Some Fort Carson Troops Come Home, A Monet Moment, Lizzo, Inmates In The ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ And More Photos From The Week

191015 FORT CARSON HOMECOMING
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About 120 members of the 183rd Support Maintenance Company, 4th Infantry Division returned Tuesday Oct. 15, 2019 at Fort Carson after a nine-month deployment at various locations in the Middle East.

Well, maybe photos from the past few weeks, actually. But let's start with a few more from Fort Carson, where about 120 members of the 183rd Support Maintenance Company, 4th Infantry Division returned Tuesday Oct. 15, 2019 after a nine-month deployment at various locations in the Middle East.

191015 FORT CARSON HOMECOMING
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Army Spc. Caleb Bearden is reunited with his infant son Jaxon and wife Amber.
191015 FORT CARSON HOMECOMING
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From left, Nataly Cromartie, Jazlyn Davila and Amber Bearden wait to be reunited with their husbands.

Brighton Boulevard Week

Every year, Denverite holds a street week. And at the end of every street week, we post up along that street to interview random passers by about their observations of the neighborhood. This year: Brighton Boulevard, which was once industrialonce nearly declared blightedonce very artynow home to hundreds of homesstill home to a giant oil refinerystill home to many homeless mennow friendlier to bikes, shaped by two big-personality developers, on the forefront of green infrastructure that may clean the river and the place where a once anonymous mosaic artist was found. Here's everyone Denverite met there in two hours:

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

A Moment With Monet

For its massive blockbuster exhibition, “Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature,” which runs Oct. 21, 2019 - Feb. 2, 2020, the Denver Art Museum has culled paintings by the French Impressionist from across the globe. Each has landed in Colorado, all accompanied by couriers specialized in moving this kind of delicate cargo. We got a sneak peak at the museum.

Pamela Skiles oversees Felicitas Klein's inspection of Villas at Bordighera.
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The Denver Art Museum's Pamela Skiles oversees Felicitas Klein's inspection of Monet's "Villas at Bordighera" .
Detail of Villas at Bordighera, Claude Monet, 1884.
Kendelyn Ouellette/For CPR News
Detail of "Villas at Bordighera," by Claude Monet, 1884.
MONET
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Curator Angelica Daneo discusses how dozens of the Monet paintings arrived at the Denver Art Museum.

Samaritan House Reopens

Samaritan House closed its family floor for construction in April. The renovations included a reconfiguration that created four new rooms, bringing the total to 25. Two of the new rooms were larger than had been available before the renovation to accommodate big families. Even before the renovation, Samaritan House was the largest provider of family shelter in Denver. Now it's back. Rev. Michael Suchnicki led a Mass to mark the moment.

Kevin J. Beaty
Father Mike Suchnicki leads a Mass at Samaritan House before the shelter unveils their renovated floor for families. Oct. 16, 2019. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Weed Voters

Will recreational and medical marijuana voters have more political clout in 2020? The Cannabis Voter Project hopes so. The project made inroads identifying voters during the 2018 midterm election and now they’re turning their recruitment efforts to pot stores in Colorado and across the country.

Cannabis Voter Registration
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Lindsey Brookbank uses a tablet to register to become a cannabis voter and sign up for a rewards program Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019 at a Terrapin Care Station in Aurora.

Climate Voters

“There are a lot of people who are incredibly devastated and fearful about the climate,” said Diana Bray. She knows she’s a longshot candidate in the Colorado U.S. Senate race. But at a small campaign event at a park in Broomfield, the clinical psychologist and environmental activist said, “I don’t think the people of Colorado want a governor who has been the best friend the oil and gas industry has ever had.”  -- A comment directed at what she and some others see as John Hickenlooper's Achilles heel.

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Democratic U.S. Sen. Candidate Diana Bray stands in front of a controversial drilling project n Broomfield, Colo.

Lizzo!

Lizzo is a singer, writer, rapper, producer and classically trained flute player -- and she's having a moment. She told NPR earlier this year, "I say this on-stage to everybody: “I’m not gonna sell you the commercialized self-love. I’m not gonna sell you the hashtag self-care.” I’m not into that. I feel a responsibility as a pioneer in this wave of body positivity to push the narrative further."

"Now that everyone’s caught up, and now that it’s mainstream, the pioneers have a responsibility to take it further. And I’m taking it even further with self-actualization and how to use our emotions constructively to better deepen our relationship with self-love and ourselves." She brought her show to Fillmore in Denver:

Lizzo plays the Fillmore on Colfax Avenue. Oct. 15, 2019. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
Lizzo plays the Fillmore on Colfax Avenue. Oct. 15, 2019. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Inmates In A "Cuckoo's Nest"

“Gather round, ladies,” said a man in a lab coat, flanked by a woman dressed as a nurse and two men in white scrubs. “You are about to enter Sterling Ward, our therapeutic community. I am Dr. Spivey, ward psychiatrist. This is our head nurse, Miss Ratched, Nurse Flynn, aides William and Warren. Please follow all rules and regulations while on the ward. Remain seated, and please, try not to disturb the patients.” -- at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility, with direction and assistance of the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative.

190910 PRISON CUCKOO NEST
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Brett Phillips plays Randle McMurphy in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest."
190910 PRISON CUCKOO NEST
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DU theater student Reanna Magruder as Nurse Ratched.
190910 PRISON CUCKOO NEST
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Douglas L. Micco as Chief Bromden.

Greta Thunberg In Denver

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg drew thousands of people to Civic Center Park last Friday, mostly young people “on strike” from school. Local issues owned the stage for 90 minutes, though. Colorado activists fighting climate change wanted to make things clear: Thunberg is a force, but her celebrity is the only thing that distinguishes her from local activists doing similar work.

THUNBERG DENVER CLIMATE STRIKE
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Greta Thunberg waits to speak at a Denver protest against climate change in Civic Center Park on Friday Oct. 11, 2019.
191011 GRETA THUNBERG IN DENVER
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Seven-year-old Forest Olson of Telluride and her mom. were among the thousands who came to hear Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg at a Denver protest against climate change in Civic Center Park on Friday Oct. 11, 2019.
THUNBERG DENVER CLIMATE STRIKE
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Organizers were insistent that news media keep their distance from Thunberg.

That View

If you live along the Front Range, you know the view. The Rocky Mountains everyone can see from almost everywhere along the Front Range at some point or another during their day. Kevin saw it the other day too. It never gets old, does it?

Kevin J. Beaty
Sunset over the Colorado State Capitol. Oct. 16, 2019. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)