For decades, the west side of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) main campus had subsidence issues related to historical mining activities. At one point, in the 1990s, one of the married student housing units in that area was so badly damaged that it was condemned. In the early 2000s, after the school converted the subsidence-prone area into intramural-athletic (IM) fields, ongoing subsidence-related issues were still being reported.
Clay mining in Colorado dates back to the mid-1800s and Golden was a particularly good location for clay found in the Laramie Formation. This clay has been used for a variety of industrial purposes over the years including construction (bricks, structural tiles, sewer pipes), terracotta, refractory clays, and earthenware. The mining of kaolinitic claystones in what was later to become the western area of the Mines campus left backfilled/collapsed mine workings and the possible presence of underground void spaces. To complicate matters, that same area was also the site of coal mining in the 1880s and 1890s. In particular, the Pittsburg Coal Mine entry shaft may have been located in the vicinity of one of the observed subsidence features. This mine reportedly operated between 1876 and 1880, but is un-recorded by the State. The mining operations were thought to be on three levels at depths of 100, 150, and 225 feet running parallel to the mountains.
The condition of the Rockwell clay mine immediately south of the CSM campus and 19th Street along US 6 in 1977 before more recent reclamation as a golf course. Note the near-vertical dip on the up-turned sedimentary layers. The green area to the top left is part of the IM field where the subsidence occurred in the 2000s. Photo credit: Colorado Geological Survey.more “Case Study: mine subsidence, CSM”
Red Rocks Park on the west side of Denver, Colorado. The red strata of the Pennsylvanian/Permian Fountain formation rests on Precambrian metamorphic rocks. Photo credit: Vince Matthews.
Originally designed to accompany Dr. Shorey’s 2008 SYGN 101 Earth and Environmental Systems Science course, both the podcasts and vlogs provide fast-paced and informative explorations of a wide range of geologically- and environmentally-oriented topics. Among these: geohazards, climate change; geography; economics; anthropology; history; and biology. The vlog includes segments on mapping, mineralogy, age-dating, plate tectonics, as well as field-trip material to some of the prime geological features in the Golden, Colorado area: Red Rocks, North Table Mountain, and around the Mines campus. The vlog also demonstrates the effective use of drone photography in geological field education. Check it out!
[ED: After meeting and talking to Kirsten Volpi, Mines COO/CFO, at a faculty barbecue, I had some follow-up comments for her on being an employee at Mines. Especially relevant was the issue of tele-commuting, although we happened to be still some few months before the Covid cataclysm. We, the staff at the CGS, had been lied to by the former State Geologist, Karen Berry, who told us in a staff meeting that Mines did not allow any remote working, apparently because she didn’t want to allow it. The rest, as of March 2020, is history. I worked four years 100% remote until retiring, no problem.]
Hi Kirsten:
My comments here fall broadly under the ongoing topic of employee retention—an important interest for institutional management—that President Johnson mentioned at last Friday’s staff plenary session. I would hope that perhaps they might shed some anecdotal light on that critical issue from the point of view of an employee. I write as an alumni and a three-year administrative faculty member; and, as someone who cares about the place I work, the people I work with, executing my job with a high degree of professionalism, and the value of work/life balance.
Following up on the question I posed during the Faculty/Staff plenary regarding ‘remote working’, I would offer that if you are considering any staff participation in policy-making around this issue, I’d be happy to contribute my expertise to the discussion. I was surprised when you stated that there was no policy and that some people *were* actually telecommuting. We have been told by our so-called “manager” that it is a Mines policy: remote work is absolutely *not* allowed (thus my original question). And I note that recently one of my professional colleagues left the CGS because of this arbitrarily fabricated limitation. There is substantial research available on the subject that confirms that flexible working conditions augment productivity *and* job satisfaction. They also improve the ability for employees to fond and construct healthy work/life balances.
This brings me to a second point. When I was on the faculty at CU-Boulder, I noted that there was the Ombuds Office (https://www.colorado.edu/ombuds/our-services) that allowed for confidential tabling of any university-related issues. I feel that Mines is deficient in this area—that there is no equitable means for addressing the complex issues that may arise—especially as the school is expanding so rapidly. There is the confidential CARE system, but this seems to focus on student issues, not the wider spectrum of institutional dynamics. Perhaps the ombuds model should be considered.
Moving on, I will relate a couple example of negative issues that I have witnessed as directly impacting both myself and my colleagues at work, both which exhibit a flagrant disregard of staff and their well-being. There are others.
The CGS is located in the Moly Building which is currently under heavy construction and has been for the last eight months. The entire project was ‘presented’ to the staff essentially as a fait accompli. What little information that was passed to us was in a two-line email format: this is what is happening, deal with it. Further occasional emails dealt with the absolutely minimal warnings that understated risk to life and limb if one walked outside the building, ever.
Our first real experience of this particular ‘development’ project was to arrive at work to watch 15 100-year-old trees ripped down and sent to a landfill, while a large and well-established natural riparian area was eviscerated with heavy machinery. That area served, among other functions, as a buffer between our offices and the loud traffic of 6th Avenue, as well as, more importantly, a small but rich wildlife refuge. Given that Mines now has the word “Environment” in its tag line, we found this a richly disturbing irony. The water flow of that riparian corridor was completely disrupted by a typical ‘modern’ solution that shunts surface drainage from areas where it normally would be absorbed into groundwater. I could go into much more detail about available knowledge that demonstrates development does not have to mean utter destruction of a landscape. This violent construction process continues to this day with zero consideration or opportunities for any expression from our staff, despite the persistent stress of environmental destruction, noise, dislocation, delay, and general chaos.
There is a concept called ‘participatory design’ which operates under the principle that those who are to use the designed object or environment are given an active role in the design process. This is a crucial dimension to truly sustainable development. In this particular situation, however, the feeling is that there is no recourse, no mechanism for ‘speaking truth to power’. This is a sure way to cause those who can to move on to more humane working situations to do just that. If such a feeling is the dominant modus, an institution will be in constant internal conflict with its own potential (humane) success. I see this on a daily basis among my colleagues, how these small things add up to embodied stress and dissatisfaction.
The next step in this destruction process was paving over what remained of the open area bordering the riparian zone, so not only did we lose the buffer of trees, but then a vast sheet of unshaded black asphalt was installed that, among other negative effects, markedly increased solar heat buildup immediately outside our entire wing of the building. Car windshields reflected glare directly into half of our offices for much of the day. These are two tiny details, but it is in these details that makes a difference: there are many more that I will not enumerate here. There are ways to pave an area that allows for stormwater percolation using perforated pavers among a variety of other solutions.
The parking lot debacle segues into the second issue. Admittedly, the CGS is a bit of an orphan child at Mines, and this aspect came into sharp focus when the dictate came down to us from above that our parking lot fee would double from $265 to $497 per year. Not only that, but the lot is now requiring a ‘reserved’ permit that restricts the user from parking *anywhere* else on campus, despite the high cost! Our work flow at the CGS is not so similar to a ‘regular’ staff member in that we do come-and-go a lot, often with field gear, attending off-campus meetings (on campus meetings are even more complicated in that it can take 20 minutes to get somewhere on campus on foot). I’m wondering if the time lost to walking too and from personal vehicles is to be deducted from *my* time or from the institution’s time—if I do pay more to park, the institution wins on both counts, my cash *and* my time. I personally decided to subtract *my* cash completely from that picture—by canceling my parking pass completely, in protest—I will follow your advice on the second factor. I happen to live in Golden, though, and can bike commute, while most my colleagues have significant car commutes. Many other staff folks dropped a tier or cancelled, tired of being cash cows with no good alternatives. Some of the few who went for the higher fee did so because they were afraid of the risk to their cars and personal safety as has been demonstrated most recently in the area. Given the fact that no one else will be using this lot aside from folks working in the Moly building, the occasional contractor, and perhaps a few Facilities Maintenance folks, it would seem that this decision to double rates is a shameless and rather ignorant grab.
I know this may read like an editorial, but that’s because, in part, I was a Special Editor for the Oredigger, back when. And while I would like to think that this letter will have only positive outcomes related to my employment here, sadly, I am not confident that. Being a squeaky wheel—one that actually cares about the institution, its legacy, and the people working here—will perhaps ultimately cause my departure.
At any rate, thanks you for your time and consideration, I would reiterate my interest in helping develop an up-to-date policy for telecommuting (noting that my father authored a number of reports out of the White House’s Office of Technology Policy on tele-medicine among other tele-processes *in the early 1970s*). It’s about time!
Just signed the offer letter for the “Technical Media Specialist” position at the Colorado Geological Survey in Golden. The Survey recently was absorbed by the Colorado School of Mines, although its remit continues as defined under state law.
This is probably the biggest shift in life since leaving Big Oil some time ago. The most challenging issue, though, is getting the house finished ‘enough’ for sale, and getting life packed up and moved to Golden by 06 September. Stress-and-a-half! David is helping with ‘project managing’ the house work, although I need to do as much as possible, as my labor is free, and that of everyone else is expensive and paid in gold, jewels, cash, or Bitcoin.
Back from a whirlwind trip to Colorado. No personal entries here on the blog for a long time. Sketching an assignment for the Survey job — got until 28 April 2016 to execute the following:
Enclosed is a newsletter [RockTalk Volume 4 #4] created by CGS staff in 2001. The main purpose of the newsletter was educational with a target audience of K-12 teachers, local government planners and elected officials, and the general public. The goal of the newsletter was to educate the public about soil and subsidence hazards and the role of geosciences in their lives.
Your assignment is to take one of the articles in the newsletter: subsidence above inactive coal mines, evaporite karst subsidence, or collapsible soils and develop at least one of the products listed below. You may elect to focus on a subset of the original target audience (if so, please identify the target audience) or target a broad audience. You may use photos or graphics from the original files, modify original files, or create new graphics or photos. If you use graphics or photos created by others, please credit the original source.
— Create a web page about the subject or;
— Create a new newsletter based on the subject, or;
— Create a blog based on the subject [ed: my choice – but the blog since taken down for getting too many hits — I was uncomfortable hosting the site as it had the CGS logo on it and as it proffered critical information].
In addition, to create interest and market your product, please create all of the following:
A social media plan to market your work. You have a budget of $500 to help implement the plan; and an example social media “post” that is primarily text based; and an example social media “post” that is primarily image based.
Deliverables can be links to your work product or pdf documents. The social media marketing plan should be no longer than two pages. The assignment is due by 5 pm MDT, April 28, 2016.
I’ll be fleshing out the blog with media content, so if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know!
Colorado School of Mines invites applications for the position of Technical Media Specialist.
The Colorado Geological Survey serves the State of Colorado to ensure that the citizens of Colorado gain most efficient use of and economic benefit from geological resources, while maximizing their protection from geological hazards. Education and research programs affiliated with CGS are enhanced through close collaboration with the strong departments in the College of Earth Resource Sciences and Engineering: Economics & Business, Geology & Geological Engineering, Geophysics, Liberal Arts & International Studies, Mining Engineering, and Petroleum Engineering.
Colorado is well-known for its quality of life and outdoor lifestyles. Mines is located in Golden, Colorado, in a scenic valley at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Mines has enrollment of over 5,400 students in undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering and applied science. The metropolitan Denver area, with its cultural and sports activities, is located a few miles to the east of Golden. The climate is continental with gentle summers and occasional snow in the winter. There is a major international airport within 35 miles of campus. For more information visit us at: https://www.mines.edu.
Responsibilities: The Technical Media Specialist writes press releases (for what ‘press’?), prepares information for the media (who’s that?) and is responsible for posts/tweets to social media outlets (?), including tracking social media influence measurements. Writes clear and compelling website content (yup), including articles, product descriptions, e-newsletters, blog posts, and podcast scripts. Researches and writes annual reports, newsletters, pamphlets, and other print materials. Works with technical staff to improve document quality, usability and relevance. Other duties include researching material, managing outreach events and agency website, and coordinating content reviews with senior staff. The position assists with general office administration duties and other duties as assigned.
Mines is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and educator that recognizes that diversity is crucial to its pursuit of excellence in learning and research. Mines is committed to developing student, faculty, and staff populations with differing perspectives, backgrounds, talents, and needs and to creating a richer mix of ideas, energizing and enlightening debates, deeper commitments, and a host of educational, research, and service outcomes. As such, Mines values candidates who have experience working in settings with individuals from diverse backgrounds. Minorities, women, veterans, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
Qualifications: A bachelor’s (MFA) degree in journalism, communications, digital media or a closely related field is required (CHECK). Other requirements include strong writing and editing skills (CHECK); applicants must be able to write clearly, succinctly and in a manner that appeals to a wide audience (CHECK). Must be proficient in the use of Adobe Create Suite, Adobe Creative Cloud or similar print, web content management and digital publication software (CHECK). Applicants must demonstrate, or show evidence of, excellent written, oral communication and interpersonal skills (CHECK). Must be able to take complex, technical information and translate it for colleagues and consumers who have nontechnical backgrounds (CHECK).
Preference will be given to applicants who possess:
• A master’s (PhD) degree in journalism, communications, digital media, or a closely related field (CHECK)
• A bachelor’s degree in geology, geological engineering, engineering, geography, soil science, or a closely related field (CHECK)
• Expert knowledge of social networking channels, web design, HTML and search engine optimization (CHECK)
• Experience working with audio/visual production equipment and other multimedia tools used to distribute podcasts online (CHECK)
• Knowledge of technical subjects such as geology, geological engineering, engineering, geography, soil science, or a closely related field (CHECK)
Dr. Woolsey was, as anyone who knew him would likely agree, a real character. Real in the sense that he understood and practiced an idiosyncratic form of pragmatic realism: as an effective and sophisticated problem-solver. He also was an inspiring teacher who enthusiastically transmitted his pithy methodologies as a holistic life-approach to the complex tasks of ethical engineering.
Robert E.D. ‘Gene’ Woolsey of Wheat Ridge, Colo., died March 16, 2015. Born in 1936, he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics and his PhD in mechanical engineering. Gene came to Mines in 1969. Under his leadership, the Operations Research/ Management Science Program became one of only five U.S. programs designated by the U.S. Army for educating its officers in this field. He also held teaching appointments at seven colleges and universities in four countries: the United States, South Africa, Mexico, and Canada. In 1986, Gene was the first recipient of the Harold Larnder Prize for Distinguished International Achievement in Operations Research, awarded by The Canadian Operational Research Society. In 1999, he received the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) Award for the Teaching of OR/ MS Practice. In 2002, he was named one of 113 in the world to receive the INFORMS Fellow Award. The U.S. Department of the Army awarded Gene the Commander’s Medal, the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, and the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, which is the highest U.S. civilian decoration. In 2003, he retired from Mines and became a professor emeritus. In 1987, he was made an honorary member of the Mines Alumni Association.
The three courses I took from Dr. Woolsey made the greatest total impact on my thinking, far more than any of the others I took at Mines. He had an engaging anecdote-laced delivery that we as students could easily see was utterly ‘real-world’ and illustrated the application of an incredible intellect that tolerated *no* bullshit. Given that we perceived a healthy chunk of the rest of our education at Mines was laced with busy-work and somewhat ungrounded and untested noise, Dr. Woolsey’s classes were a fresh challenge to we engineers-in-the-making. Looking back, his greatest gift was communicating a sense that to engage as engineers and pro-active citizens we had to first be observers of the world around us. As a nascent photographer in those days, I was completely taken by his abilities to stand back and absorb the widest context of a particular (engineering) problem — always observing before ever suggesting solutions. He was the epitome of a systems thinker and do-er.
My conclusions, years later: for the Engineer to be considered as engaged in an ethical praxis, a critical metric is the demonstrated approach towards the asymptotic limit of an awareness of everything in the immediate and far surrounds of that praxis.
Anything less will contain the seed of the unethical. Of course, being human *is* being fallible, such that any engineered situation is ultimately imperfect. Any sales pitch that suggests otherwise is … a lie. Dr. Woolsey called out liars, fools, and charlatans with a knowledgable grin, plenty of infectious deLight, along with a substantial dose of somewhat evil glee — all seasoned with some righteous and downright pompous superiority.
For a distilled sense of his personality and brilliance, check out some of his numerous contributions to Interfaces, the journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). They also posted a comprehensive obituary along with often humorous remembrances that confirm his powerful legacy and wide influence among colleagues, students, and pretty much anyone he met.
This article, coming out in Sunday next’s New York Times Magazine, seems pretty spot-on in revealing to me a dimension of this old friend that I blindly took for granted. And, for once, the neoscenes archive divulges something of use beyond the basic functioning as my own external memory storage:
But how comes it that no one will have living memory of our flesh and blood in a hundred years? And only these activated traces will be left, these less-than-life reductions.
As I’m not on the regular alumni mailing lists and rarely going to the CSM alumni web site, I missed the passing of my main mentor from geophysics days—Dr. Keller was a big influence on my trajectory during my studies and, indeed, after I left the corporate sector. The first class I took with him was Geothermal Exploration, one that always included two weeks in either Iceland, Hawaii, or New Zealand. Our class opted for Hawaii. So, in March 1981 with our fearless leaders Drs. Keller and L. T. Grose, about 20 of us boarded a flight from Denver to LA and then on to Honolulu, followed by a short hop to Hilo, Hawaii, where we spent most of our time looking at the geology and a hot-rock portable 25 megawatt geothermal power station sitting on a fresh lava flow. I won’t go into the details of all the partying that went on when we weren’t in the field. I took the wheel of one of our vans and pretended to be a local, a ruse that worked well while I was driving, but my surfing wasn’t so great.
Robin and I stayed on the Big Island for an extra couple days with a rent-a-car after the rest of the group headed for some volcano hiking on Maui, we hung around the Kona coast and up around Hapuna. Then retreated to the Waikiki Hilton where I met Martin and stayed another two days there enjoying the pleasures of the amazing Waikiki Beach.
That following summer and school year I worked for Dr. Keller at Group Seven, Inc., doing a variety of jobs from field acquisition, data processing, and interpretation of TDEM for geothermal resources mostly in the Basin and Range province (in Nevada, California, and Arizona). I spent two weeks doing soil chemistry sampling around the Clear Lake in the Geysers region in Northern California.
Some day I’ll get some of the many photos posted from Hawaii and Group Seven.
Dr. George V. Keller received his Bachelor of Science (1949) and Master of Science (1952) degrees in Geophysics and his Doctorate (1954) in Geophysics and Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University. From 1945-46, he served in the U. S. Navy as a Seaman First Class. During his career he was employed by the U.S. Geological Survey (1952-1963) and by the Colorado School of Mines (1964 to 1993).
While with the USGS, Dr. Keller’s assignments included management of studies of geophysical aspects of nuclear weapons testing for tests carried out within the continental US; the impact of earth properties on Command and Control Communications (C3) systems; surveys of the Arctic Ocean during the International Geophysical Year from Drifting Station Bravo (T3); and participation in the early USGS planning team for Deep Sea Drilling (AMSOC).
At the Colorado School of Mines, Dr. Keller’s principal areas of interest were in development and applications of electrical geophysical methods to exploration for mineral and energy resources. He served as Head, Department of Geophysics, from 1974 to 1983. He retired from teaching May 1, 1993. He received a distinguished service award from the U.S. Department of Interior in 1959, was awarded the first Halliburton Award for outstanding professional achievement in 1979, served as a senior Fulbright scholar at Moscow University in 1979, was invited on a distinguished lecture tour by the Japan Association for Advancement of Education during the summer of 1986, and served as a Senior NATO Scholar at the University of Pisa in 1991. He has served as a consultant to many companies and government agencies involved in the earth sciences. Most important among the government assignments were as a member of President Johnson’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Mine Safety, as a member of President Carter’s energy Research Advisory Board, subcommittee on Geothermal Energy, and as a member of and chairman of the Committee Advisory to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory on the Hot Dry Rock (HDR) Project. In 1996, he was named a Centennial Fellow of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Keller formed Group Seven, Inc. in 1970 to provide electrical geophysical services to the energy industries. During the 1970s, Group Seven grew to a company with about 60 employees and carried out geophysical surveys for a large number of energy companies and government agencies, including Exxon, Chevron, Union Oil, Phillips Oil, Gulf Oil, the Governments of Indonesia and Nicaragua through the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Government of Kenya through the U.N. Development Program, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Reclamation, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of energy. Group Seven was integrated into United Syscoe Mines (Canada) in 1981.
In the Fall of 2004, he joined a floating campus for the Semester-at-Sea program. He taught three earth science classes to students from throughout the U. S. as the ship sailed around the world.
Dr. Keller has published extensively, including more than 200 technical papers in his own name, more than 2000 pages of translations of technical articles which originally appeared in the Russian literature, and eight books and texts on the electrical methods of geophysical prospecting. He served as translation editor of the journal “Soviet Mining Science,” published by Plenum Press from its inception in 1965 until 1994. During that period, he was responsible for supervisory editing of some 15,000 pages of technical articles originally published in Russian.
Most important among Prof. Keller’s publications are seven books dealing with the electrical geophysical methods.
One of these books became a classic reference and is regularly cited to this day. The book, first published in 1966, was co-authored with his colleague and friend from the USGS, Frank Frischknecht, and was titled “Electrical Methods in Geophysical Prospecting.” Its popularity is emphasized by the fact that a second edition was published in 1982.
In 1994, Dr. Keller began research on the detection and identification of hand guns. This research led to the award of U.S. Patent 5552705 on September 3, 1996.
Dr. Keller’s last position was president and chief scientist at StrataSearch Corp.
George Vernon Keller was born in New Kensington PA on December 16, 1927 and passed away on April 17th 2012 in Evergreen CO. He married his childhood sweetheart Amber in 1945; she passed away in 1995. He married Liudvika in 1997. George is survived by his wife Liudvika, son George Stephen and his wife, Chong, grandson Justin, and daughter, Susan Diane.
Meeting life, being submerged in its flow remains only a goal. Like breathing. Where a developed consciousness of breathing becomes a stabilizing influence on the extremes of condition that impress the body and the soul as night turns to day and day following transitions to night.
By the same author of Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?, Andrea passes this wacky niblet (below) along. The yacht question is incredibly germane in the situation these days when a vast swath of the population still takes hits on the market (is foolish to listen to dullards/brokers) and then calculates for a few seconds in some small cavity in brain why the brokers still have the yachts, but then passes over any clear thought in order to stay up with discussions about lipstick in the national election. sheesh.
Wacky had plenty of other stuff too. He had different shells that he had found himself when he visited the seashore. Some of them had been on the beach, but some of them he had got out of almost two feet of water, which meant that when he had reached down for them, he had nearly had to put his nose in the water, because you have to take those chances if you want to get something valuable. The snail shells made a sound quite like the ocean, and the clam shells were going to be useful to keep collar buttons in as soon as he got old enough to wear collar buttons.
He had only one college pennant, but it was of the Colorado School of Mines, which is a college where they teach you to dig. Mr. Wallaby said that was more than they taught you in other colleges, so he wouldn’t need any other pennants. — Fred Schwed, Jr., “Wacky, The Small Boy,” 1939
Bo Diddley went on to heaven yesterday it is said:
Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician’s home when he died at about 1:45 a.m. EDT, said his death was not unexpected.
“There was a gospel song that was sang and he said ‘wow’ with a thumbs up,” Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley’s deathbed.
“The song was ‘Walk Around Heaven’ and in his last words he stated that he was going to heaven.”
I took this photo at a concert that Bo did in the Green Center at the Colorado School of Mines as the kick-off concert of the annual E-Day party weekend, April 1979. As Special Editor for the student newspaper, hung around back-stage with Bo and his band, made some shots there, but unfortunately don’t have those scanned yet in my digital archive at the moment. The acoustics of the auditorium were lousy, and the concert wasn’t particularly memorable, but the guy can definitely rock!
Meet Rafael in the morning, speaking about the political economies of soft game authoring; lunch with Steve, we decided the last time we saw each other was 21 years ago when I walked out of the corporate headquarters of Union Oil Company of California, times past, and catching up on the intervening years. Then a wander around the CSM campus to see what’s new. Strange vibe. Being no stellar student, but Sara, the Geophysics Department senior secretary recognized me (surprise!), got Dr. Keller’s email address. Wander around the campus looking at the new buildings, and allow place to seep in, an overlay of history, into senses. Thomas Hall, second floor, the first dormitory experience, 30 years ago right now. Formative? De-formative? Time past, time passed. Never conscious of the eyes of a 30-year alumni scanning the place back then, did it ever happen?
One of those fall afternoons, brilliant sunshine, Colorado blue sky. Down to Clear Creek, once a gravel ditch, now a sculpted kayak, mountain bike, jogging, and strolling corridor. How things develop in the West. To this standard of tidiness.
Dinner with Rick, Sally, and Natalie.
Crisis of the now. Crisis of being in the past moving into the now, and on into the future past.
posted
place: Wild Basin, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado
Future Dog-Town resident, SaMo/Venice Guardstand 13 Suicidal Tendencies :: Locals Only. Let’s get to the fookin’ water! On a School of Mines geothermal geophysics field trip to Hawaii with Drs. Keller and Grose.
[ED:This Review appeared in the “Oredigger” student newspaper at the Colorado School of Mines, 12 November 1980.]
Mines Little Theater production: Catch Me If You Can by Gilbert and Weinstock.
Director Mike Sides; Assistant Director: Eleanor Burton; Technical Director: Daniel Rich
GOLDEN — Last week’s MLT production of the Broadway mystery/comedy, Catch Me If You Can, marks a certain celebration point for the MLT company here at the “World’s Foremost.” Ten years from its humble beginnings, MLT has become a mature, experienced organization that has delivered some stunning theater performances not only by Mines cultural measures, but by real-world standards. Among many other past and present members of the company, Mike Sides, director of Catch Me and Dan Rich, technical director, both have impressive real-world theater credits.
This final coming of age for the MLT also marks a special point for this reviewing critic. Is MLT ready to have a real-world critique? (I must note that I am an avid supporter of MLT in spirit if nothing else; my friend and long-time fellow Mines inmate, MLT’er Dan Rich asked me specifically to review last week’s performance for the Oredigger.)
Opening night seemed fairly relaxed as I prowled around shooting photos for an upcoming Mines Magazine article on the MLT. Too relaxed, it seemed to me. None of the usual opening night insanity and jitters; maybe that should have cued me in for the upcoming show. I must agree that opening night is a fair excuse for some floundering. but Thursday’s opening seemed to be replete with some serious problems that dress rehearsal should have ironed out. Past performances were seldom so rough, although I did miss the previous week’s performances and cannot compare them to Catch Me.
The technical problems were most distressing after being accustomed to smooth working stage and lighting sets in the past. However, even more awkward were the queuing bluffs — something that should be cleared up before, not during opening night.
As far as the acting, I will have to be kinder. Outstanding player praise must go to Bob Fisk as the hysterically funny Jewish deli owner, Sidney, whose purported last words were “Who’s minding the store?” As a veteran MLT actor, Bob pumped maximum energy and personality into his supporting role. Close behind was Michelle Leonard as the surrogate Mrs. Corban. She seemed to slide into the part of a coy, svelte, and scheming female with unquestionable realism. Jon Bush kept things rolling with his boffo, one-liner delivery as the supposedly simple country cop, Inspector Levine. The leading part of David Corban was not played to its fullest, however, even though B. J. Truskowski seemed to overwork the part. Catch Me admittedly, in this critic’s opinion, was not the strongest vehicle for the MLT to work with, although it did have a fair share of good one-liners, faux pas, and a real surprising twist at the end. If fell short on complete entertainment value when compared to last year’s fast-paced Feiffer’s People and Play It Again, Sam.
Overall, no kudos this time, although I will grant the MLT another mild success. Future productions will have to concentrate on the technical problems as well as actor preparedness. I am not so sure that MLT is ready for the rumored musical production scheduled for next spring, but if past performances are any indication, I hope they will at least give it a try — the Mines community at large and MLT have nothing to lose.
ED:This Op-Ed appeared in the “Oredigger” student newspaper at the Colorado School of Mines, 1 October 1980.
To the Editor:
Letters from Kameroun. –
I swallowed the first of a hoped-for series of American Presidential Debates last Sunday—actually two Sundays, by the time this makes it to the paper, maybe 37—with a liberal nightcap of ouzo and a handful of New York-manufactured Quaaludes. Couldn’t tell which affected me most.
The acerbity of the underdawg, the white-knighted JA (John Anderson) seemed almost overbearing (I was told by reliable sources that he uses coke on his hair); if only he wasn’t telling the truth about old Silk-Ties himself, the Right Reverend Reagan. The bumbling around on the issues was the only debacle that exceeded the inanity that the rag-tag questioning panel exhibited. I kept hoping that someone (Barry Commoner?) had slipped acid into the movie star’s glass of water so he would break into a tremulous soprano rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at the conclusion of his tear jerking (what else?) 3-minute wrap-up that literally shoved a Bud and an American flag into the hand of every blue collar worker over 40 while it took away the life-insulating dope from those under. Judging from the frequent driving references to the Military School for Boys in Texas, it was evident that Reagan’s 43-Anacin-a-day wife was pressuring him to tell all about his pederastical conniving with John Connally.
You know, I find it a shame that prime-time TV—that nipple of half-truths that suckles the Publis Americanus—has the gall to preempt Walt Disney to provide such a spectacle. It’s incredible! Oh my God, I can’t even escape into literary S&M butchery to help myself, or the world, either. However, I still am thankful that I was able to build a satellite dish out of dead cow bones here in the Peoples Republic of Kameroun to receive such gems of American Parody. If only I could transmit. Actually, if Jimmy permanently-on-the-rag-and-sulking Carter (The present US President) had appeared, I may not have had the stomach to tune back into “10” on HBO.
Well, I’ve got to run now—I’m expecting an urgent visit from Richard Wirthlin and Pat Caddell to discuss the Polish vote—think I’ll have to set a few more places at the mirror.
Respectfully submitted, Vecomo de Legato
P.S. I really got tired of shooting up in the backwoods of Mexico — it’s such a drag to continually find boxes of Post Toasties with coupons for “The Complete Jean-Paul Sartre” hardback edition littering the veranda. Africa is the place to be…
Vern was my friend and next-door neighbor in Thomas Hall, 2nd floor, at the Colorado School of Mines during our freshman year. This portrait is from the day the semester was done and Vern was leaving for home in Pueblo, Colorado.
A day later he was diagnosed with terminal leukemia. I saw him next in a casket in Pueblo, a shadow. [ed: the following from the journal 30 September 1977]:
Well, it seems for the time being I have lost my somewhat atrophied ability to recollect the rest of August, so I’ll turn my mind to more recent events. The most tragic thing recently that happened to me, or, more correctly, that involved me, was Vern’s death. When I got back to school, Mike told me that Vern had gotten leukemia — he found out the day he got home from school in May. Spent the whole summer in the hospital, undergoing chemotherapy and all that kind of stuff. The weekend of 20 September, I think, Mike had gone down to visit him — reported back that he was doing very well — that he might even be able to go home for awhile. They had a good time listening to tunes and so on. Mike talked about him a lot. Well, it seems that on 27 September, Vern died. He was really doped up and that with the chemo was too much for his system to handle. more “Vernon Holloway 1958 – 1977”
I think I got the sequence backwards — parked in front of Thomas Hall, Collin, having aced all his finals, was definitely packing up and heading back home to Gunnison in his venerable Toyota truck at the end of that first grueling year at Mines. Dig those ’70s Show shoes! I won’t comment on my grades … and I was heading back to Washington, D.C., first a job at Solarex, fabricating early photovoltaic chips; followed by a more lucrative graveyard-shift ‘mucking’ job in a local gravel mine.
