Matterhorn III

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WOLVER INE FARM PUBL I SH ING ’ S

A STOREHOUSE OF WONDER : FORT COLLINS, CO : FREEfree : a quarterly print supplement : fall 2011

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Coming HomeBy Aaron Holsag

pg. 3

Bike Sharing in the FortBy Rick Price

pg. 11

Save the Poudre UpdateBy Gary Wockner

pg. 8

AGRICULTURE : BICYCLES : BOOK REVIEWS : TRAVEL & ADVENTURE : PHOTOGRAPHY : LOCAL CULTURE & ACTIVISM

Floral FinancesBy Maggie Canty-Shafer

pg. 19

Right now, Beet Street faces a combination of challenges and opportunities that will make or break the organization. Executive Director Ryan Keiffer recently resigned, and the funding they receive from the DDA (Downtown Development Authority), originally pledged at $1 million annually, has been reduced over the last several years to about half that supplemented by matching sponsorship from the community. The original mission of Beet Street was to turn Fort Collins into a “Chautauqua of the West,” inspired by the model of the Chautauqua Institution in New York State, which offers lectures, arts,

recreation, religious, and educational programs to families who visit the lakeside town during a 9-week programming season. This plan initially included the construction of a downtown amphitheater in Civic Park and to bring in world-class speakers.

After three years and $3 million of funding from the Downtown Development Authority, this vision was

abandoned for the public performances of Streetmosphere and the potential development of an Arts Incubator with the help of a $100,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Streetmosphere turns the heart of downtown into a stage for performing artists. Beet Street auditions and pays local or regional “musical acts, jugglers and magicians, acting troupes, comedians, dancers, storytellers, and painters” to entertain visitors.

Right now, Beet Street faces a combination of challenges and opportunities that will make or

break the organization.

During August’s First Friday I part with some friends and head south down College. I run into another friend who’s new to Fort Collins and wants to show her sister around. They try to make sense of the

Arts District’s gallery walk map the way newcomers to any city do: by searching for street signs and turning about.

The Arts District and gallery map are sponsored by Cache Bank and Trust, Beet Street, the Downtown Business Association, and others. The district includes a number of the galleries downtown, the Poudre Studio Artists, FCMOA (Fort Collins Museum of Art), and Art Lab. Thinking about the galleries I’d seen, I realized most of them are not true commercial galleries and they’re

at The Forge, the Launch skateboard show and silent auction in the vacant space formerly known as Tuesday Morning, and the imaginative, mechanized charm of the Lost and Found Emporium.

The Fort Collins arts scene is lively and divided. In the middle of it is Beet Street, the City’s publicly- and privately-supported arts organization, which

support local artists, and to incorporate the arts into the economic engine that drives our downtown.

STATE OF THE ARTS:

Article, Illustrations, & Photograph by Charles J. Malone

H O W A R T I S T S A R E L I K E E G G S , H O W B E E T S T R E E T C O U L D B E A B I C Y C L E H U B , A N D O T H E R F A B L E S

MATTERHORNA Quarterly Print Supplement

#3 fall 2011

wolverine farm publishing’s

front matter

MATTERHORN exists because good news exists. The good news is that our community changes constantly. Our neighbors are innovative and creative. Amidst the dynamo of Fort Collins, we support

these forward thinking activities, we applaud those who earn it. We are interested in good ideas paired

with right action wherever they occur.

When necessary we also sound our horn to call attention to wrongheadedness and missed

opportunity. We exist at a vibrant nexus between journalism and the literary arts. We believe in

interviews, information, research, thoughtful exploration, and poetry.

We aspire to do better, to reinvent ourselves incessantly. We're driven by our community, we

encourage everyone to participate, to think, to write, to engage the issues at hand. We crave feedback

and interaction.

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managing editorCharles J. Malone

contributers

Maggie Canty-ShaferMark EasterAlix Gadd

Aaron HolsagBeth Kopp

Heather ManierAmy PalmerKate PayneRick Price

Patrick Richardson Matthew SageGary Wockner

poetErin Virgil

publisher/designerTodd Simmons

board of directorsBryan SimpsonGary Wockner

special thanks

The Fell Types used in this newspaper were digitally reproduced by Igino Marini. www.iginomarini.com

Everything herein © 2011 Wolverine Farm Publishing. All rights held by the individual authors and artists unless otherwise noted. The opinions expressed

Send monetary donations, comments, questions, story pitches, books and/or music to review, agricultural tools to try out, bicycles to ride, etc., to:

Wolverine Farm Publishing, PO BOX 814, Fort Collins, CO 80522

Especially seeking letters to the editor. Please send in by November 10, 2011. For more info visit: www.wolverinefarm.org.

coming home from afghanistan

continued on page 10

Fort McCoy, Western Wisconsin. January 2010. Negative 14 degrees, (at least that is what my phone said that day). Captain Roan calls us all in to talk about what to expect in the months to come once we reach

Kandahar Province; “the next twelve months of our lives will be a small part; we will go do our jobs, come home and all of this will be over.” At the time I thought little of it. I thought “twelve months should not be too long, and it will be over and then I come home, no biggie.”

the commander said that cold January day in Wisconsin. Now I realize what the Captain said was a load of crap. Most soldiers will tell you that life in

scared but eventually that becomes normal, and normal became dodging bullets and mortars, and wondering when you are going to get your next shower. The

while in Southern Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the way you adjust to normal in Kandahar Provence does not translate well to life back in the United States.

Coming home from the war has become even harder for my friends and I than operating in Afghanistan under less than hospitable conditions for the twelve months we were there. The most common issues being depression, high anxiety (especially in my case), and an uncertainty that scares us because we have no idea what we are going to do with our lives now.

We all experience overwhelming emotions when people ask us how it was in Afghanistan. I usually respond with “Yup,

to talk to someone who is attempting to feel what we did, especially when we know the inevitable follow up question is, “Did you kill anyone?”

For my friend Tom, coming home from Afghanistan as a 25 year old Sergeant was easier than coming home from Iraq as a 19 year old Specialist because he knew what to expect. Sophie, who worked in our Headquarters

changed into a completely different person: one who is depressed some of the time, anxious around loud music and lots of people, and does not enjoy her old friends as much as she used to. Phil, my buddy who I slept three feet away from for ten months, has just become irritable with people who don’t do what they say they are going to do and people who are incapable of completing the simplest of tasks. Since I have come home, on most days I experience high anxiety around loud noises and crowds, depression at least twice a week, and general irritation when people who have never been overseas feel it is necessary to ask me how Afghanistan was.

Suicide rates in the Army are 20% higher than the rate of suicide among the civilian citizens of the United States. Even with incentives to get married, the current Army divorce rate is 3.6% compared to 3% in the civilian world. The Army’s answers to these problems are informational PowerPoint presentations on the issues we may face being service members involved in the War on Terrorism. Mental health in the Army has generally declined in the last decade; this degradation is one of the leading causes of domestic violence and suicide among service members. To me, this data seems pretty staggering and begs the question why. Finding help when you are no longer on active duty is hard. The information showing you where to go is no longer dangled in your face.

Tom explained to me that coming home from Afghanistan was much easier than coming home from Iraq. When he went to Iraq he was cross-leveled into a different unit; he went with people he did not know and came home alone. When he returned he was 20 years old and confused. He was

and what met him was a lack of focus so overwhelming it led to thoughts of suicide. Coming home from Afghanistan, Tom was anxious and nervous because he knew better what to expect his second time around. By not getting his hopes up he would not become disappointed. Tom told me the other night, “When you spend

living in the dirt, shitting in a barrel, and making morbid New Year’s resolutions of ‘Don’t die,’ it is hard to sympathize with someone when they cry

about First World problems.”Sophie, a “Ke$ha” doppelganger, was excited to come home; I remember

before we left Kandahar she was jumping around in excitement. When she returned she had fun, partied, saw family, traveled, it all lasted for about four months until the reality of being home settled in. Going out with old friends is no longer what it used to be. She says she can only be around her friends for so long before she wants to go home and be around other soldiers like us. Life is stressful because she is concerned about her future. She no longer feels like she is part of something bigger than herself, as she did while we were serving, she feels like she is not making a difference. Depression kicked in because she no longer feels the camaraderie with the people she used to work with, they are just not there anymore. Like Tom and me, Sophie is anxious because she does not know what she is going to do with the rest of her life.

Phil, I think, has had a better time with coming home than we have; he

he was paranoid of everybody around, he was paranoid of people in Fort

COming Back

Article & Photograph by Aaron Holsag

“When you spend twelve months dodging

shitting in a barrel, and making morbid New Year’s resolutions of ‘Don’t die,’ it is hard to

sympathize with someone when they cry about First World problems.”

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Beet Street’s 2011 programming also includes Culture Cafés, which connect the general public to experts in the arts and sciences over dinner or drinks, the Ansel Adams Masterworks show at FCMOA that ended in March, and the Creative Garden juried show and sale at New West Fest. The Arts Incubator will dramatically change Beet Street’s presence and programming capabilities.

Broadly, Arts Incubators strive to embrace emerging artists the way Business Incubators support small business: by offering services, programming, community, and low-cost space. If the plan goes forward Beet Street will take over the old Carnegie Building at Library Park when the Fort Collins Museum moves to its new home. One change they hope to bring to the incubator model is to stay out of the landlord role and focus on programming.

In an interview with Matterhorn, Beth Flowers, Beet Street’s Interim Director, said, “At this point this is our one shot. Not that we haven’t had like seven,

To understand what the success or loss of Beet Street means, it is important to take a look at the current state of our arts. The mission of Beet Street is ambitious, inspiring, and possibly, as some artists and community members suggest, misguided.

Take First Fridays: last summer a Locals’ Art Walk came about as a compliment to the Art District’s map. About the existing map, Sarah Vaeth, a long-time local artist who has moved on to Portland, says, “I can’t blame [the Downtown Arts District] for pooling their resources and promoting their own interests, but they do present themselves as a comprehensive list of art offerings, and that’s disingenuous. I think the Locals’ map corrects that misapprehension.” The split between commercial galleries and younger or less conventional artists is not unique to Fort Collins, but in a small community it highlights questions about the health of our art market.

One successful show this August was put together by Andrew Weiss to

turned an empty retail storefront on Walnut into wall-to-wall skateboard decks. He featured successful local artists next to nationally recognized artists working in the industry. The show was packed and distinct from many of the other galleries in Old Town.

Weiss says, “the First Friday Art Walk is pretty conservative art...If we

willing to support non-conventional art. As far as the First Friday Art Walk, it’s been the same galleries with the same type of art, and there’s amazing art in those places, but they’re not bringing a whole lot of new ideas. As far as what’s going on in Fort Collins, we still have some work to do to get more support locally.” Part of what made Weiss’s show a success was that he had a cause people could get behind and natural connections to a broad base of artists.

“We handpicked the artists who were all locally-based artists...We were able to connect with Amelia Caruso, who’s very established here, and Ren Burke who’s done a lot of stuff. These are artists who have worked with the city a lot for the APP program, so their names are already out there, it’s not like they needed this for a resume or something.” Weiss continues, “They know me on a personal level, and it was like, ‘Let’s get these people involved, and let’s get the kid who stencils his grip tape all the time, and let’s branch out and get some people who are industry artists involved.’ My connection to the skateboard industry helped us get some of the bigger names. We had seven or eight nationally recognized artists that do skateboard graphics. Those brought in a lot of the money that we raised.”

When talking about our arts community, focusing on visual artists is easy, yet musicians, dancers, skaters, crafters, poets, and other creative people offer a lot of diversity. As with the Launch show, so much of our local scene works on the charisma of driven individuals and the support of their friends. Katie Whittle, who performed with Origami Finger and is active in the local crafty scene, says, “Our music community in Fort Collins is very supportive and open-minded. A lot of the support comes from bands asking you to open for them. Teresa and I played sweet girly music but opened for punk bands like Elway, because we all liked each other. I think that the Bohemian Foundation does a great job supporting young musicians in Fort Collins. I know that if I

Similarly, local businesses do an incredible job of giving artists a place to show, sing, or read their work. It seems every place has art on the walls: Big Al’s Burgers and Hot Dogs, Equinox Brewing, Everyday Joe’s, Lloyd’s Art and

Framing, The Luscious Nectar, The Lyric Cinema Café, Mugs Coffee Lounge, Mama Said Sew, Old Town Yoga, The Red Table Café, Surfside, The Bean

a sign of something special going on. Across town, diverse gallery models are on display: Coleen Cosner’s

CoCo Artist Studio creates a commission-based market by turning patron’s favorite images into paintings, Illustrated Light features David L. Clack’s nature photography, the Global Village Museum explores Northern Colorado’s connections to the larger world, Centennial Gallery offers up a more traditional gallery experience, and Juiced On Imagination embraces art’s therapeutic qualities. This is just a sampling.

In spite of the supportive community, Sarah Vaeth says, “I think that, for the foreseeable future anyway, Fort Collins will never be an ‘art market’; there’s not a big enough collector base for any artist to come close to making a living on local sales. For many artists, there’s no local market for their work at all. The art community can’t do anything to change that: these conditions result organically from population size and regional values.”

Commercial dollars don’t seem to make it to all our emerging artists. Many galleries have to focus on just a few marketable artists to

going coastal, from trying to make it in the big art markets on our east and west coasts.

All this is further complicated by the fact that arts funding is hard to

money, grants and residencies, we’re really talking people’s passion for self-expression, and funding can be seen as a way to validate an artist’s work. Egos

and the sustainability of people’s artistic life can be the unintended casualties of competition. These issues challenge the notion that Fort Collins can ever become “a nationally recognized destination for the arts.” Beet Street’s Evolving Philosophy For at least two years Beet Street has been moving away from the Chautauqua model to embrace our into our community’s innate love for the arts. In their new programmatic strategy Beth Flowers evaluates Fort Collins’s challenges as a market differently than Vaeth.

If money is the problem, Beth Flowers sees a way forward. “I think the pool is a lot larger than the pool of money that some people say is

says. “I think that there is plenty of money to give everybody what they need and that it is not distributed in that way that makes it easy. And, that’s why

important. I think there’s plenty of that to go around.”It’s from this philosophy that both Streetsmosphere and the Arts

Incubator get their inspiration. Flowers emphasizes this new approach is about giving back to artists, creating opportunities for them to come together as a community, and helping them develop skills to turn passion into a sustainable quality of life.

Flowers describes the change in philosophy this way: “It’s much more about people in the community than bringing in tourists.” Flowers says that it’s not the visiting artists who make Fort Collins a desirable arts community but “creative people living in one place, and living well together.”

In Beth’s passion for this community, as in Beet Street’s programming, there’s a tension between looking beyond our community for resources and

to put us on the map, and looking to support the irrepressible community we have. Beth’s conviction is that “the community is so vibrant and there are so many people who are interested in making it an even better place and getting to know one another.” Persistent Problems Persist

Although Beet Street sees Streetmosphere as a successful shift in strategy, the community’s perception is mixed. Business owners report increased foot

arts organizations in our community, says, “I think Streetmosphere is putting us on the map as a circus town that pays imitation buskers. The beauty in buskering is to have some out of work musician stop by downtown FC on his way to Omaha, play his sax on our street corners, earn some money to move on. Buskering should not be an organized, structured talent show. ” Similarly,

because of the kind of work I do, so I can’t speak to it as an insider. I do have a kind of weird feeling about the program: that Beet Street is soliciting and

Now, what do we have here?

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get away with it.” This ambivalence about Streetmosphere is something one hears over and

over, a simultaneous appreciation and skepticism. As Katie Whittle says, “it seems kind of contrived. I like it, I work downtown and get to listen to funny opera singers in the square. I like street performers, but not when it’s sponsored by the city. I want to see smelly traveling kids busking on the street, not dad bands with clarinets.”

It’s easy to imagine artists who do not want to put on a family-friendly show for tourists during their weekends, or whose work is not appropriate for that venue. Beth Flowers admits Streetsmosphere is not inclusive in this way and says no one has ever applied for the program who has challenged this part of the vision.

“I think there is real value to the whole sense of underground. That is a real tension in the art of someone who is purposefully trying to be jarring, trying to jar society in a way that makes people react. That may not be family-friendly; it’s just a different piece of art. But I would say that we haven’t really had anybody apply to Streetmosphere that we’ve turned down because they weren’t family-friendly, or for any aesthetic reason. That could be because they aren’t applying at all because they would be rejected, but until we actually have that experience I don’t know how to answer that question,” Flowers says. “I don’t know who those people are.” Silver Bullets, Golden Arrows, and All Manner of Panacea One can imagine the Arts Incubator better serving a broader community than Streetsmosphere, but not if Beet Street doesn’t have a connection to our community of boundary-pushing artists. Additionally, there’s a lot of work to do here to mend perceptions about Beet Street’s past blunders and defunct strategies. Artists are still sore about fees paid to outsiders like Barbara Ehrenreich and Wynton Marsalis, who are undoubtedly brilliant and important, but probably don’t need money from the source dedicated to promoting our own artists, our own playwrights and musicians.

With the amphitheater an abandoned dream, mixed sentiments

a much smaller budget than in the past, Beth Flowers knows Beet Street is running low on good will. “We know we’re not building something that’s going to collapse within a year or two, that would be silly. And I think that especially given Beet Street’s history nobody wants to support that.”

Beet Street sees the Arts Incubator as a new way forward, a new, smarter strategy to get them to their mission. “If this succeeds this is going to be huge. It’s going to totally change the way people think about Fort Collins, and hopefully what it does is make people in the country and in the world think differently about the West and how we are as creative people, and how we support each other,” says Flowers.

It is easy to criticize expenditures of public funds on the arts. Some conservatives make their careers on it. No one wants to see these limited funds wasted on programs that never take off, when we could be spending money on fancy-schmancy alleyways, or even roads and schools.

In a community where similar efforts have failed some recognized early on that the amphitheater project was misguided. It is not hard to appreciate the idea of offering world-class programming to our community and adding to our draw for tourists, and still wonder why we’d want to compete with Boulder’s Chautauqua program established in 1898. A history beyond their control and a

Macdonald, for example, wants to know, “what has been the return on this $3-plus million investment? I think an open discussion is needed on return on investment, and like any taxpayer-funded entity, it needs to be measured and documented from beginning to end.”

Macdonald wants to see arts funding reach the people who need it and not get tangled up in failed efforts. She says, “The movers and shakers get these organizations going, then they keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again, either due to their own egos, because they are just out of touch with the real Fort Collins culture, or they just can’t articulate a mission, nor organize an organization.”

According to Macdonald, “Arts Alive is an example of this: started by the City and (then Bohemian Foundation) Stryker-Short Foundation, full of the movers and shakers on the Board, lots of publicity, recruits

really put Fort Collins on the tour destination map. Beet Street is an example of this syndrome.”

What Macdonald wants to see is, “instead of plopping down something from outside, let our arts and culture grow from within, from who we are as a community, then see how it grows organically. The success of this scenario is shown in the bike culture, the bike and walking paths, the brewing culture, and

In the months we’ve been working on this story we’ve spoken and not spoken with a number of community members. If it seems bold to offer advice we’re doing so from positive intentions. These four suggestions are the best we can offer in terms of a way forward: 1. Open Up. Beet Street is a publicly-funded organization, yet many board members refused to return our repeated calls and emails. It’s hard to imagine artists feeling welcomed into this organization’s mission when the staff and board are inaccessible. We know you’re busy; we’re busy too. We have the common ground of caring about this community, and that’s important. Other community members seemed reticent to talk about Beet Street’s challenges and opportunities because they didn’t want to get cut out if they said something controversial. Still, they couldn’t wait to hear what other people said. A more open, more grassroots model of governance would be incredibly valuable to the health and credibility of Beet Street.

2. Be Inclusive. There’s room to build better connections with local

downtown galleries, who work hard to put their own shows together. With Gallery Underground and On Display gone, with LoFi long gone, many of our artists are hungry for support. The Arts Incubator could be just what they are waiting for, but dismissing them as people who hold the identity of “starving artist” too closely to be helped is turning away from the most vibrant part of our community. Dismissing them because their art is challenging, not safe, not marketable to tourists, or not family-friendly is robbing

massive funding Beet Street has sponged up. When it comes to the young artists working in our community, Beet Street really needs to know who these people are. Many musicians, artists, sculptors, crafters, and designers are waiting for an invitation to participate. Young artists who want to make some sort of living off of their work need to put aside some anti-establishment, anti-government sentiments, just as

a way to make use of Beet Street, or speak out and ask for something better. 3. Sort Out Your Values. Beet Street frames its mission, values, and purpose

the intellectual life and cultural change we often associate with great art, but in terms of economics. When we’re talking about the arts the conversation is inevitably impacted by how we think about these frameworks. There’s an irony here that despite this focus on economics, community members still have legitimate concerns about return on investment. Valuing downtown economics as a primary aspect of Beet Street’s mission inevitably limits the aesthetics and the artist base the organization can support. Although Beet Street doesn’t want to be an arbiter of taste, they are. Sorting out these structural problems is key.

striking this balance requires more awareness and more work than what’s currently being done. Beth Flowers admits that these kinds of conversations are not happening at the Board of the Directors level right now. If the Incubator is going to reach the community that needs it most, they need to. 4. Be Realistic. We all need to be realistic about what the capacity of our community is. We have an excess of talented, active artists due to Fort Collins’s natural qualities and the presence of the University, but this doesn’t mean we have a cultured audience interested or able to pay artists what they are worth.

We love the ambition and inspirational qualities of Beet Street’s mission, but just as shaking off the amphitheater notion led them to a better strategy, a more realistic and broader assessment of our community might lead to even more

what the real problems are.The good news is Beet Street has the talent and resources to help our arts

A Way Forward

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community blossom. Still, the metaphor of an incubator slowly warming eggs

places artists in the helpless role of the undeveloped embryo waiting to grow and hatch to chirp cutely. This is a dangerously disempowering way of looking at things, but it’s just a metaphor. Beet Street’s incubator can become the center our arts community lacks.

compromising their work can help keep artists here. Events and a center bringing artists from all perspectives and media together in conversation and

that risks sinking the whole effort, let other entrepreneurs meet that need. Albert Camus said, “Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies,

society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.” If Beet Street takes advantage of the incubator to embrace the complicated, vibrant, and sometimes unsettling interplay between art and society they will makes authentic creation and gifts to our future possible; they will help shape a vibrant and intellectually rich future Fort Collins. If the image of an incubator is condescending, perhaps a more appropriate image for Fort Collins might be the hub on a bicycle wheel, spokes radiating out in all directions.

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Erin Virgil

Yellow aspen

are the only visible evidence of the month.` September.

The heat and exhaust are the sameas they were before Solsticefear & worry lines all around the grocery store

no aisle without a pursed mouth.Afraid of the transition, not the end. The lessening, what will

be lost, caught on a nail and abandoned.On the sidewalk a woman with a basket rushes by:relief when it’s empty. This is a new reckoning. Babies nevermade me sad before.

Scarcity means less things and more time to miss them.September means ‘seventh month’ of the Roman calendar

which further confuses the chronology this afternoon.

I want to report that as the aspens slowly went goldthe people too, changed graduallygracefully.

Calming pushing backagainst all that is unnatural.

AUTHOR READING SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH, 8PM

MATTER BOOKSTORE

AVAILABLE AT THE MATTER BOOKSTORE AND ONLINE FROM wolverine farm publishing

november 2011

“Ms. Gilbert’s Logodædaly is a feat of writerly derring-do, a Borgesian excursion, one both gleeful and droll. She is a skilled fabulist, an astute lover of the more recondite quarters of the English language, and the reader’s charming and witty companion-guide across this

erudite terrain.”— Barry Lopez

d

To nominate someone to be the 2012 Fort Collins Poet Laureate, please send in one of their poems and the following information:

1. Poet’s Name & Contact Information2. Does this poet currently reside in the city of Fort Collins?3. Would this poet want to be Poet Laureate, with some degree of service to the community part of the honor? (The type of service would be decided upon by the poet.) 4. Why should this poet be the Poet Laureate for Fort Collins?

Include one sample poem and mail to: WFP, PO BOX 814, FORT COLLINS, CO 80522, on or before November 1st , 2011 .

now accepting nominations forfort collins poet laureate

144 N. College Avenue : Fort Collins, COInside the Bean Cycle : 970.472.4284

“ARE THE POETS IN THE

STREETS YET?”

nominate your favorite fort collins poet on or before november 1st, 2011

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Ior in any way that brings joy to your heart. Lots of people have asked us: “What’s new with Save the Poudre and the Northern Integrated Supply Project?” So, we thought we’d take a few minutes to give you all an update.

First and foremost, the proposed Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) and its destructive Glade Reservoir has been delayed yet again, now for the third time. This extremely controversial project is now over 5 years late and over $150 million over budget.

The latest delays are because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)

impacts of the proposed project. The Corps is doing a “Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement” (SDEIS) to address the dramatic problems with the original DEIS that came out back in 2008. Flows in the river are a

the water that is left in the Poudre through Fort Collins. This destruction of

surrounding the river, and on wetlands along the river’s banks. In the summer

In addition to destroying the river and the habitat surrounding it, NISP would be a stake in the heart of the recreational opportunities on the Poudre

fact, a proposal for a “whitewater park” for kayaking was initially put on hold because NISP would take so much water out of the river. Earlier this year, we commissioned a study (one of many we have funded) that revealed that

economic activity to the downtown region each year, yet another reason to preserve this river for Fort Collins’ future. We will be delighted if this park gets built.

While protecting the river will protect the environment and the economy, it will also protect the public’s health. If NISP is allowed to drain so much water out of the Poudre, the water that’s left in the river will be a muddy, stinking, and polluted mess. Several stretches of the Poudre already are polluted with

Fort Collins, and E Coli levels are too high from I-25 all the way to Greeley. These pollutants and others dictate that the Poudre needs more water, not less,

swim, and tube in the river. Save the Poudre is promoting a “Healthy Rivers Alternative” to NISP that

would allow cities to get the water they need while also getting more water back in the Poudre River. The Healthy Rivers Alternative focuses on aggressive water conservation, water reuse and recycling, much better growth management, and on cooperative agreements with farmers. The battle to stop NISP and save the Poudre is going to be very, very long. So, hang on for a long and wild ride to

In addition to stopping NISP, Save the Poudre is promoting habitat and river restoration programs up and down the river corridor. The Poudre has

long been neglected and has many opportunities for restoration that could improve the river as well as the habitat and recreational opportunities along it. Cities abutting the river have various projects in the planning stages that our organization may support. We’d like to see the river protected and enhanced so the public can enjoy, learn, and appreciate this great resource.

currently runs beside the river. Right now the path stops at the Environmental Learning Center near Drake Road, but several cities and Larimer County are trying to get the bikepath connectedbuilt all the way to Greeley. Save the

for our community and for future generations to enjoy. When the bikepath is completed, a person could pedal for 40 miles, enjoying the river and its wildlife right in the growing urban corridor of northern Colorado.

A new and emerging issue facing the Poudre River is the threat of oil and gas drilling in the watershed, and especially that of “fracking.” Oil and gas drilling is marching across Weld County and into Larimer County. The “fracking” process involves high-pressure injections of toxic chemicals into the subsurface to loosen rock and get more gas and oil out of wells. These fracking

only under the surface but also on the surface where they are sometimes spilled

groundwater, drinking water, and rivers and streams. Oil and gas companies, and regulators at the state and federal level, need to prove that our water is

companies. These fracking chemicals will stay in the ground forever, and thus our water is threatened forever.

Recently, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper announced that he was going to force oil and gas companies to reveal the chemical contents of their

of special concern to the Poudre River because one of the proposed reservoirs

25 wells drilled right on top of the reservoir’s footprint with several of them fracked. We asked the U.S Army Corps of Engineers to study the fracking issue at Galeton as a part of the SDEIS process. It could be years before the wells are pumped dry and water contamination, if any, is revealed. We are monitoring the fracking issue closely and we will keep you informed when it’s appropriate to take action.

addressing threats to the river, supporting restoration projects, and getting the word out to the public. We often need volunteers to help with these programs, so please consider volunteering on our website, http://savethepoudre.org.

Your help is greatly appreciated. It will, indeed, take a village to keep this river alive.

Gary WocknerDirector, Save the Poudre: Poudre Waterkeeper

AN OPEN LETTER FROM SAVE THE POUDRE

8

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© Jo

hn B

arth

olow

w w w. s av e t h e p o u d r e . o rg

The Cache la Poudre River is one of the most endangered rivers in America! 2011 has been a huge year for Save the Poudre’s efforts to protect and restore this wonderful river. Four proposed dam and reservoir projects will release Environmental Impact Statements in the next 18 months with thousands of pages of technical documents for public review. Save the Poudre is gearing up for the scientific and legal fight to keep this river alive for generations to come. We’ve made huge progress so far—not one ounce of cement has yet been poured in the Poudre River. The biggest threat to the Poudre—NISP and its Glade Reservoir—is over 5 years late and $150 million over budget. Thank you for your support for the beautiful Cache la Poudre River!

The Canadian. The Arkansas. The South Platte, the North Platte, the Saint Vrain. The mighty Colorado. The sacred Rio Grande. The Animas, Mancos, Dolores, Gunnison, the White. The wild Yampa. The Big Thompson.

The Cache la Poudre. And so many more. The names are well known to us all, a mix of old language and new, and they have been pouring down gravity’s veins since long before there were even people here. They are beacons of hope to us, respites from the stress of daily life, magnets of peace. Givers of life. Economic engines. Our rivers. They are also engineering models. Full employment programs for lawyers. Shipping containers of the currency we call “water,” starting in the Colorado headwaters and stopping at state lines. We reduce them to acre-feet and cubic-feet-per-second allocations, expand them as subjects of state and international treaties, argue over them endlessly, speculate untold billions of dollars over their futures. I think they deserve to be much more than this. If we lose sight of our rivers as being anything other than unsustainable economic development programs then I believe we risk losing something fundamental. If we continue on this course, looking back from the high hill of experience we won’t recognize ourselves anymore.

rivers and creeks in Montana, married her near a river in Wyoming, and we horde our vacation to spend paddling the wildest, most remote water we can get to. My earliest, best memories of my dad and

element in hours of a treasured conversation. Some of my most peaceful, memorable moments were

things are all that different for the rest of you when you think about it. When you visit a new place or make a journey, do you look for the names of every street or highway you cross? Not very often, I bet. But it is different coming to a bridge over a waterway. My family obsesses over the names of waterways. We look for that green sign with the white lettering ending in “river,” “creek,” or “slough.” Once we know the name we stretch to see the waterway below. If we somehow miss the sign, we ask earnestly “What river is this?” and the map comes out, or we stop early for gas or a bathroom break just so we can ask. My home river is the Cache la Poudre. Consider the role your home river plays in your life, or more importantly, the role you would like it to play for the rest of your life. Maybe you’d like to be married

buddies, your family, or meet a lover? Doesn’t your home river deserve all the attention and protection it deserves? The Cache la Poudre is our home river. Please help to stop the proposed NISP/Glade Reservoir. Go to SaveThePoudre.org for more information on the threats facing the river and how you can help protect it.

keep your dam hands off my poudre

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Article by Mark Easter

what river is this?


coming home from Afghanistan

Collins, as absurd as that sounds. Phil drove our trucks on most of the convoys. Because of his experiences driving around in Afghanistan, driving back here in the states has changed for him; his wife took away his driving privileges for a

of being home, the anxiety and suspicion of people came down. Phil says he

not experience some of the depression that others of us did, he has become irritable when it comes to general courtesy; when he says “Hello” to someone he sees on the street, he expects a polite “Hello” in return. It frustrates the hell out of him when he does not get that. At work, when people do not perform simple tasks like showing up on time, when people don’t move with what we call “a sense of purpose,” when they don’t follow simple instructions, he feels that he needs to counsel them immediately to resolve the issue. For Phil, these are simple tasks and things that should be done with no problem because they are so easy.

Like Tom, Sophie, and Phil, I have experienced some of all these different

go back to Kyrgyzstan I was as excited as Sophie was. A week later I realized that coming home was not as great as it seemed. It was not until I moved out

lasted for about a week and a half. It still happens every now and then without

the summer session nothing is good enough.I sometimes begin to rage in my mind at the slightest perceived offense,

requiring all of my willpower to prevent lashing out at the perpetrator. I have to bite my tongue and work at being polite while waiting in line at McDonald’s and having to wait because they forgot tomatoes on someone’s burger, and they now feel it is their duty to make a big deal about it. I realize that people don’t know any better. We see things differently. I try not to tell people I just got back from Afghanistan, but every now and then it slips out unavoidably, and people ask: How is it over there? Are we making a difference? Did you see a lot of action? Did you kill anyone? These questions irritate and confuse me and the friends I served with. I don’t know why people ask us the things they do.

We understand people are genuinely curious, however, asking us these questions does not make us feel good. We endured things most people

cannot imagine, and when we are asked about it, it takes us back to those real nightmares. All we want to do is enjoy what we have here and now.

If you are walking through Old Town and you come across a Veteran and

and smile, and know that is enough. The emotional and physical aftermath of war on the individual is enough for us to remember our experiences on a daily basis. Tom, Sophie, Phil and I do not need strangers reminding us of it.

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MATTER JOURNAL 14 ANIMAL FORTHCOMING FROM

wolverine farm publishingdecember 2011

We are surrounded by wolves.

Article & Photographs by Rick PriceIllustration by Patrick Richardson

FREEBIKEFREEBIKEFREEBIKEFREEBIKEFREEBIKEFREE IN-DEPTH LOOK: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF BIKE SHARING IN THE FORT

This is a true story, even the future part since I believe that just because it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it isn’t true. As an academic geographer, wild-eyed bicyclist, and world traveler I

have the credentials to write this story; in addition I’ve been intimately involved with, and have some strong opinions about, bicycle culture in Fort Collins. I

Our daughters took over the company in 2008. In 2005 I helped salvage the Bike Coordinator’s position and co-

pitched the idea of the Bike Library to the City and wrote the memorandum of understanding that created the partnership that was to run it. I and many others wrote the 2008 Bike Plan, helped the Bike Co-op achieve 501(c)3 status in 2009 and wrote the Bicycle Safety Education Plan in 2011. There’s more but let’s talk bike sharing.

1994 in FoCo

Countless grassroots bike sharing

“White Bike” program launched in Amsterdam in 1965. “Provo,” the anarchist group, attempted a bike share program by putting ten bikes onto the streets of Amsterdam. They were gone within a few days. Most programs ended similarly until sponsors realized they needed to hold borrowers accountable for the bikes.

created a “bike pool” similar to the City’s motor pool. Three bikes were placed

Recycled Cycles was involved in this early program in conjunction with the Larimer County Youth Corps. The hope was that City staff would use bikes to run short errands rather than driving a car.

1995 - 96 1995 saw the “mustard yellow” bike project which placed bikes in government

agency.

1997

for transportation and “we gave them a bike,” said Kathy Collier, who worked with the original program through the Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization. Most of the bikes in those early programs came from the surplus of bikes generated at Colorado State University. “We had 300 bikes

Lukesic, Assistant Bike Coordinator for the City at the time. “Eventually they

Those early bike share programs evolved, eventually, and included the

that’s the only color paint the City could

1998

By 1998 the City received funding through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program to begin “Freewheels” under a program called “SmartTrips.” “Freewheels” was similar to the

yellow bikes placed in businesses and

per month. SmartTrips staff checked mileage on the bikes monthly and performed routine maintenance.

Kelly Roberts, was instrumental in launching “Freewheels” as a part of the

SmartTrips mission to promote transit, walking, bicycling, and car-pooling. But

plundered SmartTrips as a top-heavy boondoggle with a $1.8 million budget. They shut it down. 2003 Meantime, in 2003, a phenomenon called the Bike Against Collective was born in a garage at 400 Smith Street. Founded by Rafael Cletero and his

by 2005. “Why a bike collective?” asks the masthead on the Bike Against Blogspot. “For Sharing, Helping, Learning, Networking, Recycling... For

bikes, parts, etc. we get the bikes running we give the bikes away for a donation or for free the cycle continues...We also refurbish and donate bikes for a wide variety of events and programs to help with community outreach and fundraising.”

in-depth look: bike sharing in the fort

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One of the original 1994 “white bikes” in Fort Collins.


thousand $100 bills. “Here,” he says, “start a bike sharing program in Fort Collins. Something like Benjamin Franklin might have done in Philadelphia in

What do you say? “No thank you, I’ve never run a bike sharing program and wouldn’t know where to start.” Or do you take the money, hire people, pull some bikes together, and launch a bike “library”? That’s what the City of Fort Collins bike program, FCBikes, did in 2008. The amazing thing is that the empty suit came back four years in a row and kept leaving those bundles of $100,000 each time. With that federal largesse coming to an end in 2012 the Fort Collins Bike Library, City Council, and Transportation Planners are scratching their heads about what to do next. Of course, the writing has been on the wall for a few years beginning with the Downtown Development Authority board that loved the concept of a bike

to do to make this program sustainable, so that you don’t have to come back to us again next year to ask for more money?” There was also a hint of the precarious nature of the program when Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) named the Fort Collins Bike Library one of the “worst wastes of the year” for federal spending in 2008. Then, in 2009, there was the IRS ruling that Bike Fort Collins, the contractor operating the FC Bike Library, was in violation of IRS employment practices. The grant to run the bike library came through in 2008, just as the economy went on the skids. As a result of the economic downturn I abandoned my bicycle advocacy work as President of Bike Fort Collins to return to my bicycle touring business, which needed my full attention. I turned the reigns over to folks at Bike Fort Collins and pedaled into the sunset. The original vision for the bike library involved a three-way partnership among the City, Bike Fort Collins and the Bike Co-op. Successful partnerships need experienced partners and serious partnerships need lots of luck to succeed. The result was that the Fort Collins Bike Library got off to a rocky start. The new administration at Bike Fort Collins had little business experience, the same with our City partners, and nobody had had experience running a bike share program. Eight board members at Bike Fort Collins would shout at Rafael for not delivering bikes on time and eventually Rafael stomped out of a board meeting, resigning his place on the board. It didn’t occur to anyone that Bike Fort Collins couldn’t run an organization with a committee of eight presuming to give orders to the employees in the trenches. It seems that luck was in short supply. 2009 The Bike Co-op got its own 501(c)3 status in 2009, communications among

the Bike Library. The Co-op moved out of City property where it had been housed, and struck out on its own in August of 2009.

the Bike Library was a success, at least on the surface.

2010 – 2011

in the City, bike sharing continues to make a lot of sense, especially in a geographically compact city such as Fort Collins. The Armstrong Hotel in Old Town began offering bikes to their guests

Brewing, with a fat tire cruiser as thebikes for use by employees, VIP visitors, vendors and distributors visiting the mother ship. “We use them to go to lunch meetings and for employees to run errands around town,” said Brian Callahan, Director of Fun at New Belgium.

errands. Otter Box, in its new building on Meldrum, has a large indoor bike storage facility that will allow them to develop their own bike share program for employees, though for the moment they share scooters only. In late fall of 2011 Shane Miller of Fort Collins Car Share will launch “full spectrum vehicle sharing” including traditional, hybrid, electric, electric assist, and specialty bicycles. This allows the user to select the lowest energy and lowest cost vehicle to satisfy the needs of each trip. A unique component of this vehicle share program is that a membership fee of $60 will allow participants to borrow a bicycle permanently.

2012 and beyond

I think Benjamin Franklin would like “B-Cycle,” a 21st century bike sharing program. As the B-Cycle web site explains, “B-cycles are there when you want one and gone when you don’t. Just swipe your card, grab a bike, and get to where you’re going.”

are just a few of the reasons why urban transportation needs a facelift. B-cycle is easy, cheap, and sets you free from your car. And it’s powered by the best alternative fuel: you.”

errands, quick trips to meetings, or to lunch. Far more than earlier bike share

grid. B-cycle is for transportation, not just for fun.



A CSU program announced late this same year was to “put hundreds of bicycles on the campus . . . for students to use freely” by May of 2004. As a student volunteer explained, “if a person wants to run an errand that is a couple blocks away, they can use the free bike instead of getting in their car and driving there.” Despite the best laid plans, the program launched in 2006 with only twenty bicycles, not hundreds.

2005 - 2006

SmartTrips program managers contacted me (as President of Bike Fort Collins) in November 2005 desperate to empty their storage unit which still housed ten yellow bikes. Council had eliminated SmartTrips and the FreeWheels program the month before.

them.” “What happens to the other bikes that are out in the community?” I asked.

was the response. We found some space and took the inventory of excess bikes, including a classy yellow cargo trike. All the bikes eventually made their way either into the new Fort Collins Bike Library or to the as yet unformed Bike Co-op. Though SmartTrips was eliminated, a public outcry resulted in the Bicycle Coordinator’s position being salvaged. The job sat empty for almost two years

Against Collective for zoning violations in a residential neighborhood. As President of Bike Fort Collins at the time, I consulted with Rafael, he got the new City Bike Coordinator involved, and a compromise emerged. Bike Against

continue to operate. 2007

CSU. The earlier white, red, rust red, mustard yellow and “Freewheel’” programs were things of the past. Other bike share projects were in the making, however. Independently of any City initiative or of the University, Bike Against hatched the idea of putting twenty bikes on the street in a renewed effort to start a bike share program. New Belgium Brewing agreed to paint the bikes and put their logo on them. Corporate lawyers tend to shy away from projects like this. They nixed the program even though bikes were in the warehouse ready to ride. So it was back to the drawing board. Out of these conversations came the idea that the City should apply for more federal money to revive a bike share program. The concept of the current Bike Library was born. Bike Against would change its name to the Fort Collins Bike Co-op and would maintain bicycles for the Library. Since

umbrella of the Center for Peace, Justice, and the Environment, which did have 501(c)3 status. The new Bike Library would operate under the umbrella of Bike Fort Collins (which received its 501(c)3 status in 2006) while the new Bike Co-op would become a fully autonomous “project” under the auspices of Bike Fort Collins. 2008 Two hundred-seventy seven years after Benjamin Franklin established the Philadelphia Library Company an empty suit comes along and counts out a

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One of the yellow bikes from the Freewheels program.

Ten stations would give us a great start perhaps with 200 bicycles. Bicycle docking stations are the new urban street furniture. Fort Collins had better get in line to get its program. Boulder and Denver both have B-Cycle as do Chicago, Des Moines, Louisville, Madison, Omaha, and San Antonio. Spartanburg, South Carolina and Kailua, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu both have start-up B-Cycle pilot programs with just one or two stations. Our current “Bike Library” is a fun, novel, unique bike share program. As a tourist attraction it is great. It gets us great headlines across the nation including Senator Tom Coburn’s designation as a massive waste of government funds.

was the original plan), and has peculiar open hours. Let’s take the bikes from the Bike Library and share them for bike

century bike share program. B-Cycle would be a good place to start since it has the experience and the coverage.

Kvamme a 1999 graduate of CSU. Nate was a starting linebacker for the CSU Rams football team for four years. Let’s get Nate up here to tell us why Fort Collins needs a plan B.

Learning in Fort Collins has received a grant to create his own bike library at Polaris.

It took Rick Price eight years to decide it was ok to settle in Fort Collins where he writes about anything bicycle related from his home south of Prospect and north of Spring Creek.


since the way it operates discourages the borrowing of bikes that then sit idle.

30 minutes are free and the second might cost a dollar. After that, the cost increases to $4 per thirty minutes or $8 per hour. Imagine a CSU student or professor borrowing a B-Cycle to meet a friend in Old Town for lunch. Once you have purchased your annual membership to the program, you can borrow the bike for free to get to your meeting. Return your bike to a docking station in front of the Rio and go to lunch. “Your” bike is available to another user while you eat. After lunch you borrow another B-Cycle bike to head back to campus. “Where would we put stations,” I’m often asked. As a geographer that seems obvious to me. Anywhere there is a concentration of potential users:

Four stations should go in in Old Towno the Mason Street Transit Center and Parking Garage;o Old Town Square;o Mountain Avenue; ando the Library.

CSU could easily host four stations: o one at the Transit Center;o two at the Laurel and Prospect stops on the Mason Corridor;o one in the new parking garage across from the Hilton on Prospect

Street;

Two additional stations might be placed south along the new Mason Corridor.

MATTERBOOKSTORE

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volunteer-run : non-profit : always accepting book donations located inside the bean cycle coffeehouse : 144 n. college avenue fort collins, co 80524

970.472.4284 : wolverinefarm.org

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AUTHOR OF HONYOCKER DREAMS

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH 7PM

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BOOK SIGNING TO FOLLOW READING : BOTH EVENTS FREE TO THE PUBLIC

N O T- T O - B E - M I S S E D L I T E R A RY E V E N T S !

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hello, it’s me

I was born in the cassette era. I had a traumatic encounter with puberty and punk rock during the CD years. I watched the mp3 come into power through college. Now, I am a dejected, internet addicted, post-media-era

consumer in a medium-sized college town with no record store and I was

rows of media, racks of music in little packages, album artwork, labels, liners, stickers and boxes. Deluxe edition. Repressing. Out of Print. Import only. Special Order. Half-off. I steal music off the internet like everyone else, but I miss the personal connection I used to feel with my music as a young consumer. I needed to get my hands dirty again. I started hunting in some unlikely places in an attempt to sate my internal consumer core and in these shadowy corners I found pure media-addict gold. The 45rpm seven inch single lays directly in the sleepiest and most vital part of the history of American music: Rock, Soul, Motown, Pop. They all thrived on 45. DJs from the 1950s-80s relied heavily on the medium as the primary source material for their airplay. Collectors hogged what they could, but as technology evolved, the 45 was left to blow away and decay alone in the forgotten corners of post-analog culture. I see the 45 as the holey and tangible precursor to the beguiling $.99 mp3. They were cheap, easy to come by (back then) and practically disposable. You picked it up, wore it out, and then lost it somehow or gave it away in a garage sale. Unlike the $.99 mp3, the 45 had a more composed sense of self. If you were going to pay $3-5 for two songs, they had both better be good. Now, the $.99 is a standardized fee placed on the consumption of a purely intangible

article and discussion of mp3s as cutting edge will be obsolete within 5 years). Media is destined to become forgotten…but it is only then that it can regain its

thrift stores, junk shops, antique malls and garage sales. Many go untouched

six. The bittersweet nature of this medium beckons me, reader, and I am here to report to you the very real power of this national trash treasure.

There is a large antique shop on I-80 at the Ogallala interchange in Nebraska. Past the Fat Dog’s, the KFC/Taco Bell and the Dollar General; probably two acres of old farm furniture and dresses, pint jars of marbles and quilts, old televisions and frontier memorabilia, cowboy stuff and junk and junk…and a box of 45s that were only 40¢ a pop. I rounded the corner, past the second Pez dispenser display, and there…calling to me woefully from behind the glass case full of John Wayne memorabilia…

Hello, it’s me. I’ve though about us for a long long time.Maybe I think too much but something’s wrongThere’s something here that doesn’t last too longMaybe I shouldn’t think of you as love -Todd Rundgren “Hello, it’s Me.” 1972.

with a tiny dog-sized skirt, understood I had found treasure. She wrapped them carefully in tissue paper and smiled.

I never realized I had become immune to music. I had grown so used to shopping digitally for records, scouring blogs for new bands and mp3s, using media sharing websites exorbitantly, sharing links with friends on social media

Am I really hard to please?Perhaps I have such special needsI wondered what was wrong with meMy friends all fall so easilyBut today I fell in love with someone I hardly know. -Diana Ross “I Thought it Took a Little Time.” 1976.

…When I found these records in these extremely unlikely places, and then bought them mostly on a whim, I had a new key through which I could access

became pop-anomalies that drew me deep into their histories. Rundgren. Ross. Gladys and her Pips. Sergio. Oh Sergio. It struck me: these were songs that were crucial to the history of American Rock. As an advocate of both Rock and America, these are songs deep in the history of the culture I am consumed by. These seven inch black discs contain the ridges of history etched into their faces. They were beamed out into space on radio waves and trace through the universe as a document of the

they are so much more.

If anyone should ever write my life storyFor whatever reason there might beOoh, you’ll be there between each line of pain and gloryBecause you’re the best thing that ever happened to me-Gladys Knight and the Pips “You’re the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me.” 1974.

The Earth is in sorry shape. Our economy is dying. But our history is still as rich as ever, and what could be more important than to get empowered by

from collapsing around us. There are a million artifacts lurking for everyone between every pile of scrap. Feel brave enough to show value in what others would consider cultural waste. Don’t view the pile of VHS tapes in the basement as junk, see it as a portal to childhood. Don’t see the enormous water-damaged polyester CD book full of burned CDs as trash, see it as a portal into your teen angst. Don’t let that stash of 45s in your grandparents basement that is collecting

history of American Music and your life and what it means to be you, here, right now, reading this on a piece of newsprint, and not on a screen.

I’ve thought about us for a long long time.

Article & Photograph by Mattthew Sage

Hello, it’s me: A brief report on the collapse of American Culture

And the importance of recycling media

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Matt Sage lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. More here: http://patientsounds.blogspot.com/

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The Hip Girl’s Guide to HomemakingKate Payne

Reviewed by Amy Palmer

I recently picked up The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking. I took it home, and promptly read about half of the book in one day. Kate Payne’s approach to DIY homemaking is straightforward, embodying ideas surrounding home-making that I appreciate (upcycling, recycling, being as cheap economical as possible and making use of what you already have). She encouraged me to try some new things, including but not limited to using more natural cleaners in my house. For example, I’d heard that vinegar can be an all-purpose cleaner, but I’d never really heard of how to use it. Now I have two giant bottles of vinegar, and together they cost less than most chemical cleaners. (see PS: vin-egar and baking soda together not only clean your toilet amazingly well, but

Payne manages to sound authoritative while remaining non-judgmental,

whatever.” But in more writerly language than that. I’ve read a few DIY home blogs and magazine articles, and I always come away feeling like, “If I don’t do this, I’m a terrible person,” an approach which generally sent me more toward ennui and less to action. Payne’s book is more about encouraging people to do the things that are within their relative scopes of commitment and giving them the tools to do so. She also provides inspiration to do more, should readers choose. The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking covers a wide range of topics: from tips on how to make things and clean everything, to ideas for parties that will show off your personal version of domestic bliss.

They Could No Longer Contain Themselves: A Collection of Five Flash Chapbooks

Many an avid reader has, at some point or another, sat himself down before a blank piece of paper or computer screen to give that idea for a story a shot. Almost as many have crumpled that piece of paper or deleted that document after realizing their idea only lasted for 500 words.

Elizabeth J. Colen, John Jodizio, Tim Jones-Yelvington, Sean Lovelace, and Mary Miller may have done the same thing, but after they got their 500 words out, they realized that they had, if not a traditional short story, something worth reading. They Could No Longer Contain Themselves: A Collection of Five Flash Chapbooks is the fruit of dozens of those ideas, related in no more than a few pages each, yet never lacking in inventiveness, poignancy, or content. Each

together moment by moment, as Jodizio and Miller do, and sometimes crafting a murky personal portrait through stray memories, as Colen does. In “Do Not Touch Me Now Not Ever,” Jodizio plays with coerced coincidence and the disturbingly domestic if sometimes devious, sometimes melancholy tales. Sean Lovelace’s “How Some People Like Their Eggs” gets creative, at times

“Evan’s House and the Other Boys Who Live There” comes of age through Nickelodeon fetishism as Jones-Yelvington draws up characters frighteningly

The slow but sure emergence of each author’s style is exciting to watch, as their individual fascinations and perspectives meld the stories into a greater whole.

has to offer. Nevertheless, They Could No Longer Contain Themselves is a mouthful

allowing the reader just enough time to savor each before the menu changes.

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FREE EDWARD ABBEY POSTER WITH PURCHASE OF $10.00 or more.*

144 N. College Avenue : Fort Collins, COInside the Bean Cycle : 970.472.4284

* COUPON MUST BE PRESENTED AT TIME OF PURCHASE. OFFER EXPIRES DECEMBER 1ST, 2011.

All reviews written by Matter Bookstore volunteers, and all books available at Matter Bookstore.

From The Arapaho SongbookAndrew Schelling

Reviewed by Charles J. Malone

“This watershedthe land itself is what surviveslike a raga is soundedcan you see the curved way hot itround straight out ahead”

So much is at stake in how we think about and treat the land around us. Much of this struggle occurs in language itself. The difference in describing a land-scape as beautiful, high prairie or dry, barren plain can justify or negate conse-quential action. Andrew Schelling’s From The Arapaho Songbook interrogates this capacity of language. Part of his method involves juxtaposing qualities of many languages beginning with Arapaho, an Algonkian dialect. Schelling’s book opens with Edward Sapir’s notion that “Single Algonkian words are like tiny Imagist poems.” Sapir is better known for his hypothesis on how linguistics limit our cognitive possibilities. In other words, we can only think and do what our language and vocabulary permit. Schelling explores possibilities in the Arapaho dialect wonderfully distinct from our own. These poems also pull examples from Sanskrit, Ute, Spanish, Haida, Hindi, and Chinese to create juxtapositions with modern American English. Schelling shows the beautiful way language springs from our contact with the world. For example, the Arapaho created place names like wox noho ‘kuhnee-t,

Never Summer Mountains. The Chinese character for month is the same as the one for moon. These poems also reveal a dangerous, opposing trend in our own lan-

they resemble. Our spoken language records our break with the natural world. Schelling writes, “Wild animal names/ are taboo in our mouths,” and in the following poem sings against this. He repeats one word: KINNIKINNIK, or, in translation, bearberry. He assaults what can be seen from an ecological per-spective as a symptomatic decline. His poetry is also an attempt to heal the break between our language and land the way ragas, or classical Indian songs, are believed to heal illness or bring monsoon rain. The imagery in these poems is our imagery, the land alternately at risk or celebrated is our land. Schelling splits his time between Boulder and the higher elevations of Indian Peaks. The Arapaho people called the Front Range and Colorado’s eastern plains home for generations. Still, these poems reach out to touch many of our roots and traditions. A reader willing to travel with these poems can learn much in explication, as much as from the pure song of Schelling’s poetry. In all, Schelling gives us a balanced poetics:

a cave in Germany’s hillsan open paw the stiff pads a hanging dewclawa griffon’s leg bone or a ‘musicaltradition at the time modern humanscolonized Europe’we whistled to animals theytaught us good mannershere is an iPod here a large-breasted

Tart and Sweet: 101 Canning and Pickling Recipes for the Modern Kitchen Kelly Geary and Jessie Knadler

Reviewed by Beth Kopp

The world of canning and preserving has undergone a recent revival of sorts. From witty, well-designed blogs to beautifully photographed books, there is a

One book that seems to aim for this new demographic is Tart and Sweet: 101 Canning and Pickling Recipes for the Modern Kitchen by Kelly Geary and Jessie Knadler.

Tart and Sweet contains an easy-to-follow collection of recipes for small-batch pickling and preserving. It includes recipes for everything from compotes, marmalades, and fruit butters to pickled veggies, kimchi, and mustards. There

moderate, or more involved so you know what you’re getting into. Be warned

A friend and I couldn’t resist trying the recipe for Peach Lavender Jam. The instructions were easy enough, although using Pamona’s Universal Pectin was a little confusing and required the extra step of making calcium water. The jam itself was tart (less sugar than most jam recipes) but tasty. And, as a bonus, it was paired with a drool-worthy recipe for Brown Sugar Cake with Peach Lavender Jam and Vanilla Buttercream.

I look forward to trying more recipes out of this book. Right now I have my eye on the Lemon Herb Pickled Garlic, Spiced Pear Cardamom Butter, and Grapefruit Honey Jam. Overall, the recipes in Tart and Sweet are interesting and inspiring and the addition of canning party themes and canning cocktail recipes at the end is just icing on the (Brown Sugar) cake.

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what are you reading right now? (not including this.)

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FORT COLLINS READING HABITS

OLD TOWN

Questions Asked & Compiled by Beth Kopp & Heather Manier

Article & Photographs by Maggie Canty-Shafer

Photographs by Charles J. Malone

huge leaps in composting and alternative energy.Partnering with a few local restaurants (including Austin’s, Enzios and

Café Ardour), they have compost delivered by bicycle everyday to be used in the beds, and water the plants using electrically powered bicycle watering carts.

In an effort to improve long-term sustainability and savings, the Parks Division is in the process of building a greenhouse at the Gardens on Spring Creek to supplement the plants they purchase from Plantorium in Laporte.

To Brunkhardt, there’s no question that the City’s time, effort and resources are well spent on the plants.

stand out. People notice them, relate to them, want to come see them. When you compare downtown to a strip mall, there’s really no comparison. They bring people downtown.

“Keep Fort Collins Great”

arrangements as intricate as those lining the streets downtown. So who’s

and paid for by two separate entities. The Downtown Development Authority

College and the hanging in the middle of the streets. The DDA pays for its share the same way it pays for most everything,

“In order to ensure that they’re clean and attractive, and to create the kind of environment that makes the district function well, streetscape and

the Downtown Development Authority. “It’s not unlike how at Front Range Village or The Promenade Shops at Centerra there is a property management function that takes care of the common areas.”

The Keep Fort Collins Great tax initiative, which passed overwhelmingly

entire division).

the new funds, as they’ll be more focused on planting in the alley (of Alley Cat fame) from West Myrtle to Laurel Avenue.

to the Parks Division to work within. Robenalt said they consider money spent

area.

he said. “Old Town contains 2 percent of commercial space, but produces

FLORAL FINANCes:how your green grows in old town

floral finances

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Unbeknownst to the Old Town shoppers, the Fort Collins City government has a system in place that guarantees its visitors will spend money.

The system is simple, undetectable and recession proof. Nothing can stop it.

Nothing, that is, except an unseasonal hail storm.

Beds, planters and hanging pots line the streets and alleys, spotting the dull brick and cement with the bright hues of summer, clustered together in

of celebration that says, “It’s a special day. I deserve a latte.”At least that’s what the government is hoping for.

including manpower or maintenance. With a little research, where the plant money comes from and what it’s

used for are easy questions to answer, and might just make you even prouder of our little city. But whether or not their petals are worth the price tag isn’t so black and white.

From seed to sidewalk

The Parks Crew Chief for the Downtown District knows every pot and planter, and can hardly help but offer detailed explanations of each plant’s

facts like it’s his job. And in a way, it is.Brunkhardt and his staff of seven are the people-power behind the entire

purchasing and planting, daily maintenance, including cleaning up after hail damage, replacing plants stolen by sloshed students looking for cheap décor or

and weekly deadheading. In mid-September they replace the summer blossoms

the whole process over. They work seven days a week, starting their mornings at 6 am, even on

The beds are particularly abundant this year as Fort Collins was chosen as a trial city by Dummen, a German grower and producer. As a part of their

grown in any other city. A big deal for a little town.“We want to create a welcoming and beautiful environment,” said

cement.”

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F R E E A R TPhotographs by Charles J. Malone

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floral finances

between 13 and 14 percent of sales tax for the city. It’s a very vibrant commercial area. “

It’s clear that the downtown area is important to Fort Collins economically

$35k is a little blurry.The city hasn’t done any studies or surveys. The only evidence they have

Dr. Nancy Jianakoplos, professor of Economics at CSU, said without more information, she couldn’t say whether this is money well spent.

An economist would look at

she said. If you were paying an economist as a consultant to offer an opinion, he might conduct a

asking how far they have travelled to shop, how much they planned to spend, etc. to get an estimate of willingness to pay. Then he might also survey other shopping options to get the same information for a comparison. He might also look at

under half of what Fort Collins spent. Part of this gap is because Boulder also chooses to cover fewer blocks.

When compared with the city’s overall 2011 budget (totaling $446.4

Flower power

research done in other parts of the country suggests there’s more to these plants than pretty petals.

are proven to improve passerby’s moods, making them more inclined to spend money.

“Color brings people,” he said. “It effects the environment socially and people mentally to see color, rather than a stark strip mall. We have more competition today with Centerra and the Harmony shopping centers, so I don’t think we can over-do anything with color.”

Virginia Tech Professor and Environmental Horticulture Specialist Diane Relf agrees. In an essay she wrote in 2009, Relf

tourism revenues for a city, but also worker productivity, community pride and perception of an area.

“Fort Collins values a quality lifestyle,” said Robenalt. “The

the city prides itself on, along with the open spaces and trail systems and great parks system. This is just an extension of that.”

BE

FO

RE

AF

TE

R

KEVIN DEWLEN 970-219-0677

HUGH’SACUPUNCTURE CLINIC

FORT COLLINS SOURCE FOR ACUPUNCTUREAND TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

1304 S. College Ave. Suite #7Fort Collins, Colorado

970.215.7419

Acupuncture - Chinese Herbs

Massage - Qigong - Diet Therapy

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feature, food and entertainment writing and a passion for social justice. Follow her online at www.maggieshafer.com.

&your naturally local grocers’ market

aWhen my out-of-state friends ask me where I live, they always seem

surprised when I answer that Fort Collins isn’t a little mountain hamlet surrounded by high peaks. And I think most people along

the Front Range think of themselves as living at the edge of the mountains. But we also live on the edge of the Great Plains. Rolling prairie once covered the Great Plains from here to Indiana, encompassing over a million square miles. Now, less than 2% of that area is native grassland; the rest has been settled and farmed and paved and built into its present state of submission. Here on the dry western edge of the Great Plains, our native grassland is called shortgrass prairie. The plants here are adapted to dry conditions and heavy grazing by prairie dogs, bison, elk, and pronghorn antelope. Where rivers such as the Cache la Poudre cut through the shortgrass prairie, cottonwood trees line their banks. In the shade of the cottonwoods, moist soil supports taller, lusher plants than those that typically grow on the shortgrass prairie. These riverbank plants are called riparian species. To see the shortgrass prairie in its semi-natural state (minus many of the native grazers and most of the predators), you need to head out to the Pawnee Grasslands or up to Soapstone Prairie. But here in town, these plants have held their ground in undisturbed areas and have quietly crept back

growing along bike paths and roads, in vacant and undeveloped lots (and even in some landscaped lots), and in city-owned Natural Areas throughout Fort Collins. Here are ten fall-blooming native plants that you are likely to see around town.

fall blooming northern colorado plants

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Text & Photographs by Alix Gadd

PLANT

GUIDE

NORTHERNCOLORADOFALLBLOOMING

Blue Grama, Bouteloua gracilisBuffalograss, Bouteloua dactyloides

Blue grama and buffalograss are the dominant grass species on the shortgrass prairie. They’re grasses that thrive with little water and brief, intense grazing. And they’re grasses that never get very tall, even without grazing. People often panic at the thought of identifying grasses, but these two are easy to spot. Both are low, perennial grasses with narrow,

branches up to a foot above the leaves. Blue grama can either grow in clumps or form open turf.

stems. Each stem has 2-4 branches, and each branch is about 1/2-inch

base of the leaves; they consist of several green, urn-shaped burs with feathery, purple pollen-collecting structures protruding from their tops. Buffalograss spreads by sending out many little plantlets along horizontal runners.

White Virgin’s Bower, Clematis ligusticifoliaBur Cucumber, Echinocystis lobata

through fences, shrubs, and trees. They grow in similar habitats, and they look similar from a distance, but up close they are quite different. White virgin’s bower is a woody perennial with opposite leaves that

plumed seeds. Bur cucumber is an herbaceous annual that has square stems, large lobed leaves, and curling tendrils that help it cling to other plants and

clusters that stand 6-12” above the vines. Hanging down below the vines you’ll see 2-inch green fruits that look like miniature watermelons that are covered with ½-inch spines.

Blue grama


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Blue grama and buffalograss

1. White Virgin’s Bower seed head2. White Virgin’s Bower flower3. White Virgin’s Bower whole plant4. Bur Cucumber whole plant5. Bur Cucumber flower

1. 2.

3. 4.

5.

Common Evening Primrose, Oenothera villosaCommon evening primrose is a coarse, short-lived perennial plant that grows 3-4 feet tall. Its reddish, branched stems are lined with oblong

few at a time in late afternoon, and wither and turn pale orange after

heart-shaped petals. The seeds develop in erect, cylindrical capsules. Common evening primrose grows in moist, partly shaded areas, usually near water. Like most night-blooming plants, common evening primrose is pollenated by moths.

, Helianthus annuusThis species has been cultivated for 1,000 years or more, but the original wild plants are still thriving right here in Fort Collins. Annual

are broad and nearly heart-shaped. The stem and leaves are covered

Canada Goldenrod, Solidago CanadensisCanada goldenrod is a perennial plant that grows in the shape of a giant feather duster. The stems are stout and leafy at the bottom, and highly-branched at the top. The upper parts of the plant are covered

from 1 to 5 feet tall, and is usually found in clumps. Look for it in sunny, moist areas along trails and roads, near irrigation ditches, and on riverbanks and lake margins.

Ratibida columnifera

are small and slender; mature plants are quite bushy and up to 2 feet

in the southern part of its range.


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Snow-on-the-Mountain, Euphorbia marginataSnow-on-the-mountain is a native plant that acts like a weed. It grows in disturbed areas, often forming large patches along trails, ditches, and roads. Plants grow about 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall and have a thick, leafy single stem that branches repeatedly toward the top. Snow-on-

green and white leaf-like bracts. This plant has sticky white sap that

not to pick it.

Rocky Mountain Beeplant, Cleome serrulataRocky mountin beeplant is a large, often nearly spherical annual plant

long stamens that stick out well beyond the petals. Rocky mountain

abuzz with bees.


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Alix Gadd, a CSU-trained ecologist and author of Northern Colorado Plants, can often be spotted rummaging through the undergrowth of Northern Colorado’s amazing public open spaces, camera and plant guides in hand.

28

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we appreciate your support

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wolverine farm publishing : fort collins, cowww.wolverinefarm.org

The Earth is in sorry shape. Our economy is dying. But our history is still as rich as ever, and what could be more important than to get empowered by our

collapsing around us? There are a million artifacts lurking for everyone between every pile of scrap. Feel brave enough to show value in what others would consider cultural waste. Don’t view the pile of VHS tapes in the basement as junk, see it as a portal to childhood. Don’t see the enormous water-damaged polyester CD book full of burned CDs as trash, see it as a portal into your teen angst. Don’t let that stash of 45s in your grandparents basement that is collecting

history of American Music and your life and what it means to be you, here, right now, reading this on a piece of newsprint, and not on a screen.

—Excerpt from Hello, It’s Me:A brief report on the collapse of American Culture and the importance of recycling media

by Matthew Sage

Matterhorn III

Documents

beet street auditions

fort collins arts scene

arts incubator

street signs

downtown amphitheater

heart of downtown

arts districts gallery

downtown business association