Essay and photos by Giles Clasen

The Denver Urban Arts Fund seeks to minimize graffiti by funding large murals.

I first became aware of the artistic value of street art when I was working with homeless teens 10 years ago. I wasn’t naturally skilled at working with kids, but I was curious and wanted to find a way to relate to them.

Several of my young friends carried markers and “tagged” street signs, light posts, and buildings. Some parents thought of this as vandalism, and they wanted me to help them address it. I began doing a lot of research and started seeing the artistic value of the work street artists accomplished around the world.

I went to the kids I served and showed them what some street artists were making. The kids were inspired, and wanted to move from writing their initials in a stylized manner to broader urban art. 

By Lynn Farquhar

When my copy of Madison Smartt Bell’s haunting short story collection, Zig Zag Wanderer, arrived in the mail, it was marked FREE just as I was told it would be. At the time, Zig Zag was the latest of nine books published by Concord Free Press in West Concord, Mass. I’d gone to the CFP website, curious to see how this publishing phenomenon dreamed up by author Stona Fitch actually worked.  

It’s like this: writers donate a book for a print run of between 2,500–3,000 copies. Readers can request whatever book is on offer at the time on the press’s website, concordfreepress.com, up until that print run’s copies have run out. Readers agree to pass along the book rather than keep it, and to “pay it forward” in some manner. 

BY TAYLER SEARCY, PHOTO BY JESSE BORRELL

By Sarah Harvey, Editor

You may notice we’ve given ourselves a little makeover for the New Year. Vendors loved the cover redesign last summer that gave us more space to feature a photo. We’ve kept the same basic design, but tweaked it a bit to give us more room to use photos on the front page. We’ve also reorganized the page you’re looking at now, giving a little more space for readers to get to know the 30 or so people who make it possible to put together this publication every month. A great deal of hope goes into these pages. I wanted to share a few of our hopes for the New Year with our readers (in the masthead to the right).

Nothing embodies hope more than the Homeless World Cup. The wire service we subscribe to recently offered a profile on one of the 2014 Homeless World Cup athletes, which we printed on page eight. If you need a dose of hope and happiness, you’ll find it in the uplifting photos that accompany the article.

BY ABBY TEMPLETON-GREENE AND NACHE GREENE PHOTOS BY MIKE BOHNER ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SARAH HARVEY

One year after retail marijuana dispensaries first opened their doors, Coloradans are still wondering how the change will affect our state economy and culture. 

As other states begin to contemplate similar laws, Coloradans are already in knee deep. Many of us have heard the reports of weed friendly hotels opening up (the Bud and Breakfast on 14th and Race, the Cliff House in Morrison, to name a couple) as well as companies like Colorado Cannabis Tours that offer weed tours of dispensaries and marijuana businesses. Perhaps you have also heard that last year Priceline.com listed Denver third for most popular spring break destinations, trailing only Las Vegas and New Orleans. But what does this really mean for the people who live here?

BY ROBERT LEE PAYNE, VOICE VENDOR

I wanted to first thank everyone who supports the Denver VOICE. For those of you who are reading my story, I hope you will be able to see the power of the paper to really impact the lives of the vendors who, for the most part, would not have the ability to work elsewhere. 

When I first came to Denver, I was nervous yet excited because it was a new city with new experiences. I didn’t hide my sexuality, knowing I had already accepted it for myself. I kept an open mind about coming out to other homeless people as well as the staff at the shelters. I worried more about my partner’s safety knowing that he is an at-risk individual due to medical problems. He has Asperger’s, as well as a physical disability from a bus accident.

My partner and I slept at his friend’s apartment at the beginning for a couple of weeks, then at another friend’s a couple of nights. We also stayed in a basement where there was a small room in a property owned by one of our friends in the Capitol Hill area. Also, we stayed in a hotel for about a month until we ran out of money, which forced us into shelters. I always made sure my partner got into the disabled line due to his medical problems. At times we would sleep on loading docks of businesses in the alley or sit on benches all night on the mall when we didn’t make it into the shelter.