The day may dawn clear, but Saturday's 125th Kentucky Derby will be run under a cloud--or rather, three or four clouds--that help explain the unhappy state of American horse racing. First, as twenty unpredictable three-year-olds go to the post at Churchill Downs, the memory of Charlie Whittingham is sure to...
Best Wishes I couldn't believe that Westword readers actually chose Taco Bell for Best Taco and smelly old McDonald's for Best French Fries. I'm sure there were similar insults in other categories, but I don't want to know. That is last-resort food! It's cheap, convenient and disgusting. Maybe I can...
A Matter of Conviction I wanted to thank Westword for Juliet Wittman's story of Lisl Auman, "Zero to Life," in the April 15 issue. I believe I now have a clearer idea of the actual events, and it seems obvious that life in prison is in no way warranted for...
The Reverend Joel Miller stood solemnly before his congregation. The normally jubilant Miller had moved to Colorado only a few months earlier and was already known for injecting his sermons with lively anecdotes--but this Sunday, the usual spark was missing. The congregation could tell something was wrong, and later, Miller...
Little Grouse on the Prairie High school is indeed hell, as Patricia Calhoun points out in her May 20 column, "Pomp and Circumstances." Although nothing excuses the shootings at Columbine, I am sure that that high school, like Kiowa High School and all other high schools, had no shortage of...
Cydney Payton, the director of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, has little trouble filling the place with exciting exhibits. In fact, she's crammed so much into BMoCA that one of the four current shows, Housed, begins not in the museum, but on the street out front. Housed is a...
The Hating Game In the May 6 issue, I read first in Patricia Calhoun's "The Ten Commandments," then in Kenny Be's Worst-Case Scenario, of Vikki Buckley attributing the Columbine shootings to "new-age hate crimes." What I want is for someone to corner this feeder at the public trough and ask...
What's the Agenda? From Patricia Calhoun's "Opportunism Knocks," in the April 29 issue: "On Sunday, Colorado Right to Life gave birth to this announcement: 'Today our organization reminds Governor Bill Owens and all Colorado elected officials that 32 years ago--April 25, 1967--this state signed into law the first in the...
Some Stern Talk I'm not sure what affiliation, if any, Westword has with KXPK-FM (the Peak), but in searching the Internet, I found Celebrity Death Slalom, a contest depicting Howard Stern, Leo DiCaprio and Calista Flockhart. I would ask you to join in my disgust that Howard Stern is afforded...
From Whom the Baby Bell Tolls Regarding Stuart Steers's "Disconnected," in the April 8 issue: Whenever people such as Sol Trujillo talk about the thorough competitiveness of the telecommunications industry here in the state of Colorado, he had better read some of the comments made in this outstanding Westword article...
Several pieces of proposed legislation making their way through the Colorado General Assembly raise the question: If Secretary of State Vikki Buckley had nothing left to do, could she do it well? Early last week, three bills designed to take away a huge chunk of her responsibilities were awaiting action...
He Lives! Although I'm pretty much a garden-variety atheist, count me squarely with the "shitcan it" camp on the Jesus of the Week question. At its best, this new feature is just another (yawn) style-without-substance trifle that only other hipper-than-thou types will "get." At its worst (which it usually is),...
Out of Left Field I decided to grab a copy of the February 18 Westword since I hadn't read one in a couple of years. The first article I read was Harrison Fletcher's "Arrested Development." Next, it was Julie Jargon's "King of the Dump." That was enough for me! Let's...
This December will mark seventy years since the Royal Gorge Bridge was strung 1,053 feet above the Arkansas River where it cuts through a sheer canyon a dozen miles outside of Canon City. The project was the brainchild of Lon Piper, a San Antonio toll-bridge promoter who conceived the undertaking...
All Vets Are Off After reading Gayle Worland's March 25 "Doctor's Orders," about a distinguished physician dying in his own hospital, I've decided to take the necessary steps. Instead of sending my ailing body for treatment to Presbyterian/St. Luke's, I'd investigate the possibility of a good veterinary hospital close by,...
Honk If You Hate Jesus of the Week Let me second Sandra Metz's March 18 letter as to your offensive Jesus of the Week feature. Would you do the same for the leader of any other religion? I have defended your paper due to its sometimes excellent articles, despite many...
The Gang's All Here Regarding Steve Jackson's current series, "Dealing with the Devil": Each time I read about Brandy DuVall, the savagery sickens me. If I could make a deal with the devil, it would be to purge that whole family, as well as eternal damnation and excruciating pain for...
Momy Drearest Regarding Eric Dexheimer's "Honor Thy Mother," in the January 28 issue: What is a putz? Ciaran Redmond. If it weren't for the humor of his stupidity, his story would be as pathetic as most losers' stories are. John Rael via the Internet And Justice for Some I am...
Nearly a year before a rat's nest of tape recordings and a Pandora's box of kitschy souvenirs became props for the interminable Bill and Monica show, Moises Kaufman's Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde had already earned kudos as the surprise hit of the off-Broadway season. A year's...
Coming to a Head The March 11 juxtaposition of the third installment of Steve Jackson's "Dealing with the Devil," the Brandy DuVall torture/rape/murder trial coverage, and Eric Dexheimer's Deitz v. University of Denver story, "Head Case," was most interesting. If Peter Buirski is still teaching Freud's misogynist theories as viable...
The Master Builder Regarding Stuart Steers's "Building for the Future," in the February 18 issue: David Tryba's dream of a walkable city means the recovery of something wonderful and tangible. Americans are so inured to the convenience of driving that we've lost the very thing that makes life really wonderful:...
Love It or Leave Regarding Tony Perez-Giese's "Waiting to Exile," in the January 21 issue: Loi Nguyen's problems as a resident alien who finished his time in prison and now is in limbo awaiting deportation is truly underwhelming in its tragedy. It is unfortunate that he sits in limbo at...
