Outward Bound: Denver Urban Center’s First Course

July 23rd, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Less than 48 hours after returning from Belize I found myself instructing an Outward Bound course—my first in over a year. Just like Puerto Rico in the Rockies last summer, this course was with Expeditionary Learning (EL) educators. I spent two days with the teachers and staff of AXL Academy, a school born out of a chance encounter on an Outward Bound course 22 years ago—and set to open in a couple of weeks. “EL” is an alternative style of education based on active education methods. Our job was to give AXL’s 20 staff members a “sense of crew” through various team-building initiatives and rock climbing. And … it was the first ever course run out of Outward Bound’s new Denver urban center! Makin’ history … [LINK to Flickr Set]

Boulder Funk: My article in Sunset magazine

June 25th, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

My article, “Bask in Boulder’s funkier side,” is now in the current (July 2008) issue of Sunset magazine, on newsstands and online. My suggested day-trip includes mead tasting at the Redstone Meadery, margarita sipping on the Rio’s new rooftop, Banjo Billy Bus touring through Boulder’s colorful past, and an uncrowded hike up Anenome Hill—all of which are accessible along the Boulder Creek Bike Path corridor.

[LINK]

What did I miss? Got your own funky Boulder suggestions? Let’s hear ‘em in the comments.

Boulder Gets its Freeze On: Pearl Street Flash Mob Among the Tulips

May 5th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Yesterday in Boulder, at 12:45 pm on the pedestrian mall in front of the courthouse, everything went quiet, a sudden silence which at first was more noticeable than the lack of movement. Then you realized that within this block-long mass of frozen people were a hundred mini-scenes, and you could walk through them and around them, like a museum. One couple kissed, one danced, another fought, one trio staged a purse-snatching, others looked ahead in mid-stride, biting apples, sipping sodas, talking on phones, giving high-fives. After five minutes, motion, applause, a few hundred smiles, then the crowd melted and the flow resumed.

The first Frozen Boulder was performed by a loose group of 150 people who’d never met, but who’d all received the same invitation to join a “mission” by newly formed Boulder Improv. Equally stirred by the Frozen Grand Central Station video in the e-mail invitation, they were here to make town history—or at least do their small part to keep Boulder weird.

Video and links:

• Rocky Mountain News, by Monika Bunting
• Frozen Boulder, by Ryan Van Duzer
• Denver Post article, by Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier
• Frozen Grand Central Station

Nica-rado get ready! Fundraising Fiesta at the Butterfly Pavillion Next Friday!

August 31st, 2007 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Colorado Nica-philes mark your calendars for Friday, September 7. Boulder-based Empowerment International, an NGO (non-governmental organization) which helps school kids in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, presents their fourth annual “Festival of Hope” at the Westminster Butterfly Pavillion. Yes, amigos, come one, come all to support EI’s efforts to sponsor children in slums who are unable to afford basic necessities of going to school (tuition, uniform, supplies, etc.).

I’ll be there to auction off and sign copies of my books, Moon Nicaragua and Living Abroad In Nicaragua, to sing some Nicaragua folk songs, and to enjoy the company of so many fellow Nicaradans. (more…)

Puerto Rico in the Rockies

July 9th, 2007 | By Joshua | 9 Comments »

What’s the next best thing to going to Puerto Rico? How about bringing Puerto Rico to the Rocky Mountains? I just spent the week with 33 Puerto Rican Expeditionary Learning teachers and administrators, the first ever Colorado Outward Bound course conducted entirely in Spanish. This was not only a huge honor, challenge, and success, but it was incredible fun to laugh all week with such an inspired group of maestros. (more…)

Lightning, Hail, and Lions: Another Day in Boulder

May 29th, 2007 | By Joshua | No Comments »

It’s been a crazy week in North Boulder, CO. Thunderstorms, hail, and lightning that split this tree like a banana. A few days ago, authorities shot a mountain lion that had wandered down off the hill and into the neighborhood—5 blocks from our new home. Last time I lived in lion country was French Gulch, CA; they used to come down and get a chicken or goat, then go back into the hills. We may not be traveling anywhere exotic for the moment, but these events help to keep Boulder weird.

Winter images from my new back yard

February 3rd, 2007 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

As comfortable as our new home is, with its wind-swept wonderland out the back patio door, it’s difficult to imagine staying longer than a year or two. This is out of habit, a transient’s mindset, trying to be still.
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Bloody Mayhem: images from my WFR class

January 13th, 2007 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Here’s an image set from my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course. As you can see, an enormous part of the 80-hour curriculum consists of practical scenarios with plenty of moulage. (That’s me with the moustache and tension pneumothorax caused by a stick in the lung.) So what’s the relation to traveling? (more…)

Belizean Blizzard in the Boulder ‘Burbs

December 20th, 2006 | By Joshua | No Comments »

They’re sudden, those big geography shifts. Super-heated skunky waft of green rotting forest when I land in Belize. Six weeks later, Colorado wind bites my face, tropical glow sucked out the car window — one breath — as Tay and I speed home. Yes, home. A kitchen and couch and desk and patio — backpack in the closet, por fin. Skin dries out, hair dries out; the altitude puts a light, heady buzz over it all (who-wha? culture shock?), the sun bright and warm then gone, two feet of snow and a sky of gray snow, socking in Boulder Valley and the entire Front Range. Storm warning and I’m home, holed up,  killing the Buddha, and taking pictures of our yard.

Traveling Cat

November 3rd, 2006 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

If we think our lives have been topsy-turvy and discombobulated after returning to the United States from our trip to the world, imagine how Suusaa feels.
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