Author: Lynn Bartels

Thirty years ago this month, Wellington Webb — once described as the “pit bull of underdogs’’ — won his first election as Denver mayor by beating the favored candidate in every part of the city, kicking off a12-year stretch of defining the Mile High City for decades to come. Webb’s legacy now looms so large…

Thanks to my birthday celebration in mid-May, where I dined at three restaurants in two days, I discovered something extraordinary: Life in Colorado appears to be returning to normal. Parking was hard to find. Tables were full — and weren’t blocked off. Seats at the bar were taken. But I will say this: I miss…

Two of America’s most-loved authors, Beverly Cleary and Larry McMurtry, died on the same day, leaving holes in the hearts of Americans who loved irascible Ramona Quimby and retired Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call. We read Cleary’s books when we were children, embracing “Beezus and Ramona” and “Henry Huggins.”  McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book,…

Meat, mascara and Moderna — March 20 was certainly a red-letter day in the life of Lynn Bartels. Yes, on the same day that Gov. Jared Polis asked his subjects to participate in a “MeatOut Day” to “educate consumers about the benefits of a healthful, plant-based diet,” I joined plenty of other Coloradans in consuming meat.…

The movie “Blazing Saddles” debuted when I was a junior in high school, and the only thing I remember from that time is everyone talking about the campfire scene after all the cowboys had eaten beans. Of course, this satirical spaghetti-Western film is so, so, so much more. According to Hollywood lore, it was one…

An elections bill that would have undone Colorado’s top-notch voting system. Legislation that focuses on school mascots instead of the woefully inadequate funding to school districts. Bills that make me shake my head surface every session, and these two proposals show the 2021 session is not immune. Frankly, I would have thought that lawmakers this…