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Author: Susan Viebrock

[click "Play" for John Vaillant's conversation with Susan]

On Saturday, May 29, 12:15, at The Palm, Mountainfilm in Telluride guest author/journalist John Vaillant talks about his latest book,"The Tiger" (Knopf).

But "The Tiger" is not just an action-adventure tale about a big cat. The story is a variation on Vaillant's favorite theme: Man and nature at odds.

A growing body of evidence in the form of melting glaciers and extended droughts to escalating species extinction, the subject of Mountainfilm's Moving Mountains Symposium, suggests the natural world is spinning out of control. And Mother Nature is showing her extreme displeasure by biting back.
23 May, 2010 /
[click "Play", Susan and Nick Sherman are NOT silent]



Mountainfilm in Telluride waxes eloquent on the subject of silence with the inclusion of  "Soundtracker" in this year's lineup. The documentary, the intersection of science and poetry, was written and directed by Nick Sherman.

The Sounds of Silence were first immortalized in lyrics that propelled folk duo Simon and Garfunckel to fame back in 1964. Forty-six years later the sounds of silence are celebrated once again in "Soundtracker," as Sherman pursues sound recordist Gordon Hempton pursuing the few remaining quiet corners of the Earth, where deer cross a quiet country road and tall grass waves in the wind. In a way, the two media events are related: both the hit single and the documentary are responses to an assault, the first on an American president; the second, on our senses. Both tributes argue for an awakening.
22 May, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to Joel Sartore's conversation with Susan]

Rare_500px It's been a long and winding road from the Wichita Eagle to Mountainfilm in Telluride, where photographer Joel Sartore is a guest presenter at the opening Moving Mountains Symposium. He is also scheduled to give a talk about  the findings in his latest book. Both events focus on the crisis of extinction.

“We are living in the sixth major extinction on this planet and the first one to be caused by humans,” says Festival Director David Holbrooke. “The statistics are staggering. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-off since the loss of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. It’s estimated that a species dies off every 20 minutes. Some scientists predict that between 30 and 50 percent of all species will be extinct by mid-century. E.O. Wilson says that biodiversity is the key to life on this planet and that its collapse is the biggest threat we are facing.”

21 May, 2010 /
[Elisabeth Gick speaks to Jamyang Yeshi about "Shining Spirit", click "Play"]

Jamyang_Yeshi (editor's note: After publishing it was pointed out that this post was written by Elisabeth Gick. My apologies.)

Telluride and Tibet have more in common than alliteration. Mountain cultures nurture individuals unafraid to reach for the sky. They support shining spirits such as Jamyang Yeshi, the subject of a celluloid study, "Shining Spirit" by filmmaker Karen McDiarmid.

"Shining Spirit" is featured at the 32nd annual Mountainfilm in Telluride Festival. Jamyang is also scheduled to perform his music throughout the long weekend, May 28 – May 31, chock full of lectures (the all-day Moving Mountains Symposium on extinction is Friday), breakfast talks, art, music – and film – in support of endangered species, cultures, and ideas.

21 May, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Kevin Swain discuss the ordinance]

Effective May 20, the Town of Mountain Village, Telluride's sister city, will vigorously enforce its amended Business License Program Ordinance. The changes to this piece of legislation, approved unanimously by Town Council last month, specifically address homeowners renting their properties and not remitting lodging taxes collected from renters.

The Council’s impetus for amending the Business License Program Ordinance is threefold: level the playing field for competing businesses that are already in compliance with the laws; generate much needed data useful for planning purposes; and capture the lodging taxes, which are then reinvested in the community.
21 May, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to Mark Galbo's conversation with Susan]

N174399212347_8010 On Saturday, May 22, 7 – 10 p.m., Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House hosts a Spring Rock Concert featuring local talent from director Mark Galbo's Rock and Roll Academy.

An innovative, passionate and dedicated music educator – and life coach – Mark Galbo founded the Rock and Roll Academy is 2004 on the strongly held conviction that music is "instant community." The goal of his School within the School at Telluride's Mountain School and his after-school initiatives are the same: deliver an experiential music program that encourages team building, self-expression, personal transformation, and social responsibility. In a nutshell, Galbo's Academy has little to do with chest-beating, guitar smashing or priapic strutting and much more to do with teaching kids how to make positive choices in their lives. They learn fearlessness while finding mystery and having fun.
20 May, 2010 /

IMGP0406 It's Spring, the season of rebirth, renewal and regrowth – and a national ritual: Spring cleaning, a cyclical exercise that goes like this: out with the old, in with the inevitable new, which becomes old and, well, next Spring, if you can bear to part with it, goes out again. Which is why Lita, at the Town of Telluride's public works department, recognized the need for an annual event.

On Thursday May 20 – Saturday May 22, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., the Town of Telluride, in fact all of San MIguel County, is urged to roll up its sleeves to get rid of the flotsam and jetsom of our lives.

Bring the following to West Black Bear Road, near Public Works Facility.

19 May, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Janet Curry speak about MBSR]

StillPoint FlyerTELLURIDE (2) Telluride local Judy Kohin was the original director of the Ah Haa School for the Arts, a local institution in the business of promoting personal epiphanies, hence the name. Recently Judy shared an epiphany of her own with Telluride Inside... and Out following a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) she attended at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.


"It was an eight-week program that met once a week with a one-day retreat. The experience was very powerful, and I believe the techniques I learned helped me turn the corner with my illness."

17 May, 2010 /

Don.poster Tuesday, May 18, 6:30 p.m., at Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts, 300 South Townsend, book artist Don Glaister talks about his life and work: "From Pollock to Dylan—An Inside Look at a Book Artist's Evolution." The presentation culminates with Glaister's most recent project, a commissioned book of Bob Dylan’s songs. The talk, the second lecture of the spring semester, offers a glimpse at what goes on at the American Academy of Bookbinding, the lovechild of Ah Haa founder Daniel Tucker, a world-renowned book artist.

The American Academy of Bookbinding (AAB), a branch of the Ah Haa School for the Arts, recently opened for its spring semester of classes in the Old Stone Building on Willow Street. The newly remodeled studio is one of the best-equipped teaching binderies in the country. The classes offered attract students from all over world and are geared towards individuals interested in studying Fine Binding and Book Conservation. Starting this fall, the curriculum will expand to include simple bindings, artist books, and related subjects, creating more opportunities for local young people and adults to attend.

16 May, 2010 /