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February 2010

[click "Play" to listen to Susan's interview with Marla Hodes]

BABY HEART BEAT_Keener Of the Telluride AIDS Benefit's  (February 18 – March 1) half dozen beneficiaries, several are out of Africa, including the Ethiopian Family Fund.

Ethiopia is the fourth poorest nation in the world. However, unlike many African countries, Ethiopians, who divide among Muslim, Jewish and Orthodox Christian, peacefully co-exist. Given the rampant poverty and wholesale lack of education, HIV risk is high and medications are very limited. According to UN estimates, about 3 million Ethiopians have been exposed to the AIDS virus, with over 600,000 children made orphans and one-third of Ethiopia's hospital beds used by carriers of the disease.

16 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Molly Wickwire Sante's comments about TAB Fashion Show]

N1320290710_30358857_6811191 Fashion is the stuff dreams are made of. AIDS is the stuff of nightmares. Fashion is fantasy; the disease: harsh reality. Fashion celebrates youthful bodies and upbeat attitudes. AIDS ravages both.

In Telluride, AIDS and fashion share equal billing on the runway at the Telluride AIDS Benefit Fashion Show, a reminder of how quickly the game can change.

The fashion show is the highlight of a week of prevention education and outreach, HIV testing and an art auction, all designed to raise awareness and funds to support six beneficiaries on the Western Slope, the Front Range, and in Africa.

15 February, 2010 /
The Town of Mountain Village, in cooperation with the Telluride Foundation, awarded eight local nonprofit organizations a combined total of $48,000 as part of the Town’s 2010 Grant Program. Each grant recipient works to provide the Mountain Village and Telluride region with services that directly support the town’s mission of providing health and human services programs. Since 2001, the town has awarded over $300,000 to a number of regional nonprofit organizations. For 2010, the Town received $170,500 in grant requests from 20 nonprofits. This year’s recipients include:

    •    Bright Futures School Readiness Initiative
    •    Midwestern Colorado Mental Health Center
    •    One to One
    •    San Miguel Resource Center
    •    Telluride Adaptive Sports Program
    •    Telluride Foundation – One Telluride
    •    University Centers of the San Miguel c/o High West Central
    •    Wright Stuff Community Foundation
15 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Ron Gilmer's conversation with Susan]

DSCN3728
Ron Gilmer with Brother Jeff

Ron Gilmer is affectionately known around town  as the Grand Vizer or Grand Potentate of the Telluride AIDS Benefit.

While he lived, Ron's partner Robert Presley inspired the Telluride community with his generosity, his talent as a fabric artist, and his wild and crazy ways. The man was universally loved. Even after his death from AIDS in August 1997, Robert continued to make a difference: the added complication of having AIDS in rural Colorado helped change the way state Medicaid handles virus patients. Robert was also the muse of the Telluride AIDS Benefit, started by a group of his friends in 1994 as a street dance to help  him offset his burgeoning AIDS-related medical expenses.

14 February, 2010 /

(editor's note: Around the Viebrock house, Valentine's Day is a high holy day. So to celebrate, we are publishing works from Telluride regional poets, Enjoy!) And Love Said, You’ve Still Got a Thing to Learn, Dear, about Solitudeby Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer“When we...

14 February, 2010 /

The Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities is pleased to announce Small Grants and Artists Fellowships are now available online. The beloved Small Grants program funds artists and non-profit arts and humanities organizations up to $1,000 - $2,000 each. Artist Fellowships fund individual visual artists up to $500 to undertake formal or informal education, or small individual projects that display artistic merit and originality.

The deadline for applications is Monday, March 8 at 5 p.m., via email. This year TCAH continues to go “Green” – all information, applications and announcements will happen online!

14 February, 2010 /

(editor's note: Around the Viebrock house, Valentine's Day is a high holy day. So to celebrate, we are publishing works from Telluride regional poets, Enjoy!)Mirageby Sandra Dorr (from Desert Water)Years of shouting, slamming doors.Breaking the small dishes,leaving the room in mid-air --vanish into the ringing...

13 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Erika Gordon talk about "Why Oz?"]

Wizard11x17 Telluride is sorta kinda like Oz, only our denizens are taller. And we are not plagued by witches – although switching around a consonant or two could be a game changer.


"The Wizard of Oz (1939)" is as much a part of American culture as burgers, beer and baseball. The Library of Congress named "The Wizard of Oz" the most-watched film in history, and the movie is often ranked among the "top ten best movies of all times" in  critics' and popular polls.The perennial fantasy film from MGM during its golden years is the Telluride Film Festival's Valentine to the community. "The Wizard of Oz" is the featured film on Sunday, February 14, part of the Festival's ongoing Sunday at the Palm series hosted by outreach/education liaison Erika Gordon.


13 February, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Jeff Tretsven speak about Nonviolent Communication]

One of the best gifts one partner can give another on Valentine's Day is not roses or chocolate. It is listening so the other feels heard. The Telluride's Christ Presbyterian Church, 434 West Columbia, hosts a workshop on Saturday, February 20, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. that aims to teach that skill. The theme:  "Compassionate Communication." The facilitator: Jeff Tretsven, who has been coaching in the discipline for more than two years.


Compassionate Communication is based on  the work of Marshall Rosenberg, author of "Nonviolent Communication: A Language of LIfe." Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is itself based on the first of the five restraints or vows (yamas) in the ancient text "Yoga Sutras of Patanjali," thought-threads dating back at least 4,000 years. The grounding yama is ahimsa.

13 February, 2010 /