Meet some of the most unique characters RMPBS profiled in 2024
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DENVER — With hundreds of stories told and published on rmpbs.org this year, we wanted to highlight a few of the stories that showed the resiliency, creativity and passion of Coloradans.
Colorado Voices: Your Stories 2024, a collection of seven stories of unique Coloradans, premieres on Rocky Mountain PBS and YouTube on Dec. 26 at 7 p.m.
Watch the trailer and learn about each story below.
It’s a HardKnox life: How chess is helping reduce Pueblo gang activity
Southern Colorado reporter Chase McCleary the story of Mark Salazar and his Pueblo nonprofit, HardKnox Gang Prevention and Intervention.
Salazar served 10 years in the Colorado State Penitentiary from 1994 to 2004. During that time, he played chess with cardboard and pieces of paper,shouting the moves to his opponents in adjoining cells.
“I’m a firm believer that the game of life is very much like the game of chess,” said Salazar, now almost 50 and working full-time as a counselor and mentor for ex-offenders on parole, younger offenders on probation and at-risk youth in Pueblo.
“If you can think two, three steps ahead with respect to the game of life, you’re already taking yourself out of acting a fool before you even know it.”
The gold prospector of Colorado
While published in July 2024, this story from reporter Carly Rose takes us back about 170 years. Featuring 74-year-old Stan Gurley, also known as Gurley Man, this story shows us a side of Colorado many may not know was still around–gold prospecting.
Donning overalls, a plaid long-sleeve shirt and a beat-up old miner’s hat, Gurley travels around the state panning for gold. For this member of the Gold Prospectors of Colorado, gold panning is more than a hobby, it’s a ritual that takes him back to the days of the Gold Rush.
”What can I say? I love doing it. I was a roofer for 38 years and raised my family on it. So being outdoors is my forte,” Gurley said.
Gurley believes there is more gold in Colorado left than has been found. Despite not being born in the time of the Gold Rush, Gurley man is here to keep the spirit alive.
Meet the sound artist who's exploring the symphony of nature at Rocky Mountain National Park
This late August story from Cormac McCrimmon in collaboration with KUNC, not only reminds us of the beauty of our state but also the incredible natural sounds around us. McCrimmon followed Garrison Gerard, an artist-in-residence at Rocky Mountain National Park, as he recorded natural sounds to incorporate in electronic and orchestral music.
“Our neighbors around the cabin probably think that I'm crazy,” he said. “It's like (they’re saying), ‘Can't you just like, you know, paint the scenery, like all the normal artists?'"
Creeks and rivers are among Gerard’s favorite places to get a variety of sounds. Using a hydrophone, a microphone made for recording sounds underwater, he picks up vibrations in the water. The effect is it sounds similar to a xylophone, making little “plink” noises that start as small bubbles and get louder and deeper.
“When you move it over rushing water, it's — not to be cliché — like a symphony of sounds,” he said.
Why do the Book Cliffs look like that?
This July, our western slope reporter, Joshua Vorse took a little trip back through time to explain why the tall, layered-looking mountain formations north of Grand Junction look like they do.
He discovered that geology is a mixture of science and history.
The whole Rocky Mountain region was under water about 100 million years ago and after the Rockies rose from the ancient sea, erosion has been slowly carving their shape ever since.
“The rocks on the top of the Book Cliffs up there are sandstones, what we call shoreline or ocean margin type deposits. You have deltas and you have beaches and you have incised canyons that got backfilled with sand, that’s what makes the top of the cliffs, but it didn’t just happen once,” said Jay Scheevel, a consulting geologist in the oil and gas industry.
Geologists in the 1800s imagined the upturned pages of a book when surveying the Mancos shale and sandstone rocks north of Grand Junction, calling the formations the Book Cliffs.
Today, you can still find evidence of ancient sea life in the form of Mancos shale, which makes up the ground below the Book Cliffs and through small aquatic animal fossils.
A Boulder bistro brings unity and reprieve
The United Nations reports more than 45,000 people have been killed within the last 14 months amid the ongoing war in Gaza. But a restaurant in Boulder owned and operated by a Palestinian-Israeli couple is offering a space for connection.
Reporter Andrea Kramar introduced us to Arabesque owner Manal Jarrar and her husband, Sa’eb, who are both Palestinians born and raised in Acre, Israel. The two routinely bicker and joke while running the restaurant, personalities so big you can’t ignore them.
“Palestinians, Israelis, we’re very friendly, we’re too friendly,” Jarrar joked. “We are like octopuses.”
Between the hustle and bustle of preparing dishes and taking orders, the two stop at each table and relish in moments of connection with customers. It’s a rare, intimate dining experience, one they take time to savor as much as their clientele does their food.
“I'm not just a woman or a Palestinian. You get to the point in life where you are part of the world,” Jarrar said.
Somewhere over the rainbow: Pride and drag in the Navajo Nation
In recent years, the Navajo Nation has more openly welcomed LGBTQ community members, even though same-sex marriage is currently banned. Durango reporter Ziyi Xu traveled to Window Rock, Arizona for an annual Diné Pride celebration to meet with Navi Ho, the co-host of the event and current Miss Montana Two-Spirit.
Since 2017, Indigenous performers have traveled from as far as Mexico and South America to be onstage for this event.
“We did get a lot of hate for having this event. We got a lot of threats,” said Navi Ho. “We've had them for years, but yet we're still here. Just seeing these people here today and seeing how many smiles, laughter, and wonderful times they were having, it's just amazing that this happened.”
As a rainbow appeared in the sky following a light drizzle Navi Ho turned around and said, “In some of the Navajo teachings, when it rains, it brings blessings, it brings purity.”