BLACK HAWK - This week I was lucky to sneak out of town with my husband for a date night and day out of town. I always say it takes at least two hours out of town to not run into anyone we know. Which means I can relax and “not work.”
In this particular situation, that didn’t happen. We drove late Monday to Mt. Princeton hot springs. We sat down to have dinner and told our wonderful server we were from Black Hawk. She said, “Oh, I used to work up there. Where do you live?” We said, “near Taggerts.”
She replied, “Oh, one of my best friends lives there—do you know such and such?” I said, “Of course, she’s our neighbor. I've known her father-in-law for about 40 years.” And we chatted back and forth for a bit.
Anyways, it’s not about not running into people we know or don’t. It’s about relaxing. And for a whole evening, we did. So thank you, friend, for the hospitality at Mary Murphy Steakhouse, for delightful conversation, tasty wine, and delectable dinner. And thank you Mt. Princeton hot springs and resort for several soaks and hours of relaxation.
I wanted to also say a heartfelt, deep, personal thank you to an amazing educator who retired this week. From the depth of my being, thank you, Liz Evans, for the four decades you taught at Nederland middle senior high school.
You didn’t just teach, you inspired. You understood. You supported. You gave wings to dreams. And you guided all four of my children. And all of my friends. And for that, I am eternally grateful.
Special thanks to your husband and kids that “loaned you” to us, this other community, this second home, for all of these years.
And thanks from my husband Doug and me, at Brightwood Music, for getting all of these kids and family involved in choir, band, orchestra, and theater for all of these years. You are the epitome of giving and nourishing an entire community.
Now, I can’t let this “thank you” go by without thanking a few more people for a different kind of support.
This year for the first year in almost a decade, we didn't have high school senior interns from Gilpin or Nederland high schools. However, we were fortunate to have a Chinook West high school intern. Thank you, Mason Novak, for working with us this year and writing stories about Nederland and about being a teen in the community. And congratulations on your high school graduation.
As well, thank you, Clementine Miller, our first videography intern from CU Boulder, and a Nederland graduate from 2021. Clementine has opened our eyes to video and how to integrate it into our program. She is wrapping up a documentary that will be shown on our YouTube soon. Clementine is moving on to another internship in New Mexico.
We also had Hope Muñoz, a graduate from CU Boulder who joined us at the paper for the last nine months. Hope is moving on to UC Berkeley and starting an internship in California in a few weeks.
And we can't forget Eliza DuBose. Eliza started as an intern in 2022. She then became a reporter with us during her college years at American University, reporting from as far away as Germany and covering local news online during Covid, including Gilpin School Board news.
Eliza graduated from the university and is now participating as a Mountain-Ear fellow in a Higher Ed Media Fellowship through the Institute for Citizens & Scholars.
You'll see some stories from Eliza focusing on higher education throughout the fellowship. Eliza is also an Americorps Member, currently reporting from Montana.
Ava Supplee and Tigerlily Taylor have joined us this semester from Gilpin High School. Ava will be a junior and Tigerlily will be a senior next school year.
The Mountain-Ear is looking for a rising senior intern from both Nederland and Chinook. All internships are paid positions. If you are interested in more information, please email info@themountainear.com.
And, as always, thanks for reading and supporting The Mountain-Ear, YOUR local source for news of the entire Peak to Peak region since 1977.
The Mountain-Ear apologizes for the error on the Gilpin County School senior photo page in the May 15, 2025, issue. Please see the corrected version on page 15 of this issue. Also, enjoy all the news about Nederland High School graduates on pages 8 - 11 of this week's issue.
