THE FLOWER POWER.

Four Elements - Earth/Tierra

By Loren Escandon

“Painting saved my life,” says Colombian artist Alicia Maria Vallejo.

Her beginnings with art were rough, because as a little girl in the Conservatory of Music in Cali, Colombia her music teachers did not see any talent within her; "The professor ignored me completely" says Alicia. Fortunately, at the age of 9 she had the chance to travel to England, where she decided, in secret, that painting was her thing. "I spent long hours in the museum staring at the art without getting bored, but I never tried to paint.”

Life and curiosity led her to study Urban Anthropology, serving in this field during the administration of mayor Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa in Bogota, Colombia. After a certain period of time and without the political influence necessary to renew her contract, Alicia was unemployed for a period longer than anticipated. It was then, in her early 30s, that she decided to get into painting classes, as a way to reduce the stress the situation was causing her, "The classes were for older women who were going to complain about their husbands and their maids while painting wooden boxes" recalls Alicia while she burst out laughing. This was the beginning of what is now a life dedicated to painting.

Flowers of our garden - Enredos de Pasión

Several collections have been part of the process to find her style. After painting everything within the reach of her fingertips, from wooden boxes, to chairs and coasters, Alicia began to paint on canvas. Influenced by Mexican and Dominican Republic arts she created a tribute to the Afro Colombian culture named The Colors of Colombia. Subsequently, the influence of Warhol did its part with the collection Urban Color and she experimented with appropriations of famous works of Van Gogh and Picasso.

"Painting is therapeutic and very emotional for me" states the artist, before explaining how the series Flowers of our garden was created. “This series marks a time of rebirth and hope” express Alicia with intensity. That same intensity is reflected in the variety, fragility and flower power in her paintings. It was with this collection and without total consciousness that Alicia found her present style, "Now I don't see myself painting without my flowers" she says. And from one flower to the other, she has been able to implement innumerable ideas, landscapes and feelings to her creations. Series like Four Elements and Arboreidad are proof of this.

Colombia, Belgium, Monaco, Beijing and New York have seen Alicia’s flowers in all their glory, it is now the turn for Paris. The Museum The Carrousel Du Louvre, is the next stop of this wonderful artist, who has been able to infuse her art with apparent simplicity, with her Colombian roots; the colors and aromas of culture influenced by its two seas and a chain of mountains that offer the perfect inspiration for her soul.

Asking Alicia the meaning of arriving to The Louvre, she answers with simplicity, "It means that I have believed in myself, that I have given free rein to my heart and passion. Because let me tell you that painting is not easy."

Arboreidad - Arbol de la Paz-Ciencia

This mother, daughter, sister, friend, anthropologist, professor and good cook influenced by the energy of her late father Mr. Jorge Vallejo, a soul filled with wisdom and patience and by Monet, is ready to share with the world  the happiness and tranquility of her work, "I cannot paint sadness," says Alicia and it is true, her work draws a smile on peoples soul. 

Painting classes with the artist at Trazos

The Carrousel Du Louvre October 24 - 26, 2014

By Loren Escandon

Are you registered?

By Paula Thomas
Last week, while waiting for semantics class to start, a cheerful, young lady walked into the classroom carrying a folder full of papers and a friendly smile. "Hello, my name is Kate and I am here to make sure you are all register to vote," she said, while the room full of apathetic students tended to their notes and books.
"We are a non-partisan nonprofit organization and our work here in campus is to facilitate the voting process for students, like you and me, in the upcoming mid-term elections," she said strutting back and forth.
The room was ghostly quiet and it felt as if she was talking to the wall behind us. She kept trying to engage her audience with statistics like in the last elections only 1 in 3 students exercised their right to vote, "only 1 in 3," she said almost shouting. But it wasn't until she brought back history that she finally stroke a light and we were, suddenly, listening.

For decades the only ones allowed to vote were white males of higher economic and social status, then open suffrage (or the right to vote) was given to all white males regardless of their economic status, but women and African American men were excluded. 
After the civil war, in 1869 African American males were given the right to vote; but it took women another fifty years of activism before they were allowed to vote.

"People fought for their right to vote, for their right to be included in the decisions made by politicians, because those decisions affected them the same way the decisions politicians make now affect us, that is why we have to go out and vote and be inform about the issues and how they are being handled," Katy said with intense enthusiasm.

And she is right! Why have we become so lethargic about our rights, about the issues that affect our current reality and the people offering to speak for us? I must confess, I find the subject of politic daunting and frustrating, but so are many other things in life and that doesn't mean that we turn a blind eye on our problems, we face them. Katy made me realized I was wasting the sweat and blood of all those women who worked tireless to give me the right to speak up.

Perhaps in those times people had more interest in the effect of the laws voted on and the people elected because they didn't have screens [television, computers, tablets or smartphones] to keep them entertain with a fake reality of the world. They actually had to live with those realities and those decisions everyday and had little to focus away from it.
Even the slaves at the end of the Civil War were more in-tuned with the correspondence between the towns that involved the war and its outcome, as explain by Booker T. Williams in his biography Up from Slavery, "The slaves on our far-off plantation knew what the issues involved were, often the slaves got knowledge of the results of great battles before the white people received it."

So maybe we can use technology to our advantage, and between the Buzzfeed test to determine what is your color, the article about the 12 Reasons Why Sam The Cat With Eyebrows Should Be Your New Favorite Cat, or the latest celebrity gossip, we could, maybe, find time to look for articles, websites or non-partisan organizations that would help us make a more informed decision when we receive the ballot in the mail after we have diligently registered.

So, Are you registered?

If you need information on how to register to vote in Colorado
Click here
Other states, click here

RACE Are we so different?

By Loren Escandon

The first time someone was curious about my skin color, I was 4, It was in kindergarden when I got approached with the question and my answer was “I am grey.”

Living in a household with a white father and a black mother helped me jump to the conclusion that grey was, without a doubt, my race.

I wish things were that easy from there on.

A long conversation with my parents came after that, where It was explained to me that I was in fact a Mulata. Growing up I felt more black than white and every time, without exception, that I manifested my feelings, people would rush to correct me, “No mija, you are too light to call yourself black” or “No mija, you are too dark to call yourself white.” So they, again without exception, would try to make me feel better by saying, “No mija, you are a “Cafe con leche.”

The circumstances never got better, specially living in my native Colombia, where people have been brainwashed in believing we are a white society. However, I kept identifying passionately with my black roots.

I blamed Colombia for not wanting to have a honest conversation about race, racism and equality of opportunities. When I moved to the United States I had the hope things would be different.

Here, in the US, it was not worse, definitely not better, but different. I became part of a big bag of multiple cultures, religions, believes and races called Latinos. I was lectured the first time I identified myself as mulata, because it was “politically incorrect” to say the word. People throw bad jokes at me when I identified as Colombian and I refused to be labeled as Latina.

Many years passed by before I moved to Denver, Colorado, but after being here, not too long passed before people made comments about my accent, my skin color or simply ignore my presence.

Social Media Effect

Yesterday was my Facebook birthday, my real birthday was sometime ago. Why would you do that? I was asked. Why have a different birthday on Facebook? Identity theft was my answer.

Identity theft is a growing problem and we all know it. We complain about the government sticking its nose in our private lives, yet we have no problem in neatly outline it on our social media profiles. We are  eager to share personal information, like our birthday, address, hometown, graduation dates and email address, together with our picture. For a thief any little morsel is helpful. What is your favorite movie? your dog's name and birthday? Could any of the above information be a password you use for a bank account? In 2013, 13.1 million people were victims of identity theft, every two seconds a new person falls in this trap.

A few months back, the email that was connected to my Facebook account was hacked. Later, my bank account was blocked for trying to access it with a wrong password to many time. But I didn't attempt to access my account with the wrong password, so who did? We decided to change the passwords for all of the important accounts after my husband's bank account was blocked for the same reason. This time we didn't use the obvious name and birthday combo or pet name; and that is when I tried to erase my birthday information from Facebook, unsuccessfully. It's like a hostage program you can't get out unless you close the account. Having family and friends around the world who post fun pictures of their families and adventures kept me from closing the account, so I changed the information.

Social media is a great way to connect and communicate with loved ones, or to create a professional profile that allows you to develop followers, which is the reason why I use Twitter and Instagram. But, perhaps we step back for a minute to analyze what type of information we are sharing that could get us in trouble.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, I missed them on my real birthday!

Where to eat in Denver?

Denver is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. Real state is booming and with the massive migration, due mostly to the promise of good paying jobs, has come the massive growth in the restaurant scene.
Denver is located in the center of the Metro area, which consist of many other cities. The city itself is divided in multiple neighborhoods, which offer different opportunities for entertainment. So the question is what to do when visiting Denver? Fun places to visit is what Denver has, however, you must be warned, unless you stay in downtown, where many great places are easy to access by foot, you, most likely, would need a car or the services of a friendly taxi company like Uber.
Public transportation is limited to the Light Rail, a train that travels from north to south along the main highway crossing the city, I-25. It also has a route which travels to Golden. The buses run around the city but the routes are long and clumsy, and your trip can take hours.With that said, let's talk about the fun.

Larimer Street
Starting in downtown Denver, a must-visit-street is Larimer Street. This street houses some of the best restaurant in the downtown area: Rioja, Bistro Vendome, Osteria Marco among some of the best. The street goes quiet for a few blocks and picks back up after 20th, near Coors Filed baseball stadium, where many restaurants have settled. Work and Class is a new favorite. A small space created from shipping containers, with an industrial meets vintage decor. However, there are many other casual places like Los Chingones or Sugar Mill.

Highlands
This neighborhood, located next to downtown Denver, offers infinite dining choices. Old Major is a big favorite. Linger with its amazing view of the city. Lola, right around the corner from Linger; and between the two The Little Ice cream, always with a vibrant crowd. A personal favorite is Z Cuisine and A Cote, next to each other, these tiny French restaurants offer great food and atmosphere.Or for more casual options visit Pinche Taco and Salt and Grinder.

Union Station
This beautifully renovated transport station, located in downtown, is the house of many great restaurants like The Kitchen next door, Mercantile, Stoic and Genuine. However, if you would like to get transported to a classic lounge with one of the best cocktail menu and wine list, then go to the Cooper Lounge on the second floor.

Denver Staples - and going strong!
Some restaurant continue to amaze diners year after year. Some favorites are:
Barolo, offering Italian cuisine with a calm and elegant atmosphere and an outstanding wine list.
Fruition, new American cuisine from chef Alex Siedel, with a lot of the ingredients coming from his farm.
Table 6, corky and delightful, offering amazing cuisine. Fun tip: Brunch on Sunday with in-house DJ.
Vesta dipping grill, a personal favorite, with a hip atmosphere and excellent cuisine.
Potager - beats to its own drum. Delicious food and great wine with a down to earth atmosphere.

Old South Pearl
This fun street offers casual dining options, coffee shops and boutique shopping. And if you love sushi then make sure to visit Sushi Den and Izakaya Den. The Sunday farmers market runs from the end of May to the end of October.

Denver is a fun city with many fun restaurants to relax after a museum visit, a hike or a day of skiing. Hope you enjoy!