For years, I traveled the country as a financial planner. I sat across kitchen tables, conference rooms, and union halls, helping people chart their paths toward retirement. I met with teachers in Kentucky, counting their pension years; postal workers in Michigan, trying to understand their 401(k) statements; and members of the EPA in Boston who, while appreciating my financial guidance, had alternative thoughts about my love of big trucks.. Each conversation was unique, but they all revolved around the same fundamental question: Will I have enough?

In the fall of 2018, I met Donna, a postal worker going on 33 years of service, who was contemplating retirement at 58. Like many federal employees, she had spent decades contributing to one of America’s most reliable retirement systems, yet she still felt uncertain about taking the leap. That uncertainty, it turns out, was entirely justified, though perhaps not for the reasons she initially thought.

As I reconnect with former clients, like Donna, it’s clear that retirement security is under strain. Rising living and housing costs, combined with uncertainty around Social Security and Medicare, have made retirement feel far less predictable for many.

A Retirement That Almost Didn’t Happen

Retirement is a huge step, and no matter how many corny jokes I would tell to break the ice, it’s still awkward strategizing your finances for the rest of your life with someone who’s ultimately still a stranger. 

But Donna and I got past the small talk and formalities and got a plan in order. At 58, with 33 years at the post office under her belt, Donna was eligible to retire. But she was terrified of making the wrong choice. “I never thought about it until about a year before I actually retired,” she recalls. “People kept telling me I was too young.”

That skepticism wasn’t unfounded. Conventional wisdom says Americans should work until at least 65, ideally longer, to maximize Social Security and let savings grow. But Donna had something many workers do not: a federal pension system. With proper understanding and management, it could support an earlier exit from the workforce.

“I had no idea what a great retirement I had until I talked to someone,” Donna says. She only realized she had such good benefits after consulting an advisor. “I would totally recommend getting an advisor,” she emphasized. She notes that a friend, also from the federal government, retired before her, but did not do what she did, and was very unhappy.

In May 2019, Donna took the leap and retired. She had caught what she now recognizes as a crucial window of opportunity. “I got out at the right time,” she says. Less than a year later, COVID-19 would upend the world and transform retirement decisions for millions of Americans.

The pandemic became an unexpected inflection point for retirement in America. For Donna, watching friends continue working through lockdowns, sanitizing mail trucks, and navigating constant exposure risks confirmed her timing had been fortunate. Tragically, some colleagues didn’t make it to retirement at all. Their deaths were stark reminders that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, and working ‘just a few more years’ isn’t always possible.

Even with her strong federal pension, Donna has not been immune to the financial pressures reshaping retirement. The stability she thought secure has been eroded by forces beyond her control, reshaping what retirement means for an entire generation.

When the Safety Net Frays

Retirement in 2026 looks drastically different from what previous generations experienced. The traditional three-legged stool of retirement: Social Security, pensions, and personal savings, has grown wobbly. One leg is nearly gone, and the remaining two show troubling signs of instability.

Consider the numbers that retirees are facing this year. Social Security benefits received a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for 2026, translating into an average monthly increase of approximately $56 for retirees. For reference, the average monthly Social Security benefit in 2025 was about $2,012.30. While that is a modest increase, it only tells half the story. 

In 2026, Medicare Part B premiums jumped by nearly $18 per month. This 9.7% increase consumed roughly one-third of the COLA, marking the largest erosion of the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment by Medicare premiums since 2017. As a result, what appeared to be a 2.8% raise turned out to be just 2.1% in actual purchasing power.

For retirees living on a fixed income in Denver, these numbers are the difference between comfort and anxiety. When I asked Donna about the cost of living and her expenses, she said she considered downsizing to cut expenses, but Denver’s housing market stopped her cold, “If I sold my house, I wouldn’t be able to replace it.”

Denver’s median home price now hovers around $575,000. In recent years, it has appreciated at a modest 1%-3% annual clip—a “cooling” from the breakneck double-digit gains during the pandemic era. However, this figure remains substantially higher than when Donna retired in 2019. According to Zillow, average rents in Denver hover around $2,200 per month, effectively pricing even modest rentals beyond the reach of many on fixed incomes.

The housing trap of being unable to sell and relocate without sacrificing quality of life is a major challenge facing retirees. Retirees like Donna have their equity effectively locked; converting it into more flexible or affordable housing comes with a steep penalty. Millions of American retirees face this dilemma: home-rich, cash-poor, and unable to access the wealth built over decades because replacement housing costs far exceed their means.

The irony is that downsizing was once a reliable strategy for retirees: sell their home, move to something smaller, pocket the difference, and enjoy a more comfortable retirement. But when the “something smaller” costs as much or more, the strategy collapses. Donna’s story reflects a larger problem: assumptions about retirement that held for Boomers are failing for their successors.

The Looming Cliff

As challenging as the current landscape is for retirees, the future looks even more precarious. The specter hanging over every retirement conversation today is the projected insolvency of Social Security’s trust funds.

According to the most recent Social Security Trustees Report, the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which pays benefits to retirees, is projected to be depleted by 2033. Recent legislation, including the Social Security Fairness Act and provisions in other budget bills, has accelerated this timeline. Some analysts now project the retirement fund could be exhausted as early as late 2032.

What happens when the fund runs dry? Payroll taxes will keep coming in, but Social Security will be forced to cut benefits, paying only what it collects. For millions relying on these payments, that means a painful reduction of about 77% of scheduled benefits from 2033 onward, dropping to 72% by 2099 if Congress doesn’t act.

For a dual-income couple with medium earnings, retiring just after insolvency would mean an annual benefit reduction of roughly $18,400. That’s not a policy proposal or a worst-case scenario, but what current law requires if the trust fund is depleted and no legislative fixes are implemented.

The political paralysis around Social Security reform comes from the painful solutions. Closing the funding gap means raising the payroll tax rate by about 3.65 percentage points, reducing benefits, raising the retirement age, or means-testing benefits to cut payments to wealthier retirees. Each option is politically toxic, so Congress has spent decades studying the issue without acting.

The real toll of inaction is measured in sleepless nights, not just benefit cuts. When what once felt solid becomes fragile, every plan feels shaky. How much more must someone save if Social Security falters? For those who cannot work longer or save more, the questions keep piling up, each one heavier than the last.

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Donna admits when asked about retiring now versus in 2019. The question reveals an uncomfortable truth. Those who retired before the current convergence of crises – pandemic disruption, accelerating inflation, and the approaching Social Security cliff – occupy a slightly more secure position than today’s retirees. While Donna made it across the finish line before the course changed, for those still running, the destination keeps moving farther away.

The Planning Gap

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of America’s retirement crisis is that it increasingly can’t be solved through individual effort alone. The question of whether planning alone is enough for people to retire, or whether systemic issues are at play, has become the central dividing line among retirement experts.

The statistics paint a sobering picture. Nearly 45% of Americans are projected to face retirement funding shortfalls if they retire at 65, according to a 2024 Morningstar study. About 46% of Americans have no retirement savings. The median retirement account balance for Americans aged 55 to 64, those on the cusp of retirement, was just $71,000 as of 2022, according to Vanguard data. That’s enough to generate perhaps $3,000 to $4,000 in annual income using conservative withdrawal rates, nowhere near sufficient to maintain most pre-retirement living standards.

The challenge becomes even clearer when you examine what adequate retirement planning actually requires. Financial advisors typically recommend that retirees have saved enough to replace 70% to 80% of their pre-retirement income. For someone earning $60,000 a year, that means needing an annual retirement income of $42,000 to $48,000. Social Security might provide around $24,000 of that for an average earner, leaving a gap of $18,000 to $24,000 that must be covered by savings. Using the common 4% withdrawal rule, which requires a nest egg of $450,000 to $600,000. The highest median retirement account balance is $200,000 for those aged 65-74, which doesn’t even come close.

For those who cannot afford professional financial planning, fees typically run around 1% of assets under management, or several thousand dollars for comprehensive planning. Resources do exist, though they require initiative to find and navigate. Organizations like the Foundation for Financial Planning offer free services to financially vulnerable populations, including wounded veterans, domestic violence survivors, and cancer patients. The Financial Planning Association and local non-profit credit counseling agencies sometimes provide low-cost or free retirement planning workshops.

Government resources include the Social Security Administration’s retirement estimator tools, available at ssa.gov, which allow individuals to model different claiming strategies and estimate their benefits. The Labor Department and IRS websites offer free calculators and educational materials about retirement accounts and required minimum distributions. Many libraries now offer free access to financial planning software and databases through their digital collections. AARP provides free retirement planning resources and calculators for those 50 and older, along with workshops and counseling services through its foundation.

Yet the existence of these resources highlights, rather than solves, the underlying problem: our retirement system has become so complex that it requires professional expertise to navigate, expertise most Americans can’t access. The very people who need help the most, those with limited savings and complex financial situations, are the least likely to be able to afford the guidance that could help them maximize what little they have.

Donna’s experience stresses this reality. Her federal pension was always there, a valuable benefit earned through decades of service. But in her own words, she had no idea what a great retirement she had until she talked to someone who could explain it to her. How many Americans are sitting on benefits or opportunities they don’t understand? How many are making costly mistakes simply because they don’t know what questions to ask?

Living With Uncertainty

For those who worry that retirement is slipping out of reach entirely, the reality is even more complex than simple affordability. Over half of American workers, 59%, now plan to work in some capacity during retirement, although this isn’t necessarily by choice. It’s often a financial necessity driven by inadequate savings, rising healthcare costs, and the reality that Social Security alone typically replaces only about 40% of pre-retirement income for average earners.

The average retirement age has crept upward, from 57 in 1991 to 64 for men and 62 for women today. Expected retirement age has similarly increased, from 63 in 2002 to 66 in 2022. The data suggests that Americans aren’t retiring later because they want to, but because they must.

This extended working life comes with its own risks. Health often deteriorates faster than financial circumstances improve. The physically demanding jobs that many older workers hold become increasingly difficult to perform. Ageism in the workplace can make finding new employment challenging for those who lose their jobs in their late 50s or early 60s. 

A growing part of the retirement problem isn’t just how much people earn or save, but how little clarity they’re given along the way. Too often, people reach their final working years without a clear understanding of what their employer provides, what it doesn’t, and what gaps they’re expected to fill on their own. 

Working with an advisor can help, but guidance only goes so far if people don’t understand their own benefits. If you don’t know whether you have a pension, how your employer plan works, or whether any other income streams exist, it’s difficult to make informed decisions. That uncertainty often leads to inaction, which compounds over decades.

The difference is clear when you look at workers who do have structured support. Donna’s retirement worked because federal employees are part of a system designed to prepare them. In addition to a pension and the Thrift Savings Plan, many receive the FERS Supplement, a monthly payment based on what they are expected to receive from Social Security at age 62, funded by the federal government. That bridge provides stability and the ability to plan.

Most retirees don’t have anything comparable. The earlier they realize this, the earlier they can adjust for it. Without clear guidance or built-in systems, people need to know that more responsibility falls on their own savings and investments.

A System Under Stress

Donna’s story represents both the promise and the limitations of the American retirement system. She had access to one of the country’s remaining robust pension programs. She sought professional guidance to maximize her benefits and made her decision at a fortuitous moment before a global pandemic reshaped the working world. But even with all these advantages, rising costs have constrained her retirement in ways she didn’t anticipate.

For the tens of millions of Americans without federal pensions, the vast majority of workers, the situation is more precarious still. The shift from defined benefit pensions to 401(k) style defined contribution plans has transferred risk from employers to individuals, requiring workers to become amateur investment managers, calculating how much to save, how to invest, and how much they can safely withdraw without outliving their money.

The 401(k) was originally designed as a supplement to pensions, not a replacement for them. But for decades now, employers have systematically eliminated traditional pensions, leaving 401(k)s as the primary retirement savings vehicle for most American workers. The problem is that 401(k)s only work well for people who can afford to contribute consistently over decades, understand investment principles well enough to allocate their assets appropriately, and who don’t need to tap the money early due to emergencies. While certainly not impossible, that’s a lot of conditions.

The confluence of factors straining retirement security, depleting Social Security trust funds, rising Medicare costs outpacing COLAs, housing prices that trap retirees in place, and the simple fact that Americans are living longer than ever while saving less than ever, suggests that individual planning, however careful, cannot fully address systemic failures in how we support older Americans.

When housing costs consume an ever-larger share of retirement income and healthcare expenses rise faster than Social Security benefits are adjusted, even the best individual planning can do only so much. You cannot budget your way out of a failing system.

When asked how she feels about her retirement now, more than six years after leaving the postal service, Donna’s perspective reflects both gratitude and realism. She has a pension that provides a foundation. But even she recognizes that the margin for error has narrowed, that unexpected expenses or further cost increases could upend even careful planning. She understands, perhaps more clearly than many who haven’t yet reached retirement age, how lucky she was in her timing and how different things might have been had she retired even a few years later.

A whopping 79% of Americans believe we have a retirement crisis, up from 67% in 2020. The question is no longer whether a crisis exists, but how severe it will become and how many Americans will be caught in its wake. For every Donna who makes it to a stable retirement, there are countless others who won’t. People who worked just as hard, who tried just as diligently to save, but who lacked access to a federal pension or who retired at the wrong moment, or who faced medical emergencies that wiped out their savings, or who simply earned too little to save meaningfully in the first place.

For future retirees, Donna recommends getting an advisor. Understanding your situation is imperative to successfully navigate retirement. Einstein once described compound interest as the “eighth wonder of the world,” but as anyone who doesn’t file their taxes in a timely manner will tell you, compounding interest works both ways, and its effects aren’t just exclusive to money. Coughing up money for an advisor or cutting down on expenses in your thirties, forties, and even early fifties may not be fun, but scrambling to fix decades of procrastination a few years before retirement is a far worse alternative. 

The promise of retirement, that after decades of work Americans could look forward to a period of rest and security, is changing. Not because of one single thing, but through a series of small changes that have reshaped what retirement looks like. Donna benefited from a system that worked when she needed it to. For many others still working toward that goal, the path is less certain, and understanding the reality of today’s retirement landscape matters more than ever.

By the Numbers – The State of Retirement in 2026

Social Security & Medicare:

• 2026 Social Security COLA: 2.8% ($56 average monthly increase)
• Medicare Part B premium increase: $17.90/month (9.7% increase)
• Net effective COLA after Medicare: 2.1%
• Social Security trust fund depletion: Projected 2033 (possibly as early as 2032)
• Benefit cut upon depletion: Approximately 23% to 24% across the board

Retirement Readiness:

• Americans with retirement funding shortfalls: 45%
• Americans with no retirement savings: 46% (2022 Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances)
• Median retirement savings for ages 55 to 64: $71,000
• Highest median retirement account balance (ages 65 to 74): $200,000
• Workers planning to work during retirement: 59%
• Average retirement age: 64.7 (men), 62.1 (women)
• Americans who feel behind on retirement planning: 53%
• Americans who believe there’s a retirement crisis: 79% (up from 67% in 2020)

Denver Housing (2026):

• Median home price: $575,000
• Year over year price change: Down 2.0%
• Average monthly rent: $2,200
• Average days on market: 43
• Home price vs. national average: 29% higher

Income & Inequality:

• Median household income in Denver: $91,681
• Workers earning $150K+ contribute 13x more to retirement than those earning under $50K
• Bottom 25% wealth: $3,500 median net worth
• Top 10% wealth: $3.8 million median net worth

Sources: Social Security Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Zillow, Redfin, Morningstar, Vanguard, Survey of Consumer Finances, Center for Retirement Research, Kiplinger, National Institute on Retirement Security

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter — and get our print edition delivered to your home each month.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. For 25 years, we’ve told the truth — your support helps us keep doing it for the next four and beyond. Administrations come and go. Our team stays, ready to lead no matter who’s in charge.

The post Silver Security: A Generation Nearing Retirement, Without Certainty appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Engineer-turned-artist Betina Brumm, out of Longmont, loves disruption. Be it in technology or art, she admires the kinds of creations that challenge tradition. The nature of the word “disruption” brings about ideas of chaos, but the true power of ideas comes from the opportunity they create. COVID, for example, broke all our routines and set the whole world on pause. Brumm began that pause as an engineer and came out the other side an artist who is certain this is the career she wants to pursue for the rest of her life.

Abstract realism

One of the more surprising moments in my conversation with Brumm was learning she’s actually schooled as an engineer. And, while she practiced visual arts since she was a child, she didn’t go to art school, something she believes lends itself to her creative process and a strong possibility why she landed on abstract realism as a primary means of expression: “I grew into abstract realism,” Brumm recalls. “I’m not formally trained in painting, but I’ve painted all my life,” “I started painting in my early teens. I started with pastels and crayons, to portraits, and I moved to oils. The transition to artist from engineer wasn’t an easy one.”

According to the International Society of Automation, what makes a great engineer is the ability to see and focus on the smallest of details. As the ISA explains: “Engineering is by definition a detail-oriented profession, but the field of automation requires almost fanatical attention to detail. Everything matters, which is why instrument spec sheets have so many lines on them.”

While a detailed-oriented approach is great for engineering, it didn’t lend itself as well to Brumm’s artistic expression.

“I was doing very realistic portraits,” explains Brumm. I always do painting as a gift, but I found painting portraits very emotionally draining. My approach for realistic paintings is that it has to be perfect. When I made the decision to go to abstract realism, it allowed me to play with color. Very deep and deep saturated [colors]. It gives the piece uniqueness. I’m putting the subject beneath a different lens.”

The Unknown

In her painting “The Unknown,” Brumm depicts the face of an older homeless man. On the surface of this concept, we have the idea of pity and struggle. However, Brumm’s use of color hardens the image, showing the man not only has wisdom and experience but also confidence in his world view.

In addition to the color, Brumm added texture to the man’s beard, uniquely grounding the subject. Using the freedom that abstract realism provides, Brumm adds depth to the painting, creating an image that leaves a lasting impression.

The blurring of artistic boundaries

Brumm’s penchant for the arts started at a young age. Not only does she have a love for visual arts, but she also has a passion for dancing.

“It’s more about the music itself and the expression,” says Brumm explaining her love of dance. I think that, originally, dance wasn’t related to my painting. I [painted] since I was little and did portraits all the time. But, [I] do have a series that focuses on the dance and the movement. Dance is rich and deeply emotional.”

Brumm’s roots connect to Spain, so it should come as no surprise one of the first dances she learned from a young age was flamenco. She was even able to join a tango dance troupe here in Colorado. The balance of movement and structure found within ballroom dance isn’t surprising when considering Brumm’s affinity for abstract realism.

An article on Medium characterized this crossover between the arts: “Both visual and performing arts serve as powerful mediums for the expression of emotions, ideas, and narratives. Artists and performers use their chosen medium, be it paint, sculpture, dance, or theater, to convey complex feelings and thoughts, tell stories, and connect with audiences on a deep emotional level.”

Brumm is working on a series that focuses on this crossover by extending the focus to the movement of dancers. She has a piece where a woman expresses herself through hip-hop movements, and she’s currently working on another piece that’s of a flamenco dancer.

The artist’s control of AI

Brumm’s perspective on artificial intelligence is unique as she is both an engineer and an artist. The threat of AI has been ever present, as Brumm sees it, and as some of the other creators in this series have attested to, AI is just a tool to be harnessed.

Unrestrained Energy

“Well, as a former engineer who always worked with technology, I love robotics,” Brumm confesses. “I love disruption technology. I think people my age who have experienced decades know the challenge in changing technology can scare people. But, it is inevitable.”

She uses AI to make sketches when she has an idea. Then she begins to edit lines, angles, and colors. Brumm admitted that whenever she uses a prompt, the resulting sketch is never good enough. AI is the assistant to her creative process; she is the director of the process.

“AI has been among us for decades,” says Brumm. “But, now it’s in everybody’s reach. It’s a tool.”

A small survey conducted by Playform found 65% of participating artists use AI to do some initial sketches. Though the evidence is a small sample size, Brumm painted the picture of how AI can streamline the creation process and, like most labor-saving technology, is leaning toward becoming a mainstay in the artist’s creation process.

The subtle themes

As the subjects of Brumm’s work are from a variety of different locales, the ideas of migration and global citizenry, although subtle, can also be found in her choice of subject and her craftsmanship. In a piece titled, “The British Library” by Yinka Shonibare, curator Achim Borchardt-Hume explored the nuances: “Migration to me feels ‘normal.’ I am aware that I am saying this from the privileged position of having had a choice. Hardly a migration, yours, some may say. Yet, I chose to migrate. To me, not to belong feels like an open place to be in.”

As her mother is originally from Spain, having such a close connection to another country gave Brumm a unique lens. Abstract realism as a vehicle allows Brumm the space to shift borders, broaden structures, and add extra elements to her work. Portraying subjects from as far away as Tibet and as close to home as Colorado, the lines blur ever so gently, while always letting the core of humanity, the well of emotions, tell the story. Even as Brumm moves to work on a commercial line focused on elements specific to Colorado, she wants to use the physical elements of Colorado to make the pieces unique to this area.

“I’m actually taking something that is very unique to Colorado, which is the change between winter and spring, from nature. It’s something we have that is beautiful. And, to be honest I haven’t seen people paint it.”

She wanted to incorporate the texture involved in the transition from winter to spring and spoke of creating cards. Having a card infused with actual Colorado soil, rocks, or leaves sent across the globe would be a creative turn in Brumm’s artistic process while still carrying the heart of her work.

Where the heart will lead

Currently, Brumm has lots of things brewing. She has plans for shows across the world in places like Greece and, weather pending, Dubai. Brumm often does paintings for auctions that benefit charities. The details on how this will manifest are evolving, but she hopes to have something for the holidays along the lines of textured Christmas cards. What is surprising, despite near worldwide exposure, is her goal of having a local show of her work here in Colorado.

“I think that I would feel accomplished in different ways if I could show all my work in a local museum. Or in a local space where people can see it. Pearl Street, a Boulder museum, but as I said I’m not actively looking at that yet. I want to have enough [paintings]. It will come.”

Brumm stepped forward in her career as a painter with the grace of a dancer. Until her local showing in Colorado becomes a reality, she will continue her journey from Greece to Colorado, wherever she ends up, she simply wants to go with the flow.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter (and get our printed copy monthly at home.)
Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

The post The Artists: Painting in the Dissonance appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

We all know that the pandemic sparked the remote work renaissance. No longer able or willing to work in crowded spaces, many people made the switch to a hybrid or fully remote position, clinking away on a keyboard from the warmth of their homes. The cultural shift changed the national workforce as we knew it. Today, one in five people works from home. Estimates suggest that more than 32 million Americans will work remotely by the end of next year. Yet, some companies are pushing for a return to the office in the name of productivity and culture. Many people are referring to this shift as “The Great Return,” indicating that the pandemic bubble finally popped, and it’s time to get back to cubicles. Still, in Colorado, many remote workers expect to be operating from their living rooms for the foreseeable future if not forever. Here’s what else we know about remote work across the state.

Colorado’s remote workforce is strong

This year’s data is showing a decline in remote work in just about every state, with Massachusetts seeing a 35% decline. Oddly, Colorado appears to be an exception to this downward trend. In 2022, Colorado had the highest remote work rate in the entire country, with more than 20% of the state’s residents working from home. And more than 37% of people in Colorado work from home at least one day per week.

HRMS, a Boulder-based company that provides a suite of software applications to manage human resources and related processes, has never had a traditional office, and the company doesn’t expect to change that ethos any time soon. Sandi Mundy, the company’s marketing vice president told The Denver Post, “Since our inception in 2003 HRMS has had a 100% remote workforce.” She added, “We have never had a brick-and-mortar presence, and we see no reason or plans to change this business model and strategy going forward.”

Boulder in particular has recently held the crown for “most remote workers per capita,” with 32% of the region’s workforce working from home, although places like Cary, North Carolina have since dethroned Boulder. The millennial generation works from home the most. The state’s strong remote force could be partially due to the high concentration of millennials. In fact, 24% of the state’s population falls into the millennial generation.

Another reason for the state’s seismic shift towards at-home work could include lower overhead costs from office space rentals as well as a reduced carbon footprint from commuting. Prior to the pandemic, Denver’s office space cost about $26 per square foot. Despite lower demand, the city’s office space runs between $17 and $36 per square foot today. During the pandemic, many companies realized they could substantially cut their overhead costs by reducing or eliminating office space, which meant permitting employees to work from home.

Empty office buildings in Denver

Since many national companies are encouraging a return to the office, it’d be easy to assume that Denver’s workforce will follow suit. Yet the city’s growing office space vacancies could be an indicator that remote work isn’t going away. In fact, Denver’s office vacancies are currently at their highest rate in decades, likely due to the pandemic. Across the city, the vacancy rate rose to 33.8% in the second quarter of this year. And the total vacancy rate in the region was 24.8%. T.J. Jaroszewski, the director of Mountain Region Research at JLL, reported that this is the highest vacancy rate ever recorded since data collection began in 1999.

Contributors to this downward trend include fewer out-of-state companies. Even companies that maintain offices in the Denver area are cutting the amount of office space they rent. While some Denver officials have encouraged businesses to bring workers back to the city to support local small businesses, little movement to return downtown has actually occurred. However, Mayor Mike Johnston announced a plan in May that could help raise $500 million to turn former office buildings into apartments, marking a new development for the region.

The national push for in-office work

While Colorado’s remote population appears to be stable, national trends indicate that most businesses are pushing for a return to the office. A survey from Resume Builder showed that 90% of the nation’s companies will be returning to offices by the end of the year. While, in most cases, there is no single reason for the company push to return to the office, 72% of surveyed companies point to higher revenue from in-person operations as a reason for the mandate. Additional reasons included boosting the company’s culture and enhancing worker productivity. As a result, they are prepared to fire employees that don’t come back to the office. Out of the companies that were surveyed, only 2% expect to remain fully remote, with the majority of the remaining companies requiring in-person work or expecting to return to the office by the end of 2025.

Among the big company names that are pushing for a return to in-office operations is Google, which recently implemented a policy that tracks the location of employee badges. This enabled the company to determine whether or not their employees are physically in the office. Companies like Amazon and Tesla also began mandating a return to the office in 2022 due to “lack of engagement.”

Working in an office can enhance business operations, but it can also detract from the quality of the employee in some cases since experienced employees have a tendency to gravitate towards remote work. In fact, the skill gap can widen by eliminating hybrid or remote work. While many companies blame the skill gap on the employees, citing poor critical thinking and leadership skills, trends actually indicate that those same companies are prioritizing junior level staff members — or employees with less experience — largely because they come with a smaller price tag. Remote work, however, has benefited some companies by providing labor at a lower cost and enhancing the level of skill that’s available to an institution. It also widens the hiring pool, making it much more plausible for companies to find capable and efficient employees.

The future of remote work in Denver

Despite shifting trends and seemingly unpredictable work patterns nationwide, Colorado ranks as the second best state to work remotely in the country according to one study, with both Boulder and Denver topping the charts in the category. Although some companies are still encouraging employees to come back into the office, many of the workforce’s most skilled employees are determined to work from home more than ever, continuing a push towards a more flexible future.

The culture of remote work in Colorado

Colorado’s remote workforce remains stable for a variety of reasons. Among them is the general prioritization of health and well being — a priority for many people who are attracted to the state. Laura Ebersberger, 38, a Littleton-based closed captioner and transcriber, said she’s been working remotely for 15 years, and she can’t imagine a world where she’d return to the office. “I like that I can make my own hours, and I don’t have the office drama and politics and all that. It’s better for my mental health,” she said.

While she has worked in a studio before, the environment provided a range of challenges. “I just feel like working at a big studio, you have drama all the time — especially when people are getting laid off. It got really toxic. I just like working on my own and not having to deal with different personalities. I can go at my own pace. I don’t have someone looking over my shoulder,” she recalled.

The perks of working from her home are many, including added comfort. Yet there are few things she misses about being in an office. At times, she admits that she misses her former in-office co-workers, but the environment often became overwhelming: “You had a lot of very strong personalities. Back then I was super shy. I couldn’t really stand up for myself like I can now.” Working from home eliminated much of the stress that came from navigating a team of staff members. From the comfort of her home, she occasionally hits pause on work and heads outside for a quick walk, which was less accessible while she was in the office.

Working from home isn’t always perfect though. “I struggle to self motivate sometimes because my schedule is all over the place. It can be very hard for me to find structure, right? I try to wake up during the busy season. When it’s super early, I wake up super early. So, I still try to find that balance for sure.” As the demands of Ebersberger’s job shift, she also shifts her working hours. A few times a year, a lot of transcription services are needed which means she gets up early and works late. But when the rush is over, she finds herself with more flexible hours and time for herself.

She explained that being able to do her job from anywhere is a huge bonus, but artificial intelligence is currently threatening the industry. “There are fewer jobs. You have to have a lot of experience to get in,” she said. Pivoting and diversifying her skillset is one way she’s learned to adapt to the market’s new demands: “There’s still a need for AI editing, so I still have that going for me.”

Amidst the AI threat, Ebersberger has considered a career change that would lend more security, but she’d still want a remote position, like many people across the state. While she wouldn’t say no to the right hybrid position, she’d have to be in dire straits to consider a full return to the office.

Colorado local, Sean Ritz, began working a hybrid schedule in 2018 but shifted to a fully remote position as a marketing automation specialist during the pandemic. “As it currently stands, I don’t want to imagine going back to an office ever. Working from home has afforded me many more comforts than would be available in the office, and I do enjoy it better this way,” said Ritz.

The list of benefits is long for Ritz. He points to flexibility in his schedule that is in part due to not having a long commute. He also has better access to healthy food at home. He is  disabled, which makes having a comfortable environment and attire extremely important.

“That’s not to say there are no drawbacks about working from home,” said Ritz. On the negative side of the coin, he finds that finding work-life balance is harder from home since personal boundaries can become muddied. Isolation can be a challenge. He also finds that he tends to be less active than he was while working out of an office. Yet, “ultimately, for me as a disabled person, the benefits of working from home far outweigh the drawbacks, and if I always have a choice, I would choose to work from home.”

Coworking spaces in Colorado

Reflecting this reality, Denver’s coworking spaces landed the city in the 9th spot nationwide for their 3.79 million square feet — a number that’s steadily growing to accommodate new demand. Cities like New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Chicago still have a leg up on the Denver region, but Denver’s growth is rapid, adding eight new spaces in a single quarter. Nationally, coworking demand increased by 7% or added 444 coworking spaces in the second quarter of this year alone.

Ritz reflected on his own coworking experience: “I occasionally go to cafés to work, but it’s few and far between. I find myself at the coffee shop to combat loneliness encountered while working from home. Working from home also means sometimes working in your pajamas, which is nice at times and other times not so nice. It does feel good to dress up nicely and go to a café for a day of work. However, I try to avoid it just to refrain from spending frivolous money.”

Unlike some remote employees, Ebersberger cannot use coworking spaces because she requires complete silence while working. But many remote workers frequent coworking spaces and coffee shops.

Ironically, although many remote workers left office jobs during the pandemic and reveled in the change, some workers are now seeking out community and culture in coworking places. Unlike many offices, coworking spaces also often provide amenities to those who use them like fitness centers, bars, and art.

Some coworking spaces also provide “passports” or the flexibility to work in other cities, which also enables some workers to travel at their leisure — a big attraction for the millennial generation. In fact, some data shows that millennials travel more than older generations, spending 35 days out of town on average — or about a week more than baby boomers. This could be another factor driving remote jobs across the nation.

Kayley DiCicco, director of enterprise sales at Expansive, told Forbes, “Coworking spaces will continue to evolve into environments that emphasize hospitality, enhancing their offerings to support this trend. Key focus areas will include revamped designs featuring inviting lounge areas with local flair, dynamic pricing models, gourmet catering and cafes, exclusive member events, global access and partnerships, enhanced security measures, sustainability initiatives, premium meeting and event spaces, as well as integration of VR and AR technologies,” indicating further emphasis on comfortable work spaces that offer flexible hours.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter (and get our printed copy monthly at home.)

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

The post Is Remote Work Dying Out? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

For Helanius J. Wilkins, a multihyphenate choreographer, it’s about the conversation. During the interview, Wilkins reached back to Louisiana, where his artistic journey began, narrating every significant milestone as we trekked the path that led him to Boulder, where he will unveil the third iteration of his work, “The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging,” sometime this fall. “The Conversation Series” is an evolving work that demands a lot of Wilkins, but he understands the call. He sees what he has inherited from the artists he admires and what it means to leave something behind for those who have yet to come.

Even Fear is a Dance

While there wasn’t a single flashpoint moment that Wilkins could pinpoint as the singular event that made him fall in love with dance, what was surprising is the fact that his affinity for expressing himself through movement didn’t start with “The Sound of Music” or the infamous “streetsweeper” scene in the classic breakdancing film “Breakin’.” It wasn’t film or dance at all. The first movement Wilkins attributes to expression was powered by fear. “As a child, I was very shy and afraid of people. The way in which I responded and expressed myself was by moving my body in some way, shape, or form, navigating the challenge, if you will. The challenge was fear, and how I navigated that was to move. And, at that time, [the movement] may have been just to scurry or hide beneath the table. Whatever it was, whether it was to grab my grandmother’s leg, it involved effort and a shift in my body. Not knowing then what I now know, I was activating how my body can be a vehicle to navigate commentary, to reorient to my surroundings, and create change.”

Wilkins’ words aid those of us who use words to understand how dance can be seen, akin to a child who can’t express what hurt them, but they can point to where they are hurt. The motion of dance often has an underlying emotion or idea that it’s trying to communicate. In “Thrive Global,” Nicolein Dellenson described what she sees as metaphors for dance: “[Let’s] talk about conversations that are more like a dance battle than anything else. I’m sure you can instantly recall similar experiences you’ve been in before. Those conversations where both parties shout their own thoughts and opinions as loudly as possible to get attention, where arguments and facts fly around and nobody is willing to give the other space, let alone have the floor.”

These conversations remind me of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video, where he intervenes as a kind of mediator to ensure everyone is ultimately performing the same moves as one team. A dance battle is a solid example of how movement can suggest underlying emotion. People involved aren’t fighting, but the gestures are no less angry or vicious. The hurt and passion are on clear display. When Wilkins talks about scurrying for shelter, one can see how that motion and the feelings that spurred it can be the initial steps of a dance.

Representation and Inheritance

Although Wilkins doesn’t attribute the moment of seeing Alvin Ailey on PBS as the time he truly fell in love with dance, seeing Ailey’s work on TV had an undeniable impact on him: “One of my earliest childhood memories is watching a PBS special on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and introducing himself as a choreographer and remembering that very distinctly resonating with me. Even though I didn’t know what the word ‘choreographer’ meant, this set me on a path of sorts. The power of enacting change the way that Ailey did is, in many ways, whether consciously or not, an inheritance of will. For example, before Ailey launched the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958 in New York, he learned under renowned choreographer Lester Horton. Horton’s importance in the world of American dance has several facets. As remarked on the Alvin Ailey website, notable among his vectored impact was his stance on integration in the world of dance: ‘He was also among the first choreographers in the U.S. to insist upon racial integration in his company — in his 1995 autobiography, Alvin Ailey wrote, “What it came down to was that, for Lester, his art was much more important than the color of a dancer’s skin.”’

When Horton died unexpectedly, Ailey took on a leadership role before starting his own dance company that still teaches Horton’s technique to this day. Not only that, although Ailey’s company is known for giving Black men a space to learn dance, the school’s philosophy still maintains Horton’s philosophy. The will was passed from teacher to student, and now Wilkins, with his current work, is taking on that same path.

Racism as a Pandemic

When Wilkins opened up about his experience dealing with COVID lockdown, he talked about examining what was going on with the world around him. While it put a pause in his creative process, within that time, he and his team simply learned to adapt to the new normal: “The first thing that came out was this screen dance called ‘Dirt.’ That allowed me a platform to really carry forward some of the things that were slipping away and allowed me to address things not directly related to COVID but everything that was happening that was leading to the various protests and holding structural racism as a pandemic. How this goes back to creating a space of fear, a space that needed to be examined, I was afraid to be outside. I was afraid to be in public. I was even afraid to be in my own home.” This prompted Wilkins to go back to that scene of fear from his childhood that made his body move, and with the help of his team, he discovered a way to use that fear to fuel what would become the “Conversation Series.”

Rebuilding a World One Patch at a Time

Witnessing what happened to George Floyd in broad daylight cracked and shattered my sense of place in the world. The beats were stuck on repeat: this has happened before; this will be a talking point for a while, but when it loses steam, some people in the world attempt to handwave away what we all witnessed as an isolated incident despite the clear pattern. Much has been written about that moment, the movement it sparked, and what was left in the ash once the fervor of rage burned through. Words alone, perhaps, are not enough to convey the deeply layered experience of being Black in America in a post-COVID world.

Lauren, from Natural Embodiment in Colorado, wrote about how the body can be an ally in creating dialogue and a means to treat trauma, especially when digging into the layers of one’s feelings as part of a healing process: “The drama of our lives plays out within our bodies. Moods, emotions, desires, boundaries… these are things that we feel in our muscles, hearts, and stomachs. We can dive much deeper into your WHOLE experience by tuning in to the body, allowing new insights to emerge.” When Wilkins talked about his experience in addressing racism as a pandemic, it isn’t so much protest as conversation.

“What I do is build worlds. I’m a world builder. That’s what I’m interested in. It’s not about what I can do with dance, what I can do with film, what I can do with any other form. I’m asking myself what is required to build that world. I arrive at a medium because something in the process says that’s necessary, not for the sake of spectacle.” He acknowledged there are bells and whistles in the production that chime and blow, but they only exist to embellish the overall message.

How to Make a Quilt

The image most of us think of when hearing the word “quilt” is actually a “patchwork” quilt, wherein the quilt maker takes different pieces of cloth and stitches them together to make a whole cover. Wilkins took this approach to his masterwork where he combined his background in film and dance to create a stage production that gives voice to those often unheard of by interviewing people from each of the fifty states. “It’s about me going to communities and learning what it means to be a resident where they live, what are the things they care about, what are gathering sites, what are matters of urgency. It’s not about me being centered. It’s about me being de-centered in order to learn. How do we build a world that is more inclusive? For me, it’s listening to each other.”

Wilkins talked about other aspects that dictate the “first phase” of his process: — conversations about belonging, discussing specific places within that state or city that residents can’t go to, places where their ancestors didn’t belong, and then going to those places. This is all before the stage production. Each production will play out differently as the aim is to visit all 50 states, with each new state informing and reshaping the work as he stitches old and new stories together. The most human aspect of this work is that after every cycle of this process — going to a place, speaking to a people, learning.

The post The Artists: An Inheritance of Hope appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Cowboy Bumblebee

David Sockrider, a traveling artist currently residing in Ward, doesn’t need a lot of space to work. His studio is well-windowed, providing sightlines to the natural splendor of the trees sleeved in snow. His simple wooden desk sits in front of one of these windows, the back of the desk fortified with tubes of paint, plastic cups full of brushes, and lamps angled from the desk corners to provide light and perspective.

The notion of following the art came about a lot in my conversation with Sockrider who, for reasons beyond him, found himself on a path tread by Georgia O’Keeffe, who herself was a traveling painter who steered away from pretentious living.

How One Story Ended

Sockrider at his studio in Ward

Much of Sockrider’s story navigates the waters within the popular adage, “Adversity is opportunity.” Before the infamous worldwide reset that was Covid in 2020, Sockrider was an art designer for an independent game company in Boulder, Colorado. This gaming company attempted to make tabletop and trading card games whose aim was to take on juggernauts of the industry like Magic: The Gathering. As one might expect, the venture didn’t last too long.

“Covid happened and that kind of put us out of business,” Sockrider said. “I had a room open up at Taos ski resort, and I’m a snowboarder. And the rent is about half of what it is here, so this is a no-brainer. You know? I can go anywhere I want. If I can go to a ski resort and cut my rent in half that’s a win-win to me.”

With his path set, Sockrider packed up his van and headed for the Southwest, living out the philosophy of a Jack Kerouac poem by using his will as a guiding light. As long as he follows his love of painting as an expression of his own freedom and still make money, Sockrider is “living the dream.”

Red Rocks Primitive

Forgotten Details of the Artist’s Dream

An untold detail of the artist’s dream is the number of different odd jobs they have to work in order to keep the paint cans full.Keith Haring, an American pop artist, worked as a busboy in a New York City nightclub. Abstract painter, Marc Rothko, supplemented his income by teaching sculpting and painting classes in Brooklyn.

Sockrider’s path would often take similar turns. Sockrider took to working in a hot springs spot in Arizona, painting murals in a ranch house. Another turn had him staying in a Methodist Church painting murals on crosswalks. It’s not for want of the odd job, however, Sockrider attempted to get a regular nine-to-five, but they weren’t calling back.

“I was trying to get jobs at a convenience store. I tried to get a job at the hardware store. I tried to get a job at the art store, and I couldn’t get a job!” Sockrider said.

A Haven in Taos

Wolf Maiden

Sockrider found himself in the artist collective in Taos. The collective has roots dating all the way back to the early 1900s when two artists from New York discovered their love for the southwestern landscape. These two artists seeded the idea that would become the Taos Society of Artists in 1915.

The foundation established by this collective grew in infamy, known throughout the states as a place where an artist can get a chance to make a living. Sockrider found himself within the collective while he lived down there, traipsing across the land in the fashion of a traveling artist.

“I did a lot of camping. I lived in a yurt on the edge of a mesa for a year and a half.” The yurt also served as an art studio.

While the collective in Taos lived up to its reputation of being a haven for artists. Sockrider found it difficult to make friends during his time there due to the stress that Covid placed on society at that time. Most of the aspects of living in the southwest, like going to visit pueblos and seeing indigenous living firsthand, were all closed off due to the pandemic.

“I didn’t get a chance to see any of the [Pueblos] because they were closed.” He would go on to discuss the isolation. “There’s up to 60 artists there, but I didn’t know anybody. I ended up getting a dog. I did well in Taos, but I craved coming back to Colorado.”

Backyard Jam

The O’Keeffe Trail

During the conversation with Sockrider, we discovered we both had a connection with Georgia O’Keeffe. I had spent many summers in Abiquiu, New Mexico on the Ghost Ranch near her estate. Something that struck close to home with Sockrider since before he headed out to Taos from Ward, he revealed that she has a connection with both places.

“There’s a painting she did of a church here. And, when I was in Taos, I ended up working next to the famous San Francisco De Asis that she painted, and I was like, ‘I’m on the Georgia O’Keeffe trail.’”

Mother Nature

The painting Sockrider referenced from Ward is Church Bell, a painting from O’Keeffe’s personal collection that depicts Ward Church as it was in 1917, when she traveled there with her sister. The church still stands and serves as a community center.

The painting O’Keeffe did in Taos, however, was San Francisco de Asís Catholic Mission Church in Taos on Ranchos de Taos. And, while Sockrider attributes Vincent Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock as major influences in his work—the Van Gogh influence most evident in his painting “Paddleboarders Frisco Colorado” with “Groundation” and “Galactic” showcasing the influence of Pollock—one can’t help but notice the O’Keeffe influence his use of colors in a landscape painting like “Taos Coyotes Sunrise” that shares a lot in common with how she saw the southwestern desert.

In a letter penned to artists Arthur Dove in 1942, O’Keeffe wrote about the landscape of the Southwest:

“I wish you could see what I see out the window—the earth pink and yellow cliffs to the north—the full pale moon about to go down in an early morning lavender sky . . . pink and purple hills in front and the scrubby fine dull green cedars—and a feeling of much space—It is a very beautiful world.”

The Uzumaki Swirl

Wild Nights

The spiral is a recurring shape in Sockrider’s work. As an image, the spiral embodies a nearly primordial power, as it is amongst the oldest geometric shapes discovered within historical artifacts that predate even the roots of many modern religions. One of the more interesting aspects of the shape is, while it can suggest both great power and movement, it is also neutral in nature, meaning it can be viewed as a positive or negative force depending on one’s perspective. An article from Comic Book Resources covers how the Japanese interpret one end of the spiral with their analysis of the shape also referred to as “Uzumaki” or Uzumaki swirl. According to CBR, from a lecture at Heidelberg University in 2014:

“The Uzumaki swirl was commonly used on pottery and to engrave caves and in or at least around graves in the Jomon, prehistoric era of Japan. Its meaning has not been uncovered, and the symbol itself drastically changed in use as Japan’s religion changed from Shintoism to Buddhism sometime within the 10th century.”

The focus of the article is on how horror manga-ka, Junji Ito whose work of the same name, “Uzumaki,” brought the shape of the spiral into subculture just outside of the mainstream by emphasizing the darker angles of interpretation. The story is set in a town that is under a curse that leaves all its people tormented by the sight of Uzumaki swirls with many driven insane. The interpretation is almost a play on words as the characters follow the shape and “spiral” into madness. As Ito took the spiral in a negative direction, Sockrider respects the power in the brighter interpretation of the shape.

“Even before I even went to Taos. It was the Van Gogh influence, you know. As a designer, we study basic shapes: circles, squares, triangles, and spirals. But, spirals are a good representation for growth.”

Sockrider is particularly invested in ideas pertaining to the cycles of “rebirth,” giving inspiration to Sockrider’s goddess and maidens series: “I have the goddess of marijuana. I have a summer maiden. I have a wolf maiden. I have mother nature.”

For many indigenous cultures, the spiral marked their migration as they searched for their homes.  The spiral suggests movement, called the eye to trace a path. Poetic then that this shape is a favorite of Sockrider’s. The spiral is a calling card, allowing him to leave his mark as he passes along his travels.

A.I. – Something All Its Own

Coffee Owl

Considering that Sockrider’s sole avenue for income is painting, one might be surprised to find out that he doesn’t consider AI much of a threat.

“With AI imagery now, that’s not what we do. We paint pictures. I have this discussion with my artist friends because a lot of artists freak out. You can just text-prompt up anything you want. And, I’ve tried it. It definitely has limits, and it’s never going to produce exactly what I want. You don’t have an original painting. It’s all ones and zeros in there.”

To Sockrider’s point, Sora OpenAI sent a brief but powerful shock through the zeitgeist, this past February with its mind-bending ability to use assets to create short videos that have the appearance of something created with a team of people behind a camera. Yet, these images can be created using simple keystrokes.

However, even considering the initial impact, the weaknesses in graphics became apparent. There is also the fact that all of these images are created from existing assets. So far, AI can only produce a flawed recreation of something that already exists which, as Sockrider pointed out, is not what artists do.

From Ward to Taos and Back Again

Who Are You

One of the first signs you’ll see when flying into Albuquerque, New Mexico reads “Land of Enchantment.” It is as kitsch as any other slogan; however, almost anyone who has experienced the area noted that there is an intangible truth to the statement. The Ghost Ranch is just that. The artist collective in Taos is just that. It’s the turquoise-red-yellow dirt of the desert. It’s burros chewing cud, cabins with adobe walls, and pueblos with feast days where they dance until it rains.

O’Keeffe was drawn to land hidden behind a wall of mountains because of its natural beauty — the ranch is mud, and dirt, and snakes, and tumbleweeds all recluse from the modern world. This lack of pretension is another aspect of O’Keeffe’s path that calls to Sockrider:

“I’ve been a web developer for twenty-five years. I was creating websites down in Taos for high-end galleries. But, when it comes down to it, I really want [to] spend my day painting. And if that can pay the bills. I just want to live comfortably and do what I want. This is the path I’ve taken. And, if it requires me living out of a vehicle and doing the best I can, you know, I’m going to learn along the way and try and figure it out.”

Sockrider’s statement lends itself to the poem “For the Traveler” by John Donahue, that listening to silence, along a  “journey can become a sacred thing.”

Sockrider invites you to come out and support his artist dream by attending a showing of his work at Purple Haze in Denver at 15th and Curtis, starting July 5, 2024. Prints of his work can be found at Kind Mountain Collective in Idaho Springs, One Brown Mouse in Ned, and, of course, at Purple Haze, 15th and Curtis, Denver.

Bear Pond

The post The Artists: A Trail Across Oil-slicked Rainbows appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

DENVER, CO –  The House State, Civic, Military & Veterans Affairs Committee passed a bill, sponsored by Representative Kyle Mullica, that would require the State of Colorado to maintain a stockpile of essential materials, including personal protective equipment (PPE).

“Colorado is preparing now so we’re not caught flat-footed during the next national emergency or pandemic,” said Rep. Kyle Mullica, D-Federal Heights. “This bill boosts Colorado’s stockpile of essential materials and personal protective equipment so our state is prepared to keep Coloradans safe, healthy and protected. With this legislation, we’re taking steps to ensure our healthcare professionals haves the masks, gloves and other medical grade PPE they need when they’re caring for Coloradans.”

HB22-1352 passed committee by a vote of 8-3. This bill would require the State of Colorado to maintain a stockpile of essential materials and PPE to be available for distribution after the governor has declared a disaster emergency.

Facial masks, medical gloves, eye protection and other PPE worn by health care professionals are necessary for treating patients and reducing the spread of infectious diseases. This bill will invest nearly $2 million to stockpile medical-grade PPE in Colorado so hospitals, vaccine clinics and other medical sites can have access to the protective equipment to keep them safe. Schools, community centers and other organizations can also receive stockpiled PPE which will be distributed via state agencies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) was charged with maintaining the state’s emergency stockpile of PPE and associated warehouses. The Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has since maintained a 60-day stockpile of five key PPE product categories to dispatch to state agencies as needed. This bill ensures Colorado has adequate PPE supplies for the next pandemic or declared national disaster.

The post House Committee Approves Bill to Boost Colorado’s Emergency Stockpile of Personal Protective Equipment appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Photo: CDPHE

Our education system was struggling long before the COVID-19 pandemic. The quality of our system was already impaired by insufficient resources for schools, poor treatment for teachers, inadequate conditions for students, and disparity problems for minorities. Much of this brought about by the alt-right movement to take over public schools for private gain. (YS Sept 2014) As ill as the educational system was, the pandemic has managed to even further exacerbate these symptoms. The struggle to avoid COVID outbreaks in the classrooms and the difficulty of doing remote learning from home has had a devastating impact on the learning experience, cognitive development, and social skills of our children.

However, this negative circumstance of worsening symptoms in our schools provides an opportunity to generate a positive transformation for our students. Just as destruction of the old always leads to the creation of the new, so too this is the most optimal moment for our society to address the need to implement dramatic changes to transform our educational practices and improve our school systems. When the chaos pertaining to trying to complete semesters in the midst of a pandemic finally subsides, and when schools are able to finally reopen without any encumbrances, this pivotal moment affords us a chance to evaluate the changes that can be made and remedies that can be applied to treat the problems with our system and to improve the health of our schools.

Implementing practices embraced by the democratic education schools concept would be highly beneficial for our children. The democratic education philosophy involves providing students with many rights, freedoms, and powers that they currently lack in the current system. Democratic schools provide students with the freedom to choose the academic subjects they study, the learning methods they use, and the educational activities they fulfill. Schools that embrace democratic concepts also grant students with the power to collaborate together and cast votes to participate in decision-making processes. Additionally, the schools achieve a level of complete equality that would be advantageous for minority students and that would help rectify our disparity problems. As the world struggles to reopen and schools rebound from recent challenges, this is an ideal moment to address the failures of our schools, the deficiencies of our practices, the problems for our students, and the ways in which radically transforming our education system can maximize the overall quality of our schools and the performance levels of our students.

Photo: USA Today

COVID Worsens the Symptoms of our Schools

COVID has asserted a destructive impact on students across the nation. Schools have been trying to remain open for in-person classes by desperately implementing health protocols involving mask mandates, distance requirements, ventilation improvements, sanitation standards, and testing procedures. Despite all of these efforts, remaining open for in-person learning continues to be a challenge. With outbreaks in schools often facilitating drastic shortages of teachers or complicated quarantine requirements for students, our education systems have consistently had to resort to remote learning to protect children from being endangered by the virus and to prevent communities from being overwhelmed by any outbreaks.

Schools have been trying to remain open for in-person classes by desperately implementing health protocols… Despite all of these efforts, remaining open for in-person learning continues to be a challenge.

Although remote learning does entail important safety benefits for our communities, the impact on the learning experience has been devastating for our children. Many flaws impair the ability for children to adequately acquire knowledge and meet expectations while trying to fulfill lessons and complete activities from home. The struggles include the distractions for children attending a virtual classroom while sitting on the living room couch, the difficulties of students completing lessons through computer programs, the challenges for teachers to deliver the curricula on digital platforms, the inconvenience of parents needing to provide assistance for their kids, the insufficient internet bandwidth in rural communities, and the lack of computers in low-income households.

A Nation United by Low Test Scores

The statistics demonstrate the detrimental effect the remote learning process has had on the test scores of our students and the learning levels of our children. A comprehensive study conducted by McKinsey and Company shows the specific data regarding how far behind students have regressed since the pandemic began. McKinsey and Company is a leading research organization in the US, and their study compiled data regarding the test scores and performance levels of schools across the entire country. The results show that test scores in most schools have plummeted, that students are falling far short of expectations, that their performance levels have significantly regressed, and that this problem is disproportionately worse for minorities.

The results show that test scores in most schools have plummeted… students are falling far short of expectations… performance levels have significantly regressed, and that this problem is disproportionately worse for minorities.

Many results from the McKinsey study highlight the regression of students during the year of 2020, when the pandemic first began shutting down schools and forcing students to use remote learning methods. For reading at the K-12 level, schools with primarily White students fell 10 percent below previous levels and schools with vast minority populations dropped 23 percent below expectation standards. This means that, for reading, the White students in the K-12 system fell approximately 2 months behind and minorities slipped about 4 months behind.

Students in the K-12 system also went backwards in their math skills. Schools with mostly White students declined to 31 percent below prior levels, and schools with predominantly minority students regressed to 41 percent below expected levels.  For math, this translates to the White students falling about 3 months behind pace and minority students plummeting approximately 5 months behind schedule.

Colorado Schools Show the Same Symptoms

Colorado has also experienced this worrisome trend at the state-level. In August of 2021, The Colorado Department of Education published its report on the student performance levels for the spring semester of that year. The Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) report showed that student performance in the state had dramatically declined since the pandemic, that our children have fallen years behind schedule on several subjects, and that minority and low-income students reflected the demographic most severely hit by the academic struggles.

…student performance in the state had dramatically declined since the pandemic… our children have fallen years behind schedule on several subjects, and… minority and low-income students reflected the demographic most severely hit by the academic struggles.

The performance levels of Colorado elementary school students demonstrated a significant pattern of decline.

In English, only 39 percent of third graders and just 47 percent of 5th graders met expectations. Minorities fared far worse in English, as 49 percent of White third-graders reached expected levels while only 24 percent of Black and 22 percent of Latino students met expectations. This disparity was even more glaringly lopsided at the 5th grade level, where about 60 percent of White students reached expectations, but only 30 percent of Black and 27 percent of Latino students were able to do so. 

Mathematics has been especially difficult for elementary school students during the pandemic, which fits the consistent pattern also experienced throughout the entire country. Among Colorado 4th graders, just 29 percent of the students actually met or exceeded expectations. But the math scores for 4th graders were especially devastating for minority students. While 38 percent of White students met expectations, which is incredibly low in itself, a shockingly disparate 12 percent of both Black and Latino students were able to reach the expected levels.

Middle schools also incurred the frustrations of low test scores in both math assessments and literacy tests. In the English Language tests, only 43 percent of 7th grade students met the expectations, with 53 percent of White students hitting that mark, and only 28 percent of Black and 25 percent of Latino students reaching that level. Mathematics has also been a difficult subject for middle school students during the pandemic, as only 30 percent of 8th graders met expectations on their math exams for the last spring semester. Once again the numbers were strikingly lower for minority students, with about 40 percent of White students meeting expectations, but only 15 percent of Black and 13 percent of Latino students achieving that goal.  

Additionally, science was another casualty of middle school test scores since the pandemic, with only 26 percent of 8th grade students meeting expectations in scientific subjects. In line with the common pattern, the disparity among minorities was drastic in science as well. Whereas approximately 36 percent of White students met the expectations, only 12 percent of Black and 11 percent of Latino students were able to do so. In almost every category, the performance levels of the students declined from the pre-pandemic era, minorities experienced deeper declines than their White counterparts, and the student population across Colorado is now at risk of falling years behind the standard pace of academic progress and the expected levels of student performance.

…the performance levels of the students declined from the pre-pandemic era, minorities experienced deeper declines than their White counterparts…

The Chasm of Disparity Widens as the Era of COVID Lingers

Certain practical reasons can help explain the reasons why minority students and low-income communities are performing lower on test scores and declining further on academic progress than their White peers or wealthy counterparts.

Regarding minorities, studies show that people of color have been doing remote learning at a rate that is approximately 20 percentage points higher than White students. This is largely due to the location of the students and the dynamics of the pandemic. The overwhelming majority of minorities — particularly Black and Latino families — reside in urban areas such as metropolitan cities where the dense populations are more susceptible to encounter outbreaks and the overwhelmed communities are more likely to shut-down schools. While rural towns or remote regions were able to more effectively avoid incurring outbreaks, circumventing virus hazards was much more difficult for dense cities and keeping schools open was much more impractical for minority communities. Additionally, the urban regions where many minority families live also tend to lean more politically Democratic, which means their communities were more diligent in taking measures to alleviate the outbreaks and more willing to shut down schools to protect their communities. With remote learning being difficult for all students, it is understandable that the regression in school and the decline of scores was more pronounced for minorities in Colorado and throughout the nation.

…studies show that people of color have been doing remote learning at a rate that is approximately 20 percentage points higher than White students.

Many reasons can explain why schools in low-income communities have also featured deeper academic regressions during the COVID pandemic. According to a report published by the Colorado Futures Center, about 5 percent of students in Colorado do not have access to the internet from their households, which accounts to approximately 55,000 children throughout the state. Two demographics were most predominantly impacted by the challenge of not having internet access and by the difficulty of attending virtual classes. White students living in rural regions often experienced this problem either because their low-income households could not afford the monthly payments for internet services, or because their remote locations fail to provide a broadband connection that is strong enough to handle online classroom programs.  Additionally, Latinos in low-income households represent the other demographic that is especially vulnerable to lack internet service at home.

According to a report published by the Colorado Futures Center, about 5 percent of students in Colorado do not have access to the internet from their households, which accounts to approximately 55,000 children throughout the state.

But the data shows that low-income students of all races also struggled with remote learning at disproportionate rates because of a lack of resources. Many poverty-stricken families with multiple kids in their household could not supply a separate computer for each child student, and many low-income households could not afford the technological devices required for online learning. Also, low-income households were much more likely to have parents working in essential industries, which means that during shut-down phases of the pandemic these parents have difficulties assisting their children with the remote learning process. Thus, low-income students performed lower on test scores and struggled more with remote learning than their affluent counterparts largely because of weak internet access, insufficient computer devices, and parents needing to continue working in their essential occupations.

A Post-COVID Rebirth of our Dying Educational System

With the educational system and student performance already struggling prior to the arrival of COVID, for the pandemic to further exacerbate the problems with our schools is extremely detrimental. Teachers are struggling to adequately teach the curricula through digital platforms, students are regressing years behind schedule in various subjects, and the disparity gap of minority and low-income students has been widening to unprecedented levels. However, the dramatic struggles of students and the frequent closures of classrooms also provides an optimal opportunity to transform our system as we revive our schools. Rather than returning to the same old systems that have been so insufficient for our children, the pivotal developments of COVID establishes this as a highly conducive moment to evaluate the challenges of our students, reimagine the structures of our schools, and implement dramatic changes that can substantially improve the performance levels of our students.

Rather than returning to the same old systems that have been so insufficient for our children, the pivotal developments of COVID establishes this as a highly conducive moment to evaluate the challenges of our students, reimagine the structures of our schools, and implement dramatic changes that can substantially improve the performance levels of our students.

Allocating more funds to schools that contain predominantly minority students or that serve low-income communities would be an efficacious solution. Despite the clambering for more funds from the educational institutions across the nation, the inability for our federal and state governments to impose reasonable tax rates on the wealthiest Americans and the largest corporations has minimized the amount of money that can be allocated to schools and has impaired the quality of education that our children can obtain. Thus, increasing tax rates on the rich and allocating more funds to schools can provide more textbooks for students, resources for teachers, equipment for classrooms, and improved teacher-student ratios for districts.

But Colorado also has to solve its unique problem relating to TABOR. Our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights places a strict cap limit on the amount of revenue that the state government can spend in its budget each year. Even if the tax revenue exceeds that cap limit, the government must return that extra money back to the taxpayers rather than being able to use the extra funds for beneficial purposes. Eliminating TABOR would immediately increase the amount of funds that are available for our schools, which can increase the salaries of teachers, improve the conditions of schools, and enhance the performances of students.

A Democratic Revolution in our Educational System

Although throwing money at the problem would facilitate positive improvements, our society also needs to implement transformational ideological changes to improve the quality of the educational system. The current status quo has not been working for our children, especially for minority students and low-income communities. With students falling further behind during the pandemic, this is an ideal time to reinvent the practices of our schools and the methods in our classrooms.

Many aspects of the democratic education philosophy would help solve the problems our children currently encounter. The democratic education refers to a style of teaching that grants students maximum freedom, equality, and participation regarding the curricula in the classrooms and the methods of the schools. The democratic education concept originated from John Locke’s writings on providing children with a liberal style of education, and in the ensuing centuries several schools in Europe incorporated some elements of the democratic education style into their programs. But in 1921 the first official democratic school opened in Suffolk, England, and then during the 1960s the values of unbridled freedom enabled the concept of a democratic education to spread throughout the US as well. The Sudbury Valley School was founded in 1968 in Framingham, Massachusetts, and this prominent democratic school became a model that is now replicated in various areas around the country. Boulder County now has two democratic schools, with Alpine Valley School in Wheat Ridge and then the Boulder Sudbury School on Plateau Rd. As we recover from COVID and revive our schools, incorporating certain qualities of the democratic education into traditional schools would be highly beneficial for our children.

…during the 1960s the values of unbridled freedom enabled the concept of a democratic education to spread throughout the US…

The freedom of choice granted the students in democratic schools is a unique and productive feature of the systems. Students in democratic schools have extensive freedoms in choosing the curricula, including which educational subjects to study, learning styles to utilize, academic projects to complete, athletic games to play, or social activities to enjoy. Some schools provide classrooms with the ability to vote on these decisions, and others allow the students to choose their own subjects throughout stretches of the day.

Alpine Valley School

Many benefits accompany this quality of democratic schools. Offering the students a freedom of choice regarding academic subjects and teaching methods can increase their passion for learning and enhance the efficacy of lessons. As most teachers can profess, different students might learn more effectively from different teaching styles, and the standard style of teaching in traditional schools might not be productive for many of the students. The democratic education style can obviate this challenge. For instance, customizing the learning methods according to the needs or preferences of the individual students can instill the children with enthusiasm for the subject matter, encourage them to acquire the relevant knowledge, and improve their ability to comprehend the material and apply the information. Additionally, providing children with more freedom to prioritize which subjects they focus on throughout the school day can also enable the students to achieve self-discovery while identifying their most fervent passions and prominent skills. 

The goal of equality in democratic schools would be especially helpful in rectifying the egregious disparity problem and achievement gap in our traditional systems. Although traditional schools in urban areas might have diversity in the classroom with students featuring different skin colors, the schools still maintain strict uniformity in the lessons with every student learning the exact same way. In contrast, democratic schools offer diversity in the actual learning styles. Students from different minority groups can cater their learning methods in a way that is most conducive for their particular race, ethnicity, or lifestyle. This ability to integrate their cultural background into the academic lessons would further inflame their desire to learn and effectively improve their performances on tests.

Boulder Sudbury School

The value of collaboration and sense of community championed by democratic schools would be beneficial for the students and crucial for our society. This is a great dichotomy of the democratic education. Although democratic schools enable students to think as individuals, the schools also encourage them to collaborate as communities. Democratic schools allow the students to collaborate together, discuss issues, exchange ideas, and cast votes to participate in the decision-making processes of their classrooms or schools. They often meet and vote on various issues, such as resolving conflicts, changing rules, determining curricula, and solving problems.  

Fostering this type of collaboration would be highly beneficial for our declining society in numerous ways. With the US suffering from extreme levels of polarized divisiveness and intense hatred, instilling students with a value of community can perhaps alleviate the hostility in the US for the next generation. The democratic style teaches students to communicate more effectively by expressing their thoughts while also listening to their peers, understanding their sentiments, and showing them compassion. This can significantly enhance the camaraderie of our society and the communication of our citizens. 

Settling conflicts and solving problems as a group also prepares the students for an important aspect of citizenship. We all live in communities, whether it’s our small towns, large cities, and our society as a whole. Part of being citizens in communities is experiencing the same communal problems and needing to collaborate together to implement solutions to those shared problems. In an era of political paralysis, teaching kids to work together, propose strategies, and establish compromises is a highly beneficial quality that would also be transformational for our broken government.

…teaching kids to work together, propose strategies, and establish compromises is a highly beneficial quality that would also be transformational for our broken government.

Finally, teaching kids the voting aspect of citizenship is a tremendous feature of the democratic style. Right now a large portion of the US society is destroying the concept of accepting the outcomes of our elections and respecting the will of the voters. You win some, you lose some, but you accept the results and prepare for the next battle. It’s unfortunate that our society needs to be reminded of this necessary element of the democratic process, but here we are. Thus, enabling students to exercise their right to vote instills them with a sense of citizenship, and teaching them to respect the outcomes of elections strengthens our democracy.

Although traditional schools do not need to be entirely torn down and replaced with these democratic schools, certainly our current system would benefit from incorporating the principles of the democratic education into their institutions. The current system is impaired by inadequate resources for schools, declining performances from students, and expanding disparities for minorities. The destruction facilitated by COVID during the pandemic has exacerbated these symptoms of our sick education system, but COVID also offers us this ideal opportunity to transform our system to treat those symptoms. Although more funding would be helpful towards increasing the resources that are available for all schools and enhancing the performances that are possible for all students, ideological changes and radical transformations must also be fulfilled. Integrating tenants of the democratic education into our system would help supply new advantages and solve lingering problems. Providing students with increased freedom, options, and equality in the classrooms can help improve the effective strategies of our schools, accelerate the academic progress of our students, and repair the detrimental flaws in our society.

The post Treating the Symptoms of Our Sick Educational System appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In Denver, there are people you see on the street pushing carts and carrying backpacks; there are tents on curbs. The people residing in these locations are in their very own community, with a world that contains different names, customs, and economies of its own. A complicated community landscape scattered with some members helping one another survive and other people opting to rob their fellow man.

There are good and evil in each of us, and the unhoused community is no different; the idea of the difference between them and us is a rich person’s luxury.

They have a culture of their own, creating families from circumstances, some built out of trust and protection, and others built out of anxiety and fear. These are their stories and what we can do better to help the unhoused. 

ERIN

On October 18th, I met a young girl named Erin, alias Skitz. She lived at 16th and Downing on the grassy corner of Homeless Out Loud.

Her red hair tucked in a hat, a teardrop tattoo under her eye, she was 21 and asked whether she could use while I was there, with OxyCodone being her drug of choice. I said yes and sat on the broken chair, leaning against the tent behind me.

Erin covered herself in a blanket on the ground next to me. Later, she would say it was her current bedding –a white and pink leopard print fabric barely covering her hunched body. I looked away. I felt certain decency was required to not look, to give her that respect. I saw the blood-splattered needles in her purse which startled me but did not surprise me. At 5 am the day after I met her, I promised I would come back to help, to give the items she could use. At 6:30 am, I gave her a small bag filled with feminine products over a fence,  then proceeded to walk across to join the cluster standing around the table with an odd assortment of potato salad, coffee, and donuts. At 7 am, she rushed out of the gates to wash her face and freshen up in the building, eventually finding her way back to gather her things. By 7:35 am, tired and cold, she grabbed a donut, I said hello, and she hugged me. I walked home past the collection of fencing and spotted those who had made it out early searching for a new place to go and a way to carry their lives with them as DOTI moved in with large garbage bins hauling away the remnants of their dwelling. This is an everyday reality for those unhoused, the constant movement and incessant migration every seven days.

I would meet Erin’s “street mother” Sarah weeks later in the park, as the group on Bannock listed those that had passed, I asked if anyone had seen Erin or “Skitz.” A woman stopped the conversation she was having to ask me why I wanted to know because, as she explained, Erin was her street daughter. “We met 4 years ago out here when my boyfriend died,” she said. “That little 17-year-old kid saved me, she saved my life, she has been through a lot but she is so loved, and so sweet.” 

JIMMY

“I don’t want to sit with these people; I want to work. The only thing that’s keeping me from working is I don’t have a social security card. But I just put in a request at St. Francis today. So hopefully, I’ll have mine by Friday, and I’ve got a couple of places that said they’ll hire me as soon as I get it. So I swear I’m trying to get off the illicit drugs, get my life together, and get on the medication.”

I met the 40-year-old Jimmy on the corner of Park and Stout. He was trying to trade his suboxone for a single cigarette. Jimmy is a recovering addict who uses the opioid substitute to wean himself off of his drug of choice, heroin, which has become a lot riskier as the rise of fentanyl cut drugs is on the rise. Jimmy tells me he was first given heroin at the age of 12 and that his father forcibly injected it into him against his will. Addiction, though for him, truly began at the age of 18 after a severe car accident caused him to get prescribed oxycontin for pain. 

Though Jimmy has been using opioids for over a decade, the recent increase of fentanyl-laced heroin has made him seek recovery. When I asked him what the drugs felt like, he told me, “It’s like this at the end of the day. Imagine being out in the freezing cold. It’s like wearing nothing but shorts and a T-shirt, and then suddenly somebody offers you a warm blanket fresh out of the dryer. That is heroin for me. But fentanyl isn’t like that at all. It’s very different, and I don’t like it. You’re too hot, you’re too high, and it’s not fun because you’re just slumped over and it’s really dangerous.”

The treatment clinic Jimmy is attending is outside of the city, but not having a car or any other form of transportation means enduring long waiting times at bus stops to go back and forth between services. Most nonprofit and city services are located within the Metro Districts, forcing many of them to spend most of their days commuting. 

To be homeless is a full-time job. 

AMY, MIKE & THEIR TWO SMALL DOGS

In a parking lot filled with garbage and a seemingly unmaintained pay-to-park nestled in the corner, there stood a man, woman, and two small dogs, with the dogs more well-maintained than the individuals themselves. They stood in a cluster, folding blankets and clothing while looking for gaps in their already filled fabric and metal wagon where one more item might be placed. Amy and Mike had only 30 minutes left to gather their belongings for the night and move before DPD returned and asked them to vacate. Looking for his important documents, Mike turned out his pockets to only show blank fabric: He had been robbed. “I swear people dug through my pockets when I was asleep and took them,” he said. “I guess I’ve found out that I don’t really need quite as much stuff anyways. We just organized what we have and that’s all we can do.” 

When I asked where they were headed next, Mike said, “I’m not setting up a tent because we’ve already been noticed, so even if we do move to that public lot right there, we will stay just for one night, and we won’t be setting up a tent period.” The threat of being asked to move again and again is always on the horizon with most in-house being moved an average of every seven days.

Though signs surrounding public sweep zones state that city officials will arrive at permanent sweep zones beginning at 8 am, unhoused residents claim to see individuals from DPD and DOTI arriving as early as 7:40 am.

The dogs, Buddy and Austin, bounced along the pavement with no knowledge that they would soon be making a long journey to a new home, one that, after seven days, they would be asked to vacate–yet again. 

HENRY

In a circle of chairs in front of the courthouse, I sat and listened as the many people around me talked about their daily struggles, such as the reality of not knowing when events such as Mutual Meals and Mutual Aid Training’s are because they don’t have a phone or address, forcing them to instead give street corners and storefronts as locations for service providers such as Mutual Aid to look for them. Each individual introduced themselves, using their given or chosen name.  They spoke of those lost in the recent week, individuals with names like Spyder Head and Skinny Tim in the list of the dead. Henry mentioned his friend Roger who he lived within the camps located on Santa Fe and Bayard. Roger was killed on impact by a light-rail train in October. (Man killed by light rail train | FOX31 Denver) On the day that Roger was laid to rest, Officers scheduled a sweep. Officers were heard making comments regarding the deceased while conducting the sweep, which prevented Roger’s only friends from attending his funeral. As Henry spoke, he began to cry, tears sliding down his worn cheeks. “They already know exactly what happened,” he said. “There are cameras on the outsides and the insides of these trains showing that he either jumped or somebody pushed him.” 

Henry has been on the street since he was 45 and is one of the few individuals I have met in my investigation who told me he “chose” this life. “I gave everything away because of the last couple years of my father’s life,” Henry explained.“He would like to disappear during the holidays. So I came out early one day without telling him I was in Connecticut tattooing at the time.  I watched where he went, and he was disappearing on the holidays to go and hang out with the homeless people downtown. That was what he liked to do. So when I made it to 45, which is when he died, I thought that I would walk a mile in his footsteps.” 

But that choice was not one without regret, 

“Of course, once you get out of here, you find out how horrible it is. There’s a lot of addiction, and so using becomes easy.”

Like many who “choose” or who are given no choice at all, Henry was quickly flung into the world of drugs as he started to take methamphetamine to stay awake through the harsh nights so he didn’t get robbed.  He told me he switched over to opioids when a “friend’s” mother forcibly injected him with heroin in the middle of their suburban kitchen. When I asked what his current substance of choice was, he said heroin, because it helped with the pain.  

AUDREY & PAUL

As I made my way down the street once flooded with cars, that December 1st Wednesday morning, the area was now surrounded by fencing, and people were caged like animals trying to find their lives in the darkness. Audrey and Paul called out from the tent in the distance, looking for someone who could help. They had just acquired space at a shelter and had come that morning to collect the remnants of their belongings, only to run into the crossed wires. This time, luckily, there was an entrance. At 6:30 AM, the police started knocking on tents and waking up residents of the sleepy lane. Those that had been awake made their way to the table of treats donated by local businesses and community members.  They were greeted there by Veria, a prominent worker and activist with Mutual Aid Monday.  Veria had a collection of donations, this time consisting of burritos, cereal, and cups of coffee being passed from volunteer to chilled hands.

FRANCIS

Francis woke up at 7 am as he did every day to clean where he had been permitted to sleep, wiping the railing and collecting his things. That afternoon turned into a less peaceful situation than the days previously. A Police vehicle was parked in the alley while Francis sobbed and grabbed his belongings. He had lost this safe place to stay. Francis with his kindness and generosity was helping another individual within the unhoused community when unfortunately things went awry. The actions of the other man ultimately led to the dismantling of the relationship between Francis and the Post Office. James, the man he was attempting to bring under his wing, struggles with mental health. The Post Office pressed charges against James. According to the officer I spoke with on the scene, James was charged with vandalism and public urination. This charge, though not against Francis, means the deal between him and the Post Office is over. Though Francis’s personal belongings only consisted of his pack and sleeping bag, he helped move another individual’s belongings who also called this alley “home” while they were at work. Francis left the alley in tears, starkly different from his morning waves of hello, for now, he did not know where he would sleep that night.

HOMELESS OUTLOUD

Lilly Redford works at Denver Homeless Outloud. I met them at my very first sweep on October 18th, 2021. We later met on November 3rd to speak further on the issue of the new permanent sweep zones within the City.  “The permit sweeps area is a legal conundrum because people,  under the Lyall settlement, still get seven days notice to be removed from an area,” expounded Redford. “So if these people come into the permanent sweeps area, they will need to be posted for seven days. Technically, if somebody wanted to stay somewhere for a week while waiting to get permanent housing, they could stay in that area. get posted the day they move in and move a week later.” 

As we know from the stories of the unhoused and from what many see daily, drugs run rampant throughout the unhoused community, with many pointing to that as the root cause of being unhoused. Though drugs are often pointed to as the main reasons encampments are reported, that is not exactly the case. As Redford stated, “If you call for one, it gives you the options of what you are calling for. One of them specifically is to report an encampment. It means nothing more than that. That doesn’t mean there is an overdose, domestic violence, or some crime happening. It’s just you call 311. Is there a tent outside your house? That’s enough, a single tent.”

Some believe the unhoused people aren’t trying in life or would rather stay on the street. We have all heard this said many times. When Redford gives their explanation of this tossed-around phrase, the true meaning becomes clear. “It’s an intentional misinterpretation of what people are saying to you. They’re saying, I’m over it. I’ve been trying to get housed for X amount of years; I’ve gone through this many service providers, I’ve had 17 case managers. And still, I’m in a tent on the street. So when you tell them that you have an offer of housing for them that consists of a shelter or a motel for a week, these people don’t believe that because that’s not trustworthy at this point.” Just like anyone else, these people have their limits and breaking points.

When Yellow Scene Magazine requested an interview on the topic of the “sweeps,” the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) gave this formal response in email. 

“Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) is charged with overseeing DRMC Sec. 49-246, which says that public spaces must remain free of unauthorized encumbrances. If we see an area that is deteriorating in condition, with increasing amounts of trash and other items encumbering and blocking access to the public right of way, we will post 7-day notice of our intent to do a large-scale encampment cleanup and, on the cleanup day, ask people to move so we can thoroughly clean the area with the encumbrances removed. The City also offers people experiencing homelessness free storage of personal items that do not pose a public health or safety risk for up to 60 days. The City will also store unattended personal property that does not pose a public health or safety risk, free of charge for up to 60 days.” 

In contrast, I have found the opposite to be true, with mattresses, dressers, clothes, chairs, and various other items posing no threat to public safety, all being crushed and then piled into large garbage trucks.

DOTI Communications Director Nancy Kuhn followed up with subsequent statements. “DOTI supports the city’s position that no one should be living in an area that was not meant for human habitation especially when there are city services available to help people experiencing homelessness,” stated Kuhn. 

Though most services are offered within the City Park and Capitol Hill Neighborhoods, there are only three 24 hour shelter locations.

Only one out of three are accessible by phone, meaning that those lucky enough to have communication still must also make the long trek all the way to the facilities just to see if they have any availability. Additionally, the areas that are claimed to be uninhabitable are often similar locations to common campgrounds, with small grassy patches by large towering trees. 

About the disposal of personal property regarding unhoused residents, Kuhn went on to say, “During our cleanups, the people we interact with that are living unsheltered decide what personal items they dispose of.” However, most sweeps take place between 5:00 am and 8:00 am, leaving roughly 3 hours to collect one’s personal belongings and then vacate the area.

When asked about the hostile architecture and landscaping that has been put in place in areas such as Stout and Park Ave, Redford tells me, “It’s also destroying trees, even old-growth trees. My mom is a master gardener and so she understands how water levels work. So when you place boulders on that growth, it prevents water from getting down into the roots for the trees. These Denver trees are already trying to survive in a semi-desert,  so when you prevent water from getting to those trees, they’re not going to exist. And we’ve already had business owners come out and complain about how the rocks are going to cause all of my trees to die. Also, placing stones along this whole area creates ideal habitats for dangerous rodents.”

The rocks and other hostile architectural features are not only a breeding ground for rodentia, they are also, in many cases, not ADA accessible, which in itself violates numbers 3, 6, and 8 of the sidewalk and DOTI requirements for public property. Neither a wheelchair nor a walker would be able to access the sidewalk via the curb or street with the stones obstructing the path and with the landscaping designed to keep the unhoused from living in the streets.

Boulder’s Recycle Row is a free drop-off location within the city limits that provides disposal of not only basic trash, but also hazardous materials [see map]. Boulder’s Recycle Row allows community members to dispose of trash and other hazardous materials such as biowaste with no additional cost for disposal of waste of any kind, making the drop-off location financially accessible. 

Keep Denver Beautiful is a city-wide organization that focuses on “maintaining an attractive safe urban environment,” attractive being the keyword in terms of the city’s priorities. Though the city supports programs such as this and provides a guide on littering, they offer few trash cans or places to dispose of garbage throughout the city. The Denver Department of Transportation and Intruracture offers 5 disposal locations: D&R Transfer Station, North Transfer Station, Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, South Metro Transfer Station, and Jordan Rd. Transfer station, all costing a fee. 

MUTUAL AID MONDAY

Monday evenings on Banncock you can find a collection of pop up tents and tables covered in food at the end of the lane sit boxes of sanitary products and clothing. Mutual Aid Monday meets here almost every week. Mutual Aid Monday is a collective of community members and activists who work together to provide services and meals to the unhoused. This one day a week is often the only hot meal many will receive, and the connection to services as well as the ability to have one’s voice heard through workshops and open conversations run by Mutual Aid members, and members of the unhoused community.

Service providers as well providing basic first aid, and even acupuncture, done by trained professionals from the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association, are offered at this weekly event. People from all walks of life are seen with children: toddlers and teenagers among those seen in the crowd. 

Up north of Denver, the problem of criminalized homelessness in Boulder is no different, with a tent ban as well as a specialty task force that was introduced into the city. From the website, Boulder’s Homeless Outreach Team expresses their purpose as, 

“[Being] present and visible in areas where homeless gather in order to normalize police presence, increase visibility and build trust.” But that building of trust has not been the case for many of the city’s unhoused residents, with the Homeless OutReach team driving them further out of the city and causing an increase in ticketing.

FEETFORWARD

I spoke with Jennifer Livovich from Feetforward, a nonprofit she formed in Boulder. The goal of the work is to meet people where they are at and provide services that they need Jennifer experienced being unhoused for four years, but she was able to reintegrate with the help of Court Navigator Elizabeth Robinson, who helped connect Livovich with beneficial services such as Fort Lyon’s sober-supported transitional housing program. Livovich then attended Colorado State University to receive her undergraduate degree, and after graduating she returned to Boulder to help others like herself escape homelessness. “I’ve been here for almost a decade, said Livovich. “The unhoused community has been completely marginalized, they’ve had zero representation, and their only leadership is the City Council that dictates policies that directly impact their daily lives. There it can develop, and in many ways has developed into a situation of these individuals being undervalued. “We care so little about these people, we’re not even going to see them as community members, we’re not even going to see them as human beings, and instead what we’re going to do is to just have a meeting. We’re going to decide what their life’s going to look like daily, without a single representative from that group in the room.“

The choices being made are often not in the best interest of those they are affecting. For instance, the city has spent millions on police task forces to combat the unhoused crises. “We’ve seen a $2.7 million police increase,” said Livovich.“They created a reclamation officer position, a supporting squad with the  sole purpose of targeting encampments, and then the city passed a tent ban that automatically enables police to seize people’s tents.”

Through my investigation, I have learned much regarding the culture of the unhoused, with one part of that culture being how individuals identify themselves through alias names and how this can sometimes be a challenge to service providers who are not well-connected enough in the unhoused community to know these aliases. Through her time on the street, Jennifer Livovich has a unique perspective towards the issues that the unhoused face and the culture that they come from. She explains individuals living on the street often have a different name than their given name for various reasons such as anonymity or safety. “A street name can be a real challenge for providers because they don’t know what that street name is,” explained Livovich. “They get a government name that they will typically gain from criminal justice records or possibly coordinated entry for the VI-SPDAT, which is a vulnerability assessment tool for adults that can assist in housing. I know that what we are doing is working because I  see people traveling and I know where people are at.”  

Though the efforts of Livovich and Feetforward have been astounding with their weekly meals by the bandshell, the numbers she is seeing are nothing to brag about, “I am always taking out food for 125 people, but we could see as many as 135 people or more,” said Livovich. “We are heading into December, and we are seeing double the number we saw at this time last year, and so we are in a crisis. Our reputation of being out there reliably has spread through the community, and this word of mouth reputation has been the best way to spread information. Since January of this year, what I’ve seen is that people are traveling to us, and they’re traveling from pockets outside to Boulder, as far as 65th and Arapahoe.”

Darren O’Conner, a board member of the nonprofit Feetforward and long-time activist against the unfair treatment of the unhoused, has some serious concerns regarding how the City of Boulder treats the unhoused. “Instead of doing sweeps, they are using that law to say if you don’t immediately remove your tent, that they will just give you a citation and take your stuff,” said O’Conner.

During the pandemic, O’Conner says the conditions were not better regarding sanitation and even worse than usual with people not having access to basic needs and essential facilities.

“We had to fight the city to get any public bathrooms where people could piss, shit, and wash their hands. And with a disease that’s communicable here, washing your hands is part of the basic safety protocol. We didn’t; we had almost no bathrooms. The city put out a map of seven or eight bathrooms spread out all over the city. And some of them that they said were there. I went there myself and they were locked, closed down, day in and day out, like in Mapleton ball fields. We had to write to the city and say, Hey, this is on your map of bathrooms, and it’s locked. And the next day they had a porta potty. Bathrooms are ground zero if you’re not going to provide people with places to sleep. How about a place to shit, so they don’t have to shit in the creek.”

Mollie McCoy is an intern at Yellow Scene Magazine and is a student of Journalism and Media Production at Metro State University. She was born in Longmont and has been a Colorado resident her whole life.

Like journalism like this? Consider becoming a sustaining supporter (and get our printed copy monthly at home.)
Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

Democracy needs journalism more than ever. We’ve been telling the truth for 24 years. Your support helps us keep telling it for at least the next four years.

The post Denver’s Homeless Sweeps and the People Being Swept appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

I met Sarah Fils during a hike in Eldorado Canyon State Park. Her two young kids climbed on boulders and ran down the path, enjoying the sunshine. It made me wonder how young children have processed the pandemic. From masked faces to distanced friends, things have changed.

Fils is a nurse and both her children attended childcare centers in person this past year. She plans to send them to summer sports camps.

“I am perfectly comfortable with it,” Fils said. “Get them back in life. There are a lot of precautions that can be made and that will keep them safe. I think that it’s important to talk to the camps and organizations and make sure they are following guidelines and being smart about it. Get our kids back out there. They deserve to enjoy their summer and be with friends and make friends and be out there. I’m all about it.”

One of her sons is five years old. She opted to keep him in pre-K this year.

“Our five-year-old was actually ready to go to kindergarten last year, and we kept him out because I did not want his kindergarten experience to be online,” Fils said. “I thought that was ridiculous. That’s not what kindergarten is supposed to be, so we kept him back. So much of it is about imaginative play and interaction with other kids. That’s how kids learn—through play.” [Editor’s note: keeping kids safe by learning online in a pandemic – when children were found to be superspreaders – is not ridiculous, though we agree that play is necessary for children. The editor is a former ECE para at DPS.]

As she continued on with her hike, I acknowledged how hard being a mother and healthcare worker must be during the pandemic. She smiled and shrugged.

“It’s all good,” Fils said. “You’ve got to roll with it, right?”

Mothers shouldered the brunt of the homeschooling responsibilities during the pandemic, and 2.4 million are reporting feeling burnt out, according to a Maven study. With homeschooling duties falling onto mostly women, nearly 3 million women have left the workforce. With summer programs opening up to in-person, this may alleviate some feelings of burnout and reduce the growing unemployment rate among women.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has not firmed up any set regulations for summer programming. They are still in the process of evaluating guidance. CDPHE are anticipating more relaxed restrictions than last summer, given Coloradans over the age of 70, who represent 78 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the state, are receiving vaccinations first, according to the Colorado State Joint Information Center.

Despite the lack of updated regulations for summer 2021 programs in the state, many summer programs are forging ahead, utilizing the knowledge they’ve accrued from the past year operating with COVID-19.

Kari Palazzari is the executive director of  Studio Arts Boulder. Their summer pottery camps were one of the few camps operating in person in the summer of 2020. This summer they’re using similar protocols to last year. They are one of the city of Boulder’s contracted summer camps. The City of Boulder also contracts other in-person camps, like adventure camps provided by Coyle Outside, sailing and windsurfing camps provided by Community Sailing of Colorado, and biking provided by Avid 4 Adventure.

Studio Arts Boulder is housed in an old fire house, which is ideal for ventilation when they can open their big firehouse doors. When that’s not an option, they have several air filtration units. They’ve created additional cleaning stations and numbered their 22 throwing wheels and socially distanced them. They have a symptom-checking Google questionnaire that families fill out before entering the studio.

The pottery summer camps will be limited to 10 children in a class. While there is a limit to class size, the studio has increased their class offerings. Multiple classes can meet at the same time. The studio has a spacious upstairs and downstairs space. Children can learn hand building pottery, which is geared toward younger children. Children will create objects like animals and add their own creative touches. Children can also learn wheel throwing, which is focused on making basics like cups or bowls. Each student will leave with camp with a piece of pottery they’ve created. The pottery is fired in the outdoor kiln and put directly onto racks that families can access through an outdoor gate.

Children attending pottery camps at Studio Arts Boulder are required to wear masks. Photo courtesy of Studio Arts Boulder.

“One of the things we’ve heard over the past year from our students is how incredibly valuable it is for them to have this therapeutic outlet,” Palazzari said. “There’s lots of data behind this. Working with your hands and making something—being away from Zoom and away from technology—changes your brain chemistry. It changes your stress response in your body. This year especially, people have really needed these classes. I know from myself, that when I sit down at the wheel to throw, everything else fades into the background. That focus is all about being fully present. Pottery is the new yoga. It’s this meditative practice because you have to be fully present to what you’re doing and really pay attention to the feedback you’re getting from all your senses in order to know what’s happening with the clay.”

Palazzari is passionate that pottery is essential. During the stay-at-home order, Studio Arts Boulder taught virtually. Some students even rented wheels from the studio.

“It’s so hard to teach pottery remotely,” Palazzari said. “There’s very few people who take a class here and have some studio equipment at home. That’s very rare, which is why we exist. Our whole reason for existing is to make it accessible for people to do ceramics without having a ceramics studio in their house.”

She seems happy to have people back in the studio working on their wheels and children upstairs happily glazing their clay animal creations.

“Our preteens, they’re not interested in doing this at home,” Palazzari said. “They are not interested in having yet another Zoom education experience. They’re in Zoom all day for school. This is an opportunity to be sort of social. At least you’re in the room with other kids.”

Studio Arts Boulder is offering morning and afternoon camps for children throughout the summer. Scholarship programs are available. Palazzari remembers one of the students calling classes at the studio their “grounding force.”

“We have students who call this their happy place or call this their sanctuary because this is where they can kind of put everything else in the back of their minds and just be present—super healing,” Palazzari said. “It makes sense. Clay is ultimately earth. When your hands are in earth or clay, just like gardening, it does ground you in a very important way.”

Student working the pottery wheel during summer camp in 2020. Photo courtesy of Studio Arts Boulder.

Many camps and school districts in the Boulder area are opening their doors for in-person learning this summer. With the help of warm weather and over a year of COVID-19 experience, things are looking positive for kids to be able to attend summer camps. There are some steadfast rules that cover programs across the board. Children will have to wear masks and groups will be limited. Many programs rely on an online symptom questionnaire. For most camps, it’s advantageous for families to thoroughly read through COVID-19 requirements and have open, honest conversations with camp organizations.

Both Boulder Valley School District and Saint Vrain Valley School District are offering in-person, summer enrichment programs. Those are not to be confused with their summer learning programs, which have a more academic focus. Public school districts are using summer time to both offer enrichment opportunities while also reconciling the lapse of learning caused by the pandemic.

Students could lose five to nine months of learning by the end of June 2021, according to a study conducted by McKinsey and Company. Those feeling these effects are felt more predominantly by Black, Latinx and Indigenous children, who already had existing gaps. School districts in the area recognize the importance of academic learning but also want to offer the enrichment activities that have been missing from many children’s lives this past year because they are deemed less essential.

Kim Black, Renee Williams and Angela Lauridsen all work for Boulder Valley School District. After a year of offering only virtual classes through their lifelong learning program, the district is planning to offer in-person lifelong learning summer camps. These summer camps will follow the same COVID guidelines and protocol that the district has been using for traditional, in-person learning in schools in the district.

Photo courtesy of BVSD Lifelong Learning.

“The reason we haven’t been doing in-person enrichment is we really needed to focus on school,” Williams, the director of BVSD Community Schools, said. “School’s been really hard this year, so our number one mission in the district is to educate kids.”

The district is watching the state’s COVID dial and hoping for the best, given the dropping COVID numbers in the state and the ability to teach summer camps outdoors.

“We’re hoping to be back in person in June,” Black, director of BVSD Community Schools Program, Lifelong Learning, said. “That’s still kind of up in the air. It will not look like 2019. It will be somewhere in between being shut down completely and 2019. It will include masks, social distancing and different cleaning protocols. A lot of it is going to depend on where we land on the dial when we get closer to summer. Children are not getting vaccinated right now yet, so there will still be masks involved and there will still be cleaning protocols involved and social distancing. We hope to be doing most of the summer camps outside.”

The lifelong learning program is offering about 600 summer programs. Some are programs created by BVSD and others contracted by the district, including Rocky Mountain Day Camp and Thorne Nature Experience.

The camps are spread throughout the radius of the district, and accept kids who aren’t in BVSD. Scholarships are available. Families must complete an online screening. Children must wear masks. Classes will be limited to 10 children and will be cohorted. BVSD works closely with health services and Boulder and Broomfield public health departments for guidance. The district emphasizes one of the most important ways that families can help keep camps safe. The district also encourages families to contact them with any questions or concerns about sending their kids to summer programming.

“If you’re feeling sick, stay home,” Lauridsen, the Lifelong Learning program Kid and Teen Program Coordinator, said. “I know we’ve been hearing that for over a year now, but really that’s number one.”

For those wanting online options, there are online class offerings as well, including anything from filmmaking, YouTube production, coding and javascript. If an in-person class must quarantine, that class may be moved to an online format.

A student in the BVSD Lifelong Learning Program works on an art project. Photo courtesy of BVSD Lifelong Learning Program.

Lifelong learning camps are taught by people from local businesses and franchises. The in-person classes include horseback riding, cooking, garden-to-table, LEGO, chess, origami, fencing, filmmaking, STEM programming, dance, drama, theater, leadership/speaking skills, hula hoop and hip-hop classes—to name a few. The in-person classes will be taught mostly outside with access to indoor bathrooms and some use of indoor gyms.

Lauridsen can tell that parents in the district are becoming more comfortable with in-person learning. One parent told her that she signed up her child for ten summer camps.

“We wanted to make sure we supported families,” Williams said. “It’s the no-risk summer.”

The “no-risk” summer is kind of a joke. The no-risk involves an abundance of caution with COVID protocols and a flexible return policy if families have to withdraw from camps. They were playing around with calling it the “no worry summer.”

“I can’t tell you not to worry, but I can tell you you have less risk,” Lauridsen said.

BVSD is also focusing on academics through their summer learning program.

“We don’t call it summer school,” Williams said. “It’s more than that.”

“Our preteens, they’re not interested in doing this at home,” Palazzari said. “They are not interested in having yet another Zoom education experience. They’re in Zoom all day for school. This is an opportunity to be sort of social. At least you’re in the room with other kids.”

The program has been expanded to accommodate for any discrepancies in learning that were brought on by the pandemic. Now nine sites host summer learning programs focused on programming, literacy and math in the morning and childcare in the afternoon. High school students can attend free credit recovery online courses.

“We are doing things to support kids who struggled this year academically, and we’re also doing things to enrich their lives,” Williams said. Children attending in-person summer programming must bring individual lunches, water bottles and sunscreen, unlike other years when supplies and food were communal.

With a year under their belt navigating COVID, the district feels like they have a “tight” COVID-19 plan. “It’s not a good thing we’ve been in COVID a year, but we’ve had a year now to work through systems and kinks,” Williams said. “And I feel like we have some really strong protocols in place.”

Aside from minimizing the spread of the pandemic, their main goal is to bring back joy.

“My hope is, even for my own kids, is we get them into these summer camps and they remember the joy that over the last year that I think all of us have kind of missed,” Williams said. “It’s time to bring back joy. School is essential and enrichment programs make everybody’s lives a little better. They bring joy.”

The pandemic has affected us all on different levels. With online learning and the potential strain put on mental health, school-aged children face unique barriers. Summer may be a time for children to reclaim the joy that we remember from when we were kids, when getting sunburnt was our biggest worry, which brings simplicity and happiness, especially for our youngest members of society who’ve navigated this new world with grace.

“Our kids have had so much screen time with being online and for the classroom as well,” Lauridsen said. “They can put the computer away, get outside, reconnect to just being a kid again. They can get their hands dirty in the garden and play with horses, just be kids.” 

For more information on summer camps in Boulder County, check out the annual Yellow Scene Camp Directory – Colorado’s Largest!

The post Time to Bring Back Joy: Summer programs, families prepare for Summer Camps with COVID appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Graphic by Irina Ratsek for Yellow Scene

Although Fermina Daza may have erased Florentino Ariza from her memory, he had obsessed over her and their long, troubled love affair that had ended fifty-one years, nine months, and four days before the story opened. That’s the beginning of Love in the Time of Cholera, the classic from Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian. Cholera is listed by the World Health Organization as the “forgotten pandemic”, pointing out that, “[m]any people think of cholera as a 19th century disease. This is true for high-income countries. But elsewhere, cholera never went away. The current pandemic – the 7th that has been recorded – has been ongoing since 1961. It is the world’s longest running pandemic.”

It’s stunning to realize we’ve had a global pandemic ongoing since 1817. That’s over 2 centuries. Sr. Márquez’s novel came out in 1985, 36 years ago, but it’s set approximately between 1880 and the early 1930s. Love was found even then; before modern medicine. Are we still finding love today? Are you? I believe, to paraphrase Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, love will find a way.

While the world has been in our current, newest, global pandemic for just over one year (the first known US case was January 20, 2020), love has flourished. Not to sound pessimistic, but love has also died. Depends on whom you ask.

I asked a lot of people, and I got so many replies I was stunned. I was stunned, not only by the willingness to share, but by the diversity of responses: in love, broken hearted, barely survived…

But first, let’s consider the impact of major world events on love and it’s secondary outcomes. Baby boomers, for example, dropped 76.4 million babies during that 22-year period, which comprised about one-quarter of the U.S. population at the time.

Winter, though not necessarily a calamity event, is known less for interest in excursions and more for cuddling under covers. Love is found where warmth is. Did you know the most common birth months for new babies is July-October, according to UnityPoint.org. July is 9 months after October (start of the Fall cool down) and October is 9 months after February (the traditional end of winter). Smithsonianmag.com points out that “There’s evidence of seasonal reproduction all the way back to the 1800s.” Really? Do tell…

“It turns out reproduction is seasonal across all living organisms,” says Smithsonian, “from plants, to insects, to reptiles, to birds and mammals – including human beings. The ultimate explanation for this phenomenon is an evolutionary one… Organisms have evolved strategies to reproduce at the time of year that will maximize their lifetime reproductive success.”

Lest we get lost in cisheterosexual ideas, which are not rigid laws, here’s a reminder that humans and nature exist on the LGBTQIA spectrum. There is evidence of the same survival instincts regardless of gender or sexuality, of cuddling and finding warmth with warm bodies around you, regardless of whether a baby is on the way. In fact, queer animal couples have been seen adopting babies or carrying for abandoned eggs, or just existing together.

Babies are not – necessarily, anymore – the ultimate or only endpoint of companionship. If you ask the Denver-based 20s/30s Singles Facebook group, most folks just wanna hook up for the night, have someone to hold, and maybe a beer pong partner. Damnit, I’m in. Before I get lost in the casual hookup, let’s hear from those who responded to my query about love in the time of COVID.

Most names have been given an abbreviation to respect anonymity. Edited for clarity and length.

Self Love and Singles

I left a toxic relationship right before the pandemic and started telling myself “I love you” in the mirror every morning.

We can start with the casual fun, my perennial location. E told me that, the “First couple months [of the pandemic] I was dating someone. Ended up not being worth it. And I’ve been back on my BS since. Hookups and being single af [as fu*k].” What a great place to start.

Pardis

My friend Pardis (real name) chimed in with, “I left a toxic relationship right before the pandemic and started telling myself “I love you” in the mirror every morning. About a year later and I can confidently say I believe it. That’s my love story.” That’s a beautiful thing. Makes me wonder how you’ve practiced self love during the pandemic, whether or not you’re in a relationship.

W had a lot to say, starting with, “I left my ex in July after he cheated on me and tried to call it polyamory.” I’ve been there, with a woman I offered a poly relationship up front, knowing we were about to do long distance. She cheated and asked to go poly. I declined. She wasn’t asking for a poly relationship, but a get out of consequences for cheating free card.

I asked W about the drama and she was completely blunt, telling me, “so, basically, we were together for almost seven years.. We met online in [another state] in 2014. In 2016 we moved to be closer to his family. A lot of sh*t happened, [including] family being killed by a local pd, had a kid, etc. Apparently at some point he formed a secret relationship with a person who we had known for at least two years, and was supposed to be both of our friend.” Talk about tea. Do go on!

“This person was coming over and hanging out with us…, and I thought, ‘oh cool, he’s finally making friends’. Turns out he wanted to be poly with this person, but didn’t want to be intimate with me anymore, and basically told me he wanted me to be his live-in child care and housekeeper. I said ‘fu*k that’ and he told me that I was being the opposite of my values (he said he had to have her sleep over at the house with him or he would try to have non consensual interactions with me), etc. I decided to leave.

I had almost no money, his car and my kiddo. I was fortunate enough to find work, safe housemates and a great place to live and bring up my kiddo. I’m poor af and trying to find better work, but at least now I’m getting divorced from him and my kiddo will have at least one stable parent and environment to count on.”

Avaeda

Avaeda (real name) told me with a surprising amount of brutal honesty that, “the last relationships I had [sic] been in I was literally almost killed. Was codependent and struggled to get on my own two feet. Been single for a WHILE but the pandemic allowed me to slow down enough to really enjoy single life and myself. Self love is legit the BEST love (aside from pets, nothing tops the fur babies)  [emphases hers].” It was the first response that really delved into dangerous territory so I asked for clarity.

She offered, again, piercing honesty (trigger warning, violence): “he held a knife to my throat, raped me, and held me hostage for like six hours and threatened to gut my then three month old in front of me. That happened years ago and my last relationship didn’t end up much better. But that’s why I’m enjoying the single life. Self love is the best love. I’ve been single almost four years now to work and focus on myself and my kids. Completely celibate going on two and a half years. Right now [during the pandemic] there are no next steps ????? It’s not something I’m actively pursuing but I’m open to things happening if the right person came along.”

Finally, to close couples with a more robust conversation than we’ve had thus far, we interviewed a local activist, friend, and bada*s who does work across the Front Range, and even travels for actions, as a member of the Colorado Brown Berets. We’ll call her Mad.

“When the pandemic started I was actually married,” she begins the tale. “My marriage was really toxic and, one night, one of our fights got so bad that the next day he moved out. My divorce was finalized in October [2019]”. Relationships – even the potential – have “changed a lot over the last year. I kinda jumped into a monogamous relationship too fast (Summer 2020) and that lasted a couple months. Since then I’ve been in flirtations with a few people; but I have a follow through issue I’m trying to work through. It’s been really hard to navigate a dating path, especially while trying to avoid mistakes of my past. I also really am working on a goal of being polyamorous. It seems to make the most sense, but admittedly, I’ve been known to have a jealous streak so I’m working through that first lol.”

I asked Mad, what does love mean for you? She says that, “the pandemic has given me a lot of time to reflect on love, and that’s how I came to believe polyamory makes more sense than monogamy. Love for me means feeling care and admiration for someone in your whole mind (and body, if it’s romantic love). It comes with so many different expressions, like from good morning texts to falling asleep together to holding space for one another, that it makes sense to me to share it with more than one person. My ideas of love from the start of the pandemic up until now have changed almost 180 degrees in terms of being really forgiving of the human condition, too, both with others and myself.”

Mad deserves love. I realized that from our interactions, and from our conversation where she was feeling blue wondering if she’d ever find it. I can understand ‘cause I feel the same way about my own love life. I asked her if she’s dating now? She’s not.

“I’m not actively dating,” she tells me, actively being the operative word. “Sometimes I get butterflies, but I really don’t leave my house except for activism and trips, which aren’t good conditions to meet someone to start dating lol. (It’s important that who I date is active in their community, but I mean activism not being a good place to meet people, because that’s the last thing on my mind at protest, ya know?) Also, I’m unsure that I’m ready to get back out there, which is probably a sign that I’m not. I love having a crush, because it’s so safe. It’s like all of the pros of dating, but none of the pressure.”

And finally, Mad, what’s your plan for love – whether finding or keeping what you have – going forward?

“I’m very open to the possibility of finding love. I’m just trying to do self work in the meantime, so that when it happens, I’m ready.”

Next up: Couples, Recently Coupled, and Married

In this section we look at a few friends that got together during the pandemic, as well as those that have been together – dating or married – and are faithfully carrying on. We’ll begin internationally because, first, that angle is fun and as yet unexplored and, second, it’s one of only three men who replied (all of whom are in this category). Leave it to the women to be emotionally vulnerable and honest about love in the time of COVID.

Pim (right) with his partner

Pim (real name) is a friend I met in Utrecht, NL, while living abroad in Europe. He and I met in a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) class. A great guy, he became a wonderful international friend as I settled back into America in 2016 and he went on to do English language work in Ecuador and Colombia. He invited me down to Colombia when he was there, and I almost went if not for this job at Yellow Scene.

He tells me, in the vein of Hollywood meets unrequited love facing insurmountable odds as global catastrophes bear down, romance novel type drama that, “I met my girlfriend a couple of years ago at a party in Ecuador. We were both in a relationship but we clicked and became friends. I left the country for a job in Colombia but after two years I was back in Ecuador and we got together. But family matters intervened and I went back to The Netherlands for a while. We met up for New Year in Istanbul and made plans to live together in Spain or Greece or wherever. Then COVID hit us: borders closed, jobs disappeared and hope became a lifeline for our relationship. Europe closed up but I found a job in Cuenca, Ecuador, permitting me to leave, finally. Since December we are together again, taking care of each other and determined to stay together til the end of times.” If anything in these pages gives you hope, let it be this. And this is possible here in Colorado, too, given the amount of people that move here.

R used to work at a strip club and we became friends. She’s braided my hair and we’ve gone out to party. I know her boyfriend. She was crystal clear: “My bae and I opened up our relationship to keep it spicy.” Ok, and what happened, I asked her. Well, she tells me, “we’ve been a couple for just over five years and we’ve been struggling during the pandemic. We’re both ‘essential’ so we’ve been working through this mess and our schedules don’t line up anymore. So we’ve adopted a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. He still hasn’t gotten laid though and my DMs are overflowing with simps.”

AR told me that she’s, “in an open relationship but haven’t had any new lovers since the pandemic because I’ve been taking COVID really seriously and don’t want to expose them and their other partner to more people. But a previous lover and close friend from California just moved into my house and it’s TENSE.” How is it tense, AR? Let us know. We’re crawling with anticipation. “It’s tense,” she tells me, “because we both wanna be intimate but they moved in more long term and that sounds too complicated for me. I didn’t cut anyone off because of the pandemic, all of my other lovers besides my partner live in other states and we haven’t had an opportunity for a safe visit unfortunately. One day soon I think it will be okay to do, but it’s mostly been my comfort level restricting that with how big the pod is.”

Safety first is something I can support. Remember early in the article where I cut off a threesome pod because members didn’t take my health seriously enough. Interestingly, the third person we brought into that specific situation has reached out, as recently as the time of this writing, to get back in a bed with me. I think I’ll hold off and see what else is out there.

Jessica and Nick

Jessica and Nick (real names) have been very upfront about relationship struggles. Jessica often posts on her well-followed Facebook profile about their stresses, their ups and downs, their therapy sessions. She offers a hopeful look at what the pandemic can bring to a struggling couple, saying, “As soon as COVID hit, I joked to my friends, ‘this will either result in divorce or help Nick and me work through our issues.’ Happily, it’s the latter and while not everything is fixed, we are in a much better place than we were at the beginning of 2020.” Don’t you love the honesty? That’s how love survives.

“I don’t know that we’re going to make it – f o r e v e r – but where I was thinking, ‘this relationship may be over,’ I now think, “this is a rich and strong relationship that still has potential.”

I asked for more info because it felt like a lot to unpack. She tells me, “We both have jobs that require us to be out of the house, so it’s easy to get disconnected and avoid fully resolving conflicts. Being in the house all the time has given us time to connect daily and doesn’t allow us to avoid resolving issues.” It reminds me of the old adage to never go to bed angry.

But what issues are at the fore? “Where to start? Hahaha. Issues range from your basic development as people, overcoming past trauma, hurts & habits, to raising kids & over the last three years, helping our kid survive deep personal trauma and abuse, which has led to suicidality and multiple hospitalizations.”

Love survives, I would say, especially in dark times. It must. Indeed, she says, “We are okay. We are all still alive – which is a miracle. COVID has given us time to be together, to be here for each other, and to take care of each other. I think we see each other differently than before and have a deeper appreciation.”

AC tells me the same thing as JC, that the pandemic has helped. “My wife and I are stronger than ever and so grateful we are going through this with each other. And turns out more time together allowed me to move quickly through issues of trust I didn’t even know I had and become even more vulnerable, connected, and in love with her.”

“I’ve done so much work on myself,” she says. “All I can literally see is that it was more time together. I’m guessing I had trust issues from past trauma, but I didn’t even recognize I did until I felt myself open up in ways I hadn’t before with her. It was all out of my view and consciousness. Our commitment to each other was solid from the start – we actively work on us, but this was on another level. We both just kept showing up for each other. And she’s so good at loving me for me, it’s almost unbelievable. Luck, work, reflection, commitment.”

AM is a local lawyer. She is excited about love, having found someone during the pandemic. How? “My partner and I met on Tinder during the pandemic a couple months after I left a violent DV relationship beginning of last year. We did the virtual contact until we felt ‘ok this could be serious let’s meet in person’ and we have been essentially inseparable ever since (in a healthy way, lol). He has supported me through three surgeries last year on top of the baggage I’m working through. I can’t help but wonder if the lockdown helped our relationship in two ways. First in establishing a real connection before meeting in person, and second in the fact that quarantining with someone can ramp up a relationship – for us in a good way. I couldn’t be luckier or happier that it worked out the way it did.”

The first three months [of the pandemic I] had two weeks of threesomes with five women, alternating…

Coleen and Matthew

We’ll end couples with Matthew and Coleen. Coleen works at a law firm and Matthew is the National Sales Director for CO Lift Hemp Company. I knew him before that. He’s instrumental in a lot of projects I spearhead, including our Everyone Deserves Tacos events to feed the unhoused across the Front Range. Matthew opens up with a lighthearted, if seriously interesting, origin story, saying, “The first three months [of the pandemic I] had two weeks of threesomes with five women, alternating who wasn’t working and whatnot. [Then I] joined the Denver 20s/30s activities group on FB, [went to an event and] walked behind Coleen climbing a mountain… them pink shorts hit. A couple of socially distant activities and meetings later, we started doing a thang!”

And that “thang” continues. Coleen is clear that, “I support all of this! Crazy fun sex is great. I was in a S/D (sub/dom) relationship for a bit and it was fun but not what I really needed in my life, so I went out to look for something more and found it.” She explains that she, “took some time to cultivate some friendships and was working on myself by joining a FB group. Wasn’t looking for anything but went on a couple dates with a few people. They didn’t work out but I got a couple of friends out of it. Then I went on a hike and a few casual events and kept telling Matt no for about a month or two. He was very persistent but respectful so eventually I came around and we are still together”.

Determination being the key to the story, we love that they found love.

That’s it, folks. Love has, is, and will continue to find a way. For those who’ve lost love, we hope you hold out hope because love will find you when you’re ready. For those who are avoiding it, may your time alone be a time of growth and fulfilled individual passion. For the couples – both ongoing and newly found – may your love grow and the horniest (I mean lovingest) holiday be one of fondness and closeness. For the married couples, we wish you bliss, contentment, and the right amount of space to navigate.

The post Love in the Time of Corona | Single Files appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Once upon a time, the world made sense.

We went about our regular routines and, when we had a bit of time, we thought about how we could improve our lived lives by enhancing our environments, our shared spaces, the tiny places we call home and where we work. Most days we didn’t have an opportunity to seriously improve those spaces. We are truly busy beings: we have work, with many of us having jobs apart from those jobs (thanks, late capitalism). We have families and friends, we have loved ones, and some of us have children, including the pet kind. We want to be out and about enjoying our lives, being active, staying healthy, adventuring, dating, or even just relaxing and recovering from all the work we do. The life of a human in the modern age. 

Even still, as is our nature, we make lists and plans and set goals and intentions, whether in our minds are written down, whether text messaged hopes or emailed ideas, about how we would like our world to be constructed. And then, one day, a very recent day, a pandemic hit, the likes of which few alive have seen, the likes of which puts all on pause, and home life becomes paramount. We question everything: Do I like this set up? Am I growing food? Do I need a shed? Is that the color I really wanted for that wall?

Lori Anbuhl. Front and back garden.

The questions we used to whisper come roaring back, sitting in quarantine with the quarters we created. And while some of us are quite content, happier to read a good book or get to backyard grilling sessions, others of us realized we could use a new patio and a garden box. We asked around our local facebook pages and chatted with some pros about pandemic projects. This is what we found. 

I’ll start with my house. One of our housemates is a handyman, with lots of free time on his handy hands. We’ve moved rooms, renovated a whole office into a new bedroom (for me, hehe), and he’s currently working on transforming my old room into a new office. It’s all been tossed around as ideas, considered, planned…but there wasn’t enough time till now. Pandemic projects begin.

Eric, in Boulder, told us he put new blinds in the dining room and cleaned out a spare room to be his wife’s home office. He also rebuilt a man cave home office, cleaned carpets, and fixed a busted interior door or two. That’s a classic honey do list if we ever heard one. 

Beth Blacker, a professional organizer living in Boulder, had a lot to share. “I have been working with soooooo [emphasis hers] many clients that, unfortunately, found staying at home created more clutter and chaos. They didn’t have a good system in place before [the] COVID stay-at-home orders, were too overwhelmed by all of the craziness, and retreated to doing nothing. Trust me, I get it.” We get it, too, Beth. “I strongly encourage everyone to try to tackle small areas at a time. Even if it means setting a reminder to do 15 minutes worth of decluttering at the same time every day. And if you have kids, I cannot stress enough how important it is to have them engaged in the process. Even 2 year olds can understand cleaning up and taking care of their things at their age appropriate level.”

Patty Ross, at Clutter Consignment in Boulder, echoes Beth. People “are trying to unload more [stuff]. They’re spending more time in their home and reimagining what they would like their house to look.” WIth appointments booked out two weeks, and a history of not even needing to take appointments, it’s clear to Patty that people are downsizing, “in their homes and minds”, and reevaluating their relationship to space. 

Lori Anbuhl in Erie started by telling me to join the Green Thumbs of Erie Facebook page. Her full, gorgeous yard wasn’t a last minute plan, but part of that planning and prepping we all do. She says that she, “planned and designed it, worked on it last June and July. It was a lot of work but it has paid off.”

In watery moves, Kyle Roth told us she, “cleaned out my pond and it was one of the hardest things I’ve done in a while. Took out every rock and power washed it. To anyone thinking they want a pond… don’t do it!” Ummm. I do what I want, Kyle, and I want a pond, but not till I can afford to have someone powerwash all the rocks for me. The before and after is ridiculous, though. 

Kyle Roth. Before and after pond cleaning.

My personal friends on Facebook had a whole host of activities planned: Felicia has “a garage full of furniture to clean and refinish…and about 40 plants [that] need to be repotted.” Ashley and Sheila bonded over gardening. Ashley points out that COVID “definitely helped me take the time to learn I like it.” Chris Ortega, in Lafayette, built a hotel for bees, butterflies, and other insects. It’s stunning (not stinging). 

Mike McDaniel is canning foods and working on his beautiful garden. He taught me that cucumbers are called cukes if you’re a cool green thumb person. Anthony is building a fruiting shed. Marco “filled [his] sidewalk strip with red lava rock & planted some perennials. Also laid a walkway with pavers and designer flagstone to my door.” Gorgeous.

Marco. Lava rocks laid.

Let’s be honest and say that the world is crazy right now and, for many of us, not losing our collective minds is an important part of daily life. Focusing on a project may be a great way to deal with stress, process the excess energy, and cultivate a space that works for you. You may have the resources to go bigger and add new rooms, build a garage, or add a home theater [ok, that’s me. I definitely bought a projector and screen for my bedroom theater]. 

While thinking through all this, I had a lovely conversation with the ladies that lead TruDesign in Lafayette. Founded by longtime collaborators Lindi Bolinger and Cynthia Stafford, two interior designers with more than 25 years of experience, they point to their “shared vision: to delight clients with timeless environments that celebrate life.” Lindi pointed out that, even as a designer, she realized she wasn’t enjoying her home experience as much as she wanted, and has sought to improve her lived world. It’s not just you, friend. 

They talked about the need to update spaces, to reevaluate, and about the role of forethought in design. Don’t make the decision, they warn, to buy a new piece without proper consideration. Rooms have energy and we have to plan accordingly. “The spaces we’ve used for three hours,” they say, “feel much different when we’re there for eighteen.” This is forcing us to reduce clutter, reconsider layouts, and plan for new satisfactions. They’re open to guiding you through your updates.

Whatever you do, stay sane. We’re living slightly smaller lives in the modern world. We’re social distancing and our homes are back to being our castles…drawbridge up, moat ready to stave off any viral interloper. Grab a trash bag, a hammer, a shovel, or a paintbrush and get started. Your pandemic project glory awaits. Oh…send us pics when you’re done.  

The post Pandemic Projects: Viral additions to the Home in the Midst of Chaos appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Systemic Racism, Politics, 

Pandemic, and the Climate.

Summer is here and not the way any of us imagined it! As 2020 continues to pummel us with ever growing awareness of how we as a society have failed and neglected our health, our communities, our environment, and ourselves, it’s up to us to do something. If you’re having a hard time grasping the incredibly vast complexity of any one of the numerous issues that we are facing today, have no fear for you are not alone; even just acknowledging that means you’re on the right track. Luckily for us and our never ending thirst for self-betterment there’s people out there writing books for us to educate ourselves. So use this beautiful weather, the excusable stay at home attitude, and this list of books to play the role everyone is expecting you to play to the best of your abilities and means. 10 books, 4 categories: Systemic Racism, Politics, Pandemic, and Climate Change. 

Raising White Kids
Jennifer Harvey
Sorry Boulder, with 88% of the population being white this struck me as mandatory. In one of the most racially diverse countries in the world (USA), racial tensions are high, and everyone has a responsibility to do something about it. How should we raise children to see race? How should the conversation of white privilege be incorporated in their education? How do we give children the tools they need to further progress our society towards actual equality?

We keep us safe: Building Secure, Just, and Inclusive Communities
Zach Norris
How do we build safe communities. Zach Norris emphasis that Us vs. Them isn;t the answer. With mass incarceration and aggressive policing harming and perpetuating systemic racism in America’s most marginalized communities, we need to design a system that moves away from fear and punishment and create one that focuses on growth and support.

Ghost Boys
Jewell Parker Rhodes
The fictional story of Jerome who is shot and killed by a police officer at age 12. Jerome continues to see the aftermath of his death as a ghost and soon meets Emmett Till, another ghost who was killed in a different time period. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened and the history of systemic racism that has led to his death. They also meet Sarah, the daughter of the police officer that killed Jermone.
~Politics~

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy | Jenny Odell
This is not a self-help book. Busting through the confines of simplistic anti-technological manifestos and back to nature dictations, How to Do Nothing is a wonderful rationale for stepping out of our capitalistic obsessions to progress and rather place our most important asset, our attention, elsewhere

The End of White
Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide
Zerlina Maxwell
In a clear and well deserved dissection of the left’s failures, Maxwell places power in the lane of identity politics. The left, be it the Bernie Bro’s, Hashtag Activists, or liberal billionaires, has long forgotten to cater to a crucial part of the U.S. population, continuing to largely benefit middle class white men. In an attempt to acknowledge the left’s failures and reconcile through examples and ideas, Maxwell provides a future for the party and cure for it’s blatant divide.

The Hardhat Riot
David Kuhn
In May of 1970, construction workers chased and beat students through downtown Manhattan. It was the first clear sign that Nixon had managed to infiltrate the liberal leaning working class. The left was at war with itself and it hasn’t stop since. A wonderful depiction to further our understanding of how the left ended up where it is today.

~Climate~ 2030 | Mauro Guillen
2030 is the tipping point. As we approach the fall of liberal regimes, the global economy will be for the first time powered by non-western consumers, there will be more currencies than countries, more robots than workers, more computers than human brains, and there will be more wealth owned by women than men. Rather than focusing on a single issue, the climate, Guillen focuses on the inter-play of all the different forces that drive humanity.

Our House is on Fire
Jeanette Winter
A picture book depicting the story of Greta Thurnberg and her determination to make the world realize that our house is on fire. Sharing the power that all kids have, Winter gives a power tool to educate toddlers on the importance of the environment and our roles to protect it.

Lockdown | Peter May
An uncanny depiction of a virus stricken London that has entered lockdown and martial law. Originally written fifteen years ago and cast off as unrealistic, the book has stunned readers by it’s relatability to our current pandemic. A fantastic read mixing the nightmares of a pandemic with the horrors of murder and conspiracy.

Which Country has the Best Healthcare System
Ezekiel Emmanuel
The U.S. spends 4 trillion on healthcare, and we’re nowhere close to being the best. In an assessment of the worlds best healthcare systems, Emmanuel explains what it means to have great healthcare, where some of us know what bothers us, what do we really want? What do we really need? What can the U.S. do to improve such a vital component of our society?

The post Summer Books 2020 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic Denver designers have banded together to make masks in bulk for the local community as well as many others around the country. But as demand has slowed down, they have shifted their focus to more artistic endeavors – making masks with a more fashionable appeal. 

“At first we were making them out of necessity,” says Jana Smith, owner of At Your Service Event Planning and Producer of Denver’s Unique Week of Fashion. “We were initially just making them for healthcare workers and first responders. Most of the healthcare workers in Denver were given one mask per day when, typically, they would change them out in between every patient. They were essentially wearing our masks over their masks to protect the medical masks so they could wear them for longer.” 

Jana heard about the shortage of masks for healthcare workers and started reaching out to designers for help. “I reached out to 10 or 12 designers at the beginning,” she says, “but two designers have really spearheaded the movement here locally.” 

Smith said the art community really responded to the call to action. “It was a beautiful thing. A community that is normally competitive and full of introverts came together to make thousands of masks and gowns that have been distributed all over the country.” One of the designers Smith spoke about is Missy Caldwell, Owner of Misfitmissy, who said she had already started making masks because of a recent illness. 

“I had just done New York Fashion Week and gotten sick before I came back to Denver. So I just started making masks just in case,” Caldwell says. “I already had a stockpile of masks for an upcoming show and was going to give them out to the audience.” She had planned on using the masks as a way for the audience to participate in the show because she was going to incorporate masks into many of her designs. “Masks were already set to be a trend for the Fall shows before this all started,” she says. “The trend was more lace masks. They just shifted to making them for safety.” 

Smith spoke with healthcare professionals to make sure that what they were doing was effective and was told cotton and cotton-blend were the best fabrics. At the beginning, though, they didn’t really have much choice. “At first we were just using leftover fabric because with lockdown everything was closed; they really had to work with what they had,” she says. “We were heading into Spring Fashion Season and had all these gowns and designs ready for shows, so we started using the leftover fabric.”

As fabric started to run low, she tells us, some had to turn to ripping up t-shirts and sheets. “I started by using fabric left over from making clothes for my daughter,” says Julianna Aberle-McClellan, owner of Julianna’s Wardrobe. “In the beginning everyone was in a panic because we had to get things done.”

As supplies ran low, that’s when the community really started to come together. They created a Facebook page and used it as a resource for sharing supplies. “We were trying to band together to make the best of a horrible situation,” Smith says. “Regular people were donating supplies like fabric and threads and other supplies, and delivering masks.” 

Caldwell said she was working around the clock to make masks and only recently started taking days off again. At first it was just to help the medical community, because they were running out of PPEs, but then she started reaching out to those in her community and at one time she individually messaged every one of her friends to ask if they needed a mask. “I can’t even count how many I’ve made,” Caldwell says. “I sent masks to New York, California, Florida, Texas, people at the Post Office, Navy, Army, anyone that wanted one I’d send one. They’d ask for a couple and I’d send them extras just in case.” 

Caldwell’s daughter is in the Navy, quarantined on a ship, and asked for some masks, which is when her custom designs really started to take off. “The first one’s I sent had messages in them to my daughter, when you hold the mask up to the light you can see the message… like ‘thank you for your service’, and ‘you are beautiful’ and ‘love yourself’ or ‘the future is bright’.” 

The designers said at the beginning the healthcare workers and emergency personnel would take what they could get. But as the public started asking for masks the demand for custom masks went up. 

Caldwell has made masks in specific colors to match outfits with two-tone, rainbow, reversible and even McDonald’s colors to match workers’ uniforms. Then she started getting more creative by adding fabric flowers, charms, and nice trim, as well as creating matching accessories like headbands. But the modifications weren’t all for show; she also modified the designs to lower the mask off the ears, or tighten the fit, or adding cushions for the nose and ears. 

“To make them more fun and whimsical they were adding crystals, multiple fabrics, embroidery and other accoutrements,” Smith says. She has seen a lot of new designs in recent months, including company logos, super heroes, smaller ones for children, and Black Lives Matter themed. One designer made culturally appropriate masks free for the Navajo Nation when she found out about how the virus was affecting them. 

Aberle-McClellan said she has had her fair share of custom orders, including making dog-print masks for workers at PetCo, but her most popular were her sugar skulls fabrics. “I have a client in San Francisco that is the president of a medical company that was requesting specific colors and styles that set off the color of his eyes,” Aberle-McClellan says. “He told me, ‘If I have to wear this, I want to look great.’” 

Aberle-McClellan specializes in bridal and vintage restoration and redesign, and with weddings being cancelled and postponed she hasn’t really had many upcoming projects to work on. But she does have a couple of brides that are planning weddings for October. One of which is using the mask as an extension of her dress and ordering matching masks for her entire bridal party. 

As the modifications and customizations of the masks continue, the artists’ creativity is starting to show through even more. 

While the designers have modified patterns and went in different directions in their designs, they do have one thing in common, they all hope the trend of wearing masks continues and that it becomes more socially acceptable. “I think this is going to be a change in culture. Like in Japan where it is culturally acceptable to wear masks more,” Aberle-McClellan says. “I don’t think masks are going to go away.”   

The post The Fashionable Face: Masking Up appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

‘Plandemic’ is disinformation.

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/aug/18/fact-checking-plandemic-2-video-recycles-inaccurat/

As people think they have found the answer to the Pandemic, they haven’t. The fact is no matter how much folks deny the reality, we have no control over the virus other than our own actions.

Wear a Mask, Keep 6 feet distance, wash your hands, don’t go out when sick, Get the Vaccine. 

Fact-checking Dr. Judy Milkovich (who just recently published a book she is selling) by Katherine Montgomery

**People seem to not understand that PubMed (NCBI) is the international database for cataloging medical research studies and instead think it only contains government-funded information or research. This is not the case. It is basically the Google of peer-reviewed research studies.**

*The following statements represent my personal informed views and not those of any institution*

First, background: I’m a physician (specifically a board-certified pathologist, which includes microbiology and laboratory medicine) with a master’s degree in epidemiology.

In the last day or two, several friends have shared or posted about a video “documentary” called “Plandemic”. The film depicts now-discredited former researcher Judy Mikovits who shares a plausible-sounding narrative about the current pandemic. The problem here is that nearly all of her scientific statements are demonstrably false. If you have more to add to this list, or credible data to the contrary, please start a discussion. I suspect there are many more false claims in this video, but these are just the ones that stuck out to me as a physician with epidemiology training.

• She states “There is no vaccine for any RNA virus that works.” Incorrect: Polio, hepatitis A, measles, to name a few. (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4763971/)
• Her retracted paper was actually not about vaccines at all, even though she insinuates that it was. (Here is the article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19815723)
• She states that Ebola could not infect humans until it was engineered to do so in her laboratory. This is false. (Here is an article describing an outbreak of Ebola in 1976, long before Dr. Mikovits was conducting research: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27357339)
• Likewise, many other zoonotic viruses have been shown to gain mutations that allow them to infect humans. This would not be some kind of new, crazy idea. We actually predicted it years ago: we just didn’t know exactly which virus or when it would occur. (Here is an article from 2015 discussing the likely emergence of future coronavirus pandemics: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4687304/ )
• She states that the US was working with Wuhan to study coronaviruses years ago, like it’s a “gotcha” moment: yes, of course we were doing this – Wuhan is a coronavirus hotspot and it makes sense to study this family of viruses where it naturally occurs. (Same article as above: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4687304/ )
• She states that COPD lungs are identical to COVID-19 lungs. As a pathologist, this is ludicrous – any practicing physician would be able to tell COPD from COVID-19, both clinically and histologically. (One article discussing an overview of tools for diagnosing COVID19 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7144809/, one about CT specifically https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7191895/, and one about histology specifically https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7184436/ )
• The statement taken out of context from the CDC death certificate recommendation reads in full “In cases where a definitive diagnosis of COVID-19 cannot be made, but is suspected or likely (the circumstances are compelling within a reasonable degree of certainty), it is acceptable to report COVID-19 on a death certificate as “probable” or “presumed”. In these instances, certifiers should use their best judgment in determining if a COVID-19 diagnosis was likely. Testing for COVID-19 should be conducted whenever possible.”. My physician colleagues are not being pressured to put COVID-19 on death certificates when it should not be there. (Here is the actual document with instructions for
  filling out death certificates from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/vsrg/vsrg03-508.pdf )
• The idea that physicians are incorrectly diagnosing COVID-19 due to financial incentive is also ridiculous. Medicare sometimes bundles payments for some conditions (i.e. if you have a heart attack, Medicare may pay XX for your treatment) – it’s possible the hospital could get paid $13,000 for your COVID-19 admission, but do you know what that’s based on? The fact that the average cost of hospital admission for a respiratory condition is $13,297. (I can’t post a scientific study here, since this isn’t a scientific fact, but this article describes the procedure in detail: https://www.usatoday.com/…/fact-check-medicare-…/3000638001/ )
• She states that hydroxychloroquine has been “extensively studied in this family of viruses” – in fact, it has not been studied well in coronaviruses. It HAS been studied in malaria, which is not a virus. (Here is the one study that was performed that people like to cite, and it is an in vitro study (not in humans), of SARS (not COVID-19), and chloroquine (not hydroxychloroquine): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1232869/ ).

And yes, it is considered an essential medicine for the treatment of malaria. Not for coronaviruses.

• Furthermore, the data on hydroxychloroquine are much weaker than they originally appeared: the small study that was highly publicized was not a randomized controlled trial, and the only patients who died were those who received hydroxychloroquine (and these were EXCLUDED FROM ANALYSIS!). This is terrible science. Even so, we want to investigate all possible treatments, so controlled trials are being conducted on hydroxychloroquine right now. (One study published on May 7 shows no benefit to using hydroxychloroquine https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32379955 )
• She insinuates that there is a hydroxychloroquine shortage as a result of reduced production. In fact, the shortage has resulted from an increase in demand: people who take this medication regularly are writing extended prescriptions and because physicians are using it for COVID19 patients because they have nothing else to try. (https://jamanetwork.com/c…/health-forum/full article/2764607…).
• “All flu vaccines contain coronaviruses”. Nope, absolutely false. (In fact, it’s so false based on the way vaccines are made that there are no studies specifically stating this claim. It would be like trying to conduct a study to examine whether humans can live with zero oxygen. Nope, we can’t. No study needed.)
• The idea that sheltering in place somehow harms your immune system or that you may reactivate a virus in yourself by wearing a mask have been thoroughly debunked in other posts and I won’t get into the details here. Both national societies of emergency medicine have condemned the statements of these doctors, one of whom is not board-certified. (Please refer to Dr. Kasten’s post and others about these)
• Lastly, private companies removing false information from their platforms do not represent repression or promotion of propaganda. It’s helping to promote the spread of sound scientific information. If you think lies should be permitted to circulate freely alongside the truth with the intention of reaching people who won’t be able to tell the difference, you are part of the problem.//

https://www.facebook.com/kathleen.weber.montgomery/posts/10113287265749743

Yellow Scene author Dave Flomberg

//The latest bat-soup of silliness is “Dr.” Judy Mikovits who is getting a new 15 minutes of infamy on the misinformation tour circuit as the conspiracy set is sharing some recent youtube videos where she’s claiming bad vaccinations caused COVID-19.

Here’s the juice:

The post Factcheck: Plandemic is Disinformation appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

It felt good to be a part of this group that is coming together to get the word out about supporting Local Businesses during COVID-19.

Want to know who your local businesses are? Our Directory will help you find just about all of them.

We made this List of Lists for surviving the Pandemic. These organizations can still use your support.

Lists of Lists for local COVID-19 shopping and support

The post Community Before Politics speaks with Publisher Shavonne Blades appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.