Zele Community Table is a service of Zele Cafe in downtown Aspen, and is meant to complement the Community Table in the story as a place for the meeting and exchange of ideas of locals and visitors alike.
Ed Foran: I was born and raised in Chicago, but I went to Alaska for fourteen years, lived off the grid for ten years with no electricity or running water, raced sled dogs, worked with UAA [University of Alaska Anchorage] in the archeological department. I met my wife Barbara in Alaska, she is from Los Angeles. This was mid-70s , many counter-culture folks were there.
MC: That’s a long way from Chicago.
EF: My father was a U.S. attorney in 1970 in Chicago. It was a fascinating experience growing up there, but I didn’t really enjoy it. It never ever felt like a fit. Alaska, however, felt like “going home,” the lifestyle, the people.
MC: How are Alaskans different?
EF: Very community-oriented, very smart, very libertarian, what you do is your own business. If you want to have Abrams tank or an arsenal of guns in your back yard, you should be able to do it.
MC: As a psychotherapist, what’s the diagnosis for Aspen?
HK: I think you have to do what I did when I came into office. I would reach out, whether agree-disagree, rich-poor, affordable housing versus a mansion in Starwood— how do we work together to preserve what we all care about? A lot of our seasonal residents seem to care more about this community than some people who live here. Some of the people are the most critical in a negative way. If there’s a problem, invest yourself in solving it. It’s not just about complaining. Write a letter to the editor. Do something about it. Take responsibility and do something about it and engage other people. There are people who do nothing but complain.
T: I’ve spent four years on City Council. I’m Mayor Pro Tem. I ran for Mayor the first time six years ago because there were things I wanted to influence. It was like I won because I was at every meeting. I did two years of research. I was thrust into some important decision-making. I’m very proud of the representation I made. Now I have a lot more experience, knowledge, and a clearer picture of how things work or don’t. I’m in politics--a lot of the reason is I don’t like it and I want to see change. I bring a new energy and new openness. On hard issues, I bring in the community and listen to people.
Is there a beach in Aspen? My idea is that we can appreciate the mountains only with your eyes--what aspect of the moutains is in us? But oh the water. The water we react to with all our body tissue, and the salt cries out to the salt, and our eyes brim full of what we see of ourselves in the sea! I am here trying slowly to relate to the creek, throwing himself down recklessly, tripping as fast as he can (with the help of gravity) to join you, something bitter and deeper and wider than himself.
TS: The city has too many dollars and not enough sense. Another part of the Isis deal granted a lease—AspenFilm will own it free and clear. Why give that to a nonprofit? Grant a multimillion asset to a nonprofit? Give a $130,000 up front and lease payment substantially under market? Your point is actually very well-taken. I’m a liberal, too, but it takes a little wisdom.
MC: Should the city stay out of those deals?
TS: Absolutely and completely. The government is excluding buyers. Bill Stirling puts the Explore Bookstore on the market and lo and behold a philanthropist shows up. Double Diamond is now incredible as the Belly Up because a philanthropist bought it. Philanthropists wanted to buy the Isis. Philanthropists have offered an ice rink. The city’s anti-capitalist stance is self-defeating. If Walter Paepcke showed up today, people would call him a big money guy from Chicago and he’d be run out of town in five seconds. If the city just worked with the assets we have we’d be fine.
Auden Schendler: It just changed. I’m now “executive director of community and environmental responsibility.” The idea is that in most corporations there’s a department called “Corporate Social Responsibility.” And we figure in reality caring about the environment is no different than caring about how your kids grow up. It’s the same issue of responsibility and respect. And we’re now taking over Skico’s philanthropy. When Skico comps lift tickets, my department is in charge of that. We also work with the Crown Family Fund.
ACRA’s a little bit bigger than most, a hybrid Chamber and Convention Visitors Bureau. We have 800 member businesses, with the majority in Aspen. But we have members in Basalt and all the way to Glenwood Springs. We help them network. I’m always asked: “How can the president of the chamber not afford Aspen? I can’t even afford to live in the community.” Irony is a better word for it.
JS: There’s a fundamental thing that’s happened with this generation of ours. We’re the first of the baby boomers. Retirement has fundamentally changed. It used to be your feet up on the porch—as long as you had income to put food on the table and take a vacation one or two months a year. Retirement basically was a nothing, people sitting around this table. Now it’s a much more active process. We have to be doing something we consider valuable. More and more the fundamental thing is different.
PP: I went from doing something to doing nothing. That lasted three weeks and it was pretty boring and I had to do something. I do some volunteer work. Then I was invited to do ski school.
TE: I didn’t start skiing until I was 47, and at age 51 knew I wanted to be a ski instructor, then I plotted for eight years so I could become a ski instructor. I tried to get hired when I was 58 but I was told us you had to promise 100 hours of teaching. I could not arrange that with my partners. So I told them I was going to quit at 59-and-a-half.
SP: I never survived. I lived like a king from day one.
MC: How’d you do that?
SP: That’s classified, but I was lucky. The people that we met early on in the Aspen-Snowmass area were the most gracious, lovely folks. I met some people from Wisconsin. We were housed in quite comfortable quarters but not what I was used to growing up. Some people came in and we entertained them. We wound up living in a $10 million house my first day. We’re all wonderful friends to this day. Music is the bridge to transcend multiple insanity. Pay attention and you’ll be fine.
Majik Kahhak: MK: You get tired of technicalities, all that is proportions, sizes, and placements—any mistake has to do with one of those. You keep correcting, and I just don’t believe in correcting. We are used to fixing in this culture. Fix, fix, fix we think it’s a high act but it’s not—it’s a functional act. Every now and then you might need to fix something. Conventional art is about fixing. It’s linear, and life is three-dimensional and not linear. Art is really about a state of consciousness. A higher place than ordinary functioning so we have to approach it from that place. At least, it’s not an ordinary level of functioning. Something happens.
