Beyond Telluride

The 2010 running of the Imogene Pass Run was today, Saturday, September 11. The annual footrace starts in Ouray, CO, at an elevation of 7810', continues over 13,114' Imogene Pass and down to Telluride at 8750'. The distance is 17.1 miles. I haven't done...

I didn't know anyone who died in the tragedies of September 11, 2001. Still, the events of that day touched my family and me in some strange ways.

Susan and I had flown from Seattle, where we had been visiting Kimm Viebrock (now known as TIO's Chief Geek), to Newark, NJ where our mission was to help her parents get settled into a new apartment in Hackensack. We arrived the night of September 10. The morning of September 11 was beautiful, and I was enjoying the early sunshine on the east facing terrace on the 9th floor with my father-in-law. Then the phone rang:"Turn on your TV!" Though we couldn't see the Twin Towers behind a high rise across the street, we watched the smoke and eventually the flames as the second airplane hit the tower.

The Telluride Historical Museum informed TIO about this 4 wheel drive tour some time back. I apologize for just getting to it now. Rudy Davison, author, newspaper editor, historian, is leading what should be a very interesting three day 4-wheeling trip on September 10,...

IMG_7876 Telluride Inside... and Out witnessed two outstanding films to open the 2010 Telluride Film Festival: first, "Carlos," Olivier Assaya's 5 1/2 hour epic, the first film pick by Festival directors Gary Meyer, Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger. And then this morning, "Precious Life,"  written and directed by Shlomi Eldar.

"Carlos," tells the story of the notorious terrorist, Carlos the Jackal, from his early efforts in the cause of anti-imperialism in the Middle East (and beyond), to the preening caricature, looking for any country that will accept him.

"Precious Life" takes a different approach. Raida Abu-Mustafa, has come to an Israeli hospital from Gaza in the hope that her baby son may be saved from the immune system failure that claimed two of her daughters. Her efforts are complicated, not only by the physical barriers separating Gaza from Israel, but by the pressures of Israeli and Gazan attitudes, and of course the Israeli retaliation for rocket attacks out of Gaza.
[click "Play" to listen to Susan's conversation with Jeb Berrier]

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Suzan Beraza

Telluride triumphed in Monterey's BLUE Ocean Film Festival when the homegrown documentary "Bag It" by Reel Thing – director Suzan Beraza and her team – won in the category of Ocean Issues and Conservation. "Bag It" profiles a self-proclaimed “average guy” – Telluride local Jeb Berrier – who undertakes a global pilgrimage to explore our plastic world and understand our addiction to the supposedly disposable items. As we are learning everyday, plastic is amphibious, polluting our waters and lands with equal vigor and effectiveness.

"We were totally surprised. We were a bit like David, up against giants – National Geographic, BBC, Disney and Discovery. We did not enter BLUE Ocean with high expectations," said Beraza. "And we were totally surprised and delighted when we won."

The seventh annual Mountains to the Desert bike ride is set for Saturday, September 25, 2010. Riders can start from Telluride or Norwood, and there are two options for routing from each start. Early registration is $100, fee increases to $125 on September 1....

Image 1 - OTR Editor's note: Christo is the granddady of all wrappers. He and his wife Jeanne-Claude (now deceased) became world famous for hiding familiar objects, buildings and views in plain sight by wrapping whatever struck their fantasies in what amounts to a second skin. The big idea: transform the quotidian into something transcendent, stimulate our imaginations and the joy of discovery, causing us to take a second look at that which we tend to take for granted.

The Telluride Gallery of Fine Art is Christo's local representative. The Gallery will be mounting a show of his work to coincide with the Telluride Film Festival, September 3 – September 6. The Gallery show is in support of Christo's latest project, Over The River. Telluride Inside... and Out heard Christo speak on behalf of Over the River at a town hall meeting in Salida. The consensus appeared to tilt overwhelmingly in his favor, although there was the equivalent of a Tea Party opposition, fingers stuck in their ears, generally opposed no matter what. The Christo team has recently opened up the debate to the general public. The Christo team has sent the following release, so read on....