5280 Magazine June 2022

Depending on the size of the magazine we print each month, there can be anywhere from roughly 19,000 to 33,000 words in our editorial pages. We, of course, labor over our language, hoping to craft stories you’ll enjoy reading. But a lot of painstaking work goes into something we hope you don’t notice at all: getting the facts right. Magazine journalism has a long history of being singular in its efforts to confirm every verifiable truth before publication. As opposed to newspaper editors and TV news producers, who don’t have time to do an independent review for each story they run, magazine editors have by and large taken advantage of their longer lead times to ensure their product, often displayed for weeks or months, gets the facts straight. Over the past several…

When we decided to examine Colorado’s aerospace industry (“Far Out,” page 72), we called Lea first. BIGGEST LEAP ”Immigrating to the United States from the United Kingdom opened the door to so many amazing opportunities, experiences, and friendships. I do miss a good cup of tea, though.” ON EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE ”I don’t think we’re alone, but given the immense distances and time scales involved, I think the chances of us making contact with another civilization are slim to none.”…

Not everyone looks at the credits at the end of the Grammys or the Academy Awards. And most Colorado football fans are too hopped up on craft beer to notice who’s directing the music before the Super Bowl starts. But Centennial Staters who do pay attention to the fine print might have noticed a name that appeared at all three of those events in 2022: Derrick Hodge. Forty-two-yearold Hodge isn’t a household name in Colorado yet, but the Denver-based bassist and orchestra conductor has a gig this month that would be a career highlight for most musicians: co-conducting at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, a 100-year-old live music venue in Los Angeles. Hodge may have been destined for the opportunity to lead the Bowl’s Juneteenth Celebration since he was a child. Raised…

Vibes in the Park: On June 19, Juneteenth Music Festival (JMF) is partnering with Vibes in the Park, which organizes get-togethers in City Park on summer Sundays that serve as safe spaces for Black people to hang out. The festival’s Vibes on 29th will feature live DJs performing on a stage erected on 29th Street. Denver Fire Department youth boxing matches: On June 18, Denver firefighters will hold bouts between amateurs ages eight to 18. The Street Festival: The headliners for this year’s two-day performance lineup are rappers Dave East (June 18) and Twista (June 19). Juneteenth Eats at Chēba Hut: Through June 19, Colorado-based Chēba Huts is offering a beer-and-shot special, $2 of which will benefit JMF. On June 16, a portion of the sandwich maker’s total sales will go to the…

READ MADMAN IN THE WOODS by Jamie Gehring Growing up in Montana, Gehring lived next door to Theodore J. Kaczynski—aka the Unabomber. The Littleton resident’s memoir, released in April, attempts to reconcile childhood memories of a “kind-yet-quirky” neighbor who used to eat dinner with her family with the man who would go on to kill three innocent people and injure dozens more. TELL ME EVERYTHING by Erika Krouse In 2002, this Boulder native worked as a private detective investigating claims of sexual assault against members of the University of Colorado Boulder football squad, which basically condoned rape as “a team bonding experience,” Krouse writes. Released in March, the memoir weaves Krouse’s emotional struggle of past sexual abuse with the developments of the case. THE IMMORTAL KING RAO by Vauhini Vara Published in May, the Fort Collins author’s debut novel…

Dr. Morgan Medlock is no stranger to a crisis. Until recently, she served as chief medical officer and director of crisis services for Washington, D.C.’s Department of Behavioral Health, for which she oversaw the agency’s only 24/7 psychiatric emergency services facility. So confronting a problem as urgent as mental health care in Colorado should be right in her wheelhouse. Every year, Mental Health America, a bipartisan advocacy nonprofit, ranks the states based on prevalence of mental illness and access to care. In 2022, Colorado finished last for adults. Alarming statistics such as these led Governor Jared Polis to launch a task force in 2019 charged with evaluating the state’s mental health care system. A year later, the group released its report, which detailed a serpentine maze of more than 100 programs—from…