Author: Vince Bzdek
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Realness Project teaches exiting inmates ‘the art of being human’ | Vince Bzdek
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When Shawna Pierson was incarcerated at La Vista Correctional Facility, she thought she knew everything. “I was at a place where I was kind of indignant. Nobody could really teach me anything. I had it all figured out,” she told me in an interview. She said she was “hurting people, breaking them down and destroying…
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Eighty years ago this week, a flock of flyboys saved the world | Vince Bzdek
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The flyboys were in the air as long as 17 hours on the night bombing raids from the Mariana Islands to Tokyo. Round trip was approximately 3,000 miles. Along the way the crews — average age 22 — faced Japanese Zeros, anti-aircraft fire, mechanical issues, air sickness, high winds and turbulence. “The Japanese fire from the…
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Panel on challenges to journalism shows the question is more important than the answer | Vince Bzdek
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A recent panel discussion on the many challenges journalism faces at the moment demonstrated the value of a good question. We five journalists on the panel weren’t able to answer all the questions posed to us by the moderator and a highly engaged audience, but I think we all came away from the evening with…
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The Everywhere War comes to Boulder | Vince Bzdek
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Two headlines in The Wall Street Journal last week brought home how small the world has become. “The Intifada comes to Boulder,” read one. “Ukraine’s drone strike is a warning — for the U.S.,” read the other. The first referred to how the Palestinian uprising against Israel suddenly landed in our backyard last Sunday when…
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Lest we forget: The lessons of World War II | Vince Bzdek
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At the beginning of “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting,” the great Czech author Milan Kundera tells the story of a cold, snowy day in Czechoslovakia in 1948 at the height of Communist rule. A man named Clementis stood next to Communist Leader Klement Gottwald on a balcony overlooking a crowd. Because of the cold,…
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‘Failure to launch:’ Polis’ plan to improve mental health faltering | Vince Bzdek
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Three years ago, Gov. Jared Polis said he was going to get serious about Colorado’s mental health care crisis. He established the Behavioral Health Task Force which then created a brand new state agency, the Behavioral Health Administration, to streamline and improve Colorado’s fragmented mental health care system, promising to bring better care to those…
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Vince Bzdek: How to respond to all that is happening? Be the People
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It’s the bane of my profession that we always try to make sense of things. How to make sense of all that has happened in the past few months: Donald Trump’s return and the practice of politics by executive order; the rise and apparent fall of Citizen Musk in a few short weeks; the crackdown…
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Earth to politicians: It’s still the economy, stupid
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Our local, state and national politicians all seem to have gotten distracted already from the message voters sent last fall. It’s not about Ukraine, tariffs, DOGE, unions or assault weapons. It’s about the fact that we can’t afford the increasing cost of our lives. A forum last week in Denver entitled “Eggs and the Economy”…
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What Trump’s Cabinet picks say about his coming presidency | Vince Bzdek
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There is a book I read to my kids when they were about 4 years old called “The Mixed Up Chameleon.” One day the chameleon discovers it can change not only its color but its shape and size, too. When it sees different animals in the zoo, it immediately wants to be like them. And…
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Colorado is a blue island in a red wave | Vince Bzdek
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More than 90% of all the counties in the United States shifted in favor of former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, according to several new analyses of election results. An extraordinary map created by The New York Times shows a sea of red arrows indicating movement toward Trump, with Trump improving on…
