Events

What’s that knocking in the trees?

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 21:44:37 +0000

What’s that knocking in the trees? Rachel Sauer Wed, 02/04/2026 - 14:44

Kayleigh Wood

In new book, CU Boulder folklorist Jack Daly bridges the gap between academic research and Colorado legend

It was well into the evening when Jack Daly and a small group of legend trippers, organized by the Sasquatch Outpost in Bailey, Colorado, made their descent into the forests just 30 minutes outside of town. Owned and operated by Jim and Daphne Myers, the site hosts numerous Bigfoot events, from meetings to night hikes led by Bigfoot researcher Jim Myers himself.

During these hikes, which occur about once a month, Myers serves as the outpost’s liaison into what the Sasquatch Outpost’s booking website describes as “the realm of the Forest People.” Here, visitors might experience numerous encounters with Bigfoot in the form of vocalizations, footprints, knocking on trees and airborne rocks thrown in the direction of the group.

Folklorist Jack Daly, an instructor in the CU Boulder Program for Writing and Rhetoric, explores the supernatural, unexplainable and unnerving in his book Eerie Colorado: Mountain Folklore, Monsters and Tales of the Supernatural.

On that particular hike, deep in the forest, Daly and the group were startled—not by flying rocks or breaking branches, but by what he describes as “a giant silver orb just flying overhead, and we all saw it. We stopped, and it disappeared. There’s no flashing lights. It was not in, like, full orbit.”

This UFO encounter was notably different from the one he experienced in high school, when he and a friend witnessed a glowing blue orb hovering above a meadow, moving from one place to another at random intervals, for several minutes.

Daly shares this experience and more in his recently published book, Eerie Colorado: Mountain Folklore, Monsters and Tales of the Supernatural. Thursday evening, Daly will host an event at the Boulder Bookstore, where attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about Colorado’s supernatural folklore through the eyes of an expert.

Eerie Colorado

Jack Daly will speak about and sign his new book, Eerie Colorado: Mountain Folklore, Monsters and Tales of the Supernatural.

Where: Boulder Bookstore, 1107 Pearl St.

When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5.

Learn more

In his book, Daly, a lecturer in the �Թ�� of Colorado Boulder Program for Writing and Rhetoric, explores all things supernatural, unexplainable and unnerving in the Centennial State. Beyond simply organizing these legends in one volume, Daly grapples with the role supernatural folklore plays in the historical and contemporary culture of Colorado. Enmeshing his own personal testimony and the testimonies of the individuals he interviewed on his own with existing scholarly research, he divides his findings into two categories: the corporeal, which he describes in his book as creatures of “‘flesh-and-blood,’” and the incorporeal, referring to the entities that lack physical bodies.

Daly used ethnographic methods in his research, conducting interviews and documenting participant observation, a qualitative research method in which scholars immerse themselves in a setting and attempt to observe as many individuals as possible to draw conclusions about a specific culture. He uses the term “memorate” to classify the personal experience narratives throughout the book, including some of his own, as well as the experiences of his family members. Jim Myers of the Sasquatch Outpost shared a personal Bigfoot encounter for the book—a sighting that Myers dubbed as a Class A experience, which is an encounter at close range, where the viewer can confidently rule out all natural explanations.

Monsters, legends and the supernatural

Beyond the memorates, Daly’s fieldwork has taken him to as many of the sites featured in the book as possible for his research.

As a folklorist, Daly’s research focuses on monsters, legends and the supernatural. In 2023, he received the American Folklore Society’s Warren E. Roberts Prize in Folk Art and Material Culture for his piece “Devil in the Skies, Stars on the Barns: The Snallygaster, Hex Signs, and Barn Stars.” He earned a master’s degree in folklore and is currently pursuing a PhD in American studies at Pennsylvania State �Թ��, where he was a recipient of the 2022-23 �Թ�� Graduate Fellowship.

In his book Eerie Colorado, author Jack Daly grapples with the role supernatural folklore plays in the historical and contemporary culture of Colorado.

Daly explains that his research champions scholarship while validating personal experience, noting that “people’s experiences with the supernatural are much more common than we give them credit for.” As a folklorist and scholar of belief, he says, he takes an “ethnographic, folkloristic [and] anthropological approach,” striving to avoid approaching all things eerie and inconceivable from “a position of disbelief in regards to the supernatural,” which he refers to in Eerie Colorado as a believer-skeptic binary.

In the book’s introduction, Daly makes clear that he is unconcerned with the reality of monsters, unexplainable phenomena and supernatural beings. He approaches his research from a place of neither belief nor disbelief, but with the aim of analyzing how these stories, which trend across time and place, function on a cultural and personal level.

Daly’s UFO encounter in the hills outside Bailey, which occurred only a couple of months ago, reinforces why his research approach for Eerie Colorado is helpful. Quite often, accounts of strange phenomena come from individuals who are skeptical themselves. Daly and the group simultaneously saw a silver orb enter their field of vision before it disappeared altogether; they couldn’t explain or verify it, but they all had the same experience.

Across the folklore field, Daly says, many scholars have begun to approach the supernatural through a similar, experience-based approach championed by David Hufford, a folklorist and ethnologist whose theories Daly draws from in Eerie Colorado. When Daly approaches legends, he says he strives to address them “more literally. As they literally happened,” adding that this approach “was heavily, heavily stigmatized for, you know, over 100 years when the processes of rationalism and empiricism and enlightenment [were] the overriding paradigms in academia and within intellectual culture more broadly.”

Yet the study of folklore appears to be changing, and Daly isn’t the only scholar in the field of belief studies who is interested in how legends function in a larger cultural context. He notes a newfound “openness that scholars are engaging with, in terms of thinking: This person literally did see a UFO. This person literally did see Bigfoot. This person literally did see a ghost, which is, I think, an interesting new movement that I want to keep on pursuing.”

Ready for a legend trip of your own?

Jack Daly uses the term “legend trip” in his book Eerie Colorado, which he describes as a visit to a site associated with a supernatural legend, where individuals often try to interact with a legend through rituals or “tests.” For those who want to get up close and personal with some of the local legends featured in Eerie Colorado, Daly has both visited and recommends these sites:

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. For Daly, the Stanley is a prime example of “the transformative effect that the supernatural can have in reality.” Before The Shining, he notes, the site was “in disrepair. It was falling apart. People weren’t really going to Estes Park. Stephen King goes there, he has a supernatural encounter ostensibly. It causes him to write the book… the book turns into a movie… And then that literally transforms the culture surrounding both Estes Park and the Stanley Hotel. It was repaired. It is now a destination. It’s super, super nice.”

The Vampire Grave in Lafayette, where, according to legend, a tree grew from a stake used to kill a vampire. Check out Daly’s viral TikTok at the Vampire Grave at @thefolklord

The Molly Brown House in Denver, which is rumored to be haunted by both Molly and her husband.

The Denver Botanic Gardens October Ghost Tours

Cheeseman Park in Denver, which some consider one of the most haunted sites in Denver as it was built over the Mount Prospect Cemetery, where thousands are still buried.

For those interested in legends they can explore from the comfort of their homes, Daly recommends the Digital Folklore podcast, hosted by Perry Carpenter and Mason Amadeus. Described on their website as a “fusion of audio drama and narrative documentary,” the pair dive into internet legends, monsters and conspiracy theories “through the lens of academic folklore.” Like Daly, they strive to use these legends to draw broader cultural connections, rather than simply collecting and platforming them.

‘I know what I saw’

In the process of writing Eerie Colorado, Daly notes his attempts to balance academic scholarship and theory with folklore in an approachable way. Tapping into existing scholarship and attempting to draw conclusions about the role of the legend in Colorado culture, Eerie Colorado takes on a new perspective—one supported by research.

After reading some of the existing books about Colorado folklore, Daly noticed a trend: “They don’t cite their sources. They are clearly unfamiliar with the broader scholarship that would give them a much deeper level [of understanding].” In Eerie Colorado, Daly describes how many previous publications on Colorado folklore will present a story and let it speak for itself, without attempting to interpret the function these stories might serve to the local people. Daly sought to remedy this gap in the literature with his book, attempting to make meaning out of popular Colorado legends by situating them within a broader cultural context and tracing their developments across time and place.

“There’s one thing you notice with legends: They migrate,” says Daly. He argues that legends, even those that appear specific to Colorado, can often be situated in “a broader legend complex [tied] into other variants that we see across not just the United States, but the entire world.”

For example, the Phantom Jogger of Riverdale Road in Thornton, which Daly covers in Eerie Colorado, closely mimics the more commonly known story of the Vanishing Hitchhiker, which has been well documented by folklorists since the 1940s, Daly notes in his book. According to Thornton legend, a jogger was killed in a hit and run on Riverdale Road and left to haunt the site of the crash.

Daly sets the scene: “You’ll be driving along the road, and you’ll see this jogger, and sometimes they’ll ask you for a ride. They’ll get in the car, and then they’ll disappear. And so that’s a variant of the Vanishing Hitchhiker, but it’s a Colorado version because it’s athletic. It’s a jogger.”

In both cases, the disappearing hitchhikers and Thornton’s jogger often leave behind a mark of their presence. According to the local legends Daly documents in Eerie Colorado, those who are eager to drive down Riverdale Road and are brave enough to pull over may hear footsteps approaching them or fists banging against the sides of their car, or they may find handprints left on the outside of their vehicle.

Daly’s UFO sightings can also be linked back to popular legends of the past. When he was in high school, Daly and a friend “saw a giant blue orb flying over a field.” He details in Eerie Colorado that similar visual experiences are not uncommon and have been well documented across history, often known by a host of different names. “They’ve been connected with fairies,” Daly shares. “They’ve been connected with Bigfoot as well. They’re a common thing that people have described seeing.”

Throughout history and the contemporary era, countless individuals have witnessed strange phenomena in the skies that they cannot explain. Regardless of whether they interpret these sightings as flying saucers, massive fireballs or ships of fairies on the way to Magonia, Daly’s book guides readers through trends in firsthand accounts of the supernatural while tracking them across history. Popular creatures and entities that have taken on legendary status may be known by various names, but like the Vanishing Hitchhiker and the Phantom Jogger, the original legend and its local offspring often retain the same key attributes.

As for where he falls on the spectrum of belief in the supernatural, Daly says, “I do believe, honestly. And part of it has come from my own personal experience.” Recalling the silver orb in the skies near Bailey, he reflects, “I don’t know what it was, but I had that encounter. Like, I know that I know what I saw, and that’s what people say: I know what I saw. My experience was my experience, and that’s what I found in doing my fieldwork as well.”

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about writing and rhetoric? Show your support.

In new book, CU Boulder folklorist Jack Daly bridges the gap between academic research and Colorado legend.

Traditional

White

Top image: the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, with illustrative glow (Photo: Carol Highsmith/Wikimedia Commons)

Exhibit invites participants to imagine worlds

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:16:08 +0000

Exhibit invites participants to imagine worlds Rachel Sauer Tue, 02/03/2026 - 14:16

Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder: Imagining Worlds, opening Thursday at the CU Art Museum, celebrates how these magical stories take us beyond 'Once upon a time...'

Of all the phrases in art and life, perhaps none is so magical as “Once upon a time…”

They are world-opening and world-building words, an invitation to exploration embodied in the fairy tales they begin.

Exhibit opening reception

What: Opening reception for new exhibits Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder: Imagining Worlds and [Face] Value

When: 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5

Where: CU Art Museum

Learn more

That magic and mystery is celebrated in Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder: Imagining Worlds, a new exhibit at the �Թ�� of Colorado Art Museum debuting this Thursday, Feb. 5, with a reception from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit will open alongside [Face] Value, a new display curated by CU graduate students in a curatorial practicum class held at the museum last fall.

Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder: Imagining Worlds will be on display through May. It was co-curated with Suzanne Magnanini in the Department of French and Italian and is coordinated with upcoming exhibitions at the CU Museum of Natural History and Norlin Library. Rebecca Davis in the Division of Arts and Humanities provided curatorial support.

The origins of many fairy tales can be traced as far back as ancient Greece, Rome and China, Magnanini previously noted, which speaks to their ability to not only to help people of particular times and places explore their anxieties and questions, but to address the feelings that have been central to the human condition throughout history.

“When I think about fairy tales, I think about a number of characteristics that make them really appealing across time and space,” Magnanini said. “If you think about it, the protagonists are almost always young people heading out into the world—much like our students are heading out—leaving home behind, having to make their way in the world, facing challenges. That experience can be very transformational, so in a way these stories are all about metamorphosis and change.”

The exhibit highlights how “fairy tales help us imagine new worlds where everyday problems find magical solutions. Their characters and stories ask us to examine with fresh eyes our relationship to the natural world and with one another. Filled with optimism, fairy tales remind us that change and transformation can help us overcome obstacles and find a hopeful ending, no matter the struggles we face,” according to exhibit curators.

[Face] Value

Opening alongside Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder and on display through March 16 is [Face] Value, an exhibit curated by CU graduate students in a curatorial practicum class held at the museum last fall. The exhibition offers an unconventional and sometimes critical look at the genre of portraiture. Students in the course selected and researched artwork in the collection, wrote interpretive labels and contributed to the gallery layout.

“We were excited to partner with Professor Magnanini and highlight her research," says CU Art Museum Director Hope Saska. "This exhibition allows us to consider artwork in our collection through the lens of fairy tales, opening new possibilities for interpretation. The idea for an exhibition shared across multiple campus collections was initiated by Dulce Aldama in the �Թ�� Libraries and many of the rare books on view were coordinated with their support. We’re delighted about the conversations this will spark and have some exciting programming in store.”

The artworks, books and maps featured in the exhibit bring to life the stories and themes of fairy tales, which are often shared across fables, myths and saints’ legends. The exhibit includes maps of Fairy Land that trace pathways and meandering routes through landscapes described in these stories. Open volumes reveal illustrations that interpret fairytale settings and scenes, while other art works feature the magical beings that are the typical characters of fairy tales—animals, humans and unearthly creatures.

The exhibit and related programming are supported by CU Boulder Student Arts and Cultural Enrichment fees. The exhibition team includes Dulce Aldama, Sean Babbs, Rebecca Davis, Suzanne Magnanini, Kathy Noonan, Hope Saska and Nancy Stevens. CU Art Museum staff contributed to the exhibit, including Pedro Caceres, Elizabeth van der Marck-Gregg, Stephen Martonis, Maggie Mazzullo, Hope Saska and a team of museum attendants.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about art? Show your support.

Fairy Tales and the Power of Wonder: Imagining Worlds, opening Thursday at the CU Art Museum, celebrates how these magical stories take us beyond 'Once upon a time...'

Traditional

White

Researcher addresses the challenges of species survival

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 23:13:58 +0000

Researcher addresses the challenges of species survival Rachel Sauer Thu, 01/29/2026 - 16:13

In his Feb. 17 Distinguished Research Lecture, CU Boulder Professor Dan Doak will address the question, ‘What can we do that will actually help species survive?’

Anyone who’s ever encountered a fly or a housecat might be surprised to learn that most species on Earth are naturally rare, and that truly widespread, common species are, in fact, the exception rather than the rule. Because of this, understanding and helping species persist is a bigger challenge than most people realize.

New pressures from human activity have pushed many species closer to extinction, and many now need active management to survive. However, effective conservation isn’t just about understanding a species' biology; it also depends on management choices and political decisions that shape what’s possible and how scientific information is used.

Dan Doak, a CU Boulder professor of environmental studies and Byers Family Chair in Environmental Studies, has studied species survival and climate change throughout his research career.

This will be the focus of Dan Doak’s Feb. 17 Distinguished Research Lecture “Saving Species with Science: 30 Years of Conservation Setbacks and Successes.”

Throughout his career, Doak, a �Թ�� of Colorado Boulder professor of environmental studies, and his collaborators have worked with endangered species worldwide—from sea otters and spotted owls to gorgonian corals and alpine plants—asking a simple but urgent question: How do we better understand endangerment and what can we do to help endangered species survive?

While Doak was committed to conservation from a young age, it was toward the end of graduate school that he realized that combining an appreciation of species’ biological intricacies with mathematical modeling approaches could yield important insights into the analysis of conservation problems and the formulation of solutions that can direct species management. Since then, a major part of his research has focused on rare species management, including the development of general approaches and addressing the needs of specific species.

In his Distinguished Research Lecture, Doak will share three stories showing how conservation science works in the real world, where ecological research meets human values, policies and tough choices. Through the California condor, a rare Rocky Mountain wildflower and the island fox, he will explore how our understanding of extinction risk has improved even as challenges facing wildlife mount.

�Թ�� Dan Doak

Dan Doak is a professor and the Byers Family Chair in the Department of Environmental Studies.

Distinguished Research Lecture

What: 127th Distinguished Research Lecture, Saving Species with Science: 30 Years of Conservation Setbacks and Successes

Who: Professor Dan Doak of the Department of Environmental Studies

When: 4-5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, followed by a Q&A and reception

Where: �Թ��'s Hall and Auditorium, Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE)

Learn more

He earned his PhD at the �Թ�� of Washington and was a professor at both the �Թ�� of California Santa Cruz and the �Թ�� of Wyoming before joining CU Boulder in 2012.

His research features the development and use of modeling methods to better understand ecological patterns and processes and field work that investigates the ecological dynamics of multiple plant and animal species. This research includes work on the conservation and management of endangered species, climate change impacts on wild species and communities and basic research on species interactions and population dynamics.

In the first of these areas, Doak has worked to better understand the degree of endangerment and the most effective management methods for species including sea otters, island foxes, California condors, Mediterranean purple gorgonian corals and multiple rare plants.

His climate change research includes development of analysis and modeling methods, as well as a continuing 25-year study of arctic and alpine plants and their responses to climate across a wide latitude range in western North America.

Finally, he has worked with colleagues to better understand the ways that spatial patterns and changing contexts can shape ecological interactions. This area of work includes field studies of how termites create spatial structures in the East African savanna and the ways that changing ecological contexts can mediate the impacts of sea otters on kelp forest communities. 

�Թ�� the Distinguished Research Lectureship

The Distinguished Research Lectureship is among the highest honors given by faculty to a faculty colleague at CU Boulder. Each year, the Research and Innovation Office requests nominations from faculty for this award, and a faculty review panel recommends one or more faculty members as recipients.

The lectureship honors tenured faculty members, research professors (associate or full) or adjoint professors who have been with CU Boulder for at least five years and are widely recognized for a distinguished body of academic or creative achievement and prominence, as well as contributions to the educational and service missions of CU Boulder. Each recipient typically gives a lecture in the fall or spring following selection and receives a $2,000 honorarium.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about environmental studies? Show your support.

In his Feb. 17 Distinguished Research Lecture, CU Boulder Professor Dan Doak will address the question, ‘What can we do that will actually help species survive?’

Traditional

White

Top photo: Yajun Dong/Pexels

Exhibit celebrates Black Panther Party in stories and portraits

Rachel Sauer — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 22:52:38 +0000

Exhibit celebrates Black Panther Party in stories and portraits Rachel Sauer Thu, 01/22/2026 - 15:52

The documentary exhibit “Revolutionary Grain,” open now through March 15 in the Macky Gallery, highlights the stories of former Black Panther Party members and ongoing struggles for racial justice

This spring, the �Թ�� of Colorado Boulder Center for African and African American Studies (CAAAS) and the Department of History, together with the Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History, present the traveling exhibition “Revolutionary Grain: Celebrating the Spirit of the Black Panther Party in Portraits and Stories” in the Macky Gallery.

The exhibition, open now through March 15, was created by California-based artist and photographer Suzun Lucia Lamaina and honors the legacy of one of the most influential movements in Black American history.

As part of Black History Month programming, the exhibition will be accompanied by a panel discussion with former Black Panther Party members Gayle Dickson, Aaron Dixon, Ericka Huggins and Billy X Jennings, alongside Lamaina and CAAAS Director Reiland Rabaka, on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. in the Norlin Library Center for Global British and Irish Studies Room (M549). The discussion will focus on the history and legacy of the Black Panther Party and its relevance in today’s political climate.

Living history

Hear firsthand accounts of the history of the Black Panther Party and the 1960s Black Freedom Struggle—along with their legacies in Trump's America. The program is part of the accompanying events for the traveling exhibit "Revolutionary Grain: Celebrating the Spirit of the Black Panther Party in Portraits and Stories" that is on display through March 15 in the Macky Gallery.

What: A panel discussion with former Black Panther Party members Gayle Dickson, Aaron Dixon, Ericka Huggins and Billy X Jennings, alongside CAAAS Director Reiland Rabaka and photographer Suzun Lucia Lamaina.

When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12

Where: Norlin Library Center for Global British and Irish Studies Room (M549)

Learn more

Additional programs featuring former Panthers will take place throughout that week on campus.

The “Revolutionary Grain” exhibition features a social-documentary photographic essay of portraits and personal narratives from more than 50 former members of the Black Panther Party. Lamaina spent five years traveling across the United States to interview and photograph participants, offering them the opportunity to tell their own stories.

“This work is meant to spark conversation,” Lamaina explained of the project, noting that the exhibition coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party’s founding and ongoing struggles for racial justice in the United States. The exhibition situates the movement’s history in what Lamaina describes as a new phase of the Black Freedom Struggle in contemporary America.

Founded in October 1966 in Oakland, California, by Bobby Seale and the late Huey P. Newton, the Black Panther Party initially focused on addressing police violence in Black communities. By the late 1960s, the party had become a national and international symbol of resistance, establishing nearly 50 chapters across the United States and an international presence in Algiers, North Africa.

“Putting on the Black Panther uniform and committing our lives to the liberation struggle changed the purpose and meaning of our entire identities,” Dixon wrote in his 2012 memoir My People Are Rising: Memoir of a Black Panther Party Captain. “It was a liberating experience. Societal restriction and conformities dropped by the wayside, leaving a fearless, defiant, powerful human being. We no longer looked at ourselves in the same way, nor did we look at the system and its representatives in the same manner. We were the freest of the free.”

In addition to its revolutionary political stance against capitalism, imperialism and fascism, the party launched “survival programs” that provided free breakfasts, medical services and other essential resources to thousands of Black Americans. Despite its community-based activism, the Panthers were frequently targeted by federal authorities, with the Nixon administration labeling the party “the greatest danger to the internal security” of the United States. A number of its members, among them Fred Hampton in Chicago, died at the hands of police officers.

The exhibition seeks to counter decades of misrepresentation by bringing first-person accounts from former members to the foreground, connecting their experiences to present-day debates over racism, police violence and political organizing.

“At a time during which the Trump administration and its supporters are rewriting history and representing versions of the past that downplay or even erase the critical significance of the Black Liberation Struggle of the 1960s and 1970s—of which the Panthers were an integral part—it is all the more important to shed light on the movement’s complexities and give our students, faculty and the community one more opportunity to engage with aging Panther members in meaningful ways," says Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, a professor of history and the Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History. "This is a university campus, and it is a celebration, but also a reappraisal, with the help of key actors, of a complex struggle that has also problematic chapters. History is messy, but our students deserve better than what many in Washington have in store for them.”

The exhibition is co-sponsored by the departments of English, Ethnic Studies and Women and Gender Studies and the Center for Humanities and the Arts.

All events are free and open to the public. No tickets are required. For more information, contact Thomas Pegelow Kaplan at thomas.pegelow-kaplan@colorado.edu.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about history? Show your support.

The documentary exhibit “Revolutionary Grain,” open now through March 15 in the Macky Gallery, highlights the stories of former Black Panther Party members and ongoing struggles for racial justice.

Traditional

White

Top image: Former Black Panther Party members Emory Douglas (left), Kathleen Cleaver (center) and Barbara Easley Cox (right). (Photos: Suzun Lucia Lamaina)

Filmmaker charts path from rented cameras to Hollywood marquees

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 22:35:57 +0000

Filmmaker charts path from rented cameras to Hollywood marquees Rachel Sauer Tue, 01/20/2026 - 15:35

Bradley Worrell

On campus on Wednesday for a screening of his movie Roofman, CU Boulder alum Derek Cianfrance praises the professors who mentored him and talks about what motivates him today as a filmmaker

From making short films as a teenager to sitting in the director’s chair today for Hollywood marquee films, Derek Cianfrance’s path to professional filmmaker has been anything but conventional.

Long before he directed films such as Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, Cianfrance was a kid growing up in Lakewood, Colorado, who turned birthday parties into movie sets. At age 13, he was shooting short films on a rented video camera—driven by a sense of play that he says still fuels his work today.

In a recent, candid conversation with Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine, Cianfrance reflects on the formative years that shaped his vision, the mentors who guided him at the �Թ�� of Colorado Boulder and the persistence—and rejection—that defined his rise from short home films to Hollywood movies.

CU Boulder alumnus Derek Cianfrance directed films such as Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, in addition to his most recent, Roofman.

Question: What’s it like for you to come back to Boulder now? And what are your plans while you are here?

Cianfrance: It’s always amazing coming back. Boulder shaped me as a filmmaker. I had transformative experiences there—with mentors like Phil Solomon, Stan Brakhage, Bruce Kawin, Don Yannacito and Jim Palmer. Some aren’t around anymore, but they left a mark.

On Wednesday evening, at the Muenzinger Auditorium, I’ll be screening my most recent movie, Roofman, and I’ll probably do an intro and a Q&A.

I’ve been back to Boulder many times since leaving college—and some of my most important relationships came from there. Every time I return, I enjoy getting to see the next generation of students and teachers carrying on that tradition.

Question: You started experimenting with film and other media as a teenager?

Cianfrance: Earlier, actually. At age 6, I borrowed my older brother’s tape recorder and used it to make skits, fake movie trailers and to do interviews. At 13, I rented a video camera from my school librarian at Green Mountain High School and made The Bat Movie, which was about this rubber bat that attacks people. The movie was 15 seconds long, four shots, and it was from the point of view of the bat. It was actually kind of funny and ridiculous. …

From then on, I kept making little films. It was play for me—like a sport. Even now, in my 50s, I feel connected to that 6-year-old—it’s still play at its best moments.

And, I have to say, my parents were very supportive. I feel very fortunate. They dealt with me putting a camera in their face, filming birthday parties, turning the birthday party into a set for my movie. If they hadn’t supported that, I don’t know if I would have had the confidence to keep going. My parents were awesome that way.

And I immersed myself in film. I grew up on VHS and Hollywood movies—Martin Scorsese and George Romero. I had a picture of Scorsese over my bed.

Question: Many aspiring filmmakers set their sights on NYU or UCLA. Why did you choose CU Boulder?

Cianfrance: I wanted to attend UCLA, USC or NYU as well. When I was in high school, I was obsessed with the film school generation back in the 1990s, but those schools were cost-prohibitive. I ended up going to CU because I knew they had a film program and Boulder seemed like a great place to be. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was transformative.

At CU, my professors deconstructed cinema. Stan Brakhage showed us films out of focus to study shadow and light, and very quickly I learned I was getting a unique education. It was avant-garde, experimental. I learned aesthetics and formalism differently. Bruce Kawin taught screenplay structure; Jim Palmer taught thematic analysis.

When I showed my student films at festivals, I realized just how unique my education was. NYU students had huge budgets; mine cost $1,000 and was shot on 16mm Bolex. CU taught me to embrace limitations. That has shaped everything I do.

If you go

CU Boulder alumnus Derek Cianfrance will be present for a screening of Roofman at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, and will participate in a Q&A after the film.

What: International Film Series screening of Roofman with writer and director Derek Cianfrance

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21

Where: Muenzinger Auditorium E050

Admission: $8 students/$10 general admission

Learn more

Question: What year did you graduate?

Cianfrance: Well, I didn’t actually graduate. I spent five semesters at CU. At the time I entered film school, Trey Parker and Matt Stone (later of South Park TV series fame) had just graduated and made Alfred Packer: The Musical. I was watching that from afar, as this young, ambitious film student, and so by the time I was a junior, I decided I was going to make a feature, too.

I dropped out for what I thought at the time would be a semester, raised $40,000, and shot Brother Tied. It took four years to finish, and it went to Sundance in 1998.

I spent a year on the road with that film. I had no money. I was literally living off of hors d’oeuvres from film festivals. I was like Ratzo Rizzo from Midnight Cowboy at the film festivals, just stuffing my pockets with food. The movie went to about 30 festivals and it won a handful of awards.

I got a lot of business cards, and I met a lot of people in the industry while I was doing that. I was writing Blue Valentine at the time, so I started sending out scripts for Blue Valentine—and I got a lot of rejections. Just non-stop rejections, but I just kept working on it.

It was far from an instant success. From when I first started writing Blue Valentine it was 66 drafts and 11 years later that I shot it.

Question: After leaving CU, did you move to Hollywood?

Cianfrance: No, I moved to New York in 1999. I lived on couches, edited tribute videos for TV award shows and worked enough to buy time back to write. That leapfrogging lasted 10 years until I made Blue Valentine.

Derek Cianfrance's (striped jacket) most recent film, Roofman, is about a convicted spree robber who hides out in the roof of a Toys R Us after escaping from prison.

Question: Blue Valentine was praised by critics and received multiple award nominations. Did you feel like you had ‘arrived’ as a director after it debuted?

Cianfrance: I don’t believe in arrival points. It’s a journey. That hasn’t changed for me. That’s why I feel so connected to my 6-year-old inner child—because I’m doing the same process I’ve done forever.

When you experience success, it removes barriers, which can be dangerous. Resistance and rejection are blessings—because they force growth. Blue Valentine took 11 years because I needed that time. By the last draft, I was married with kids, so I could tell the story authentically.

Question: Many people aspire to become a screenwriter or director but success eludes them. What do you believe helped you break through?

Cianfrance: Focusing on the work—not ego. I never cared about seeing my name on a marquee—only the movie’s name. It’s about staying true to your inner voice. Success and failure both come, so keep swinging.

Question: Even today, rejection comes with the territory as a recognized director?

Cianfrance: That’s the life of a filmmaker. You’re just knocking on doors and saying, ‘Do you want to buy this idea that I have?’

No one’s ever asking for those (films). Like, no one was asking for Blue Valentine. No one was asking for Roofman. Those were things where I found myself in a story and then you have to get excited about them.

I always feel like making movies is like the energy source. It’s the sun. When I see an energy source that I’m attracted to, I start orbiting it. And my job is to pay so much attention to it that other people start to pay attention to it as well, because you can’t do it alone.

It’s not like being a painter or a writer. You can write all by yourself, but to be a filmmaker, you need so many people. It costs so much money and there’s so many different elements involved.

That process has not changed at all for me. Roofman, Brother Tied, Blue Valentine—every movie I’ve ever made is pretty much the same. What has happened to me, though, is actors like Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams believed in me—and because they believed in me, with the performances they delivered in Blue Valentine—that meant other actors would then trust me. And so, I think a definition of my work has really been about the quality, the vulnerability and the courage of the performances.

CU Boulder alumnus Derek Cianfrance (right) praises the vulnerability and courage of the performances from actors with whom he's worked (including Kirsten Dunst, left, in Roofman).

I don’t want to say I’ve arrived as a director, but that’s been the thing that allowed me to make the films that I’ve been able to make. Without my actors, I’m nothing.

Question: Today, what attracts you to a movie project?

Cianfrance: Family stories. Movies feel voyeuristic—about secrets, flaws and relationships. I’m interested in impossible choices and consequences. My films reflect my life: Blue Valentine came from being a child watching my parents’ marriage; Roofman reflects on being a father.

Question:Can you name a creative decision that you made as a director that scared you at the time but that you’re proud of now?

Cianfrance: Roofman, as a whole. It pushed me out of my comfort zone—I aimed for a tone that was sad and sweet, not just dark. It was terrifying but rewarding.

Question:If you had unlimited resources and no commercial expectations, what kind of movie would you make?

Cianfrance: Honestly, I’ve had that once, with HBO’s I Know This Much Is True. But limitations often create magic. Throwing money at problems isn’t always good.

Question:Are there any film genres you’d still like to explore?

Cianfrance: Horror. That’s how I got into movies—Creepshow was my first VHS obsession. Horror allows limitless experimentations in form. That excites me. You can go anywhere with a horror movie.

Question:If you could give two or three bullet points of advice for today’s CU Boulder film students, what would it be?

Cianfrance: Stay close to your friends. Help each other make things—you can’t do it alone. Get comfortable with rejection—it’s 99% of the process, so learn from it without losing your voice. And have a life—movies about movies aren’t enough.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about cinema studies and moving image arts? Show your support.

On campus on Wednesday for a screening of his movie Roofman, CU Boulder alum Derek Cianfrance praises the professors who mentored him and talks about what motivates him today as a filmmaker.

Traditional

White

Top photo: Derek Cianfrance (right, baseball cap) on the set of Roofman with actor Channing Tatum (in orange). (All photos courtesy Derek Cianfrance)

Exploring the changing politics of science

Rachel Sauer — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 14:50:58 +0000

Exploring the changing politics of science Rachel Sauer Tue, 04/15/2025 - 08:50

Students invited to enjoy a slice and discuss interaction of science policy and politics at Pizza & Politics event April 21

A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in October 2024 found that 76% of Americans express “a great deal or fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests.” That’s the good news. The not-do-good news is that number is down from 86% in January 2019.

Also, the same study found that 48% of respondents feel scientists should “focus on establishing sound scientific facts and stay out of public policy debates.”

So, these are interesting times at the nexus of science policy and politics. This will be the theme of the Politics & Pizza discussion from 6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 21, in HUMN 250.

If you go

What: Politics & Pizza, "Science Policy and Politics"

When: 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 21

Where: HUMN 250

Free Cosmo's pizza!

The aim of the Politics & Pizza discussion series—which was initiated and will be moderated by Glen Krutz, a professor of political science—is to “encourage productive, substantive deliberation of specific topics, rather than rancorous and ideological macro-thoughts.”

Politics & Pizza, which includes free Cosmo’s pizza, is modeled on similar sessions offered in Harvard �Թ��’s Institute of Politics. Each session features expert speakers who give a few introductory thoughts about the session’s topic and then open the session to a question-and-answer with students.

In the sessions, which are designed to be highly interactive with the student audience, the panel of experts individually make initial comments on the session topic.

“However, the majority of the time is spent in questions and answers in a lively, interactive format that often induces nice interaction between the experts as well,” Krutz says. “The panelists can also ask questions of one another and feel free to banter as they wish.”

The expert panel for the Science Policy and Politics discussion will be Michael Detamore, alumnus of CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) and director of the Translational Medicine Institute and professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering at Colorado State �Թ��; Lori Hunter, director of the CU Boulder Institute of Behavioral Science and professor of sociology; Keith Molenaar, dean of the CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) and K. Stanton Lewis Professor of Construction Engineering and Management; and Massimo Ruzzene, CU Boulder senior vice chancellor for Research & Innovation (RIO), dean of the Institutes and Slade Professor of Engineering.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about political science? Show your support.

Students invited to enjoy a slice and discuss interaction of science policy and politics at Pizza & Politics event April 21.

Traditional

White

Come for the cheese and pepperoni, stay for the lively political discussion

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 19:38:10 +0000

Come for the cheese and pepperoni, stay for the lively political discussion Rachel Sauer Wed, 03/05/2025 - 12:38

Politics & Pizza event March 17 will let students and experts discuss the relationship between business and politics

Many noteworthy images of the current political moment have included titans of business—in the Oval Office, speaking at a recent Cabinet meeting, gathered around the U.S. president during Inaugural events.

The relationship between business and politics has long been a fraught topic of discussion and, sometimes, contention—perhaps never more so than now.

If you go

What: Politics & Pizza, "The Business of Politics"

When: 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. March 17

Where: Muenzinger E0046

Free Cosmo's pizza!

Learn more

This will be the topic of the first Politics & Pizza event this semester from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. March 17 in Muenzinger E0046. The discussion will explore the proper relationship of business leaders and organizations to politics and the political system.

“These events are meant to help CU students sink their minds into key, specific political issues while they are sinking their teeth into delicious pizza!” Krutz says. “The other main goal is to have experts get the discussion started, but then to very much have a discussion between the students and one another and the students and the experts. The interaction piece is central, rather than a one-way information flow that sometimes we see at talks on university campuses.”

Politics & Pizza, which includes free Cosmo’s pizza, is modeled on similar sessions offered in Harvard �Թ��’s Institute of Politics. Each session will feature expert speakers who give a few introductory thoughts about the session’s topic and then open the session to a question-and-answer with students.

The theme of the Pizza & Politics event March 17 is “The Business of Politics,” with panelists Scott Flanders, a former CEO of eHealth, Playboy Enterprises Inc., Freedom Communications Inc. and Columbia House Company and board member for Fathom Holdings Inc., Fellow Health and 890 5^th Avenue; Paula Hildebrandt, former vice president for corporate development and integration planning with FedEx Corp. and former economic research associate with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City; Taylor Jaworski, CU Boulder associate professor of economics; Midge Korczak, former executive director of the Boulder County Bar Association; and Brian Morgan, founder and CEO of Ranch Bucket Brands.

Upcoming Politics & Pizza events will focus on current topics including science and politics.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about political science? Show your support.

Politics & Pizza event March 17 will let students and experts discuss the relationship between business and politics.

Traditional

White

Schmooze-a-Palooza to celebrate community, song and Hebrew

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 19:19:24 +0000

Schmooze-a-Palooza to celebrate community, song and Hebrew Rachel Sauer Fri, 02/28/2025 - 12:19

CU Boulder event, now in its 11th year, will schmooze it up on March 12

For the past decade, Hebrew classes at the �Թ�� of Colorado Boulder have hosted a novel event described as a rite of passage: the Schmooze-a-Palooza—part concert, part community building and part celebration of Hebrew and song.

The 11^th-annual Schmooze-a-Palooza will be held at 6:30 pm Wednesday, March 12, in UMC Room 235. Anyone with an interest in Hebrew is invited.

What: 11th-annual Schmooze-a-Palooza

When: 6:30 p.m. March 12

Where: UMC Room 235

Who: Anyone with an interest in Hebrew is invited.

Led by Eyal Rivlin, a teaching professor of Hebrew language in the Program in Jewish Studies and a professional musician, students in each class prepare a well-loved song in Hebrew—memorizing it, dressing up, creating a dance and performing it in front of their peers.

Having taught in different capacities for more than 30 years, Rivlin wanted to extend learning beyond the classroom, help the different classes connect and inspire lifelong friendships.

“When we show up in creative and expressive manners, with permission to embody our inner rockstar, a vulnerability is tapped which sets the groundwork for connecting at deeper levels,” says Rivlin. “It is clear to me that in 20 years from now, many of my students will remember singing with their friends, taking a risk and showing up together and having fun in the context of learning a language.”

Through the years, the concert has expanded and now, in addition to class performances, Jewish Studies faculty offer a song from the stage, some students volunteer to perform solos and duets of their favorite Hebrew songs and members of the local Hebrew-speaking community prepare a song as well. This year there is even talk about a flash-mob dance, Rivlin says.

Students have said that the event is a highlight of their CU journey. Songs are a great way to expand vocabulary and memorize sentences and expressions. They also offer the community a taste of different cultural themes and musical styles.

This annual live concert is free and an opportunity to meet new friends, learn some Hebrew expressions and cheer fellow Buffs, Rivlin says.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about Jewish studies? Show your support.

CU Boulder event, now in its 11th year, will schmooze it up on March 12.

Traditional

White

Working with Data for Social Change symposium set for March 14

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 18:15:53 +0000

Working with Data for Social Change symposium set for March 14 Rachel Sauer Fri, 02/28/2025 - 11:15

The all-day event will bring together local and national scholars engaged in digital public humanities projects to advocate for social change

The Data Advocacy for All project on the �Թ�� of Colorado Boulder campus is sponsoring a one-day Working with Data for Social Change symposium March 14.

This all-day event brings together local and national scholars engaged in digital public humanities projects to advocate for social change and who have worked to strengthen ethical data humanities education in higher education, said Laurie Gries, associate professor of English and director of the Program for Writing and Rhetoric, who is spearheading the symposium.

What: Working with Data for Social Change symposium

When: March 14

Where: In-person at CASE KOBL 140 and online; register here

All faculty, staff and students who want to learn more about the data humanities are invited.

The symposium aims not only to demonstrate and underscore the value of data advocacy research for the humanities at large, but also to generate collective ideas as to how to data advocacy education can be enhanced across the disciplines in higher education, according to Gries.

She said she believes the symposium will be of interest to faculty, staff and students who want to learn more about the data humanities and, more particularly, about data advocacy as a focus of research and/or pedagogy. Those interested in attending in-person or via Zoom can register here.

The symposium will feature scholars and activists from around the country, including Melissa Borja, Nasreen Abd Elal and Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla, who have advocated with data for social change on projects including the Virulent Hate Project, Visualizing Palestine and Torn Apart/Separados, respectively. Additionally, Gries will talk about her data-driven project, the Swastika Counter Project, which was recently profiled in Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine.

Gries said the symposium also will feature scholars who have worked intently to build data humanities education within and beyond the CU Boulder campus. For instance, in addition to featured speaker Melanie Walsh discussing the Responsible Data Sets in Context project, David Glimp, Nathan Pieplow and other CU Boulder and CU Denver professors will speak about their efforts to train students how to engage data through critical, humanistic frameworks and how to use data effectively to address matters of significance to them and their communities.

Speaking of Gries’ efforts to spearhead the symposium, Glimp said, “Laurie has assembled a terrific team of collaborators to develop her vision of not only cultivating data literacy among our students but also equipping students with the tools to argue with data. By ‘arguing with data,’ I mean both being able to identify and assess all the ways data-backed arguments can mislead or go wrong, and being able to craft effective, responsible arguments with data about matters of the greatest urgency for our world.”

The Data Advocacy for All project was the recipient of a $300,000 CU Next Award in May 2022.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about writing and rhetoric? Show your support.

The all-day event will bring together local and national scholars engaged in digital public humanities projects to advocate for social change.

Traditional

White

Learning about the beginning of the universe in trillions of degrees

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:09:52 +0000

Learning about the beginning of the universe in trillions of degrees Rachel Sauer Thu, 01/23/2025 - 17:09

CU Boulder Professor Jamie Nagle will discuss the quarks and gluons that formed at the Big Bang in his Distinguished Research Lecture Feb. 6

Ten trillion degrees Fahrenheit is unfathomably hot—more than 10,000 times hotter than the Sun’s core—and it’s the temperature of the universe just moments after the Big Bang. At such extreme temperatures, according to nuclear theory, ordinary matter made of protons and neutrons transforms into a plasma of fundamental particles called quarks and gluons.

Jamie Nagle, a CU Boulder professor of physics, will discuss his research to unlock the secrets of the early universe in his Distinguished Research Lecture Feb. 6.

At the world’s most powerful accelerators, scientists recreate tiny droplets of this early-universe matter by colliding heavy nuclei at near-light speeds. One of these scientists is Jamie Nagle, a �Թ�� of Colorado Boulder professor of physics who for 20 years has studied these fleeting droplets and, along with his research group, engineered their shapes, sizes and temperatures to better understand their properties.

Nagle will discuss this work in the 125th Distinguished Research Lecture, “10 Trillion Degrees: Unlocking the Secrets of the Early Universe,” at 4 p.m. Feb. 6. in the �Թ��'s Hall and Auditorium of the Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE).

�Թ�� Jamie Nagle

Nagle has spent much of his career investigating the early universe through high-energy nuclear physics. His research has focused on understanding the quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter theorized to have existed just microseconds after the Big Bang.

“As you go back to about six microseconds after the universe started, the temperature was around two trillion Kelvin,” Nagle explains. “It was theorized that protons and neutrons inside of nuclei would melt away, creating a bath of more fundamental particles—quarks and gluons.”

Nagle's work involves recreating droplets of this quark-gluon plasma in a laboratory by colliding large nuclei at nearly the speed of light. These collisions occur at the world’s highest-energy accelerators, including the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“In the world's highest-energy accelerators, we can collide very large nuclei like gold, lead or platinum at such high velocities that we create a tiny droplet of this 2 trillion Kelvin plasma,” he says.

If you go

What: 125th Distinguished Research Lecture, 10 Trillion Degrees: Unlocking the Secrets of the Early Universe

Who: Professor Jamie Nagle of the Department of Physics

When: 4-5 p.m. Feb. 6, followed by a Q&A and reception

Where: �Թ��'s Hall and Auditorium, Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE)

Reflecting on the award, Nagle expresses gratitude and a sense of accomplishment: “It means a lot to me. You get to a certain middle age and are more self-confident, but this recognition feels rewarding. There's a lot of effort, and much of the hard work goes unnoticed. It’s nice to feel like the fruits of that labor are appreciated.”

The Distinguished Research Lectureship also emphasizes communicating complex scientific concepts to broader audiences. For Nagle, this is a vital part of his work: “This award is very meaningful to me because I often listen to the lectures of past recipients. It's about communicating the broader context of why this scientific research is important, not just within the microcosm of nuclear physics.”

�Թ�� the Distinguished Research Lectureship

Read the original article from the Department of Physics

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to our newsletter. Passionate about physics? Show your support.

CU Boulder Professor Jamie Nagle will discuss the quarks and gluons that formed at the Big Bang in his Distinguished Research Lecture Feb. 6.

Traditional

White

Events

What’s that knocking in the trees?

Related Articles

Exhibit invites participants to imagine worlds

Related Articles

Researcher addresses the challenges of species survival

Related Articles

Exhibit celebrates Black Panther Party in stories and portraits

Related Articles

Filmmaker charts path from rented cameras to Hollywood marquees

Related Articles

Exploring the changing politics of science

Related Articles

Come for the cheese and pepperoni, stay for the lively political discussion

Related Articles

Schmooze-a-Palooza to celebrate community, song and Hebrew

Related Articles

Working with Data for Social Change symposium set for March 14

Related Articles

Learning about the beginning of the universe in trillions of degrees

Related Articles