Marijuana legalization in Colorado is currently as close to wiping out the local black market for drugs as “Breaking Bad” is to accurately representing meth trafficking.
How might things change if we recast the villains?
Vanessa takes a trip to Colorado College to talk with Santiago Guerra, a professor of Southwest Studies and a popular course called The Drug War, about the drug trade—from its origins in cattle rustling along the U.S.-Mexico border to cocaine raids along I-25 in the wake of Amendment 64, as well as TV series like “Breaking Bad,” “The Wire,” and newcomer “The Bridge.”
VOTE (AND WIN!) BEFORE 11:59 P.M. WEDNESDAY, MAY 23: Vote for one of our 16 semi-finalist Denver neighborhoods and win a pair of comedy CDs from funny guys Adam Cayton-Holland and Andrew Orvedahl!
Vanessa pits the guys against each other this week in the second half of our “Neighborhood Wars” series. Ron, Joel, Josh, and Jared pitch and punch their way through three rounds of timed challenges in a search for the best neighborhoods in Denver. Are Jared’s and Josh’s arguments for the city’s emerging and gentrifying ‘hoods any match for Joel’s and Ron’s defenses of the trendier and tonier ones?
This week, Vanessa and Ron ask local real-estate maven Rachel Hultin of Urban Niche Realty to school us on the uber-competitive rental-housing market as Vanessa launches her search for a new home. Rachel shares her expertise on today’s hottest and up-and-coming neighborhoods, renters’ rights, where to start a search for rental homes in Denver, where to look for affordable rentals, and more.
Cinema mavens and festival directors Jenny Bloom and Landon Zakheim give us the lowdown on the inaugural Stanley Film Festival, taking place May 2-5, 2013 at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.
I-News founder and Denver native Laura Frank drops some troubling stats from an investigation that shows increasing inequality between blacks and Latinos and whites in Colorado.
We go underground this week with 5280 assistant editor Chris Outcalt to learn a thing or two about fracking. You know, hydraulic fracturing. It’s what that new movie with Matt Damon is all about (we think). What’s that? You don’t really know that much about fracking? Vanessa, Joel, Ron, and Josh find out they don’t […]
This week, Josh and Vanessa chat up journalist Caleb Hannan about the coming patent wars—is Denver prepared?—and take advantage of having a sportswriter in the house to guide our sorry sports-ignorant asses through the latest act in CU’s football drama. And everyone has plenty to say about recent news of DPD’s decision to issue DUIs […]
This week, Vanessa, Ron, Joel, and Josh descend down the rabbit hole of Denver news fresh off a Diatribe photo shoot with Mark Manger. First, we review the most recent development in a Greeley school district’s ban of apparel bearing the No. 18 (they’re lookin’ at you, Manning), the possible migration of Nederland’s famous Frozen […]
This week, Vanessa, Josh, and Ron welcome local funny folk Chris Charpentier and Mara Wiles, who graciously agree to some heavy conversation about the tragedy in Aurora before we get their insider takes on comedy in Denver and the upcoming Laugh Track Comedy Festival. First, a review of dubious media coverage and gun-control politics leads […]
Vanessa and Josh are joined this week by local adult-industry star Sabina Leigh for a discussion on Denver porn, sex addiction, and child nudity in political activism. After Leigh humors our questions about her work, life, and the Denver porn “scene,” the topic of sex addiction gets some play via a recent blog post by filmmaker […]
This week, Vanessa and Joel talk with the founders of Boulder Startup Week about their upcoming events, as well as the implosion of the Colorado General Assembly and the ax that’s falling on The Onion’s Denver/Boulder edition of The A.V. Club. Ef Rodriguez (@pug) and Ryan Wanger (@ryanwanger) give us the lowdown on Boulder Startup […]
