Michael Conniff
Michael Conniff purports to be a third-generation newspaperman, the son of a Pulitzer Prize winner, the first person ever hired fulltime in new media at NBC, the first writing instructor at Harvard ever to use word processing as a teaching tool, a Breadloaf Scholar in fiction, a ballboy for the world champion New York Jets in 1969-1970, the host of "Con Games" on KNFO 106.1, the editor-at-large at Aspen Peak, and the guy's guy behind Post Time Media Inc. and Aspen Post, Snowmass Post, Skiing Post, and Fractional Post.
A family fatality afforded us the chance to stumble upon the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Denver—a wonderfully morbid coincidence for an Irish-American like me and the fatal party herself. I say stumble in part because everyone was sober in the A.M., which might explain why the powers that be start the festivities in the morning.
A wonderful thing happened on the way to the parade, a matter of pure happenstance. As we waited for admittance to Snooze, near Coors Field, people of all kinds started floating by wearing the green. No doubt one or two Irish-Americans or even plain Irish were in the mix, but the vast majority of those heading to the parade were variegated in the extreme, with a large percentage Hispanic.
Mexican-Americans wearing the green and celebrating St. Patty’s Day? What a glorious sight up and down the avenue—Blake Street in this case—and a strong sign that the Union is still standing. We are, after all, Americans first, last, and always—or so we liberals like to think.
Continue Reading March 17th, 2010
An Open Letter To Dave Danforth, Owner and “Publisher/Mascot,” Aspen Daily News
Dear Dave:
You and I have had our differences over the years—too many to count—in part because I have been sliced open with a dirty knife by the Aspen Daily News like so many others before me. But that does not mean I take any pleasure in the mess that your editor, Troy Hooper, finally finds himself in.
Continue Reading March 12th, 2010
ASPEN HIGHLANDS—Around here—and throughout the skiing world—it is known as “The Bowl.”
Highland Bowl hangs there above you wherever you are in Aspen, and if you’re a skier the shadow is longer still. The purity of it here at the peak of Aspen Highlands is all but beyond description, and even if you don’t dare hike it and then ski it, you can see the human ants bent over by their tools of ignorance, crawling to their destiny at the top
As I’ve improved as a skier during seven winters in Aspen, I have looked upon The Bowl as something that I would put in my pocket whenever I was ready. I was (and remain) a fool, completely underestimating what was to come when my name was called. That day came Saturday in celebration of my friend Matt’s birthday. He was 37 and I’m not but neither of us had tried the inevitable. We had never hiked The Bowl.
Continue Reading March 7th, 2010
A man in blackface in this brave new century would invoke the wrath of our culture writ large. When the tape of a blackfaced act originating in Australia was seen in the United States, the revulsion was immediate, calling to mind Al Jolson singing “Mammy” in blackface nearly a hundred years ago.
But what about seeing a black man in whiteface?
What about seeing a black President of the United States in whiteface?
And what if that insult emanated not from a meaningless talent show down under but from the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) official fundraising presentation.
Continue Reading March 3rd, 2010
Why can’t we be more like Canada?
They host the Olympics like they mean it. They smile. They play hockey and penalty-kill. They honor the indigenous people in their midst without trying to wipe them out. And they have the Canadian Mounties.
But most of all what they have is a kick-ass national anthem, a tune that says everything about they are—and about what we, as Americans, are not.
The 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, was bristling with unexpected pleasures for the fan, but nothing compared to the way the Canadian people and their athletes sang “Oh Canada,” the national anthem, on the trips to the podium for the gold medal.
They sang it—they really sang it—the way we Americans almost never do with our “Star-Spangled Banner.” They sang it from the top of their lungs with no self-consciousness to speak of. They were joyful when they sang it.
Continue Reading March 1st, 2010
Aspen's ace snowboarder Chris Klug, an Olympic bronze medalist from the 2002 Salt Lake Games, still has a chance this weekend to restore Aspen's honor with an astonishing run in the giant slalom--but no one's expecting a 38-year-old Olympian to magically claim the gold.
Klug will no doubt acquit himself well, as he always does, but a trip to the podium is unlikely if not quite impossible. Should he exit Vancouver without a medal, we can begin to talk about The Aspen Curse at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Continue Reading February 26th, 2010
Who knew? Who knew that Scott Brown’s election to the Teddy seat in the United States Senate would break open the slush of bipartisanship? But hey, as Peter Gammons used to say in The Boston Globe, a guy’s got to eat, and not even a flopper like Brown can avoid the need to vote for jobs in his home state of Massachusetts.
What’s going on here? as Dick Young used to say in the Daily News.
Continue Reading February 23rd, 2010
The arrival of Grace Church at 1776 Emma Road in Basalt--1776 is not a misprint--roiled the community in Emma as they contemplate a megachurch, albeit a teensy one, in their midst. Dead center in the Roaring Fork Valley, the more liberal members of the town were universally concerned at the prospect of hundreds of Evangelicals worshipping in their midst.
The founders of Grace Church were nothing if not resilient, and managed to beat back all challenges. The church, now visible from Highway 82, has seemed on the verge of completion for months, even though building that has yet to sport the telltale sign of the Cross. Given the inevitability of yet another Christian Church in the valley, concerned locals simply ran out of protests. A church, after all, is far more benign than a McDonald's, or so the story goes.
And that was that, from my perspective, was that--until the wife espied the cheerful green banner in front of the Eagle County municipal building Sunday afternoon, with the words: "Grace Church Gathers Here," with the times for Sunday worship.
Continue Reading February 21st, 2010
To understand the appeal of the Tea Party movement, a pundit need go no further than the assassination of President John F. Kennedy—or whomever, dude.
Continue Reading February 16th, 2010
Like the blue folk of “Avatar,” Hollywood is facing an Oscar scandal of massive proportions without a clue as to what happens in the end.
I know because I live in a town that is still trying to recover from Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), the method of misbegotten democracy just adopted by the Academy Awards in this exponential age of ten nominees for “Best Picture.” In the old days—starting in 1946 and persisting until last year—the movie that came away with the most votes won in a simple exercise of plurality rule. To win “Best Picture” this time around, a picture like “Avatar” has to achieve more than 50 percent of the vote—and that could take multiple rounds of voting.
So what’s the big deal? In Aspen, Colorado, where I hover—home to an IRV election in 2008—the new system of ranking voters has left an election still fundamentally flawed and unresolved, with lawsuits from citizens and city officials determined to defend themselves till the final credits against all charges. Litigation about the Aspen Mayoral and City Council elections is still looming as we speak.
Not unlike the City of Aspen, the Academy has gone to a ranking system, with movies gauged by Academy members from 1 to 10. If any movie wins a majority on the first ballot, the party’s over and the new (or old) king of the world can pop the champagne.
Continue Reading February 10th, 2010
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