According to media reports, Whitney Houston's funeral will be the antithesis of Michael Jackson's theatrical farewell. That is only fitting. While Jackson grew up on stage, a child prodigy accustomed to the spotlights, footlights and floodlights, Houston's parents postponed offers of a professional career until their precocious daughter...

An interesting feature appeared in last Sunday's New York Times. It appears that Harlem, New York City's historical and cultural landmark, is grappling with a somewhat similar problem troubling Denver's historical and cultural landmarks, the Highlands. Several weeks ago, the Denver Post reported a spate of...

Sipping coffee is a fashionable obsession in upscale neighborhoods. It's also common in more pedestrian 'burbs. Patrons idle away hours, sequestered behind computers and cups of caffeine. Revved on muddy brew at greasy spoons or organic octane at the more chic coffee shops, people are increasingly reliant on coffee beverages...

Several months ago, I wrote on HuffPost Denver about the somewhat lackadaisical music scene not only in the Mile High City, but around the nation and world. Lackadaisical at least to fans of the auditory equivalent of the greasy spoon,...

Even though recent Democratic and Republican primaries are foretelling a serious -- if not seismic -- fall upheaval, it's still to early to predict which political party will dominate Congress following the midterm elections. Can Republicans capture Congress? Can Democrats maintain a majority? Politicians and pundits are obsessing about the...

Has it happened? Have we officially codified and sanctioned racial (or, more precise, ethnic) profiling -- at least in Arizona? After the initial gasps, grandstanding and overall uproar, will that law embolden opponents of immigration reform elsewhere to enact similar statutes? Sure, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer stressed racial profiling won't...

Latinos are losing a potent presence in Colorado higher education. The University of Colorado Law School is saluting Lorenzo Trujillo with a farewell gathering today. Since 2004, Trujillo, positioned as the Assistant Dean for Students and Professional Programs, has imagined, implemented and effected changes at the state's law school. Among...

Earlier this month, a Boulder Catholic school created a stir when it expelled a student whose parents are lesbians because, according to the Denver Archdiocese, the parents are "living in open discord with Catholic teaching." After reading the recent New York Times report about the latest set of...

Before Paul Rodriguez called me yesterday, I expected the interview to be nothing more than a typical publicity plug for his stint this weekend at the Denver Improv. The preparation was minimal. I prepared a lukewarm set of questions, fully ready to receive similarly lackadaisical responses. I imagined the conversation...

Compared to national politics, Colorado seems tame, at least in matters scandalous. Our drama seems to be more mundane. Sure, Democrats are gearing up, attempting to deflect a conceivable upset by Republicans in the gubernatorial and Senate contests. Of course, Democrats dread defeat in either (or both) races in November....

Last weekend, I flipped through the pages of Hispanic Pioneers in Colorado and New Mexico, a combination honorarium, history, archive and scrapbook compiled and published four years ago by the Colorado Society of Hispanic Genealogy. Originally envisioned as a glossy coffee table production, the finished product fell short...

We're having a heady season of political drama. Here in Colorado, Governor Bill Ritter announced he wouldn't seek a second term. Having captured both U.S. Senate seats and the governorship within the past few years, Democrats are skittish about maintaining their dominance in the state. But our current dramas are...

Now that the Associated Press is reporting that Governor Bill Ritter won't run for reelection, it's likely some Democrats will worry that his recusal from the upcoming race portends a dismal, even disastrous, election this fall, at least here in Colorado. Of course, people will surmise and speculate about Governor...

The illegal immigration debate appears to be taking a sabbatical here in Colorado and much of the nation. Not wanting to hog the spotlight, or perhaps exhausted by all the posturing and pandering that has effectively immobilized any realistic resolution, the issue is somewhat silenced. Most likely, however, the debate...

Upstate New York (Albany and Troy) - For Brenda Ann Kenneally, it turns out home is literally where the heart is -- even if she wasn't physically present for decades. While the photographer's return and loyalty to her childhood roots in upstate New York might seem endearing, the words and...

As I scope out Denver's upcoming concerts, checking the calendar for any hint or mention of an act associated with blues, jazz, gospel or old school soul, I am left feeling a bit stranded. I can't say homesick because I was born and raised in Colorado. But my spirit and...

Almost two decades ago, a friend told me that I'd end up in the barrio. Those words pierced my already deflated ego like staccato stilettos. I hadn't even reached the apogee of alcoholic existence when he gave voice to a terror I'd long nurtured but didn't dare acknowledge. Even as...

I recently blogged about Director Philippe Diaz' bold and often blistering documentary, The End of Poverty? The film premiered in theaters last Friday in New York City and opens in cities across the nation over the next few months (Denver's debut is slated for Dec. 30). An unflinching examination...

Philippe Diaz didn't set out to direct a Hollywood blockbuster with The End of Poverty? He intended to initiate a sober, serious dialogue and suggest a solution rather than merely present an immediate palliative. The film isn't a visual refrain of "We Are the World," projecting a simple but stirring...

In my previous post, "An Endless -- and Escalating -- War at Home, Part I," I ended with the following afterthought on a prediction that Denver's Morrison Road might be the next up-and-coming neighborhood:

I only wonder if the people would change along with the neighborhood.

Actually,...