Calvin Trillin asks this question in his Sept. 3/10 New Yorker article about street vendors in Singapore, and it's also a key theme in any number of television food shows, most notably Rick Bayless' "Mexico: One Plate at a Time" on PBS and "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations," a Travel Channel staple.
Bayless regularly opens his show in a market, noshing on authentic food dished up by Mexican vendors. Sure, he also hits up some trendy restaurants serving not-so-traditional cuisine, but he usually shows how the traditional street food influences even the most progressive chefs.
Bourdain, in this week's episode from Argentina, stepped into one of Buenos Aires' infamous villas miserias to sample a stew made from hog parts, chorizo, squash and beans. Bourdain (though obviously accompanied by his crew and a native Argentinian) was in his element, eating simple food prepared in a streetside cazuela, just as he has in numerous cities around the world.
The one constant in foreign street food tends to be the inclusion of "lesser" cuts of meat, which Bourdain and Travel Channel chum Andrew Zimmern coaxed from a New York restaurateur preparing organ meats for his clientele.
"The rest of the world doesn't eat filet mignon," he told his celebrity guests. The history of the world's nutrition, he argued, owes much more to livers, chitlins and brains than it does to juicy choice cuts.
Trillin on Americans' ideas about street food:
"For an American visitor the operational translation for signs that ostensibly say something like 'bhel puri' or 'tacos de nopales' is 'Delivery System for Unfamiliar Bugs That You Will Bitterly Regret Having Ingested.' "
He continues to describe Singapore's efforts from the 1970s to enforce higher public health standards on its street vendors. That effort resulted in all vendors being brought to central markets with proper health controls.
Fort Collins' most famous street vendor, the gyro guy who sets up in Old Town and feeds the barflies there, is a start, but he can hardly replace the kinds of experiences that Trillin, Bayless, Bourdain and Zimmern encourage us to try.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Rock is Gay: Go Big Red
Nebraska, which hasn't won a conference title in college football this century, went on the road Saturday and defeated the defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion 20-17. Admittedly, the Cornhuskers played an uneven game against Wake Forest, and NU made its share of mistakes. But in the end, coach Callahan's team earned its second victory in as many games.
So Nebraska fan (I'm aggregating here), is moved to negativity by the outcome. Those of you who may be fans of Michigan, Notre Dame and Colorado State (three 0-2 teams at this point in the season) may ask "Why?"
Here goes.
Nebraska fan spent has spent most of his (I'll risk the gender specificity in this case because I think it fits) life watching Nebraska football in the way most of the rest of you watch a classic movie, be it "Casablanca," "Citizen Kane," "Animal House" or "Old School."
He turns on the tube at the appointed Saturday afternoon hour, settles in with a beverage and some unhealthy foodstuffs, and expects to see a classic script out of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s or 1990s. The script reads something like this:
A. Archetypal characters are established: the virtuous head coach, the misunderstood superstar and the scrappy overachieving non-scholarship player. On the other sideline stands the embodiment of evil, be it named Switzer, McCartney, Spurrier, Devine or Stoops (perfect casting, in his case).
B. Dramatic tension is established early, and complications in the plot lead to at least some surface conflict that the VHC, the MUS and the SONSP must overcome.
C. Intermission brings a little uncertainty, but we know the final act will restore justice, usually in a punishing climax in which the uber-villain throws a visor on the ground.
D. The denouement involves a fourth-string quarterback genuflecting, presumably in honor of the VHC.
Unfortunately, the old screenwriter died in Boulder about six years ago, and the plots have never been the same. For a while there, the bad guys were winning as often as the VHC. And now, even when the good guys come out on top (such as this past Saturday), it's in a way that somehow doesn't feel quite right.
Look at it this way. Have you ever watched one of the classic Rock Hudson-Doris Day romps of the 1960s? You know, the ones where Doris and Rock flirted for two hours before finally realizing they were right for each other and deciding to spend the rest of their lives in matching twin beds? "Pillow Talk," "That Touch of Mink," "Move Over Darling." Yeah, those.
OK, now watch them over and over, all the while trying to appreciate the movies from a romantic, "this-is-the-way-the-world-should-be" early 1960s perspective. I'll wait.
Now comes the part where I tell you Rock is gay. And if he weren't, Doris wouldn't have coquetted around for two years, she would have talked him out of his tux and boxers before the first date. Where does the story go from there? Pretty shocking if you've been enjoying the films between episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show."
So it is with watching Nebraska football. The plots twists are different, the characters not quite the same, the VHC has been replaced by some short guy who swears occasionally.
This isn't to say there won't be a revival season sometime in the near future where all the classics are played out in true Osbornian fashion. (Though, to be perfectly honest, as a playwright, Tom's work really didn't reach its literary potential until the mid-1990s.)
Until that time, though, enjoy watching the new movies, no matter where they may lead.
Rock is Gay. And Go Big Red.
So Nebraska fan (I'm aggregating here), is moved to negativity by the outcome. Those of you who may be fans of Michigan, Notre Dame and Colorado State (three 0-2 teams at this point in the season) may ask "Why?"
Here goes.
Nebraska fan spent has spent most of his (I'll risk the gender specificity in this case because I think it fits) life watching Nebraska football in the way most of the rest of you watch a classic movie, be it "Casablanca," "Citizen Kane," "Animal House" or "Old School."
He turns on the tube at the appointed Saturday afternoon hour, settles in with a beverage and some unhealthy foodstuffs, and expects to see a classic script out of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s or 1990s. The script reads something like this:
A. Archetypal characters are established: the virtuous head coach, the misunderstood superstar and the scrappy overachieving non-scholarship player. On the other sideline stands the embodiment of evil, be it named Switzer, McCartney, Spurrier, Devine or Stoops (perfect casting, in his case).
B. Dramatic tension is established early, and complications in the plot lead to at least some surface conflict that the VHC, the MUS and the SONSP must overcome.
C. Intermission brings a little uncertainty, but we know the final act will restore justice, usually in a punishing climax in which the uber-villain throws a visor on the ground.
D. The denouement involves a fourth-string quarterback genuflecting, presumably in honor of the VHC.
Unfortunately, the old screenwriter died in Boulder about six years ago, and the plots have never been the same. For a while there, the bad guys were winning as often as the VHC. And now, even when the good guys come out on top (such as this past Saturday), it's in a way that somehow doesn't feel quite right.
Look at it this way. Have you ever watched one of the classic Rock Hudson-Doris Day romps of the 1960s? You know, the ones where Doris and Rock flirted for two hours before finally realizing they were right for each other and deciding to spend the rest of their lives in matching twin beds? "Pillow Talk," "That Touch of Mink," "Move Over Darling." Yeah, those.
OK, now watch them over and over, all the while trying to appreciate the movies from a romantic, "this-is-the-way-the-world-should-be" early 1960s perspective. I'll wait.
Now comes the part where I tell you Rock is gay. And if he weren't, Doris wouldn't have coquetted around for two years, she would have talked him out of his tux and boxers before the first date. Where does the story go from there? Pretty shocking if you've been enjoying the films between episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show."
So it is with watching Nebraska football. The plots twists are different, the characters not quite the same, the VHC has been replaced by some short guy who swears occasionally.
This isn't to say there won't be a revival season sometime in the near future where all the classics are played out in true Osbornian fashion. (Though, to be perfectly honest, as a playwright, Tom's work really didn't reach its literary potential until the mid-1990s.)
Until that time, though, enjoy watching the new movies, no matter where they may lead.
Rock is Gay. And Go Big Red.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
He wants to eat Fort Collins
I have a cousin visiting from Omaha this weekend, and I want to show him a decent time and a little bit of what makes Fort Collins unique. (We've already done the brewery tours with him, so don't start there.)
If I were visiting him, the choices would be relatively easy to figure out. Omaha is the home of stockyards, eastern European immigrants' descendants and the College World Series. So he'd likely take me out for a steak, some classic Czech cooking or a hot dog, even if it might cause "genetic mutation."
But what constitutes a classic Fort Collins meal, or even a classic Colorado meal, for that matter. It's not as if Fort Collins lacks good places to eat, but the best spots (in my opinion, Jay's Bistro and the Canyon Chop House) feature fusions of many cuisines, none of which Fort Collinsians were sampling in the '70s, let alone a century ago.
For "classic" Fort Collins cuisine, long-time residents tend to prefer places like Nico's Catacombs (in business since 1973), the Charco Broiler (serving charred and broiled beef since 1957) or Bisetti's (sticking things to the ceiling since 1979). But their longevity hardly stacks up to the century-old traditions in Omaha, and two of the restaurants specialize in Italian food, which belies Fort Collins' German-American and Latino heritages.
So where does one go for a traditional Fort Collins meal? Is it Consuelo's, the home of New Mexican cuisine in northern Colorado? How about the Moot House or the Crown Pub, both of which attempt to re-create and English pub setting? Or should we just head to Coopersmith's, which just might embody the essence of Fort Collins: homemade beer.
Let me know what you think.
My cousin arrives on Friday.
If I were visiting him, the choices would be relatively easy to figure out. Omaha is the home of stockyards, eastern European immigrants' descendants and the College World Series. So he'd likely take me out for a steak, some classic Czech cooking or a hot dog, even if it might cause "genetic mutation."
But what constitutes a classic Fort Collins meal, or even a classic Colorado meal, for that matter. It's not as if Fort Collins lacks good places to eat, but the best spots (in my opinion, Jay's Bistro and the Canyon Chop House) feature fusions of many cuisines, none of which Fort Collinsians were sampling in the '70s, let alone a century ago.
For "classic" Fort Collins cuisine, long-time residents tend to prefer places like Nico's Catacombs (in business since 1973), the Charco Broiler (serving charred and broiled beef since 1957) or Bisetti's (sticking things to the ceiling since 1979). But their longevity hardly stacks up to the century-old traditions in Omaha, and two of the restaurants specialize in Italian food, which belies Fort Collins' German-American and Latino heritages.
So where does one go for a traditional Fort Collins meal? Is it Consuelo's, the home of New Mexican cuisine in northern Colorado? How about the Moot House or the Crown Pub, both of which attempt to re-create and English pub setting? Or should we just head to Coopersmith's, which just might embody the essence of Fort Collins: homemade beer.
Let me know what you think.
My cousin arrives on Friday.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Rellenos bring autumn to life
Fort Collins' farmers markets may not rival Boulder's main market in terms of diversity or sheer volume of produce and pedestrians, but September is the perfect month to visit the local market and buy some roasted chiles.
And once you've purchased the chiles, there's no better use than to stuff them and serve them as rellenos.
Two questions arose when my wife asked me to make rellenos: Is there a way to avoid frying the rellenos (the traditional method)? Can we jam something besides cheese into the chiles?
Answers: Yes. Yes.
First, I found a recipe for baked rellenos from a restaurant in Los Angeles called Senor Pico's. With that in mind one Sunday, I purchased a half-gallon bag of roasted poblanos from the farmers' market at Harmony and Lemay.
However, when I first tried Pico's recipe, the egg (whites whipped to stiff peaks and yolks beaten) and butter mixture was too soupy at the end of the baking process. Thus, it slid off the luscious rellenos.
So this weekend, I added a half a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix to the eggs, and it sat up nicely, but might have been a bit too stiff. The coating stuck to both the rellenos and the pan. Next time, just a little less mix ought to do it.
Second, I've experimented with non-cheese stuffing for the rellenos. The most interesting and tasty result came from a mixture of local Hazel Dell baby shiitake mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and Native Seeds guajillo chile powder, and touch of sharp manchego cheese.
Of course, try out your own combinations. The chiles are tasty enough to cover any missteps you might make.
Buen provecho.
And once you've purchased the chiles, there's no better use than to stuff them and serve them as rellenos.
Two questions arose when my wife asked me to make rellenos: Is there a way to avoid frying the rellenos (the traditional method)? Can we jam something besides cheese into the chiles?
Answers: Yes. Yes.
First, I found a recipe for baked rellenos from a restaurant in Los Angeles called Senor Pico's. With that in mind one Sunday, I purchased a half-gallon bag of roasted poblanos from the farmers' market at Harmony and Lemay.
However, when I first tried Pico's recipe, the egg (whites whipped to stiff peaks and yolks beaten) and butter mixture was too soupy at the end of the baking process. Thus, it slid off the luscious rellenos.
So this weekend, I added a half a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix to the eggs, and it sat up nicely, but might have been a bit too stiff. The coating stuck to both the rellenos and the pan. Next time, just a little less mix ought to do it.
Second, I've experimented with non-cheese stuffing for the rellenos. The most interesting and tasty result came from a mixture of local Hazel Dell baby shiitake mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and Native Seeds guajillo chile powder, and touch of sharp manchego cheese.
Of course, try out your own combinations. The chiles are tasty enough to cover any missteps you might make.
Buen provecho.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Grammar Fossil: Put me in a museum
Take me back to Ol' St. Deroin
Not many people choose to vacation in Nebraska, and even though it's my native state, I have to admit that my time there is spent largely with family and not spent looking for things that tourists might find interesting. (Scoffers, please note: Nebraska offers more than the I-80 Platte River Valley corridor, but you'd have to drive a ways to get there.)
Presented with a few spare minutes, however, after a cousin's August wedding this year, my wife and I decided to visit Indian Cave State Park, just outside Auburn, Neb., on the Missouri River. Keep in mind this is the forested, hilly Nebraska that most visitors have never or will never see.
In the park, Nebraska historians have recreated the 1860s village of St. Deroin, which was one of the first white settlements in the state. In the "new" old St. Deroin, several craftspersons -- a la Colonial Williamsburg -- show tourists how they survived in the woods and on the rolling banks of the Missouri River.
Some make beeswax candles, some brew lye soap, some forge horseshoes, and another ties whisk brooms. All sell the products to tourists.
The last person we visited sat quietly in a one-room schoolhouse on a stiflingly hot August afternoon. Alas, she had no crafts to sell, just some advice on the proper conjugations of the verbs lie and lay.
Upon returning to Fort Collins, I realized I was that old prairie woman in the schoolhouse. As I read the "internets" every day, and as I read increasingly sloppy print publications around town, I know now that my ilk are as anachronistic as the beeswax molder or the whisk-broom maker at Indian Cave.
And for you Fort Collins residents, here's the obligatory beer analogy:
Sure, there are people in the world who create small-batch craft beers, and those beers taste good and have a cult following among the faithful. But the vast majority of people in the U.S. sidle up to a Bud Light when they turn on "American Idol." The rest of us are just a bunch of special-interest loonies.
And that's the path of the English language over the past decade. As instant text messaging and blog posting become more prevalent and allow Americans to further ignore the basic tenets of precision and conciseness in writing, the more we move away from effective communication among the varied social classes, ethnicities and other differences that sometimes separate us.
In part, the problem lies with an educational system and parents who see writing as different and separate from precision. We're constantly told that someone can be a good writer despite not knowing how to spell, that creativity alone constitutes good writing.
Writing, however, relies on a three-legged stool of passion (creativity), precision (grammar, usage, mechanics) and patience (editing, over and over). And we tend not to teach that enough across the curriculum and at every level of education.
Luckily, I'm getting older, though, and as I age, the opportunities beyond traditional education should become greater for me. I'm looking forward to a ripe old age holed up in a vintage 20th-century big-box high school lovingly re-created at Colonial Leavittown or Smoky Hill State Park, chalk in ditto-stained hand, lecturing about the virtues of a properly punctuated compound sentence.
If you visit me there, please be kind and leave a tip in the jar.
Not many people choose to vacation in Nebraska, and even though it's my native state, I have to admit that my time there is spent largely with family and not spent looking for things that tourists might find interesting. (Scoffers, please note: Nebraska offers more than the I-80 Platte River Valley corridor, but you'd have to drive a ways to get there.)
Presented with a few spare minutes, however, after a cousin's August wedding this year, my wife and I decided to visit Indian Cave State Park, just outside Auburn, Neb., on the Missouri River. Keep in mind this is the forested, hilly Nebraska that most visitors have never or will never see.
In the park, Nebraska historians have recreated the 1860s village of St. Deroin, which was one of the first white settlements in the state. In the "new" old St. Deroin, several craftspersons -- a la Colonial Williamsburg -- show tourists how they survived in the woods and on the rolling banks of the Missouri River.
Some make beeswax candles, some brew lye soap, some forge horseshoes, and another ties whisk brooms. All sell the products to tourists.
The last person we visited sat quietly in a one-room schoolhouse on a stiflingly hot August afternoon. Alas, she had no crafts to sell, just some advice on the proper conjugations of the verbs lie and lay.
Upon returning to Fort Collins, I realized I was that old prairie woman in the schoolhouse. As I read the "internets" every day, and as I read increasingly sloppy print publications around town, I know now that my ilk are as anachronistic as the beeswax molder or the whisk-broom maker at Indian Cave.
And for you Fort Collins residents, here's the obligatory beer analogy:
Sure, there are people in the world who create small-batch craft beers, and those beers taste good and have a cult following among the faithful. But the vast majority of people in the U.S. sidle up to a Bud Light when they turn on "American Idol." The rest of us are just a bunch of special-interest loonies.
And that's the path of the English language over the past decade. As instant text messaging and blog posting become more prevalent and allow Americans to further ignore the basic tenets of precision and conciseness in writing, the more we move away from effective communication among the varied social classes, ethnicities and other differences that sometimes separate us.
In part, the problem lies with an educational system and parents who see writing as different and separate from precision. We're constantly told that someone can be a good writer despite not knowing how to spell, that creativity alone constitutes good writing.
Writing, however, relies on a three-legged stool of passion (creativity), precision (grammar, usage, mechanics) and patience (editing, over and over). And we tend not to teach that enough across the curriculum and at every level of education.
Luckily, I'm getting older, though, and as I age, the opportunities beyond traditional education should become greater for me. I'm looking forward to a ripe old age holed up in a vintage 20th-century big-box high school lovingly re-created at Colonial Leavittown or Smoky Hill State Park, chalk in ditto-stained hand, lecturing about the virtues of a properly punctuated compound sentence.
If you visit me there, please be kind and leave a tip in the jar.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Undefeated Buffs take day off
From Izvestia's Boulder Bureau:
BOULDER -- Fresh from its stirring season-opening victory in Sunday's intrasquad scrimmage, the Colorado Golden Buffaloes will take Tuesday off for what Coach Dan Hawkins calls a "bonding experience" over paintball.
Hawkins initially considered several options as a reward for the 1-0 Buffs, including extending the Annual P. Rick "Doogie" Newhouser Bluegrass and Tubing Festival into its 9th year, but he decided to start a new tradition.
"It's Division I paintball! It's the Big 12! It ain't intramurals!" he roared.
"You've got two weeks after finals, you've got a week of July Fourth and you get a week before camp starts," Hawkins continued, still shouting at the top of his voice. "Now we get another day off? Yep. And if you don't like paintball, go play intramurals, brother … go play intramurals."
Senior captain and backup cornerback Biff St. Jacques, while excited about the paintball trip, had hoped he could persuade the coach to schedule a yachting trip.
"I mean, Daddy's sloop is parked right on Santa Monica Pier," said St. Jacques, a transfer from Tufts. "We could Gulfstream out and back, and return to Boulder in time for tea."
Student equipment manager Ross Tafarian said today's event will be a little extra work for his staff.
"Paintballs, guns, those kinds of things, might be tough to find," Tafarian said. "The 'other' supplies . . . in Boulder, those will be an easy score."
CU will resume practice Wednesday in preparation for Saturday's scrimmage, in which the fourth-team CU defense (with nine players) will wear Montana State replica jerseys. The Buffs are favored by four points.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Cha Cha Cha: Huazontle Heaven in San Miguel
For a city renowned, in part, for its sophisticated eateries, San Miguel de Allende delighted me most when I visited a not-so-sophisticated restaurant, where I was introduced to huazontle, an ancient Aztec veggie.
As an amateur chef and dedicated foodie, I like to think I've been exposed to a lot of ingredients and cooking techniques, but growing up in Nebraska and living in Colorado has not given me the kind of exposure I'd get if I traveled more internationally. Huazontle isn't an unknown ingredient to super-foodies on the coasts. Heck, one blogger said she can buy it in Baltimore, of all god-forsaken places. Rick Bayless has used it, as well, in his Chicago restaurants.
My encounter, however late in life, came last week, when my wife and I stayed for a week in Colonia San Antonio, a small neighborhood in the southwest section of San Miguel, central Mexico's home to the arts and several thousand retired gringos.
After eating at a couple of overpriced restaurants closer to the jardin (the town's zocalo), we decided to try a local spot called Cha Cha Cha, which is open only from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day but Monday. (Note: some say the place can be closed for a month at a time, though, if the owner decides to leave town. It was closed in May 2007, for example.)
We walked from our flat to the restaurant on a Saturday night and sat down at a table next to a family of locals who were sharing drinks and conversation. We were the only patrons, it turns out -- the other party was the owner's family.
The owner/chef immediately greeted us and handed us a menu, where we first noticed a few dishes with huazontle listed. Before ordering, though, we were captivated by the three handmade salsas presented with chips. Two of the salsas were green and had a bright fresh flavor, with hints of avocado and lime, but something else quite different from anything we'd had before. Though we didn't know it, that was our first bite of huazontle.
Eventually, faced with the daunting list of traditional Mexican items (all priced at $50 pesos for a meal with rice and beans), we decided to ask the owner what he would recommend. He pointed directly at the pechuga con salsa huazontle: pieces of chicken breast covered in a green sauce. Susannah ordered it, and I decided on the albondigas in chipotle sauce.
Susannah made the right choice.
The huazontle, while described by many as an Aztec broccoli, was made into a creamy green sauce that had a fresher and zippier taste than any broccoli I've eaten. I'd compare it more to cross between cilantro and spinach, with the texture of really fine broccoli.
We asked the chef how he prepared it. Our Spanish being about as good as his English, we were able to piece together a conversation that revealed that he had simply boiled the huazontle, then combined it with a little cream, a little broth and some salt for a simple and delicious sauce.
He then brought out a picture of huazontle, which we studied carefully. The chef told us he can get it in the market at the San Antonio Church in San Miguel, but that it's most easily available in Mexico City. The more traditional preparations include dipping it in egg, combining it with cheese and deep frying it in lard; or sauteing it with garlic, tomato and other Mexican veggies.
However huazontle is prepared, I highly recommend a cold Mexican beer to go with it.
Buen provecho.
(Cha Cha Cha is on Calle 28 de Abril Norte in Colonia San Antonio in the southwest section of San Miguel de Allende.)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Good Ol' CSU
Last night, at a fashionable bar in downtown Denver, more than 100 former Colorado State University journalism and speech majors gathered to remember their days in Fort Collins.
CSU grads Mitch Jelniker and Jim Benemann couldn't sneak away from their respective newsrooms, of course, and neither could several reporters and columnists from The Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News or other metro papers, but the professionals who did make it reminded me that CSU (my employer for the past eight years) should be considered the foremost producer of skilled journalistic talent in the state.
Of course, I'm biased now. But years ago, as a resident of and a teacher in the Denver metro area, I carried around this dangerous misperception:
Denver is Buff Country.
That's not to say everyone in the metropolitan area has a deep connection with, or even a loyalty to the University of Colorado, but the amount of media time and space devoted to coverage of Boulder's campus has always exceeded that given to CU's country cousin in Fort Collins.
True, Boulder is much closer to Denver (28 miles compared to 64) than is Fort Collins, so there's some basis for the coverage discrepancy. Yet we're all part of the same television market, Denver's radio stations have a clear signal (not to be confused with Clear Channel, of course) into Northern Colorado, and I see as many copies of The Denver Post and The Rocky Mountain News in my neighborhood as I do of the local Gannett paper.
Still, news from Fort Collins comes less frequently -- and is covered by fewer journalists -- than news from Boulder, if you live in Denver.
I lived in Denver for six years, and in Littleton for three more. I taught at the state's second-largest high school, Smoky HIll. Maybe because of that difference in coverage, and maybe because of a perceived difference in academic prestige (and Smoky Hill students, moreso than any group I'd ever been around, slavered over perceived academic prestige), most Smoky students contemplating a public education considered CU long before they thought about CSU. And as a journalism instructor, I sent students all over the continent to study journalism, more of them to Columbia, Missouri, than to Fort Collins.
It was a mistake, however, not encouraging more of them to drive that 36 extra miles and park for four years in Fort Collins.
Consider the journalistic and educational opportunities at both CSU and CU:
* 11,000 copies of CSU's 115-year-old student-run daily newspaper are distributed daily around campus and around town, and students at The Rocky Mountain Collegian also produce special content for the paper's Web site. There you'll find podcasts, multi-media packages, surveys, bloggers and all the other output expected of a 21st century, 24/7 news operation, all produced by students.
* CU's student-run newspaper, The Campus Press, no longer publishes a print edition, choosing to be an online-only paper. CU School of Journalism and Mass Communication Dean Paul Voakes' decided to move The Campus Press away from a print edition just this year because it couldn't compete for advertising with the professionally run campus paper, The Colorado Daily.
* CSU's student-run television news outfit, CTV, produces four 15-minute news shows per week, all of which are shown to the Fort Collins community via Comcast Cable channel 11. In addition, the students produce a weekly sports show.
* CU's students produce two news and one sports show per week, all three of which are shown over cable channel 62 in Boulder. They're able to work from the shiny new ATLAS Building studios, a point of pride for students and faculty in Boulder.
* 3,000 copies of CSU's student-run quarterly magazine, College Avenue, are distributed around campus, providing another outlet for student journalists and local advertisers.
* KCSU-FM is a 10,000-watt student-run radio station whose signal reached from Cheyenne to Broomfield, but can't make it to Denver because of a Christian radio station from Colorado Springs that shares its 90.5 frequency. If KCSU could reach Denver, I have no doubt that Westword's "Best of Denver" designation would not have been awarded to KVCU Radio 1190, an AM station that does reach Denver. Listen to both, and decide for yourself:
* Finally, students at CSU have the opportunity to work as public relations interns for the Colorado High School Press Association, housed in our offices at CSU, which allows us to host Journalism Day every October.
CSU grads Mitch Jelniker and Jim Benemann couldn't sneak away from their respective newsrooms, of course, and neither could several reporters and columnists from The Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News or other metro papers, but the professionals who did make it reminded me that CSU (my employer for the past eight years) should be considered the foremost producer of skilled journalistic talent in the state.
Of course, I'm biased now. But years ago, as a resident of and a teacher in the Denver metro area, I carried around this dangerous misperception:
Denver is Buff Country.
That's not to say everyone in the metropolitan area has a deep connection with, or even a loyalty to the University of Colorado, but the amount of media time and space devoted to coverage of Boulder's campus has always exceeded that given to CU's country cousin in Fort Collins.
True, Boulder is much closer to Denver (28 miles compared to 64) than is Fort Collins, so there's some basis for the coverage discrepancy. Yet we're all part of the same television market, Denver's radio stations have a clear signal (not to be confused with Clear Channel, of course) into Northern Colorado, and I see as many copies of The Denver Post and The Rocky Mountain News in my neighborhood as I do of the local Gannett paper.
Still, news from Fort Collins comes less frequently -- and is covered by fewer journalists -- than news from Boulder, if you live in Denver.
I lived in Denver for six years, and in Littleton for three more. I taught at the state's second-largest high school, Smoky HIll. Maybe because of that difference in coverage, and maybe because of a perceived difference in academic prestige (and Smoky Hill students, moreso than any group I'd ever been around, slavered over perceived academic prestige), most Smoky students contemplating a public education considered CU long before they thought about CSU. And as a journalism instructor, I sent students all over the continent to study journalism, more of them to Columbia, Missouri, than to Fort Collins.
It was a mistake, however, not encouraging more of them to drive that 36 extra miles and park for four years in Fort Collins.
Consider the journalistic and educational opportunities at both CSU and CU:
* 11,000 copies of CSU's 115-year-old student-run daily newspaper are distributed daily around campus and around town, and students at The Rocky Mountain Collegian also produce special content for the paper's Web site. There you'll find podcasts, multi-media packages, surveys, bloggers and all the other output expected of a 21st century, 24/7 news operation, all produced by students.
* CU's student-run newspaper, The Campus Press, no longer publishes a print edition, choosing to be an online-only paper. CU School of Journalism and Mass Communication Dean Paul Voakes' decided to move The Campus Press away from a print edition just this year because it couldn't compete for advertising with the professionally run campus paper, The Colorado Daily.
* CSU's student-run television news outfit, CTV, produces four 15-minute news shows per week, all of which are shown to the Fort Collins community via Comcast Cable channel 11. In addition, the students produce a weekly sports show.
* CU's students produce two news and one sports show per week, all three of which are shown over cable channel 62 in Boulder. They're able to work from the shiny new ATLAS Building studios, a point of pride for students and faculty in Boulder.
* 3,000 copies of CSU's student-run quarterly magazine, College Avenue, are distributed around campus, providing another outlet for student journalists and local advertisers.
* KCSU-FM is a 10,000-watt student-run radio station whose signal reached from Cheyenne to Broomfield, but can't make it to Denver because of a Christian radio station from Colorado Springs that shares its 90.5 frequency. If KCSU could reach Denver, I have no doubt that Westword's "Best of Denver" designation would not have been awarded to KVCU Radio 1190, an AM station that does reach Denver. Listen to both, and decide for yourself:
* Finally, students at CSU have the opportunity to work as public relations interns for the Colorado High School Press Association, housed in our offices at CSU, which allows us to host Journalism Day every October.
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