by Martha Quillen

I turned 62 in early October, and was promptly assaulted by symptoms of old age. A few days after my birthday, I woke up feeling so stiff I could barely make it down the stairs; my back ached, my muscles cramped, and my joints rebelled. I suspect it was merely the onset of a cold or allergy, not spontaneous degeneration. But such moments tend to worry me now that Ed is gone.

It’s not that I’m worried about dropping dead; I’m not. It has more to do with my new responsibilities, which sometimes seem beyond comprehension or measure. The dog, cats, appliances, bills, house, electronics, lawn, trees, gardens, laundry, furniture, plumbing, heating, banking, money-making, meals, trash, and snow removal are my bailiwick now. Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

The other day someone at the library asked me a history question that I knew Ed could have answered easily. But calling Ed is no longer an option. Every day I find at least half a dozen new reasons for missing Ed, but this was not merely about my sorrow at losing him.

Thankfully, Ed was not the only Colorado history buff around, so I called someone else. But it occurred to me that the regional historians I rely upon are not young anymore, either. Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

They say that it takes courage to face old age, but what about the alternative? Although death delivers the inevitable end for all of us, I tended to worry more about old age – especially Ed’s old age. I thought that Ed and I would be together for at least another ten or fifteen years, and I wanted to make them good years.

Of course, medical literature is full of warnings about sudden, lethal heart attacks, but Ed was not one to dwell on what could go wrong – be it money-wise, work-wise, or health-wise. I was the worrier in our family, but I was intent on fixing what was already wrong. Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

In April, Ed spoke to the Chaffee County League of Women Voters about the history of journalism in Chaffee County and included mention of Colorado Central Magazine, which made me realize that C.C. is eighteen years old now, which should make it old enough to vote. But despite the Supreme Court’s assumption that corporations have first amendment rights, they still can’t vote. Instead, they can merely buy elections. Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

“So who do you think should make a woman’s reproductive decisions? Her husband and priest? Her state government? The U.S. Congress? Or Rick Santorum?” my husband quipped after we watched the Florida debate. At that point, the contest appeared to be between Gingrich and Romney, but Rick Santorum was on the news because he’d been declared the winner in Iowa a week earlier.

It didn’t seem as if Santorum’s candidacy could amount to much, though, since Santorum is against contraception for married and unmarried couples, which is a rather disconcerting position. And one would expect it to be an unpopular one, too. In fact, the U.S. birth rate hit an all time low in 2010 and has continued to decline, which suggests that citizens of child-bearing age (be they Democrats or Republicans) use contraception. Read the rest of this article

by Martha Quillen

I’ve been reading about rational markets and the Efficient Markets Hypothesis recently. Well, actually I started reading about basic economics about fifteen years ago after I realized that there was something really crazy about small-town financial planning.

And my overwhelming conclusion after fifteen years? Fiscal policy is screwy at every level.

Community planning was the rage in the 1990s, especially comprehensive planning, which encouraged citizens to consider everything simultaneously: financial development, infrastructure, zoning, parks, recreation, industry, utilities, education, et al. Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

I used to love the feeling of isolation you could get in the Colorado Rockies. Forty-one years ago, Ed and I went camping in the Gunnison Country with friends. We pitched our tents right next to the road near Pitkin, and for several days we didn’t see a single car and couldn’t tune in a radio station. One night our friend observed that the U.S. could have been nuked, and we wouldn’t know it.

In 1971, Ed and I went to Silverton to look at the newspaper. The town was small, remote, and occasionally got snowed in. It didn’t have television, and VCRs and home computers hadn’t been invented yet. Red Mountain Pass was icy and terrifying; several of the downtown buildings looked like they wouldn’t make it through the winter, and eggs at the local store cost $1 each. Read the rest of this article

 By Martha Quillen

May is a pleasant enough month – the mother of spring, and welcome end of a long, dreary, wind-blighted Rocky Mountain shoulder season. Yet I associate it with death, and have ever since my brother-in-law died on May 1, 1974.

Ed and I had just moved to Kremmling to work for the newspaper there and hadn’t gotten a phone yet, when a police officer arrived at our door at 6 a.m. He told me there was an emergency and handed me a phone number.

I knew what had happened immediately, but I didn’t want to believe it. Ed’s little brother was doing all right; he was supposed to get out of the hospital at 8 a.m. that very morning. I woke Ed up and we went in to work, where Ed called his parents, who confirmed the terrible news. Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

Americans are mad. (or at least they talk about politics as if they’re mad). But what are they mad about? The recession? Foreclosures? Taxes? Bail-outs? The deficit? All of the above? Or none?

Are we mad because pols and pundits deliberately fuel our fear and rage to further their own narrow interests? Or is it because we believe in anger – as an inspiration, a tool, a catalyst, and an incentive? Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

Americans are romantics. For five centuries, people have been coming to America seeking land, fame, fortune, and glory. Eldorado, the Fountain of Youth, the seven cities of gold. From the beginning, we’ve been passionate believers in our dreams, our destiny, our freedom, and a chicken in every pot.

As Terry Coleman points out in Going to America, disappointment was routine:

It was an old superstition, sometimes half believed by the simplest emigrants, that the streets of New York were paved with gold. When they got there they learned three things: first, that the streets were not paved with gold; second, that the streets were not paved at all; and third, that they were expected to pave them. Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

When Dante Alighieri produced his epic poem, “The Divine Comedy,” it was dubbed Dante’s “Commedia,” not because it was supposed to be funny, but because in medieval times a “comedy” was a story with a happy ending.

Over the centuries, our definition of comedy expanded to include jokes, satire, and slapstick – along with the burlesque, the ludicrous, and the inane. Now, events of any sort tend to inspire comedy – although not always intentionally.

Take the U.S. House of Representatives, for example. Read the rest of this article

By Martha Quillen

I vaguely remember a time when politicians shook hands and held babies; when they promised us better roads, schools, and lives. But it’s been a long time. Now they’re promising to “take out Harry Reid,” “take back America,” and repeal the fourteenth Amendment.”

Currently, Republicans are eagerly campaigning to reduce government budgets – no matter what those budgets are for. In Colorado, Proposition 101 and Amendments 60 and 61 threaten to slash funds for schools, prisons, libraries, hospitals, medical programs, road maintenance, water treatment, county offices, and much, much more. Read the rest of this article

by Martha Quillen

Sometimes it seems as if nothing works the way it’s supposed to anymore: banks, economies, Toyotas, airplanes, oil rigs, Microsoft Windows, America’s health care industry, and America’s food supply.

Cell phones snap, crackle and pop – then drop your call.

You turn on the news, and the satellite signal gets lost. Finally, twenty minutes later, the signal returns – just in time to catch the anchors signing off. Read the rest of this article

by Martha Quillen

Too many environmentalists air their views about melting ice caps, peak oil, and gas-guzzling ignoramuses while talking about their long-distance road trips. Or photo safaris. Or whirlwind tours of foreign nations.

That’s irritating. So I always thought it best not to mix observations about my vacations with reflections about environmental matters. But some subjects are hard to resist. Read the rest of this article

by Martha Quillen

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the modern world. When I was in fourth grade we were supposed to write a play about what we wanted to be when we grew up. My group wrote about astronauts meeting Martians for the first time. An interest in space travel was typical then; now dinosaurs are more popular.

In the 1960s, they told us Americans would be the first people to walk on the moon, and ours would be the first generation to see other planets. That was true enough – although seeing Mars at IMAX was a mite disappointing. Read the rest of this article

Halfway to Heaven
By Mark Obmascik

Published in 2009 by Free Press,
a division of Simon and Schuster
ISBN13: 978-1-4165-6699-1

Reviewed by Martha Quillen

Halfway to Heaven is an adventure travelogue featuring harrowing tales of derring-do and death, along with passages about Colorado history, Colorado places (including Leadville and Salida), Colorado fourteeners, and mountain climbers; all held together with stand-up style comedy.

For me, this combination was not an immediate success. At first, I thought Obmascik’s jokes about marriage, aging, baldness, and parenthood blended with his profile on William Henry Jackson about as well as ice cream and lemonade blend to make a sundae.

Read the rest of this article

Whose History is It? Theirs or Ours?

By Martha Quillen

In the 1990s, an increasing number of New West historians tried to alter common ideas about Old West history. Their attempts to change people’s minds were met with vociferous derision, passionate support and hot debate.

And thus, American history experienced a renaissance, which thereby boosted the fame and fortune of a number of professors who had hitherto taught a subject viewed as fairly stodgy (especially when one considered its financial clout in comparison to medicine and MBAs). Read the rest of this article

with Martha Quillen

Conservative pundits and politicians have long rallied their followers by fomenting fury, but you’ve got to wonder if they’re going too far when they start fomenting revolution.

Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann often urges revolution, presumably in the metaphorical sense. In March she said, “I want the people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back.” Read the rest of this article

Quillen’s Corner

by Martha Quillen

Language is a gift, extraordinary and wondrous, but unrestrained speech can be more aggravating than yowling cats. In fact, I suspect that if dogs and cats could talk, we would not regard them as nearly so adorable. Read the rest of this article

Personal finance has never been my forte. Nor Ed’s. In fact, when we moved some savings around to pay taxes and make IRA contributions this January, a bank officer suggested a different kind of account and Ed said, “Ask Martha. She’s the one who keeps track of that stuff.”

That was news to me. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Economy – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Although they are clearly human creations, something that we invented and that we presumably control, I tend toward the idea that no one really manages them, or even truly understands them. Human inventions or not, global monetary systems have grown and evolved beyond our control. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0865410895[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Fiction – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine

Hard Face Moon
by Nancy Oswald
Published in 2008 by Filter Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-86541-089-3 Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]1595544569[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Fiction – December 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Together – A Novel of Shared Vision
by Tom Sullivan with Betty White
Published in 2008 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
ISBN: 1595544569 Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Local News – December 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Creepy Crawlies

Water samples taken from Tarryall Reservoir, southeast of Jefferson, contained Quagga mussel larvae, which indicates that there are a substantial number of adult mussels in the lake despite the boat inspection program there. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Local News – November 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Busy Beetles

The Leadville Herald Democrat recently reported that a forest-health workshop in Washington DC cited pine beetles as presenting a potentially serious national crisis. National worries were about deadfall and major fires destroying power lines and thereby causing major power outages across the western United States. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Politics – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHAT TRAITS make a candidate viable? What does it take to be a contender?

Having been the opposite of an outgoing, trailblazing, student-body-president type all my life, I never gave much thought to running for office. But now that Sarah Palin’s on the scene, I’m beginning to reconsider my attributes. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]1560374128[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Wildlife – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Born Wild in Colorado
By Wendy Shattil and Bob Rozinski
Published in 2007 by Far Country Press
ISBN 1-56037-412-8 Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Publishing – August 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

DESPITE THE DISPARITY between the two matters — except for a coincident timeliness in their airing — I’ve found myself correlating our Mt. Kiamia woes (if you haven’t heard about them see the letters in this issue) with recent findings in the JonBenét Ransey case. And I’ve concluded that mistakes don’t just happen; they happen frequently and are, perhaps, inevitable. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Regional News – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

River Runs High, Wide and Muddy

Worries about high water ran almost as high as the Arkansas before Salida’s FIBArk festival, which happened June 12 through 15. But the four-day boating event went swimmingly, especially in attendance. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Politics – June 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Last month, I received a flattering letter:

Editor

Martha Quillen:

I would like to read a short (12 pages or less) editorial detailing exactly how you as President, or the President You Elected, should have responded to 9/11 & the five years following. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]143481095X[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Art – May 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Drawings
by Mel Strawn
Published in 2007 by Create Space Publishing
ISBN 143481095X Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Local News – May 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Sad Homecoming

Casey, a Lab/Australian Shepherd mix belonging to the Helsley family who live in the Burland subdivision near Bailey, started wailing on March 26 after being let out for an evening pit stop. The dog’s “screaming” was heard, and the person dogsitting for Casey went to get her, but she ran. He drove around looking for her, and finally spotted the dog, but she was bleeding, and had numerous deep puncture wounds to the top of her head. Air bubbled up from the dog’s wounds when she breathed, and her motor skills were impaired. The sitter got Casey to a vet within the hour, but the dog suffered from brain damage and was later euthanized. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Politics – April 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

PEOPLE WHO HOPE may be audacious. But hope itself is fragile. Or as Shakespeare put it:

This is the state of man: today he puts forth

The tender leaves of hopes; tomorrow blossoms,

And bears his blushing honors thick upon him;

The third day comes a frost, a killing frost;

And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely

His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,

And then he falls….

…

And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,

Never to hope again. Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Regional News – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Weather, Weather and More Weather

Weather has been the biggest headliner this season. Snow has fallen in cumbersome amounts, resulting in huge snowpacks. As of February 13, the Arkansas basin snowpack was 168% of average, the upper Rio Grande, 169% of average; and the Gunnison, 147% of average (and on February 14th, it started snowing again). Heavy snowpacks have heightened avalanche dangers and clogged backcountry roads, inspiring travelers’ advisories: don’t stop, don’t stand, beware of treacherous trails, and double check conditions before x-country skiing or snowmobiling. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Politics – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

CHANGE IS THE BUZZWORD for the 2008 Presidential campaigns — at least for the moment. But initiating desirable change is harder than the campaigners contend. It’s even harder than Hillary Clinton professes when she insists that is takes hard work and experience (while simultaneously implying that her opponents would contribute neither). Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]1591932084[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Colorado – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Colorado Journey Guide – A Driving & Hiking Guide to Ruins, Rock Art, Fossils and Formations
by Jon Kramer and Julie Martinezwith illustrations by Vernon Morris
Published in 2007 by Adventure Publications
ISBN-1591932084 Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]1933392665[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Recreation – February 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Thrillcraft – The Environmental Consequences of Motorized Recreation
Edited by George Wuerthner
Published by the Foundation for Deep Ecology in 2007
ISBN: 1933392665 Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Local News – January 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Climax Reopening

In early December, Freeport-McMoRan announced its intention to reopen the Climax Molybdenum Mine, with production currently scheduled to begin in 2010. Once mining is underway, the facility will employ about 350 workers. And in the meantime construction activities will mean new jobs, beginning with about 150 workers as projects commence next spring, and expected to peak at about 500 workers. Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Modern Life – December 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

IT SEEMS LIKE only a short time ago President Clinton was talking about that metaphorical bridge into the 21st century. Yet 2008 is right around the bend, and it’s been more than a decade since Clinton said, “At this last presidential inauguration of the 20th century, let us lift our eyes toward the challenges that await us in the next century….” Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Regional News – November 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

What’s It All About?

The Gunnison Country Times ran a front page story exploring why so many commercial properties are for sale there.

The newspaper reported that eight lodging businesses were for sale in Gunnison, as were a notable number of downtown shops and restaurants including “The Bean, Blue Addiction, The Gunnison Brewery, and The Corner Cupboard.” Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Health Care – October 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, Colorado State Representative Tom Massey hosted a community meeting at the Salida Senior Citizens Center to get input on what local citizens want and need in a health care system. And to my surprise, it turned out that everybody attending was amenable to some sort of universal, comprehensive, government-run system that cuts out the big insurance companies. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0975891111[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Essays – September 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Something Needs To Be Said – Essays, Poems and Short Stories about Things That Matter
By Michael L. Bullock
Published in 2006 by Hillside Publishing Limited
ISBN 0-9758911-1-1 Read the rest of this article

Brief by Martha Quillen

Local News – September 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Gunnison Mine Makes Headlines

A mine cave-in in Utah recently led to a nation-wide review of safety conditions in coal mines, and The Denver Post concluded: “While the safety record of Utah’s Crandall Canyon Mine, where six workers remain trapped, has come under scrutiny, Colorado’s own Elk Creek Mine has a more significant record of safety issues, according to federal data.” Read the rest of this article

Essay by Martha Quillen

Modern Life – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

PEOPLE ARE MAD, and they don’t want to take it any more. So they’re fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Darfur; saber-rattling in Iran, Korea and Pakistan; marching against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela; demanding justice in Indonesia; taking back the West Bank; and arguing about religion world-wide. Read the rest of this article

[amazon-product]0826339859[/amazon-product]Review by Martha Quillen

Education – June 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

Ravenhill
by Timothy Hillmer
Published in 2007 by University of New Mexico Press
ISBN 0826339859 Read the rest of this article