7th annual essay issue

0

Every year around this time, Boulder Weekly publishes a collection of essays written by the people — editors, publishers, contributors — who put out the paper every week. It’s a chance for us to reflect after another year of life; and, well, this was quite a year.

In the six essay issues we published before this year, we hadn’t experienced a universally foundation-changing event like COVID-19. For us, and surely for you, the pandemic has challenged us inside and out in almost every aspect of our lives. Because of this event’s outsize impact on our lives, you’re liable to read a bit about it in some of this year’s essays. Consider it a time capsule that you may want to bury before revisiting it in, say, 50 years.

But pandemic be damned, life went on anyway this year, and so this is not exclusively a collection of coronavirus stories. We hope the essays in this issue bring you some perspective, levity, a chance to escape, moments for reflection and, more than anything, enjoyment as we head into a new year. A year, we hope, that is much better for everyone. It has to be, right?

As a media organization, we take pride in the work we do to look outward into our community and share stories about others and about the issues that matter to people beyond the walls of our office (and virtual walls of our Zoom room). We appreciate you for indulging us as we take this one week to look inside and share what we see, and for checking out the work we do every other week of the year.
Thanks, reader, for toughing out 2020 with us. We’ll see you in 2021.

— Matt Cortina, Editor

We can discover the wonders of nature, rolling in the rushes down by the riverside, by Stew Sallo

Stones of remembrance, by Angela K. Evans

Just a Dawdream, by Dave Kirby

Swimming with whale sharks, by Betsy Welch

That ain’t gospel, by Caitlin Rockett

A food writer without a sense of taste is not a thing to be, by Matt Cortina