Dear Mexican: What’s up with the bull stickers on the trucks? Is this a secret business, something earned at some unmentionable contest south of the border, or a brotherhood of sorts? Native Californian Whitey Dear Gabacho: The bull sticker is no cloak-and-dagger marker. Toros on trucks are just cultural archetypes,…
Well. That was the least crazy Republican debate in recent memory. Those who are familiar with my personal politics know that this admission comes with some amount of sadness. For so many reasons, I’m not particularly fond of this batch of 19 Duggars and counting — er, Republican presidential candidates. In…
Bowing to public sentiment and the urgings of the dental establishment, the Snowmass Water and Sanitation District voted 3-2 last week to lift a controversial ban on fluoride in its drinking supply, which had been imposed last July. That prompted one water board member — whose wife had been one…
“Ben Carson looks high as hell.” “I bet Jeb would give me a warm kiss.” “Ugh! Carly Fiorina’s smile is so fake.” Such was the commentary from University of Colorado Boulder students as they watched last night’s GOP presidential debate in their student center, where hundreds packed the Glenn Miller…
With Halloween just days away, there’s no time like the present to make sure your costume is planned and ready. But in case you’re still searching for last-minute costume ideas, there was plenty of inspiration to be found among protesters outside of yesterday’s GOP presidential debate in Boulder. Throughout the…
When the University of Denver hosted the presidential debate three years ago, who was the big winner? Not Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, but DU itself, which looked great on national televsion and got a big boost for its new brand (and paid $1.6 million for that boost). And who…
Sandy Widener, co-founder of Westword and the paper’s first managing editor, was killed in a horrific car crash in December 2007 that also took her husband, John Parr, and the couple’s daughter Chase. The only survivor was then seventeen-year-old Katy. But Sandy and John also left behind quite a legacy of…
If you didn’t score a ticket to tonight’s Republican presidential debate, you’re in good company: CNBC is only allowing 1,000 of the 11,000 seats at the University of Colorado’s Coors Events Center to be filled. But if you’re in Boulder, there will be plenty of action outside the arena. Here’s our…
The Republican presidential candidates will take the stage at the University of Colorado Boulder at 6 p.m. MST tonight for the third in their series of debates, this one titled “Your Money, Your Vote.” We know you won’t be inside the 11,000-seat Coors Events Arena, because very few tickets…
Denver City Council members had just returned from a recess when activists stormed into council chambers last night. There were about a dozen of them, weaving towards the front of the room in a single file, fired up after recent spats with law enforcement. They included representatives from Occupy Denver,…
Dear Mexican: I’m a white, college-educated, liberal, Democratic, socialist U.S. citizen. I don’t have a problem with Mexicans coming here to get good jobs. In fact, I don’t see the “problem.” Why are Republicans and redneck dickheads so into building that big fence on the border? If there are so…
Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders may be sick of hearing about Hillary Clinton’s damned e-mails, as he memorably announced during a recent debate — but the controversy shows no signs of going away. That’s especially true in light of a new Complete Colorado report detailing documents that appear…
Dear Mexican: I teach U.S. citizenship classes in both Spanish and English. Recently, some of my students corrected others in Spanish about race terms. How do I help my students talk about race progressively, so they don’t sound like racist grandmas? Denver, But Works in Littleton Dear Gabacha: Tough, ain’t…
As we’ve documented in this space, the Denver Sheriff’s Department has been at the center of numerous ugly incidents in recent years, many of dealing with accusations of excessive force or alleged lawbreaking by personnel. The accumulation of unpleasant headlines preceded Sheriff Gary Wilson’s resignation in 2014 — and when interim Sheriff…
Dear Mexican: First, some background. I am a U.S-born Mexican. Actually, until the time I was seven years old, I lived in Mexico. I’m now 24. I recently went to a Mexican nightclub to get my huapango on. I wore black lagarto boots, dark Wrangler jeans, a black shirt and…
For more than a decade, officials in southwest Colorado have been embroiled in a complex legal battle to regain access to a more direct route to public lands and recreational opportunities in San Miguel and Dolores counties, including hiking trails to Lone Cone, the westernmost peak in the San Juan…
In August, we told you about Go Topless Fort Collins, a campaign to goad the Fort Collins City Collins into removing the line “the breast or breasts of a female” from its public-indecency ordinance. Months later, the council is considering doing just that — among other things. As documented in a…
Dear Mexican: My boyfriend is Mexican, and I love him very much. We have a very good relationship, and most of the time he is sensitive to my needs and feelings. On some occasions, however, he will act in a VERY stubborn way. If something I said or did is…
After more than a decade behind bars, serving time for a crime she could never take back, Michelle was determined to make a new life for herself. She was going to stay clean, get a job, eventually get her own place. And this time, she told herself, she was not…
Dear Mexican: I’m white, and Donald Trump scares the crap out of me. Mexicans must be shaking in their boots. Dump Trump Dear Gabacho: Donald Trump is the best thing to happen to Mexicans since the bacon-wrapped hot dog. Oh, his rhetoric is straight out of The Turner Diaries, and…
Earlier this month, we noted that the new Denver Police Department body camera policy didn’t require off-duty officers to wear the devices despite a recommendation from the city’s Independent Monitor, Nicholas Mitchell. The rationale offered by the DPD: The cost of outfitting off-duty officers with body-worn cameras, shorthanded as BWCs, as well…
Three years ago, anti-virus pioneer John McAfee made several appearances in Westword — first as a major player in a feature article headlined “The Hot Yoga War” and later due to his status as a fugitive in Belize, where authorities wanted to question him in regard to a murder. These days, McAfee,…
