in Northern California, to try and ignite the excitement in their relationship. This is where the movie turns from a cliché romance to something out of The Twilight Zone. The property, which has a main house and a guesthouse, has a supernatural effect that introduces the characters to doppelgängers of their partners. But these doppelgängers, which are exact replicas physically, are more charming, more put together, and better listeners.

This freaks out the couple, but also intrigues them to stay at the house for the remainder of the weekend, and explore the supernatural phenomenon.

The One I Love is a phenomenal look at relationships, and how they grow or grow apart. It dives into the expectations, realities and jealousy. It’s the added twist that makes this film worth watching. Without it, the audience may have lost interest within the first 20 minutes. It’s not a typical love story, and we love that.

It’s not just characters or the phenomenal performances by Moss and Duplass that keeps the audience intrigued, but the mystery behind the doppelgängers and where they stemmed from. The pairing of Justin Lader’s writing and McDowell’s eye for filmography mean that this is one movie Netflix users shouldn’t pass up. Trust us.

The One I Love is available on Netflix now.

The post Netflix review: The One I love appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Last year, William Toliver attended Pride for the first time. Pride is a staple of summertime for many LGBT people, giving them the chance to show how proud they are to be a part of the queer community. And for Toliver it was eye opening.L

He started his Pride weekend, which takes place during the latter half of June in Denver, at one of the nation’s best drag shows, Drag Nation at Tracks. He wasn’t a virgin to the drag world. He’d been to many drag shows before both in his hometown of Detroit and a few places in Colorado once he moved here in 2013. He even performed as a queen up in Fort Collins for more than a year, but after seeing the extravagant show at Tracks, his love for the art only grew.

“I never knew Denver was a Mecca for drag performers,” Toliver said. “The first show I saw at Tracks was such a production. The whole thing kind of reminded me of a Cirque Du Soleil performance, and I knew that’s where everyone wants to be. I knew that I wanted to get there, but I never knew how. You just really have to believe in yourself.”

If there are two traits that Toliver possesses it’s belief and determination. He has been doing drag regularly for nearly two years, and has made a name for himself in the Denver drag scene. At any given performance, his drag persona Khrys’taaal can be seen kicking, flipping, twirling, popping, locking and whipping a wig around. He is an entertainer, but the road hasn’t been easy.

In the drag world, most queens are brought into the world of drag with help from drag families, or queens with more experience that are willing to help new performers polish their craft. But Toliver dove into the drag world without a close knit group of people giving him tips and advise; he is a performer born from past experiences and the Internet.

Growing up in Detroit, Toliver didn’t have many friends. Describing himself as a chunky, quirky extrovert who didn’t try to fit in with the other boys, his friends were the cartoons he watched on television and his imagination. As he grew up, he became more active by getting into cheerleading, which helped work off his baby fat and build up stamina and coordination.

He was also blessed to have a supportive group of relatives that taught him the importance of hard work and following his dreams. It was the only family he needed as he quickly developed his drag esthetic and professionalism.

The Internet came into play as Toliver researched drag’s history, or herstory. Refusing to start something without a little background, he started with the early greats, and made his way to the modern day. It also gave him more make-up tutorials than he could have ever imagined with YouTube.

“I’m incredibly blessed to have so many supportive family members that really drilled in the idea that nothing comes easy,” he said. “My mom instilled that you never half ass anything, so when I decided that I was going to try and make it onto the Tracks stage, I knew that I had to be fully prepared.”

Toliver put in the hours. He worked hard to get where he is today. He keeps his body in great physical condition to keep his high kicking aesthetic at its best. He continually gets better at painting his face. He has built a name for himself, by himself. That name is Khrys’taaal.

“In Denver most of the successful queens are part of two different drag families but I wanted to do this on my own,” Toliver said. “I wanted to fail on my own, or succeed on my own. Hopefully I keep the momentum to continue succeeding.”

Now, nearly a year after he watched his first Drag Nation, Toliver describes Khrys’taaal as an extended, extended cast member of Drag Nation. For the past few months, he has graced the large stage with a slew of background dancers, hyping the audience and doing something all his own. Without padding on his hips, thighs, torso or breastplates, Khrys’taaal plays with androgyny. But padding, and looking as realistic to a woman as possible, isn’t the only way to do drag. It comes in many shapes, sizes and forms.

Last month, as the crowd at Drag Nation crowded around the stage waiting to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7 contestants Ginger Minj and Miss Fame perform at the superhero themed show, Khrys’taaal took the stage dressed as the Dark Pheonix from the X-men comics. Complete with a skin-tight body suit, fiery red wig and sweaty back up dancers, he brought the audience an upbeat Janet Jackson performance.

“When I was younger and had no friends I always wanted to be the Pheonix. I would fantasize about it,” Toliver said. “Drag gives me the opportunity to bring these fantasies to life.”

Toliver is currently preparing to celebrate his second Pride weekend. But this year he won’t be up gawking at the stage, but shimmying across it. He’ll start his weekend with a performance at Drag Nation, followed by two days of performing on the Pride main stage.

“I’ve come such a long way in the last year, and I’m so grateful for all the support I have received,” Toliver said. “I can’t know for sure what the future holds, but I’m going to keep growing.”

Colorado hasn’t seen the last of Khrys’taaal.

The post Summer Profiles: Khrys’taaal appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Josh Miller is an eater. There aren’t many other ways to describe exactly what he does, except for scarfing down large quantities of food as competitors all around him try to eat as much as they can in as little time as possible. It’s a sport unlike any other, and the Major League Eating ranks Miller number 29 in the nation.J

“It’s not something that I ever dreamed of when I was younger,” Miller said. “It’s just something that started happening and I found out I wasn’t bad at it.”

Growing up, Miller was the family garbage disposal. Whenever there were leftovers from breakfast, lunch or dinner his family would push them down to his side of the table and watch as he cleaned the plates. It’s an impressive feat that no one would assume by looking at his tall, slender build. As he grew older, he started weighing out his food, and only eating the healthier options. He was, and continues to be, a self-proclaimed health nut.

He didn’t get into the sport until he moved to Texas. As an introvert, he didn’t go out much but wanted to explore his new residency. There wasn’t better way than to sample the food, and Texas is a hotbed for food challenges at bars and restaurants.

“I knew that I could eat a lot of food, and if I finished the challenge I got the food for free,” Miller said. “What more could I really ask for? I got free food, and realized I was pretty good at it.”

His affinity for searching out food challenges turned into much more than getting a free meal every once in a while. Miller stumbled upon a website, eatfeats.com, where local food challenges were listed alongside eating competitions. It was the natural progression for Miller to start competing.

So he dove mouth first into the world of competitive eating, and soon realized that he wasn’t terrible. In fact, he’s pretty good. Now ranked 29th, he’s made a name for himself and he’s not ready to give it up. Living in Colorado, Miller still makes his rounds with food challenges in Denver and surrounding areas, but his focus is on competing.

“When I first started, and told my fiancé what I was up to she didn’t believe me,” Miller said. “I don’t blame her because she saw how I ate when I wasn’t competing. It’s still a little weird for her to see me as I train for different competitions.”

Training for each competition is a necessity. Like all other sports, competitors can’t show up on game day without first preparing their bodies. They have to complete a series of stretches, but not their hamstrings or biceps, but their stomachs.

Miller, who doesn’t look like he could weigh more than 180 lbs, starts his training early. Once he signs up for a competition, he spends time during weekends to practice scarfing down large quantities of whatever food the challenge is offering. Then, the day before the competition he doesn’t eat solid food, but drinks large quantities liquid to stretch out his stomach.

On the day of the competition, he continues to drink liquids to keep his stomach stretched but doesn’t eat until the competition, where he gorges himself with hotdogs, burritos, wings, or whatever food is placed in front of him.

Miller is currently training for Nathan’s Coney Island hotdog eating competition, which is one of the most prestigious eating competitions watched by people across the nation on ESPN. But before he can book his trip out to Coney Island, he has to place in regionals.

“I went to all the grocery stores to find the hotdogs with a thick skin around it to try and match the competition dogs,” Miller said. “There’s not many around here, but when I find them I buy in bulk.”

Although Miller recently just fell into the sport, it’s something that he fell in love with and will continue doing, even if the people that surround him in one of the healthiest places to live in America.

“I want people to realize that we aren’t unhealthy people,” Miller said. “It’s a sport just like any other, and we treat our bodies like temples. I’m not gorging on food all the time, but only when a competition is nearing.”

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Last fall, Boulderites Jesse Spiegel and Matt Corliss accompanied New York Native Anthony DeJesus on a camping trip an hour north of New York City. It was the first time in his life that DeJesus left the city. The first time he could look at the stars without being blinded by the harsh city lights or hearing the distant, or sometime not so distant, sounds of sirens. He sat staring at the fire, breathing in clean air and enjoying the silence.L

“As we sat around the fire Anthony just looked at Jesse and I and said ‘the only way I’ve ever built a fire is with a bottle of kerosene before throwing it against a wall,’” Corliss said. “I just thought that is one of the most amazing things I have ever heard. I remember thinking this guy who is a few years younger than me, has lived a completely different life than I have.”

It wasn’t happenstance that put these three men around a fire together, but rather the beginning of a summer adventure unlike any of the men have ever experienced. Armed with cameras and a mission, Spiegel and Corliss recorded most of their fall trip, making it the pilot project of “Rewilding,” a program that would take incarcerated adults from New York City and introduce them to something they’ve never seen before. Something the five boroughs or four concrete walls can’t provide. They’re going to get a little wild.

“These guys, they hardly leave their block, and they’ve just got no access to see or experience anything different than that, so how could they possibly know anything other than that?” Spiegel said. “If you’re not shown or don’t see or experience anything else, then you’re not aware of it.”

Spiegel, who also grew up in NYC before moving to Colorado, has seen the justice system fail kids who fall into a bad place. He too had been in trouble with the law when he was a teenager in NYC. Arrested for fighting another teen, Spiegel could have ended up in the same situation as DeJesus, but his father gave him a suit to wear to court and gave him the things that some of the other teenagers couldn’t afford, a lawyer. He walked away without serious penalties, but the same couldn’t be said about the boy he was fighting. He faced real penalties for the crime. That was just the first of a string of events that showed Spiegel that the justice system was flawed.

“I was a kid when I did those things. Those very normal teenage things,” Spiegel said. “I was lucky. Those that aren’t are being penalized for making childish mistakes. If it wasn’t for my parents I would have become a completely different person.”

Spiegel’s parents didn’t just stop with helping him get out of legal trouble, but decided to get him out of the city and into the Colorado wilderness, sending him to climbing camps. Those experiences brought him back to Colorado for college and then as a resident once he graduated. But he didn’t forget where he came from.

The U.S. incarcerates 716 people for every 100,000 residents, a rate five times higher than most other countries, despite having a comparable crime rate, the organization states. The runner up is the United Kingdom, with 147 people incarcerated for every 100,000. It’s an expensive correctional system—running as much as $100,000 per year per criminal at some institutions and totaling $75 billion nationwide—that often fails to really change behavior. Based on the research compiled for Rewilding, 75 percent of incarcerated men will be re-arrested within five years of their release.

It was the latter statistic that drove Spiegel to start a non-profit aimed at helping formerly incarcerated New Yorkers see what lies beyond the city’s borders, by recreating what his parents did for him. Not with suits and lawyers, but with nature, climbing and a little fresh air. From there everything fell into place. He got in touch with Corliss to see if he would be interested in making a documentary, which quickly turned into a web series. He found a producer, Doug Metzger. And found someone who was willing to leave New York City for a summer adventure in DeJesus, who was born and raised in the Bronx. He’d joined a gang as a teenager and been incarcerated for dealing drugs by his 20th birthday.

But there is more to DeJesus than his track record. He is an avid cartoonist, drawing characters from comic books. He can spit rhymes with friends. His favorite meal comes from the corner store a few blocks from his house. And he works doing administrative work for a transitional program in New York City.

In mid-July Speigel, Corliss, DeJesus and a small crew will load into a van and spend six weeks traveling around the western United States, driving from New York to Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah and then back to New York to climb, camp, fish, practice yoga and learn about permaculture and sustainability.

“We will be doing a lot of different things, some that I have never even done, so it will be a nice adventure for all of us,” Corliss said. “I’m excited to see how this person grows as he’s introduced to new things.”

Corliss, who has met and been in contact with DeJesus regularly since last summer, is confident that the trip and web series will be a success. Corliss, who has been climbing for years, has never seen someone do a climb for the first time, get back on the ground and immediately want to get back on the wall.

“Anthony was so willing to just climb right back up,” Corliss said. “Of course we can’t know what this trip is going to bring out, but I feel really good about it. His eagerness during that first climb was a good sign.”

The journey begins in mid-July. Check out rewlidingthefilm.com for more info.

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Earlier in the year, Boulder Colorado was named one of the best cities to live in as a queer. Granted, it was a list of cities that excluded the Mecca’s of queer living such as New York or San Francisco, but the recognition was still there.E

The recognition was not misjudged, as the county continually shows support to the LGBT community. A prime example of this support came from the Chris Coker, the CEO of the Boulder Valley YMCA, when he stood his ground against a disgruntled member. The letter emerged after the YMCA hosted an LGBT dance with Out Boulder, a support group and safe haven for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning community.

“You closed the YMCA — the Young Men’s Christian Association — gym for a LGBT party? I would appreciate having my dues refunded for the day — and an apology,” the member wrote to Coker.

But Coker let the member know that he would not stand for it.

“There will be no apology,” he wrote in an open letter to members on the YMCA site. “And if you are offended by our support of Out Boulder and the LGBTQ teens of our community, then maybe our organization is not a fit for you.”

After Coker published his letter, he was flooded with a wave of support from people both in the community and from people in Japan, Swizterland, England, France, Canada and Mexico. It’s something that is shocking to Coker who said he was just doing the right thing.

The YMCA has a has a clear diversity and inclusion statement that informs all of its policies on a national and local level. This is something he addresses in his letter.

“The Y is made up of people of all ages and from every walk of life working side by side to strengthen communities,” he wrote. “Together we work to ensure everyone, regardless of gender, income, faith, sexual orientation or cultural background, has the opportunity to live life to its fullest.”

Mardi Moore, executive director of Out Boulder, said she is grateful to work in a community with so many supporters of the LGBT community.

“We are just so proud to partner with organizations that get it,” Moore said. “He could have ignored that. He didn’t have to do the right thing, but he did. He did the right thing. We couldn’t be prouder of our relationship and we want to continue to grow.”

Another advocate for the queer lives in Boulder County is U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, who spoke out about the recent controversy surrounding St. Vrain Valley school board.

Senior and valedictorian of his graduating class, Evan Young, was blocked from giving a graduation speech in which he planned to out himself as gay. He also wasn’t recognized as valedictorian, even though his GPA was 4.5.

Young said he had agreed to several advance edits to his speech by school Principal BJ Buchmann. But he resisted when Buchmann told him to also take out his disclosure of being gay. When Young refused, the school dropped him as the speaker.

Polis spoke out against the schools decision in an open letter to Twin Peaks Charter School.

“I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Young’s speech this past Sunday, and there is nothing in it that can reasonably be construed as offensive,” he wrote. “In fact, the act of preventing him from giving it merely on the basis of his sexual orientation, mentioned in the speech, is the unfortunate and offensive act that was perpetrated in the name of your school.”

But the discrimination, and bullying, of LGBT students isn’t only a problem at Twin Peaks. But there are programs out there, such as Out Boulder, that are trying to change this. With programming aimed to educating schools and districts about the LGBT community, these organizations just want all students to feel safe no matter their sexual orientation.

“We need to continue bringing training into the schools,” Out Boulder’s Moore said. “We need to have an open, honest dialogue in order to educate the community.”

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In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has decided that couples across the nation have the constitutional right to marry no matter what arrangement of genders stand at the altar. This brings marriage equality to all of the states where same-sex marriage bans were still in place or still being enforced to some extent.I

The decision in the case Obergefell v. Hodges, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, relies on the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which states, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor hall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

This is groundbreaking. This is amazing. This is a massive stepping-stone for the queer community. We are one step closer to equality. It doesn’t mean that we are fully equal (don’t be so naïve), but it does mean that we can move on and start working in other issues. More important issues. Don’t lose the momentum.

But, with that being said, go out and have a drink. Go out and kiss someone you love. Go make love to someone. Go celebrate marriage equality.

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It’s been exactly a week since I started revving up for my first ever Denver Pride. Today I sit in the same exact chair that I couldn’t wait to depart from last week, but now I’m thankful for the sturdy back and cushioned seat. The recovery process has been brutal, but worth every second.

I’ve celebrated Pride in a few cities across the nation, but Denver sure knows how to celebrate the queer community. It was impossible to walk out of the door in Denver and not be assaulted by a wave of rainbow flags, tutus, nipple pasties, white thighs and shirtless men. The smell of sunscreen and beard oil lingered in the air. Laughter, shrieks and snaps could be heard on any block in Capitol Hill.

Denver, celebrating its 40th Pride, hosted a number of events this weekend, too many to attend, so going into the weekend my plan was to go wherever the wind blew me. It worked out perfectly.

Starting out the weekend a bit early at the Eagle for Underwear Night was great. The leather bar blocked off part of the parking lot, allotting room for an outside bar and dance floor. There wasn’t much dancing, due to the sheer volume of men, women and everyone in-between parading around in their underwear, or waiting in the incredibly long drink line. Even with the influx of people and slight change in presentation, the bar didn’t lose its lovable, grimy charm.

The following night, on Friday, the bars around town erupted. Tracks hosted its monthly show Drag Nation with special guests, Raja and Sharon Needles from RuPaul’s Drag Race. A national bear event Bearracuda was hosted at City Hall. The Wrangler had a glow party (glow sticks, for the uninitiated). But I skipped all of those events to attend Honcho.

Honcho is a queer party from Pittsburgh, which was just named the second best in the nation. Making it’s second appearance in Denver, the party lived up to its reputation. The setting was an abandoned warehouse, with a junkyard in the back lot complete with porta potty and broken down cars. A number of DJs supplied an abundance of dance music, but the real party was in the back lot. People from all walks of life came dressed up. People came dressed down. People danced the night away. It was the best queer event I’ve been to in Denver, and staying until 4 a.m. was the best decision I made all of Pride.

Saturday and Sunday were filled with queers from all around displaying just how proud they were at Civic Center Park. Walking through the crowd it could have been any other Pride I’ve ever attended. There were radicals. There were advocates. There were families. There were people who took the opportunity to drink, and walk around nearly naked. There was a giant equality cake, that represented how far we have come, and how far we still have to go.

Rounding off the weekend, was a final drag show at Charlie’s with special guest Alaska Thunderf*@k from RuPaul’s Drag Race. The intimate stage, local queens, and the bars first Drag Race alum made up for one stellar ending to a phenomenal weekend.

But it doesn’t have to end. Celebrating once a year is a crime. Don’t be afraid to rock the nipple pasties and rainbow tutus. Be proud of who you are all year round, and make every day your own little version of Pride. Maybe with a little less drinking though.

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It’s been nearly two weeks since Orange is the New Black released it’s third season on Netflix, and unlike many die-hard fans we wanted to stretch out the episodes. After all, the show only comes out once a year and rushing through it is a disservice. I

Diving into the third season, OITNB lost some of the stamina and fan base it had leaving the first season. It’s not that the second season was bad, but it was definitely high drama, and a bit too unrealistic in a lot of places. Season three, which can be a bit slow at times, plants the series back on the ground and gets back into what made the first season great.

Throughout the season, we watched the characters grow and become more realistic. This was a necessity. It was a build up to the final episode where everything came together. The storylines came to an emotional ending, with more room to grow. Giving the series the longevity it needed.

The first two seasons focused on one big fued. The first being focused on the main character Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) and what seemed like the entire prison, while the second season focused on Red (Kate Mulgrew) and Vee (Lorraine Toussaint). But this season, there wasn’t a major villain. The characters this season had their own battles with other inmates, guards or the corporate man. Some storylines were more interesting, but there wasn’t a main plot focused on one character.

This format also gave the writers the opportunity to dive into the characters inner battles. Their weaknesses, their strengths, their sorrows. This made it worth watching episode after episode.

Even when inmates butted heads, it was often driven by their own struggles. Struggles that they reflect on as the prison system makes them continually feel dehumanized. Especially this season, as a major corporation takes over the prison and starts dishing out worse living conditions to save money. It’s a harsh reality for the inmates, and for the audience. We get to see the cut corners. We see the perception of these inmates from an outside point of view.

This season also became one of the most political. Although each of the storylines are separate, a lot of them focused on a few common themes. One of which being motherhood showing how these women are raising their children, and how their mothers raised them. This theme causes a lot of tension for a lot of the characters, especially when Gloria (Selenis Levya) and Sophia (Laverne Cox) start butting heads about their sons who ride up to Litchfield for weekly visitations. The battle eventually ends with Sophia in solitary confinement, which is not an uncommon occurrence for trans people in prison.

Another theme riddled throughout the season is religion. We have people taking advantage of religion to get better meals, women latching on to any kind of hope, which eventually turns into a cult, and characters converting. The scene where Black Cindy converts to Judaism is one of the series most emotional, real moments.

This season may not have been the most exiting, but it was the realest. Go check it out on Netflix.

Orange is the New Black returns to its roots

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I’ve been celebrating Pride since I was a child.

Growing up, I knew that I was different. My peers in school also knew this, and had no reservations about letting me know how effeminate I was. So each morning, after I ate my breakfast I made my best attempt to butch up to impress the other boys in school, which resulted in a one-man show that could have won a daytime Emmy. But as soon as the 2:30 p.m. mark hit, I was free to go home watch two episodes of Digimon and spend the remainder of the night being as flamboyant as I pleased. During the summer months, however, there was no stopping the pride parade that ran the through a small neighborhood in Indiana.

Those months are still the happiest days of my childhood as I forced everyone around me into a childish gay agenda. Sure, my older brother got tired of watching Bring It On, Clueless, Charlie’s Angels and Spice World. Sure, my neighbors got annoyed with the music blaring from the front porch as I rehearsed dance routines to “Geenie in a Bottle,” “Wannabe” and “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” Sure, the neighborhood kids poked fun as I paraded in the backyard in my moms robe. But I was on vacation, and my parents quickly stopped anyone who tried to squander my happiness. For that I am forever grateful.

As I grew up, I never grew out of my desire to premiere my white boy dance moves when a pop song came on, but I got better at hiding it. My wardrobe transformed into the best attempt at mall goth that I could muster. I let my hair grow out as an attempt to hide behind the long curls. I stayed reserved and didn’t keep friends for longer than a few months. I even dated a few girls, but broke up with them when they tried to kiss me. I traded my summer freedom for a my own personal prison, filled with episodes of Lost and corndogs.

My only friends were the monsters that hid in the dark corners of my closet.

I eventually found a group of friends I related to, and through that I found the courage to inch out of the closet. It’s no surprise that my family was accepting. I mean, it wasn’t really a surprise.

My queer journey was finally on track, and I hit it like Jeff Gordon (or some other Nascar racer. I don’t follow sports.) I educated myself about my queer predecessors. I ditched the mall goth look. I cut my hair. I danced whenever I wanted, and refused to hand out apologies.

Now I sit here eight years later, planning out my first Colorado Pride weekend. The plan? Have fun, celebrate my queerness with a group of people that have come to be my Colorado family, and reminisce on the days that I celebrated on my own in a small neighborhood in Indiana. I’ll even eat a few corndogs.

I’m here. I’m queer. I’m going to party.

The post Time to celebrate appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Everyone knows that Netflix has branched out and started producing their own original shows. There are some hits, see Orange is the New Black, House of Cards and Daredevil as proof. Some haven’t been so hot, see Hemlock Grove, BoJack Horseman and Marco Polo. Actually, don’t see those. E

On June 5, Netflix released its most recent original series Sense8, and this editor’s social life took a dark spiral down as he marathoned through the series over the weekend. It’s not just good, it’s phenomenal.

The series is the most recent project from the Wachowski siblings, who brought us The Matrix. The duo teamed up with J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5) to make a transcendental action-adventure drama, and they delivered. For the sake of everyone, I’m not comparing the series to The Matrix, because even though the series is sci-fi and thought provoking. the two projects have nothing to do with one another.

Sense8 focuses on eight different individuals from across the globe who start having visions of each other, and conversations, and attractions, and weird sex orgies all in their minds. These characters have relatively nothing in common with the exception of sharing a birthday, and being ridiculously beautiful. It’s impossible to pinpoint a main character as each episode follows each character and their life.

There’s Capheus (Ami Ameen) a Matatu bus driver who has an obsession with Jean-Claude Van Damme’s work and is doing anything he can to provide his mother with AIDS medication. Sun (Bae Doona) is the daughter of a powerful Seoul businessman and a part time underground kickboxing badass.

Nomi (Jamie Clayton) is a transwoman living in San Francisco and former hacker with family issues. Kala (Tina Desai) is a pharmacist and devout Hindu in Mumbai who is struggling with marrying a man she does not love. Riley (Tuppence Meddleton) is an Icelandic DJ who plays a major role towards the end of the season alongside Will (Brian J. Smith) who is a cop in Chicago.

Wolfgang (Max Riemelt) is a Berlin locksmith who uses his talents to break into safes. Lito (Miguel Ángel Silvestre) is a closeted Spanish actor living in Mexico City.

Although each character plays a role in the series, and each storyline keeps the audience captivated, the real charm of the show is the premise. These eight individuals from across the globe have a connection, and help each other through their life struggles. Isn’t that something we could all get on board with?

With this evolution, each person on the planet could have a core group of people that would always be around. They can count on each other. They will always have someone to talk to. They will get to experience different cultures without ever leaving the comfort of their own home.

It’s a strong concept and the Wachowski siblings didn’t disappoint. Combining it with strong characters, unbelievable cinematography and a plot line that sucks viewers in makes for one amazing Netflix original.

The post A Netflix series worth watching appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Warning! Spoilers ahead. If you weren’t glued to your HBO GO subscription last night and missed the season 5 finale of Game of Thrones click out of this tab, sneak out of your office, anchor into a comfortable position and brace yourself. The finale is one hell of a ride.W

If you were smart enough to skip Sunday Funday and spend the final moments of the weekend gasping at the television, let’s gossip about what happened with our favorite characters.

1.) Daenerys may be in a bit of trouble

Episode nine ended with the mother of dragons being lifted to safety by one of her children, but we find out that her dragon is going through some teenage angst. Like a giant cat who runs away after one too many belly rubs, her dragon refuses to take her back home. Instead Drogon gives Khaleesi the cold shoulder, leaving her to walk off on her own and figure out where they landed. It’s not a great plan as she is soon surrounded by an contingent of Dothraki. From the looks of it, she’s not in good company.

2.) Another Lannister dies

Myrcella seemed to be the only Lanister that had a chance for a happy life. She was falling in love with her arranged husband and she was living in the beautiful Dorne, which is far away from iron throne. Of course she had a few women hunting her, but we were rooting for her. The writers weren’t when they killed her with Sand Snakes’ poison. The scene goes from heartwarming – in that Myrcella is oddly excited about her uncle being her dad – to heartwrenching. Life lesson Myrcella, never kiss someone who just tried to kidnap you.

3.) Sansa finally escapes

Throughout the season we have seen Sansa be tore down at the hands of Ramsay. How much worse can her storyline get? The worst two characters of the entire series have tortured her. She has lost all ties with her family, most of them are dead. She is all-alone in a very cold Winterfell, but the finale left us with a glimmer of hope that she may be rising out of the ashes.

In the final episode, we see Sansa sneak out of her room, or torture chamber, and finally light the candle in the window of the broken tower. But per usual Brienne of Tarth has the worst timing and didn’t see the lit candle. On her way back to her room, Ramsay’s mistress, who is dead set on maiming, corners her only to have Theon push the mistress to her death. After realizing that they both are in big trouble, he takes Sansa’s hand as they jump to freedom.

4.) Arya faces the consequences of revenge

Arya, like most of the Starks, had one terrible episode. With a full season of build up, we get to see Arya start being the little warrior she is meant to be, as she sets out on a revenge kill. Having learned how to change her face, she disguises as an underage prostitute in order to get close to Meryn. After he gut punched her, she reveals herself, blinds him and stabs his torso repeatedly before proclaiming her true identity and slitting his throat. It’s brutal and brilliant.

When she returns to put the borrowed face back she is confronted by Jaqen and his assistant subject. She broke the rules, and we are left with Arya losing her eye sight and wailing in the room full of faces.

These Stark girls can not catch a break.

5.) Bran still doesn’t pop up

6.) Stannis get’s played

Was anyone really rooting for Stannis after he went all Salem Witch Trials on his own daughter last week? He starts this episode off still worried about taking the north, and even more so when half his army deserts him and he finds his wife hanging from a noose. But it doesn’t stop him. He’s dedicated to his mission, but it was clear he was fighting a losing battle. That witch has been playing Stannis since the beginning, right?

We don’t see the battle but we see his army destroyed by Ramsay’s, and we see Stannis lounging against a tree with a wounded leg and ego. It’s Brienne of Tarth who stumbles upon him, which is remarkable because she is never on time for anything. We assume she killed him, but the scene cuts as she swings her sword.

Revenge is sweet Brienne, but let’s hope you don’t suffer the same fate as Arya.

7.) Cersei takes a long, long walk

Master manipulator Cersei had a rough second half of the season, being imprisoned for her sins. Some of which she finally admitted to, so she could return home. But before doing that, she had to embark on a painful walk of shame. Stripped of her hair and her clothes, she is forced to walk through a crowd of King’s Landing residents, who assault and mock her. Not to mention the sadistic woman who beat her with a ladle follows behind and chants “shame” repeatedly with a smirk stretched across her face.

It is one of the worst scenes from the entire series. Watching a woman be publicly destroyed, and to see the pain in her eyes almost had me fast forwarding through the sequence.

8.) Jon Snow is murdered

Jon Snow is not a crowd favorite at the wall. Especially after losing men trying to bring the wildlings south. He knows he is hated, but didn’t see the trap he was walking into. The young Olly leads him out to a group of men from the Night’s Watch who circle him and start stabbing him repeatedly.

It’s the young Olly who delivers the final blow, and we are left with a shot of Snow bleeding out in the snow.

It wasn’t a good episode for any of the characters except Ramsay, who somehow is still alive.

The post Game of Thrones concludes season 5 with a bang appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Summer is finally kicking off, and so are many events in the Boulder and Denver area. We’re in the season of weekend festivals, summer concerts, and farmers’ markets, so get out and enjoy the weather. Well, maybe after the rain stops. S

Start your weekend bright and early with the Boulder Farmers’ Market where you can browse a selection of locally grown, organic, fruits, vegetables, flowers, plants, cheeses and wines in addition to tasting samples from local eateries. It’s a great way to support the local economy.

Come down to the Boulder Airport for a World War II Era 1940s Ball, for a USO style show with Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney and more. Attendees can enjoy dancing to traditional big bands amongst WWII planes, impersonators, and Vegas-style roulette.

Or go to the opening weekend of the Colorado Renaissance Festival in Larkspur. Dress up (or not) and walk around the village, tasting food, and watching performances by jousters and jugglers.

The 3rd Annual Erie Brewfest is taking place this weekend in Historic Downtown Erie on Briggs Street. Attendees can sample beer and food from over 25 Colorado breweries and food trucks, and a live performance by the SoHo Band.

Here’s what’s going on in the Denver/Boulder area this weekend:

•Keller Williams & The Keels. 8 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder.

•Traveling With Angels. June 12-14. Dairy Center for the Arts – East Theatre, Boulder.

•The Prairie Scholars: Tacos, Tequila and Tunes. 7:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m. CyclHOPS, Longmont.

•2nd Fridays at the Firehouse. 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Firehouse Art Center, Longmont.

•West World POA Show. June 12-13, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Boulder County Fairgrounds.

•Colorado Gypsy Jazz Festival. June 12-13. Holiday Event Center, Denver.

•World War II Era 1940s Ball. 4 p.m-1 p.m. Boulder Airport, Boulder.

•Boulder Farmers’ Market. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. 13 Street between Canyon and Arapahoe, Boulder.

•Monica Whittington. 4 p.m.-6 p.m. The Riverside Café, Boulder.

•Much Ado About Nothing. 8 p.m. Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre, Boulder.

•The Weepies. 8 p.m. Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder.

•3rd Annual Erie Brewfest. 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. Historical Downtown Erie.

•Movie in the Park – Big Hero 6. 8 p.m. Erie Community Park.

•Bicycle Rodeo with Lafayette Police Officers. 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Flatirons Church, Lafayette.

•Colorado Renaissance Festival. 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Larkspur.

The post What’s happening this weekend: June 12-14 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The Flatirons Church in Lafayette draws in the largest Sunday morning congregation in the state, and one of the largest in the nation. But, as two former members who reside across the street in the Lafayette Marketplace battle with the massive church, Flatirons could be going to court.

It’s a turf war between the church and Mark and Janet Benassi who own Lafayette Music, located in the corner spot of Lafayette Marketplace, 400 S. Boulder Road. When the church bought the Marketplace, with the exception of Jax Ranch & Home and the Herbal Wellness dispensary, the Benassi’s claimed it took no time for Flatirons to start trying to push them out of the spot.

Mark and Janet Benassi have owned Lafayette Music since 2007. It was not long after that they started attending services at Flatirons Community Church. In February their church became their landlord.

“Our lease runs through 2018, but they claimed that we hadn’t followed the terms of the lease as we were late on the rent,” Mark said. “It’s not true, and they just want our spot to use as an office building.”

They are willing to fight it out in court. The Benassi’s moved their store just over two years ago, and know the financial repercussions that come with every move. Not only is it pricey to rent a truck and move the largest music store in Colorado, but would leave them moving during the busiest season in music sales.

The church has offered to relocate the store to another part of the marketplace, but the Benassi’s feel jaded by the deal. The move would put them in the center, without windows or “sufficient space.”

Flatirons made the couple an offer and was prepared to cover the roughly $100,000 moving cost and an entire year of rent. But the Benassi’s declined and asked for $600,000, which the church labeled as “exorbitant.”

“We understand the fear and apprehension the Benassis have regarding this change and have gone to great lengths to provide good and wise alternatives for their business,” Flatirons’ Executive Pastor Paul Brunner told the Daily Camera. “It is tragic that they’re unwilling to consider reasonable solutions.”

The Benassi’s have set up a gofundme campaign to raise money in case they have to settle the turf war in court, although they are hoping it doesn’t come to that.

The post Battle of the building appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Florence + the Machine’s newest album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, released June 2, takes a step away from the grand production of her previous two albums, leaving some people a little let down. This editor is not one of those people. Some may call me bias for backing a woman whose vocal talents could single handedly give her throne of Westeros or defeat the Dark Lord without even using a wand. But, the title of the album let’s everyone know exactly what they are in for. It is big. It is blue. It is beautiful. F

The album starts of with an in your face summer anthem. Perfect for riding around in the car with the windows down and letting the Colorado air invade your lungs, “Ship to Wreck” takes us back to the high energy and fast paced beats from her first album. But don’t let the beat fool you; the song introduces you to the ongoing theme of heartbreak. The lyrics lets us into her devastating mindset with: “Good God, under starry skies we are lost,” she sings. “And into the breach we got tossed, and the water’s coming in fast.”

The rest of the album is just as gut wrenching, and looking at track titles such as “What Kind of Man,” “Various Storms & Saints” and “St Jude,” who is the patron saint of impossible causes in the Christian faith, let listeners know what they are in for. Florence’s success hasn’t transferred over into her love life.

The album isn’t as upbeat as the first track. Florence + the Machine strays away from the harps and orchestra sounds from her first two albums and into a classic rock sound mixed with some soul.

The always-phenomenal vocals are accompanied by polished and mature musicianship. The theatrics and dramatics from the first two albums are toned down, and most of the tracks are slower. Admittedly, there were points in the album that I was aching for a bit more grandness, but it fades into the background as the story being told is strong on its own.

This album gives us an emotional, raw and tragic Florence. A standout on the album is the slow, serene and painful “Various Storms & Saints.” It’s a song to listen to as your laying in bed on a Sunday morning, contemplating your love life, especially those loves coming to an end. She sings: “I know you’re bleeding, but you’ll be okay.
Hold on to your heart, you’ll keep it safe.”

The entire album isn’t mellow. Following “Various Storms & Saints” is “Delilah,” a song focusing on getting over the lost loves on a more positive note. It happens once again a couple tracks later with “Third Eye,” another song to blare with your windows down and letting every bad thought seep out of your pores and left along the freeway.

The album ends on a soulful note with “Mother,” allowing Florence to hit listeners with the vocals we’ve waited four years to hear. It’s strong, and leaves us wanting more. Much more.

The post Florence + the Machine’s new record takes a dark turn appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Dear Violet Chachki, D

Although I was rooting for your competitor Ginger Minj to snatch the crown, I’m also incredibly pleased that you are now the reigning champion of RuPual’s Drag Race Season 7. You consistently captivated viewers with your flawless aesthetic and unshakable confidence. Let’s list the reason why you deserved to snatched the title.

1. As formerly mentioned your looks were unreal all season, and following you on social media has shown fans that you are a fashionable queen not to be messed with. Runway after runway, you showed the other competitors what it means to look like a lady, a very put together lady with a little bit of a twist. Your willingness to step out of the box and take chances didn’t fault you. It made you stand out, like when you broke the rules and a sported a vintage BDSM latex outfit during the leather and lace challenge. Not to mention you can pull out fashion references like you’ve been reading fashion magazines since the 1930s, even though you’re only 22.

2. For the entirety of the season you displayed more confidence than almost any other queen from seasons past, with the exception of Bianca Del Rio. I mean, one of your first lines on the show was, “I’m very visually appealing. Is that conceited?” At first it was a bit too much and a little off putting, but as you slayed the competition challenge after challenge it all made sense. But even with all of your well-deserved confidence, you don’t shy away from criticism. You know that there is room to grow and are willing to take the steps to do that. I’m confident enough to say that the weight of the crown will not deter you from continuing your upward growth.

3. That waistline.

4. You’re a weirdo. No one could ever describe you as cookie cutter. You continually showed that you think outside the box, and you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty. You offend people, and that’s what drag is about. Being able to make people uncomfortable, and making them look at something differently. Don’t stop being as queer as you are.

5. You can add this crown to the one you stole from season 4 winner Sharon Needles. Although it was never proven that you stole her winning crown, we can just pretend that you did, because that took balls. And honestly I’m okay with you owning two crowns, you’re that damn good.

The post An open letter to RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7 winner appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Denver is celebrating its 40th year of Pride this year. For queers, June is synonymous with celebrating our history of finally taking a stand against a society that tried to keep us locked in the closet. It has been 46 years since our queer predecessors took to the streets, starting riots on Christopher Street in New York City. Since then, the riots that sparked a movement are celebrated with sponsored floats and a friendly demeanor. It’s evolved, but so have people, mostly. D

The Center in Denver just released their full Pride schedule for the weekend of June 19.

Friday, June 19

Drag Nation with Nina Flowers, Raja and Sharon Needles

10 p.m.

While it’s not a part of the official pride schedule, I dare one queer not to show up to this amazing line up of former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants, kicking off pride with a little bit high fashion, a little bit of spooky shenanigans and a whole lot of talent. Come on Drag Nation, let’s get sickening.

Saturday, June 20

Big Gay 5K

10:00 am

Now in its third year, the Big Gay 5K is a timed race from Civic Center Park to Cheesman Park and back. Runners race up 14th Avenue and back. Registration is $30 prior to June 18; $35 after June 18. Runners, walkers, adults and kids are all welcome to participate.

Walmart Family Area

Corner of 14th Avenue and Broadway

11 a.m.

Saturday is Family Day at Denver PrideFest, featuring family-friendly activities and entertainment. The Walmart Family Area will include free interactive activities created by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as well as field games and other craft activities. Complete with a kids parade and petting zoo, what more could you want?

Denver Dyke March

10 a.m.

The sixth annual Denver Dyke March, is the closest thing to returning to our roots of the Stonewall Riots. Festivities begin at 10:00 am at Blush & Blu, 1526 E. Colfax Ave. A Women’s Rally at Blush & Blu begins at 1 p.m. and features speakers and entertainment.

Coles Whalen Performance

Center Stage

5:30 p.m.

Keeping it local, Denver native Coles Whalen will take to the stage with one of Pride’s first performances of the weekend. Whalen has toured the US nonstop and has performed with musicians such as Pat Benetar, Joan Jett, Rufus Wainwright, Paula Cole and Kellie Pickler.

Official PrideFest Comedy Event: Lisa Lampanelli

Comedy’s loveable “queen of mean” performs at the Paramount Theatre. Don’t try and take the kids, as most of her jokes are crude and hilarious.

Sunday, June 21

Coors Light PrideFest Parade

9:30 a.m.

The centerpiece of Denver PrideFest, the parade is the opportunity for all segments of Colorado’s LGBT community to colorfully and proudly celebrate their lives and accomplishments. The parade steps off from Cheesman Park at 9:30 am, exits the park on Franklin Street, turns left on Colfax Avenue and marches to the festival at Civic Center Park. While it lacks the radicalism of the oringal Pride ‘parade’ it’s still a phenomenal time.

40th Anniversary LGBT Pride Rally

Center Stage at Civic Center Park (Greek Amphitheatre)

noon

Mýa

3:00 p.m.

Now celebrating her 16th year in the entertainment industry, Mýa is a singer, songwriter, producer, dancer/choreographer, designer, actress and activist most known for her feature on the remake of “Lady Marmalade.”

The post Denver Pride schedule released appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Momentum, the quaint little shop on the east side of the Pearl Street Mall, is more than a place to buy bright, interesting, idealistic décor for the home or a gift. It’s a place that knows the creativity and persistence it takes to produce high quality goods, and values those that construct the products sold in the store.M

Of course they are proud of what they sell, but the real pride comes from their mission. Momentum only sells products that they get through fair trade. Fair trade is a mode of business where the person who makes the product a fair price in return for the work put into the finished product. It secures that people living in poverty get paid what they deserve, provide for the ethical treatment of workers and farmers, and promote environmentally sustainable practices.

“The purpose of Momentum was to bring everyday products to people that are fairly traded,” manager Chelsea Cook said. “We wanted them to be products for socially minded people. Also, for people to learn about fair trade, and that they could get everyday food products, or jewelry or anything really through fair trade. That was the whole mission.”

Momentum has been imbedded on the east side of Pearl Street for eight years. Although owners have changed, the store is still sticking by the original mission. The mission is admirable, but it’s the products that stand out. Walking into the store, customers are welcomed by a display of colorful pillows with different animals printed on the front. It’s only one of many displays strewn through the store. There are bags packed away in cupboards, pots and pans on a small table towards the back and handmade animated clocks lining the back walls. That’s only a portion of what they have to offer.

Another stand out for the store is the constantly evolving merchandise. The store is always looking for more fair trade items to integrate into the store. It keeps regular costumers coming back. But the staples are the biggest draws.

“Our biggest seller is the elephant dung paper,” Cook said. “It stems from this beautiful story about people killing elephants for trampling their lands, but some people showed them how to make paper out of their dung to make money. For whatever reason people love to write on elephant dung.”

If the poo paper didn’t sell you, we’re not sure what would.

The post Summer Gift Guide: Presenting Momentum appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Boulderite. Golden Girl. kind of amazing. Sweet Home Colorado. I Don’t Care That You’re Paleo. These short, and very Boulder specific, slogans are only a sample of what has been floating around Jenna Marraccini’s head for quite some time. She knows her surroundings very well, and also how to make a very funny and stylish T-shirt.B

Marraccini has been making Boulder specific shirts for years, selling them at street festivals, local markets and even on the popular handmade shopping outlet Etsy.com. It’s combining two things she’s passionate about: her home and her desire to produce something people want to wear.

“I wanted to do something fun, something that I enjoyed,” Marraccini said. “I had always joked with my friends that we should ‘make a shirt out of that,’ and finally I just decided to make some of these shirts that we were talking about. I didn’t know how it was going to happen, or how it would be received but it kind of just took off.”

Marriccini made her first shirt, a simple design with a bicycle and the word “boulderite” arching above the bike, three years ago. She had no idea if anyone would even be interested in the shirts, but she took a chance and set up her booth at the Louisville Farmers Market. Printing about five of her original designs, she went to the market with the hope of selling at least one shirt.

Marriccini ended up selling 20 shirts on her first day. For her it was a relief, and eye opening.

“It was affirming to me to see that people actually do appreciate this,” she said. “You never know when you put something out there exactly what the response is going to be. You don’t know if your dream is silly or not.”

After her successful first day at the farmers market, Marriccini decided to pursue it a little harder. She started writing down ideas whenever they came to her. Found the right T-shirt materials for what she wanted, and what the customers would enjoy. She decided to do everything herself instead of reaching out to printing companies, and hit the drawing board, coming up with new designs that would cater to her market: Boulderites.

When she started making the shirts, Marriccini was still working her corporate job in marketing. It was the birth of her second child in October 2014 that pushed her to jump out of the office and onto the design wagon full time. Well, full time designer alongside being a full time mom, which could be one of the hardest jobs of all.

Today she has more than 20 designs printed on soft, form fitting materials, and more than 40 designs swirling around her brain. She’s also branched out from her farmer market days, and sell shirts at street festivals in the area, such as the Boulder Creek Festival, and online at Esty.com where people buy her shirts all over the nation and even in Europe. Her favorite shirt can be bought on Etsy, or wherever she sets up her booth. It’s a motto that she lives by, and wants everyone else to follow. “Don’t Quit Your Day Dream.”

The post Summer Gift Guide: Presenting Hens and Chicas appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The northwest corner of Baseline and County Line Road has some new tenants. The little shack sitting just off the road is surrounded by meticulous woodcarvings of eagles, turtles, lions, elephants, swans, and more eagles. Wood shavings cover the grass, and a stack of wood sits just behind the shack. On any given day, three men can be found manning the shack, unloading wood, or assaulting the sculptures with a chainsaw. There isn’t a name for the organization, but there is a ringleader, or master, for the small carvers guild: Bongo Love.T

Love started carving stone in his home country of Zimbabwe. Coming from the Shona Tribe, which is known for its extravagant carvings, Love started carving at age eight. He would wait for his grandfather, who was also a sculptor, to leave and start using his tools and carving his stones, which didn’t sit well with his grandfather.

“He gave me my own pieces and said to me, ‘this is your own piece. Don’t carve mine,” Love said.

As he got older, Love moved on to carving boss stone and wood, but with no power tools. He couldn’t afford tools, so he innovated and took the metal out of his shoes, sharpened them and took to the wood. He did this until he moved to Colorado in 2000.

Once he moved here, Love focused on music as a remedy of his homesickness. Back in Zimbabwe, Love got his name from playing bongos. At age 10 people started calling him Bongo Love and the name stuck. It wasn’t until 2005, when he could afford the tools that he started carving again.

As he adjusted to the cultural differences in carving he stumbled upon a chainsaw carving competition in Craig, Colorado. He confidently entered the contest, but walked away without the title.

“That was the first time I carved with a chainsaw, and I was afraid of it,” Love said. “I had a hard time with my small chainsaw, and I just wanted to finish my piece.”

After his first competition, he knew he wanted to better himself. He started carving with chainsaw, entering competitions, and winning. Often times placing in the top five at national and international competitions. Love has developed a name for himself.

Love attributes most of his accomplishments and his journey to the spirit. The spirit brought him out to Colorado. The spirit keeps him constantly moving from place to place. The spirit introduced him to his guild of carvers that spend their days on the corner of Baseline and County Line Road.

One of those men is New York Native Stephen Lyons. Lyons came to Colorado for a snowboarding trip last Thanksgiving and never left. Five minutes in the state, Lyons met Love and tried to sell him one of his pieces. Of course Love declined, but offered him a job instead.

“My weekend trip turned into a permanent one,” Lyons said. “I sold my stuff and have no plans of going back.”

Lyons alongside Blacka Loki from South Sudan are Love’s apprentices. Armed with a chainsaw, protective glasses and inspiration the three work together producing about five new pieces a day. And they sell almost as quickly. Priced anywhere from $100 to $500, “there’s something in anyone’s price range,” Lyons said.

The trio doesn’t know how long they will take up residence on the corner, but move wherever the spirit takes them. But one thing is for sure, anyone who walks up to the little shack, they are willing to make a deal.

As they sat on small wooden stumps an older, soft-spoken gentlemen asked them about prices and every question was answered with, “for you I will make you a deal.”

“We want to make everyone feel welcome, and work with them on what they want,” Lyons said. “We’re in the business of having fun and making people happy.”

The post Summer Gift Guide: Presenting Bongo Love appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Six years ago, a CU student started a guerrilla gay bar, where local members of the LGBT community would take over a bar in Boulder and have a place of acceptance for the night. Since then, the organization Prop Gay has been passed around from organizer to organizer constantly evolving with each transition. Blair Stapp is now one of the organizers and has a lot to say about the organization.S

The post Blair Stapp appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Going into the theater to watch Pitch Perfect 2, I had my reservations. The first film was funny enough to let it stand alone, and I can’t remember the last comedy that followed up with an equally funny movie. To me, this sequel seemed almost doomed from the go. How much can viewers really watch a group of girls trying to piece together top 40 songs into a winning number in an acapella contest? Surprisingly, I was entertained from the beginning. G

The film, directed by Elizabeth Banks, did a great job balancing the jokes, some of which were carried on from the first film, with the right amount of music. In fact, the storyline was pretty good. After the all-girl acapella group disgraces their name in front of President Obama, they are banned from all acapella competitions, except for the international championships, which becomes the newest mission for the group.

The sequel boosts the jokes with just the right amount of camp. It amplifies the performances with a new German group that love mesh shirts and have a flair for the dramatics. Add a few celebrity cameos with Snoop Dog, David Cross and the Green Bay Packers. It sticks to its roots, even if it did lose the underdog feel the first film had, but when you’re the best in the nation, you’re not really the underdog anymore.

The characters in the film are branching out into their own lives, with Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) having a friends-with-benefits relationship with old rival Bumper (Adam Devine). Beca (Anna Kendrick) is looking for something to do after graduation and time with the Bellas comes to an end. Her commitment to the Bellas is tested by her internship at a record label, which had some of the best scenes in the movie. There’s even some new Bella blood in the form of an aspiring songwriter and Bella legend Emily (Hailee Steinfeld).

The best thing about this movie is that it pokes fun at itself. Some of the jokes were repetitive from the first film, but the self-aware puns made about the Bellas who didn’t have a speaking role in the first film, were a definite highlight.

Pitch Perfect 2, which has raked in nearly $80 million since it premiered over the weekend, didn’t disappoint. Go see this film then sneak into Mad Max: Fury Road.

The post Pitch Perfect 2 hits the right note appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

I’m a man, and I survived the Mad Max: Fury Road experience. I

Actually, the movie gave me life. Before it, I was dying. The lack of strong female characters in action movies was collapsing my lungs, but when Charlize Theron took to the screen with a robot arm and a mission to liberate a group of strong-willed women, Hollywood pushed air back into my lungs one scene at a time.

The Mad Max films have always been a spectacle, there’s no debating that. But it has also had its toes buried deep in a political message. In the 1970s, the films focused on the oil crisis, but the latest release focuses on something completely different: reproductive rights.

It’s the newest message that has ‘meninists’ from emptying their wallets to experience one of the best action films in recent years. They’re sitting in their homes just imagining all the high speed fighting, explosions and tornadoes of fire, without a single woman in the drivers seat.

Let them stay there. But for those who care less about what gender is kicking ass, let me map out why you should see the newest addition in the Mad Max franchise.

1. The action. George Miller, the now 70-year-old director who brought us the first three Mad Max films, knows how to entertain an audience with jaw dropping sequences of post-apocalyptic doom. The two-hour film is and almost uninterrupted chase sequence filled with mind-boggling, startlingly visceral car craziness than just about any film in history. Miller hasn’t lost his touch, and driving home from the theater was almost unbearably boring compared to the film’s road rage.

2. Tom Hardy. Hardy had big shoes to fill portraying Mad Max. When one thinks of Max, they think of Mel Gibson. The films catapulted Gibson into stardom, and to many fans Max isn’t really Max unless it’s Gibson. But Hardy did it. He didn’t have much dialogue, and was almost reprising his role as Bane with a mask on the entire time, but the character didn’t need to say much to make a statement. He didn’t disappoint.

3. The women. I mentioned earlier how Hollywood has a serious lack of strong female characters that don’t have to rely on a man to get her out of a bad situation. The women in Fury Road are the complete opposite. The entire plot is about their escape from the movie’s main antagonist, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played Mad Max’s original villain Toecutter), who claims these five healthy women as his breeding property. The women make it known that they are not with the single most important line in the movie, “We are not things.” These women are not damsels in distress. They hold their own. One highlight is an eight-month pregnant woman scaling the side of a war machine. Why? Because she can.

4. Charlize Theron. Make no mistake, the movie may be titled Mad Max: Fury Road but the movie was all about Theron, who played Imperator Furiosa. As the title boosts, she owned that road. Her mission, help Immortan Joe’s beautiful brides escape his terror. She did things even Mad Max couldn’t do. Cue to a scene where he continually fails to shoot an approaching vehicle and is put in his place when Theron takes the rifle, uses his shoulder as a stabilizer, tells him not to breath and takes the car out herself. She is smart. She is tough. She is something that Hollywood desperately needed.

Hey action directors take notes, because George Miller just made your movies look like child’s play.

The post Mad Max fills a Hollywood void appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

San Francisco transplant Shandele Gomucio may have gotten her start in commercial environmental design, but once she moved to Boulder her career path took a slight change. One of her first projects was designing vintage inspired environment for the original Levi Strauss store. Now, with little commercial opportunities in the area, Gomucio focuses on creating unique personal spaces while balancing form and function.S

To check out Gomucio’s work check out her online portfolio.

The post Environmental Designer Shandele Gomucio appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.