Author: Eric Sondermann
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Unsolicited advice to both Republicans and Democrats | Sondermann
This even-numbered year will be one of political turnover in Colorado with the governor’s chair opening up along with the other state executive offices (attorney general, state treasurer and secretary of state), all due to term limits. A U.S. Senate seat will also be on the ballot. The ultra-competitive 8th district to Denver’s north will…
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The lie that persists five years later | SONDERMANN
Some dates require no explanation. September 11. October 7. And to the subject of today’s column, January 6. Simply mention the calendar number and the images flood to mind, still vivid and raw. The fifth anniversary of that dark, dismal day is now upon us. In some respects, it seems like an eternity has elapsed…
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Eight exemplars to guide us into the new year | Eric Sondermann
It started as a one-off in my first year of writing this regular column. To ring in the new year back in the eventful year of 2020, I offered a shoutout to eight Coloradans who served as models of how to lead lives to meaning, decency and contribution. The response to that initial piece quickly…
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Julie Gonzales’s long but not impossible odds | SONDERMANN
Allow me to start with a flashback. It was Thanksgiving 2024, just over 12 months back. For the first time, our son Clarke hosted the family Thanksgiving near New York City. It is a sign of our aging when the kids start to step into the role of host and convenor. The occasion was lovely.…
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Dear Abby: A better answer to your question
It was the beginning of October. I had been invited to speak to a class on Political Journalism at Colorado College, my old alma mater. The class was taught by none other than Vince Bzdek, the editor-in-chief of this paper and its sister publications. This was a rather small seminar of perhaps a dozen undergraduate…
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Redistricting and the race to the bottom | Sondermann
Per Merriam-Webster, one of the definitions of the word “politics” is, “The total complex of relations between people living in society.” Otherwise put, politics, when managed correctly, constitutes the organization of society for maximum peace, tranquility, prosperity and thriving. It is the art of how disparate peoples get along. Of course, the practice of politics…
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COLUMN: Significance of Democratic triumph still unknown
Excuse the truism, but winning sure beats losing. Rarely has a political party needed a victory as badly as Democrats did in the off-year elections two weeks ago. Theirs was a party in despair, struggling to come to terms with how they were so thoroughly routed by Donald Trump and his partisans last November and…
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Please spare us your obvious pronouns | SONDERMANN
Oct. 15 is almost upon us. Can you feel the excitement? No, that is not Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day, as some states call it, or Cabrini Day, as it is known in Colorado. That all takes place earlier in the week on Monday. Federal workers will have the day off – oh, never…
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America’s condition as measured by one dismal weekend | Sondermann
It was just another weekend, a rather small slice of time, this one at the end of September. Around these parts, autumn leaf-peeping was at its peak. As beauty goes, that was about the extent of it. The nation witnessed nine, count ‘em, mass shooting incidents in this brief period, such a case being defined…
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What happened to that “one nation”, “indivisible”?| Eric Sondermann
Remember when the nation would pull together in times of tragedy? Flash back to how we united in grief when the crew of the space shuttle Challenger met their sudden demise. Think of how we came together in both tears and resolve when America was attacked using hijacked domestic aircraft 24 years ago this month.…