As a small token of a our gratitude for us going missing, we have reprinted the 2010 WE ARE PUEBLO poster. This is the final printing we will ever do of this poster, EVER! You can find them at the LastLeaf Printing & Design stand at the Chile & Frijole festival this weekend. If there are any remaining, you can purchase them from LastLeaf Printing at 213 S. Union.
This is the last chance ever to get the 2010 ‘WE ARE PUEBLO’ POSTER. EVER. NO MAS. FINITO. DONE. Better hurry…
(If we get an awesome response we will launch a new 2011 poster during the holidays.)
Well, it’s a funny story. When we started, our goal for WE ARE PUEBLO was to find what’s missing in Pueblo and do something about it. In short, we did.
We started a book publishing company in Pueblo, CO called Rhizome Publishing. The plan isn’t to stop there and simply publish books but to change an entire industry to focus on stories and the authors that tell them. We have big plans for Rhizome in Pueblo and the future is bright.
What this means for We Are Pueblo is that it will change a bit. We will come back to it full-time after Rhizome Publishing has grown. Or if we get some help we can re-launch this movement together with you. If you would be interested in helping us, please send us an email. For now we will be doing some things behind the scenes and launching a new visual campaign for Pueblo soon.
As a small token of a our gratitude for us going missing, we have reprinted the 2010 WE ARE PUEBLO poster. This is the final printing we will ever do of this posters, EVER. You can find them at the Last Leaf stand at the Chile & Frijole festival this weekend. If there are any remaining you can purchase them from Last Leaf Printing at 213 S. Union.
What’s in store at Pecha Kucha Night: Pueblo #1? Here’s a preview video from Waterville, Maine # called Etch-a-Sketch. (Images include some nudity on a etch-a-sketch.)
Join us for Pueblo’s very first (and not the last!) Pecha Kucha Night at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 16, 2011 at the Magic Carpet Theater at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center!
What’s in store at Pecha Kucha Night: Pueblo #1? Here’s a preview video from Tokyo #73 called Odissi Dance and Me.
Join us for Pueblo’s very first (and not the last!) Pecha Kucha Night at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 16, 2011 at the Magic Carpet Theater at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center!
What’s in store at Pecha Kucha Night: Pueblo #1. A preview video from Stockholm #20 called Best of Sweden.
Join us for Pueblo’s very first (and not the last!) Pecha Kucha Night at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 16, 2011 at the Magic Carpet Theater at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center!
What’s in store at Pecha Kucha Night: Pueblo #1? Here’s a preview video from Tokyo #71 called Statistics in Tokyo.
Join us for Pueblo’s very first (and not the last!) Pecha Kucha Night at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 16, 2011 at the Magic Carpet Theater at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center!
This Thursday at 7PM at the Buell Children's Museum in the Arts Center will play host to Pueblo's first Pecha Kucha night. It's not sushi, or a funny fish pond but people talking about what they love with 20 slides and having 20 seconds for each slide. We talked with Emily King, who is the official PKN organizer and the person who brought Pecha Kucha down to Pueblo. Pecha Kucha Pueblo has a nice ring to it, too! Here's our chat with Emily about the upcoming Pecha Kucha Night:
WAP: How did you get involved with Pecha Kucha?
Emily: I first heard about PechaKucha Night (PKN) from my friend Cammie in Denver. Cammie always seems in tune with all-things hip and off-the-beaten-track, and so when she enthusiastically suggested this, we made it a priority to join her. After the first event, we were hooked and we went back every possible time.
WAP: What exactly is this type of presentation?
Emily: It's basically a PowerPoint presentation, done with 20 images, each image being on the screen for 20 seconds (the 20x20 format they have coined). The result is a presentation that is 6:40. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of "chit chat", PechaKucha keeps the pace and energy up by making it conversational and snappy. With the 20x20 format, no presentation is going to be long and drawn-out; every presentation is going to move fairly quickly but still be informative. I had heard a while back that creativity occurs when obstacles exist. I think the strict adherence to the 20x20 format brings out the best in people's ability to be creative with the format.
WAP: Why did you want to bring this to Pueblo?
Emily: My husband Elliott and I had the good fortune to have been raised in Pueblo, moved to Denver, lived in Europe for a number of years, then back to Denver, and finally back to Pueblo. I think moving away from Pueblo made us even more acutely aware of all the cultural uniqueness and artistic and intellectual talent we have right here. Pueblo has a lot going on and a lot of creative energy that just seemed like a perfect fit for PechaKucha. When we began attending PKNs in Denver, it didn't take long at all for me to realize that I would love to bring this experience to Pueblo. Being busy with work and other activities, it took a while to get the ball rolling, but I think all things happen in good time, and hopefully now is the right time for PechaKucha to become part of the cultural and creative fabric of Pueblo. It's especially exciting because I needed to apply to Klein Dytham architecture in Tokyo making the case that Pueblo should be a 'PechaKucha City'. Now, if you get on the international PechaKucha website, you can see all the PechaKucha nights happening all over the world, and Pueblo is included.
WAP: How was the atmosphere in other PK events that you went to?
Emily: I've only been to the PKN events in Denver, but looking at the website and based on my experiences, I think all the events are consistently fun, laid-back, hip, and intellectually and visually stimulating. It often attracts a younger crowd (21-40), but you'll see people of all ages and backgrounds there, so everyone is comfortable. At every event, I loved the variety of speakers. In a single event you can learn about building straw-bale houses in the mountains, street art, and font design.
WAP: What should someone coming to this event expect?
Emily: They should expect to see a special video just sent to me tonight from Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in Tokyo congratulating Pueblo (yes, the video is made specifically for us!) on becoming a PechaKucha city. This was a surprise, and I'm excited to show it! We'll have seven presentations, opportunity for q&a, and an intermission. The whole thing will probably end by about 8:30. We'll also be taking photos of the crowd to post on the website and send back to Tokyo. If anyone has some good ideas for taking group photos, please share!
WAP: What are your hopes for the Pecha Kucha Nights in Pueblo?
Emily: So far I have gotten in touch with a few people around the community -- artists, professors, car enthusiasts, etc. -- who are interested in speaking at future events.
Being a PechaKucha city requires contractually that we host at least four events a year, so I hope that Pueblo will continue to support this event and allow it to grow. Looking at the cities' sites on the PechaKucha website, you can see events which are hosted in smaller bars to enormous auditoriums. I think that's the beauty of this event — it allows the city to shape it and make it into its own. I'm happy to continue organizing the events, but if I tightly held the reigns on the creative vision of all-things PechaKucha, it'd get boring pretty quickly. I would like Puebloans to help shape PechaKucha Night into something that truly represents the community.
WAP: How would someone who wants to present be able to present?
Emily: They would just need to contact me at pechakuchapueblo@gmail.com. I suggest that all possible presenters check out some examples on the website so they understand the format. Once I have them on the schedule to present, I would need their images no later than a week prior to the event. I would also ask that they make a firm commitment to presenting once I have them scheduled because I would move forward with publicity for the event, and logistically I can only have so many presenters per PKN. As far as topics, it's completely open: I'd love to hear what people want to share!
It’s not a fish, or a new type of yoga. It’s actually a simple concept for a great night of hearing something new and it’s coming to Pueblo. Remember that presentation you went to about something that was supposed to be fun but the speaker went on forever and everyone left bored. Pecha Kucha is the answer to speakers that can’t shut up.
What happens is someone, anyone, can give a presentation to their community with one big catch — you only have 20 slides and 20 seconds for each slide. Before you say, so it’s educational? Could be, or it could be something funny, inspirational, artistic, musical — it’s up to the presenter.
Pecha Kucha: Pueblo #1 (That’s how the PK organization names things!) is this Thursday, 7 PM to 8:20 PM at the Magic Carpet Theatre in the Buell Children’s at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center.
Among some of the presenters will be artists, professors from the University, Pueblo creatives and others from our community talking about…well anything they want in six minutes.
What happens when two brothers, David and Michael Hartkop decide to build the world's only solar roaster? The Hartkop brothers are doing a lot more than just running a coffee house and they are getting noticed. Recently, Popular Science ran a story about the two and their solar roasters. This is our chat with Michael Hartkop of Solar Roast:
WAP: Where did the idea for solar roasted coffee come from?
Solar Roast: Solar Roast Coffee came from my brother David and I pooling our talents really. I was an apprenticed coffee roaster, and David an inventor of all sorts of machines. At this point he was working mainly on solar-thermal projects, such as solar troughs and solar pumps.
:
WAP: How is this different than running a roaster by solar power?
Solar Roast: Solar roasting is honestly, a pain in the ass. The equipment is larger then traditional equipment, costs more, is less convenient, and has sharper edges. But the coffee does taste better! Warm up times for a Helios Coffee roaster is 1-2 hours depending on the strength of sunlight. Roasting takes longer, and working conditions have been horrible until recently. But the new H5 will change all of that! It is faster, hotter, and more convenient then anything David has made before.
:
WAP: How did you choose Pueblo?
Solar Roast: We actually did a lot of searching for sunny cities. My brother and I searched the Southwest looking for a place to relocate to from Oregon. It came down to a couple things.
After finding a list of the sunniest cities in the US, we narrowed the results by;
1. We wanted a city with water. 2 a city with a university, 3 access to a large city, but not in one.
It came down to 2 cities. Flagstaff, and Pueblo. When I flew to Flagstaff, the chamber of commerce rep gave me a driving tour, and was pretty rude. He even took the time to point out all the drive by shootings in the area! No thank you. Pueblo was much friendlier.
:
WAP: Is there anyone, anywhere else in the world doing this?
Solar Roast: Nope. We’re the only ones doing this.
WAP: So what is the Open Source Project?
Solar Roast: The solar technology that we develop will be published as an open-source hardware project. Our project will lay the groundwork for others who can then freely use the technology for business, industry, and humanitarian purposes. The project is a way for us to create better, less expensive solar thermal technology. The solar towers we create will be unique to human civilization…as it will be owned by all of us. It will benefit humanity as a whole, and move us all forward together.
:
WAP: What other uses are there for this project?
Solar Roast: The good thing about what we are doing is that the technology can be used for nearly anything. Heating water, heating buildings, brewing beer, smelting steel, melting plastic, firing bricks, decontaminating water, distilling spirits, sanitizing medical equipment, generating electricity, roasting coffee, baking bread, etc….
:
WAP: What has pleasantly surprised you about Pueblo?
Solar Roast: The people here are very friendly and welcoming. I am constantly amazed by the number of familiar faces I see. People are interested in what we are doing, and have been very receptive to our visions for the future of our company.
:
WAP: What do you see us needing here in Pueblo that we don’t have?
Solar Roast: Self-respect, promotion of education and ample police coverage: Why do we have the highest murder rate in the state, high teen pregnancy rates, huge high school dropout rates, low percentage of college degrees, high unemployment, and more people on government assistance then elsewhere?
Education, self-respect and policing.
:
WAP: Favorite piece of Architecture here?
Solar Roast: I love the bridge over ‘Lake’ Elizabeth in Mineral Palace Park. The band shell there is an awesome example of the building projects the government undertook in the 30s. It’ll be even better when the planned sound wall goes up in the coming years! I also really enjoy the old Kress Building downtown, and the old Federal Post Office.
:
WAP: How big do you see Solar Roast becoming (i.e. what are your big dreams for Solar Roast)
Solar Roast: I would love to see more coffee houses. I would like each café to be off the grid and more self sufficient in terms of power usage. There is a lot of bad coffee out there, and it is time to fight back!
A large solar factory producing all the coffee one could imagine. A privately built power plant and a myrid of other solar projects.
:
WAP: Where do you get your coffee beans from?
Solar Roast: Our coffee comes from all over the world. Currently I have coffee from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Sumatra (Indonesia), Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Mexico.
:
WAP: What’s going on in the coffee world?
Solar Roast: What people don’t realize is that coffee doesn’t just come from King Soopers. It is shipped here from many thousands of miles away. It is hauled on mule or jalopy, then put onto ships for many weeks, then trucked to us. That’s a ton of fuel…and fuel is going up.
Demand is increasing world wide, and that creates a scarcity of product…which increases prices. Growers are switching from organic to conventional coffee because of the increased demand, which then decreases the amount of organic on the market…further pressing prices higher…
Crop failures in Brasil and Sumatra have drastically increased prices.
Earthquakes and tsunamis definelty don’t help coffee prices in Pueblo either!
It really is amazing that we have coffee at all right now. So next time you get a cup of coffee for $1.61 remember that before making some remark about prices going up 5 cents!
:
WAP: What was it like getting the call from Popular Science?
Solar Roast: It was awesome! I was having a tough day and a New York number came through.. It totally made my day. Apparently the world takes notice of interesting things being done in the most unlikely of ways. Roasting coffee with the sun? Can’t be done…except it is! In Pueblo!
:
WAP: How can we as a community help Solar Roast become an International Brand?
Solar Roast: Support our KICKSTARTER campaign. It will help us get the funding to build our next roaster. And we need the roaster to produce all the coffee that we are currently selling! Buy coffee for home, and enjoy a coffee at one of the places in town that brew our coffee.
If they aren’t brewing Solar Roast Coffee, then they aren’t supporting us and Pueblo grow!
Solar Roast Coffee is available in Pueblo at; Solar Roast Coffee 3rd and Main, the Pueblo Mall, CSU-Pueblo Library, Tea Tree Café, City Diner, Pueblo Convention Center, Carriage House Restaurant, Shamrock Brewing Co, Restaurant 1521, RMS, Steel City Dogs, Paul’s Great American Heroes, and Shorty’s!
Notes