(all photos by Don Goede)

Mark Modeer, owner of Zeezo’s downtown, is a master of makeup. These amazing photos are by Don Goede from two years ago at PrideFest, but you can learn a lot of tricks for whatever your Halloween mask may be.

Happy Halloween!

In this final installment of our New Voices series, Marisol talks about her life as a single-mother at 18-years-old. Because of the lack of support in Mexico, she immigrated to the United States when her daughter was 2 years old.

(You can download the audio of Marisol reading her essay by right-clicking on the link or you can stream it by clicking of the play button.)

Marisol on being a Single Mother and Immigrant

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New Voices (you can listen to the first installment HERE, and the second installment HERE) came about this past Spring when The Big Something recorded personal essays by a group of students, many of whom, though not all, are immigrants learning English as a second language. Others are adults studying for their GED while working full-time jobs.

Their teacher, Sue Spengler, writes:

Teaching adults is beyond rewarding; I feel as if I am teaching two generations at once, because I know that whatever they learn, they will then be able to pass on to their children. My students inspire me every day with their persistence, determination, and often humor in the midst of it all. I repeatedly profess to them that EVERYONE has a story to tell, and that theirs are just as important as anybody elses.

Although they may be reading at the middle school level, many of my students are second language learners whose speaking and writing skills are still developing. So I have them talk and write about their lives. Thanks to KRCC, they now have a chance to tell them. I am so proud of their courage.

If you’d like to learn more about the students in Sue Spengler’s class, you can read their blogs at unity-2008.blogspot.com, and at writersofthefuture.blogspot.com.

(We always read and love and listen to your feedback, even if we don’t always respond directly. Please leave some below or email us at thebigsomething@gmail.com. Thanks!)

OK, many of you who watched the Fish Tank Bible post on Pastor Iva Bowers’ lovely Biblical fish tank dioramas asked to see a picture of her.

We’ve done you one better than that. We’ve brought you two videos from circa 2000 during which time Pastor Bowers was actively (and awesomely–look at those legs!) impersonating the great Tina Turner.

The first video features Bowers lip-synching on KKTV Channel 11 (the dancer second from the left is her daughter). The second video is of Bowers actually singing (and awesomely!) on the Queen Latifah Show shortly before she learned she had breast cancer, an experience which led to the creation of her amazing fish tanks.

We hope you will enjoy it!

(Thanks to Pastor Bowers, to KKTV and to the Queen Latifah Show!)

We’re very pleased to announce the first-ever book for the first-ever Big Something Book Club: Jon Krakauer’s Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

More about why we chose this book below. But first, here are a few simple things we hope our book club will do:

1). Foster the reading and discussion of books about subjects and ideas that pertain to the life and culture of the Pikes Peak Region.

2). Bring together people of diverse backgrounds to discuss these books and to enjoy one another’s company and perspectives.

3). Support local book stores.

We believe these aims are noble and we hope you do, too!

The Big Something book club will meet once every two months at the bookstores listed below and here online in the comments section. We understand that books can often be slightly less expensive online or at the large discount chains, but we encourage you to buy books at the nearest locally-owned bookstore. To that end, we’re collaborating with three locally-owned bookstores in Colorado Springs (bookstore owners outside the Colorado Springs area should feel to contact us if you wish to partipate):

1. Black Cat Books at 720 Manitou Avenue in Manitou Springs, (719) 685-1589.

2. Poor Richard’s Bookstore at 320 N. Tejon St. in downtown Colorado Springs, (719) 578-0012.

3. Hooked on Books at 3918 Maizeland Rd. in eastern Colorado Springs (at Maizeland & Academy in the Maizeland Moors Shopping Center), (719) 596-1621.

All of these excellent locally-owned bookshops have kindly agreed to stock ( and/or order) the books and to host the book club meetings in their shops.

The first Big Something Book Club meeting will take place at all three of the above locations on Thursday, December 3 at 6 p.m. (if you aren’t in the area, we’ll also have a discussion throughout the day here on KRCC.org).

Now, here’s why we chose Jon Krakauer’s Where Men Win Glory as the first book for The Big Something Book Club:

1). Krakauer’s latest book is, in a part, a very accessible, concise history of the war in Afghanistan that continues to dominate headlines and continues to directly affect the lives of locally-based troops and their families.

2). It’s also a carefully researched elucidation of Pat Tillman, a far more complex and sensitive individual than the sensationalist headlines ever allowed.

3). We feel the book raises compelling issues about the timeless nature of war.

We invite you to pick up order your copy today and join us in person at one of the three locations listed above or online on Thursday, Dec. 3.

See you then!

(Feel free to leave comments or questions below or to email us at thebigsomething@krcc.org. Thanks!)

YA (Young Adult) fiction is perhaps epitomized by Judy Blume on one hand and J.D. Salinger on the other: angsty and precocious teen or pre-teen protagonists face life’s darker mysteries with little more than their wits and the vernacular. YA fiction spans all genres, however, and has been enjoying a surge in popularity in recent years among young adults and adults alike.

Local author, poet and librarian Jessy Randall began writing her first YA Novel, The Wandora Unit, when she was still just barely out of high school 20 years ago. At the time she wrote it, she says, she was reading a lot of YA novels and was surprised to find there weren’t any books about poetry nerds like herself.

In this interview with The Big Something, Randall reads from the book and discusses the long road to publication and the difficulties and pleasures of the genre.

Jessy Randall Interview

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As we discussed in yesterday’s post, Streetcars in Colorado Springs!? (Part 1), there’s a great deal of interest in bringing back streetcars/trolleys for a lot of very good reasons, not the least of which is a proven record of stimulating economic development and tourism. While yesterday’s post was mostly about the nuts and bolts of the feasibility study that’s now being conducted, we thought we’d take a look at the actual nuts and bolts: some of the trolley cars themselves.

The The Pikes Peak Historical Street Railway Foundation/Coloardo Springs & Interurban Railway is probably one of the most interesting museums in Colorado Springs that you’ve never visited. Tucked away off of Fillmore and I-25 at 2333 Steel Dr., the roundhouse/railyard is a museum and workshop and storage lot all rolled into one with a wide variety of train cars, streetcars, historical photographs, model trains and… there’s a lot. Point being: If you and/or your kids are into trains or trolleys and you haven’t visited, this place IS the bees knees and you NEED to check it out!

All that said, we’ve brought you a close look at two of the beautiful trolley cars currently being restored (slide shows below) with narration by Greg Roberts, Senior Restoration Specialist, and H. Howard Noble, Executive Director of the PPHSRF.

We also spoke extensively with Roberts and Noble about the past, present and future of trolley travel in Colorado Springs, which you can download by right-clicking the link below or clicking the play button on the streaming player below the link.

Trolley Museum Interview Bounced

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For more information about the feasibility study you can go to CSstreetcar.com.

In this, our fourth of five installments in our “New Voices” series (read more about the series below), we hear from Marisa who writes about the strength and tenacity of her personal inspiration: her mother.

(You can download the audio of Marisa reading her essay by right-clicking on the link or you can stream it by clicking of the play button.)

Marisa Writes about her mother

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

New Voices (you can listen to the first installment HERE, and the second installment HERE) came about this past Spring when The Big Something recorded personal essays by a group of students, many of whom, though not all, are immigrants learning English as a second language. Others are adults studying for their GED while working full-time jobs.

Their teacher, Sue Spengler, writes:

Teaching adults is beyond rewarding; I feel as if I am teaching two generations at once, because I know that whatever they learn, they will then be able to pass on to their children. My students inspire me every day with their persistence, determination, and often humor in the midst of it all. I repeatedly profess to them that EVERYONE has a story to tell, and that theirs are just as important as anybody elses.

Although they may be reading at the middle school level, many of my students are second language learners whose speaking and writing skills are still developing. So I have them talk and write about their lives. Thanks to KRCC, they now have a chance to tell them. I am so proud of their courage.

If you’d like to learn more about the students in Sue Spengler’s class, you can read their blogs at unity-2008.blogspot.com, and at writersofthefuture.blogspot.com.

(We always read and love and listen to your feedback, even if we don’t always respond directly. Please leave some below or email us at thebigsomething@gmail.com. Thanks!)