Author: LYNN BARTELS Special to Colorado Politics

On the campaign trail in north Denver last spring, City Council candidates Sabrina D’Agosta and David Sabados learned they shared a lot in common besides their concerns about development, transportation and safety. and the economic struggle of so many residents. Neither eats meat. Politics fascinated them. And as kids, they were punk rockers who sported…

Battles raged overseas and at home in 1966 – the Vietnam War, women’s rights, civil rights, social justice. That time of change inspired a young couple in Cincinnati. Rabbinical student Steven Foster had a passion for civil rights. His 22-year-old wife, Joyce,  joined the National Council of Jewish Women, which advocated for change through a…

Mary Margaret Fritz and Jose Luis Laborin on their wedding day Sept. 29, 1979, in Douglas, Ariz.Courtesy photo True story: One year my sister Brigid took a cousin her age to school for show and tell. “Jimmy Joe’s Mexican,” she informed her fellow second-graders. “You can ask him anything you want.” That was one of…

When author Toni Morrison died recently, it reminded me of my interview with former first lady Laura Bush in 2004 when she was campaigning in Denver with her husband, George W. Bush. I was upset that I hadn’t gotten through all my questions by the time the interview ended. I complained afterward that the first…

Talk about a coincidence. On a recent Tuesday morning, I was reading comments from students who attended Denver schools back in the days when they were bused to neighborhoods across town. A couple of hours later, I was at an event honoring Monte Pascoe, the “man for all seasons” who was instrumental in Denver’s desegregation.…

I met John Ensslin when I arrived in Denver in 1993 during the so-called Summer of Violence to work the “night cops” beat for the Rocky Mountain News. Lynn Bartels I covered the police beat from 1 to 10 p.m. on weekdays. John worked “day cops” from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.…

Lynn Bartels Every now and then I see something on Facebook that blows my mind. This time the post was courtesy of Joan Fitz-Gerald, the first woman president of the Colorado Senate. “Leaving our wedding reception 47 years ago today,” she wrote on July 22, featuring a picture that showed the young bride and her…

At various times in my life I’ve been a Democrat, a Republican or an unaffiliated voter. I would register, move on and not think about it, sometimes for years. Lynn Bartels But in recent months I’ve really struggled with party politics. I’ve talked about my registration history before, about how after graduating from college in…

I felt like the only reporter who didn’t know John Hickenlooper when he decided to run for Denver mayor in 2003. Sure, I had gone to his Wynkoop Brewing Co., but to indulge in that famous artichoke dip and bread, not the craft beer. I never threw one back late at night with “Hick” or…

I once asked my sister Jeanne, who lives in Albuquerque, what she thought of “Breaking Bad.” Lynn Bartels “I watched a couple of episodes but, frankly, we live it every day, so I quit watching,” she said. The Duke City has it share of crime and their neighborhood is famous for break-ins. I laughed but…