Community Announcements
Our Virtual World
Social Spheres explores the rapidly changing social environments today’s kids experience – from community spaces to virtual worlds. Guest artist Becky Wareing Steele will exhibit fascinating miniature environments alongside youth artists with Downtown Aurora Visual Arts (DAVA). The exhibition opens to the public with a free reception on Thursday, June 20, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with performances by Roshni Dance Ensemble and the Congolese Gloria Choir to observe World Refugee Day. The exhibition runs through Sept. 6. DAVA is at 1405 Florence St., one block south of Colfax in the Aurora Cultural Arts District. Middle and high school students in DAVA’s Job Training Program created an installation of ceramic roads representing social spaces and media. Computer Art Lab students captured sounds from social spaces and designed digital images of their physical and virtual environments All of DAVA’s exhibitions are free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, or by appointment. For more information, email gallery@davarts.org.
Library Book Sale June 5-8
The Denver Public Library Friends Foundation annual summer used book sale is Wednesday, June 5 through Saturday, June 8. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The sale is in the conference center at the Denver Central Library downtown at 14th Avenue and Broadway. It features more than 60,000 items, including children’s books, nonfiction and fiction books, along with CDs, DVD and audio books. Prices start at under $1, and new items are added daily. The annual summer sale raises more than $70,000 for library programs, services and materials. Books and materials sold come from both private donations, as well as items that have been retired from the library’s collection.
Teach A Child To Read
Since 1993 volunteer tutors have made a lifelong difference in thousands of children’s lives by tutoring them in reading. You too can make a difference by joining in the fight for literacy. The Children’s Literacy Center is accepting applications for volunteers to tutor children who are struggling with their reading skills. Tutoring will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to noon, from June 3 – July 11 at Z Place-Evie Dennis Campus, 4800 Telluride St. Another session will run on Saturdays from June 22 – July 27 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, 9898 East Colfax Ave. Visit childrensliteracycenter.org, to complete the volunteer application today. Parents, if you are interested in enrolling your student in the program, contact Pamela Polke at 719-471-8672 ext.1, for more information.
SNAP, It’s Art
Discounted general museum admission tickets at the Denver Art Museum (DAM) are now available to Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. In partnership with Denver Human Services (DHS), SNAP cardholders will now be able to purchase $1 per person general museum admission for up to 10 people total when they show their valid SNAP debit card at the welcome desk. The discount cannot be combined with other discounts and does not include special ticketed museum exhibitions. For more information visit Bit.ly/DHSMuseumDiscount.
Calling All Choristers
June is choral reading season at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, featuring four Thursday nights singing exciting masterworks from across the pond. All sessions start at 7 p.m. downstairs in the choir room, at 1980 Dahlia St. The cost is $10 per singer. Contact Barbara Hulac hulac@montview.org for more information or to RSVP.
• June 6: Read-through Cecelia McDowall’s new Da Vinci Requiem with MB Krueger conducting.
• June 13: Vaughn Williams Dona Nobis Pacem, and Britten’s Ballad of Heros, conducted by Adam Waite.
• June 20: An Evening of Henry Purcell, including Morning Service, Funeral Sentences and Birthday Ode with Michael Todd Krueger conducting.
• June 27: Handel’s Messiah, Taylor Martin, conducting with String Quartet and Harpsichord.
HUD Action Plan Underway
Denver Economic Development & Opportunity is seeking public input and comment to its proposed 2019-2023 Housing and Urban Development Consolidated Plan and 2019 HUD Action Plan for local housing, economic development, public service, and neighborhood facilities programs.
The programs utilize federal funds, as well as its proposed analysis of impediments that identifies fair housing choice limitations and proposed solutions. Public meetings will be held on the following dates:
• Tuesday, June 4, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Cook Park Recreation Center, 7100 Cherry Creek Drive South
• Monday, June 10, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Montbello Recreation Center, 15555 E. 53rd Ave.
• Monday, June 17, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Aztlan Recreation Center, 4435 Navajo St.
The Consolidated Plan, the Action Plan, and the Analysis of Impediments, which will be submitted to HUD, will be available for a 30-day public comment period from now through July 1. Check out more at denvergov.org/economicdevelopment. Anyone unable to attend a public meeting may send comments to rachel.king@denvergov.org.
Is Your CarFit To Drive?
For the past three years, the Reaching Older Adult Drivers (ROAD) program has partnered with organizations in the Denver metro area to provide “CarFit,” a free educational program that offers older adults the opportunity to check how well their personal vehicles “fit” them for greater comfort, control and safety. ROAD conducted more than 100 CarFit checkups last year. Older drivers are often the safest drivers in that they are more likely to wear their seatbelts, and less likely to speed or drink and drive. However, older drivers are more likely to be killed or seriously injured when a crash does occur due to the greater fragility of their aging bodies. During a CarFit event, trained technicians work with drivers to make small adjustments to basic things such as proper settings for their side mirrors and seat positioning which can make a big difference in a driver’s comfort level and help protect them and those around them. The 20-minute checkup is free, but registration is preferred. Numerous sessions are scheduled from June through September across Denver. Interested drivers should call 303-991-5740 for details and to make an appointment for an upcoming session.
Check Out The Art
Denver Public Art tours return for summer 2019 with more tours offered than ever before – all of which are free. Navigated on foot or by bike, tours allow attendees to fully immerse themselves in the city’s public art collection as they learn more about how the city commissions new pieces, the history of the program and the stories behind the artworks. Tours happen throughout Denver’s many neighborhoods. Upcoming tours include the 14th Street Tour, Burns Park, Cherry Creek Trail Urban Arts and Murals, City Park and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Colorado Convention Center, Commons Park and Confluence Park, The Denver Performing Arts Complex, Golden Triangle Public Art, and more. Most tours are limited to 15-20 participants. View the full descriptions and RSVP at denverpublicart.org/tours/.
Judge Wiley Daniel An ‘Icon’
Services For Longtime Park Hill Resident June 8
A memorial service and celebration of life for Senior United States District Judge Wiley Y. Daniel will be at Park Hill United Methodist on Saturday June 8 at 10 a.m.
Daniel, a longtime resident of Park Hill on Monaco Parkway, was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Colorado by President William J. Clinton in 1995, becoming the first African American to serve on the Colorado’s federal court. He died unexpectedly on May 10.
“Judge Daniel was a quality human being and an icon to our local judiciary and legal profession,” U.S Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews told the Greater Park Hill News. “He had such a kind and generous soul . . . There is much to glean from his legacy and all he stood for and accomplished.”
Judge Daniel was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before his appointment to the federal bench, Judge Daniel practiced law for 24 years, specializing in civil litigation. In 2008, he became Chief Judge, in which capacity he served until he assumed Senior Judge status in 2013.
According to a release issued by the U.S. District Court, Daniel was also a mentor to many law students, both through hiring many students as interns and by teaching courses in trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Law School and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
In Park Hill, he was a Deacon and sang in the choir at Park Hill United Methodist, at 5209 Montview Blvd. Among his many other contributions, he was also a blockworker, delivering copies of the Greater Park Hill News to his neighbors.
Denver Judge Darryl F. Shockley, currently the only African American at the district court level in the State of Colorado, said while he did not know Judge Daniel well, he knew of Judge Daniel’s legacy, and “was in awe of him.”
“He was a great man, who actively participated in mentoring a lot of younger lawyers.”
And the Winners Are…
Winners of the 2019 Colorado Book Awards were announced on Saturday, May 18 at a celebration event at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. Author, actor and comic Adam Cayton-Holland, who grew up in Park Hill, won the Creative Nonfiction category for his book Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir. Sponsored by Outskirts Press, First Western Trust, The Colorado Sun, and Shaw Construction, the Colorado Book Awards recognize outstanding contributions by Colorado authors, editors, and illustrators in 13 categories. Here are the other winners of the 2019 competition:
• Anthology/Collection: Mile High Stories: 25 Years of Our Best Writing, edited by Geoff Van Dyke
• Children’s Literature: The Little i Who Lost His Dot by Kimberlee Gard, illustrated by Sandie Sonke
• General Fiction: Go Ask Fannie by Elisabeth Hyde
• General Nonfiction: Doggie in the Window by Rory Kress
• History: The Woolly West: Colorado’s Hidden History of Sheepscapes by Andrew Gulliford
• Juvenile Literature: Del Toro Moon by Darby Karchut (Owl Hollow Press)
• Literary Fiction: Mad Boy: A Novel by Nick Arvin (Europa Editions)
• Mystery: Death by G-String: A Coyote Canyon Ladies Ukulele Club Mystery by C. C. Harrison
• Poetry: Ghost Of by Diana Khoi Nguyen
• Science Fiction/Fantasy: While Gods Sleep by L. D. Colter
• Thriller: Mister Tender’s Girl by Carter Wilson
• Young Adult Literature: 500 Words or Less by Juleah Del Rosario