Terrific column this week from Tony Vagneur. Up on the Aspen Times.
Tony Vagneur:
"Speaking of papers, a recent story indicated that there was a big flap earlier in the year up around Radar Road in Skyline Park (formerly the Droste property) about some people ignoring closed signs to take a preseason gander at the flora and fauna.
Apparently, one of those receiving a ticket for violating the closure was some developer who felt a certain sense of entitlement about his egregiousness, based on the proximity of his house to the area and some real or imagined beneficence he'd granted to Pitkin County Open Space and Trails in its acquisition of the property. Never mind that his exercise of a perceived sense of privilege might have caused a cow elk to abort her calf or created other havoc in the local herd. To top it off, no sooner had an official trail ranger engaged the developer in a conversation about the seriousness of the transgression, the image of a mountain biker appeared from the closed area, adding insult to the entire illiterate escapade.
You can rest assured that no contingent of aggrieved elk, distressed that their once-private calving grounds are now being disrespected by people who should know better, will petition the powers that be for relief. That must come from those among us who sometimes fail to acknowledge personal responsibility....."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetic pursuit and tracking of patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Showing posts with label Tony Vagneur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tony Vagneur. Show all posts
May 26, 2012
May 19, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Ruth Whyte's Aspen legacy"
lol.
Tony Vagneur:
"It's one of those stories that never got properly told, and it happened so long ago that not many would care — except for the fact that it involved recently deceased Ruth Whyte, multileveled philanthropist to Aspen.
Who the hell was Ruth Whyte, you ask? If you have to ask, you're still a starry-eyed newcomer with a lot to learn about our town. She was the ultimate volunteer, as evidenced by her election as volunteer of the year for the Aspen Ski Club (she was almost a lifetime unpaid secretary there); she received the highly coveted Greg Mace award for volunteerism, was inducted into the 1996 Aspen Hall of Fame, and during nearly a half-century of promoting Aspen, her smiling mug can be spied in almost every official photograph having to do with the Aspen Ski Club, Wintersköl or the World Cup.
Ruth's first visit to Aspen was in 1952, and before the week was over, she was involved with the ski club, helping organize the national championships being held on the mountain. When Ruth finally came to town for good, she was a fresh-faced graduate of the University of Colorado, hired as the Aspen School District's physical education teacher. Breaking ground as the first woman to hold that job since anyone could remember, the challenges were perceived as steep, but Ruth was an athletic woman with a no-B.S. attitude toward her first job out of college.
That, of course, did not change the fact that several smart-assed elementary kids, including yours truly, put her to the test every time we had class. Clearly, I remember one occasion when, pushed to the limit, she threatened me with some horrible disciplinary action, to which I replied, “You can't do that: My dad is president of the school board.” Fury erupted from her quarter, and only by the quickness of youth was I able to outrun what surely would have been justifiable homicide...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetic pursuit and tracking of patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Tony Vagneur:
"It's one of those stories that never got properly told, and it happened so long ago that not many would care — except for the fact that it involved recently deceased Ruth Whyte, multileveled philanthropist to Aspen.
Who the hell was Ruth Whyte, you ask? If you have to ask, you're still a starry-eyed newcomer with a lot to learn about our town. She was the ultimate volunteer, as evidenced by her election as volunteer of the year for the Aspen Ski Club (she was almost a lifetime unpaid secretary there); she received the highly coveted Greg Mace award for volunteerism, was inducted into the 1996 Aspen Hall of Fame, and during nearly a half-century of promoting Aspen, her smiling mug can be spied in almost every official photograph having to do with the Aspen Ski Club, Wintersköl or the World Cup.
Ruth's first visit to Aspen was in 1952, and before the week was over, she was involved with the ski club, helping organize the national championships being held on the mountain. When Ruth finally came to town for good, she was a fresh-faced graduate of the University of Colorado, hired as the Aspen School District's physical education teacher. Breaking ground as the first woman to hold that job since anyone could remember, the challenges were perceived as steep, but Ruth was an athletic woman with a no-B.S. attitude toward her first job out of college.
That, of course, did not change the fact that several smart-assed elementary kids, including yours truly, put her to the test every time we had class. Clearly, I remember one occasion when, pushed to the limit, she threatened me with some horrible disciplinary action, to which I replied, “You can't do that: My dad is president of the school board.” Fury erupted from her quarter, and only by the quickness of youth was I able to outrun what surely would have been justifiable homicide...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetic pursuit and tracking of patterns within the news others make since 2010."
April 21, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Who we are in Aspen"
Beautifully done by Vagneur. Up on the Aspen Times.
Tony Vagneur:
"“You must have seen a lot of changes,” comes the almost-guaranteed remark after people realize I'm an Aspen native, and I guess that's true to a certain degree. My birth happened to coincide with the opening of “The World's Longest Chairlift” in 1946, and I suppose I've been most fortunate, through luck of the draw, to witness the metamorphosis of Aspen from a quiet mountain town into a world-class powerhouse of skiing and culture.
I don't know how it goes out at the music tent, but I do know that every winter some young hotshot comes along, thinking his turns are the best anyone's ever seen on Aspen Mountain. Fantasy is probably good in any venue, for it gives us all the impetus to stay in the game and make something stick.
We are continually given a reliable thread of “boiler plate” history, vignettes of people such as Jerome B. Wheeler, B. Clark Wheeler, Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke, D.R.C. Brown, Friedl Pfeifer and other looming icons. The “Quiet Years” (to which many of us refer as the “Golden Years”) has become a convenient term for describing a large chunk of Aspen's history.
Most of this is correct and interesting, but it is a superficial rendition devoid of the passion, tragedy and brilliance that make up our antiquity......
.......Point well taken, sir, but there have been other businessmen with as much hubris who didn't fare as well. Unfairly, Guido (one-time justice of the peace) likely is best-remembered for the sign in his window, “No Beatniks Allowed,” a reference to the influx of “hippies” in the '60s. Always a sign man, he put up a marker on Highway 82 near his downvalley ranch, trying to encourage motorists to slow down, which read merely “Nudist Crossing.”...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Tony Vagneur:
"“You must have seen a lot of changes,” comes the almost-guaranteed remark after people realize I'm an Aspen native, and I guess that's true to a certain degree. My birth happened to coincide with the opening of “The World's Longest Chairlift” in 1946, and I suppose I've been most fortunate, through luck of the draw, to witness the metamorphosis of Aspen from a quiet mountain town into a world-class powerhouse of skiing and culture.
I don't know how it goes out at the music tent, but I do know that every winter some young hotshot comes along, thinking his turns are the best anyone's ever seen on Aspen Mountain. Fantasy is probably good in any venue, for it gives us all the impetus to stay in the game and make something stick.
We are continually given a reliable thread of “boiler plate” history, vignettes of people such as Jerome B. Wheeler, B. Clark Wheeler, Walter and Elizabeth Paepcke, D.R.C. Brown, Friedl Pfeifer and other looming icons. The “Quiet Years” (to which many of us refer as the “Golden Years”) has become a convenient term for describing a large chunk of Aspen's history.
Most of this is correct and interesting, but it is a superficial rendition devoid of the passion, tragedy and brilliance that make up our antiquity......
.......Point well taken, sir, but there have been other businessmen with as much hubris who didn't fare as well. Unfairly, Guido (one-time justice of the peace) likely is best-remembered for the sign in his window, “No Beatniks Allowed,” a reference to the influx of “hippies” in the '60s. Always a sign man, he put up a marker on Highway 82 near his downvalley ranch, trying to encourage motorists to slow down, which read merely “Nudist Crossing.”...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
April 7, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times/Tony Vagneur "Aspen's ageless questions"
Excellent column from Tony Vagneur this week. Up on the Aspen Times.
Tony Vagneur:
"Those from the '60s and '70s bemoan the changes that have happened to “their” town; those who survived the '90s and '00s are getting nervous about the community they thought they knew; those of us who grew up here in the 1940s and '50s, if we still care, are pondering the same questions...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Tony Vagneur:
"Those from the '60s and '70s bemoan the changes that have happened to “their” town; those who survived the '90s and '00s are getting nervous about the community they thought they knew; those of us who grew up here in the 1940s and '50s, if we still care, are pondering the same questions...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
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