Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Abigael Elizabeth is an indie folk singer songwriter based in Colorado. Her music weaves a sonic tapestry of emotional storytelling exploring themes of love, loss, and healing. Embracing the full spectrum of human experience, Abigael's music is a reminder of the beauty that can emerge from feeling it all. On a mission to deeply understand love in all of its expressions, Abigael hopes that her music will offer solace and joy to her listeners, and ultimately contribute to the vision of a more loving and compassionate world. 

Christopher Morse is a Boulder-based singer/songwriter who blends folk and indie-pop with honest, heartfelt storytelling. He graced the Carnegie Hall stage with the American Boychoir before finding his own voice as a songwriter shaped by John Mayer. He’s since performed everywhere from Rockwood Music Hall in NYC to the Boulder Theater. Morse’s shows are engaging, fun, and deeply moving, leaving audiences feeling connected and part of the story.

Three lefts makes it right, right? We’re Third Turn, a three-piece jam group from Fort Collins, Colorado. We fuse rock, jazz, reggae, funk, disco, and more with our singer/songwriter style tunes, and throw in some tasteful covers as well. Each set is completely different so you’ll never see anything like the last. Currently making our way around local Colorado venues, Third Turn plans to expand more and more with every show so don’t miss our unique set when we’re in town!

"Through the efforts of local organizing groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Earth Angels Act - as well as creatives from the Denver/Boulder area - present Creatives for Palestine: A Benefit Show. This concert and art event will raise money for families in Gaza and build solidarity within our local community. Diva Cup, Nionea, and Calamity Fever will be performing their music alongside local art vendors to raise funds that will provide Palestinian families with vital resources to survive the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

For fans of Educated and The Glass Castle, a former music industry insider’s journey of healing—from childhood trauma through spiritual practices and self-discovery to a place of peace—with some incredible celebrity encounters along the way.

My Pretty Baby is a transformative memoir that chronicles Wendy Correa’s journey to heal from childhood traumas, including the death of her father when she was seven, emotionally distant older siblings, a frequently neglectful mother, and an adventurous yet violent, alcoholic stepfather. It is a story of not belonging, and the eventual healing that comes from building a chosen family.

After escaping her turbulent home life, Wendy’s path of self-discovery takes her through Buddhism, meditation, plant medicine, yoga, nature, Native American spirituality, 12-Step programs, and psychotherapy. Native American sweat lodge and vision quest ceremonies further strengthen her sobriety and mental well-being.

Along the way, extraordinary experiences unfold. She stands on the Rose Bowl stage singing “Give Peace a Chance” with rock ’n’ roll royalty, attends AA meetings with legendary musicians while working at A&M and Geffen Records, and even gets to hang out with her musical hero, Joni Mitchell. 

 

Wendy’s life takes a new turn when she moves to Aspen and becomes a radio DJ and assistant to gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson. There, she meets her future husband and begins to build the family she’s always longed for-but despite her newfound peace, she is repeatedly drawn back into her family of origins dysfunction. It’s only after her mother’s death that Wendy uncovers a painful family secret that finally answers her lifelong question: What really happened to my family?

Wendy B. Correa is a writer, yogi, hiker, as well as a licensed massage therapist. She has worked in the film, television, multimedia, and music industries in Los Angeles and later as a radio DJ in Aspen, Colorado. She holds bachelor’s degrees in psychology and theater arts and has contributed articles to Mothering magazine.

A wife and mother, she resides in Denver, Colorado, and loves traveling to magical destinations with her family. My Pretty Baby is her debut book. For more information, visit www.wendybcorrea.com.

Carving out a space that is wholly her own in the folk music community, Emily Barnes is a contemporary singer-songwriter known for her haunting vocals and vivid storytelling. Hailing from a town so small it isn't found on most maps, Barnes built her following the old fashioned way, one room, one story, and one listener at a time. With a voice that cuts to the bone and songs that tug on the heartstrings, Barnes writes and performs songs that feel both intimately personal and universally human.

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.

Alex was born and raised in Boise, ID, where he was cradled by the mountains yet challenged by tumultuous political landscapes. These conditions shaped the artist, activist, poet, teacher, and musician he is today. From a young age, Alex never lacked inspiration to seek refuge in his music, and tales of his youth navigating this dichotomy often find their way into his songwriting.

After moving to Colorado in 2019, Alex turned his determined—and sometimes hell-bent—spirit toward honing the craft of songwriting. Driving this pursuit was a combination of finding his own voice and a lifelong passion for cultivating community through art and music.

As a multi-instrumentalist, long-time classical bassist, and folk enthusiast, Alex weaves influences from multitudes of genres, always centering on storytelling and the truth of lived experience. Listeners will hear absorbing lyricism, nostalgic melodies, and pure authenticity on his full-length debut album,Accomplice, and his recent EP,Gone With the Sun. On both of these releases, he collaborated with recording mastermind, producer, and musician Mark Anderson at Anderson's studio and cassette record label, Cowboy Cowbunga, located in Evergreen, CO.

MELLIK

Reared in the Connecticut woods (and water) and raised on a healthy 6-disc diet of the Beatles, Bruce, Sheryl, and Stevie (Wonder and Nicks), Mellik found songwriting in his early teens. In search of more space, Mellik took his guitar to Denver, lured by vast western skies, pork green chile and a chance at chosen family. As an indie folk/rock artist, a taurus and a golden boy, Mellik’s songs welcome you to the dinner table, keep your glass full and invite you to the sunset stoop–bright and buzzy over the city smog and cicadas. He is one half of The Non-Renewed, a duo that released their self-titled 8-track album in 2024. The band has been featured by KGNU, CPR and even received a shout out by NPR Tiny Desk for their 2025 Tiny Desk Performance. Mellik is venturing out on his own–diving back into the waters of early childhood and making sense of love and life as a trans man in a world that would rather see him eradicated, through the essence of Andy Shauf, Big Thief, boygenius and the like. 

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Author of the popular New York Times articles "Is It a Crush or Have You Fallen Into Limerence?" and "Does My Virginity Have a Shelf Life?" Amanda McCracken shares her honest, funny, and at times heartbreaking story of learning how to seek true love and intimacy.

Journalist and late-in-life virgin Amanda McCracken dated over 100 men by the time she was in her late thirties. She was so certain she was doing everything she could to find the loving, lasting relationship she wanted. So why wasn’t it working? After another breakdown in her therapist’s office, she came to a startling realization: she was addicted to longing.

This realization was part of a 10-year journey to understand the cultural, neurological, and psychological factors that shaped her beliefs about love, sex, and commitment. She began to understand that longing for someone feels good. It can even feel better than being in a secure relationship. Longing can provide a sense of control when life is uncertain and offers a safe place to hide from emotional vulnerability, especially in today’s online dating and hookup world. But longing can trigger an addictive neurochemical boost that can derail us from forming healthy, intimate relationships.

In this searingly honest book, Amanda shares the crushes, relationships, situationships, travel, friendships, hookups, bad dates, wins, losses, and brushes with fate that came with her journey.  Starting with her early childhood hero fantasies and how they evolved in her tween and teen years into a commitment to the purity movement espoused at her church, she chronicles her profound longing for love that led her to her lowest point. She provides a deep, exploratory look into the state of mind known as limerence: an obsessive rumination on an idealized version of someone. Amanda weaves together her personal journey with research, storytelling, soul-searching questions, and quotes from experts and nonexperts alike to reveal the addictive nature of longing while providing hope through her journey of breaking her patterns and ultimately choosing the path towards healthy, authentic intimacy.

Amanda McCracken is a journalist passionate about experiences that highlight the intersection of wellness, travel, and relationships. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Vogue, National Geographic, Elle, NPR, Outside, ESPN, SELF, Runner’s World, and many others. She published her first article about longing in 2013, which led to additional articles featuring personal anecdotes and deep research and interviews with the BBC and Katie Couric. She is now considered a “limerence expert” and intimacy advocate. Her 2023 TED Talk, “How Longing Keeps Us From Healthy Relationships,” and her podcast, The Longing Lab, highlight how longing can become self sabotaging and shares how to change our patterns of longing. McCracken is also a part-time university instructor, massage therapist, triathlon coach, and competitive athlete. Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, McCracken put down roots with her husband and daughter in Boulder, Colorado, after a trip around the world aboard the Peace Boat. 

"Corsicana’s songs are soaring and magnetic. Bird bones aren’t actually hollow, they are interwoven with pockets for air to flow through as an extension of the lungs. Language in Ben’s music are those pockets of breath carrying us higher and higher, allowing us to take flight. And in the glide, there is pensiveness and longing. There is introspection and flagellation. There are mantras and the ways they don’t work. The realization that you must become your own person after allowing yourself to be defined by others. The realization that your parents are just as messed up as you are. The shock of aloneness and the relief of freedom. You could almost call it growing up - except it's the kind of growing up we have to do every day. A relentless honesty that comes through the associations of egrets and fathers, of turnpikes and lovers, of falling and flying." - Gion Davis

Mantisgrove is the project of Seth Leininger, blending synthpop, surf rock, shoegaze, and psychedelic textures into immersive soundscapes. After a decade as a lead guitarist in psych bands (Elk Tongue, Harriman Exit), Seth launched Mantisgrove in 2017 to explore a more expansive, emotional sonic palette.

Live, Mantisgrove delivers a dynamic mix of instruments and manipulated backing tracks, with Seth on vocals, guitar, keys, and samples, joined by Will Hartigan (bass/synth) and rotating collaborators. The result is a textured performance that moves both body and mind.

Morgan McHugh is an indie folk singer-songwriter from Bellingham WA. Growing up, immersed in a family and community of musicians, he has been playing the piano, the guitar, and writing songs from a young age. His music has been inspired by artists like Neil Young, John Prine, and Gregory Alan Isakov. Morgan's self reflective words and melodies will take you on an emotional journey of his travels, love and heartache, and the hardships the human experience.

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin Tavarez.

​​Hilary Giovale is a mother, writer, community organizer, and facilitator who lives on Hopi, Diné, Apache, and Havasupai land in Flagstaff, Arizona.  A ninth-generation American settler, she is descended from Celtic, Germanic, Nordic, and Indigenous peoples of Ancient Europe.  Hilary seeks to follow Indigenous and Black leadership in support of human rights, environmental justice, and equitable futures.  As an active reparationist, her work is guided by intuition, love, and relationships.  She divests from whiteness and bridges divides with truth, healing, apology, and forgiveness.  She is the author of the award-winning book Becoming a Good Relative: Calling White Settlers toward Truth, Healing, and Repair.  Learn more about her work at goodrelative.com.

“Hilary Giovale initiates white, European-descended people into the work of stepping into their collective power to dream and to build a different way of living. She provides knowledge and actions white settlers can use to reclaim their full humanity.” - Dr. Anita Sanchez, Nahua (Aztec and Toltec), Award-Winning Author of The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times

“In a world built on and still profiting from slavery, genocide, as well as other forms of incomprehensible settler violence, Hilary offers the most sane advice - to lean into that which gives life: community, our planet, and the ways of being interconnected.” - Dr. David Ragland, Co-Founder and Co-ED, The Truth Telling Project; Director, Grassroots Reparations Campaign; Lecturer on Reparations as Spiritual Practice, Harvard Divinity School

Dr. Anita Sanchez: Anita Sanchez, PhD, Nahua (Aztec), Toltec and Mexican American, is a consultant, trainer, coach and speaker to Fortune 500 companies, education and non-profit organizations.  For decades Anita bridges indigenous wisdom and science for individual to societal renewal focusing on leadership, diversity, inclusion, belonging  and cultural transformation.www.SanchezTennis.com   Board member of Bioneers and member of the Evolutionary Leaders and Transformational Leadership Council. Anita is an Elder Council member of The Wellbeing Project, Wisdom Weavers of the World, Earth Rise Collective and the Fire Circle Earth.  Author of seven books including international award-winning book, The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times, Simon & Schuster.  www.FourSacredGifts.com  Recent awards include 2022 Mogul’s Top 100 DEI Leaders, 2020 Conscious Company Media “World Changing Woman” and 2020 World Woman’s Foundation “Woman of the Hour” #SheisMyHero campaign to inspire one million girls to live their dreams and leadership. Anita leads an annual journey into the sacred headwaters of the Amazon each year. 

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"With humble roots in an unheated backyard shed, Boulder-based Jehovah's Fitness Club brings an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, blues and Latin sounds to the local scene. With eight enthused musicians at its core, JFC has a budding track record of putting on a lighthearted and energetic show, drawing crowds in venues like Larimer Lounge and Trident Booksellers and Cafe. Known for their seamless improvisation, tight musical synergy, and a touch of mirth, they blend spontaneity and groove creating a unique live experience every time they take the stage. JFC's recent EP "Household Name" was released in Spring 2025. Come witness the fitness!"

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Dan Beachy-Quick is a poet, essayist, and translator whose most recent book, Elements & Offerings, is now out from LSU Press. His work has been supported by the Monfort, Lannan, and Guggenheim Foundations. He teaches at Colorado State University, where he is a University Distinguished Teaching Scholar.

About Elements & Offerings:

Elements & Offerings Dan Beachy-Quick DESCRIPTION The poet Paul Celan noted that, in his view of language, thinking and thanking are cognate, innately connected in their roots and connotations. Elements & Offerings, a new collection of poems by Dan Beachy-Quick, is a book-length poetic investigation of that hope—that to think is to learn to thank; that to thank is to learn to think. The first two sections seek a way to work toward poetic origins, taking inspiration from the alphabet, first philosophy, grammar, and prophecy; the last section offers poems composed over many years, simple gifts of gratitude to teachers and friends.

Jackson Holte is a musician, writer, and mule packer. His first solo record, Sky Blues, will be released on October 17th. In 2025, he won the Wyoming Singer-Songwriter Competition and the Montana Quarterly’s Big Snowy Prize for creative non-fiction.

Sky Blues is cinematic folk music, a loosely autobiographical concept album about  what Marilynne Robinson called "the attentive quiet at the center of Western life" and Tom Edwards called "the hush of the land." The twelve collected songs are alluring, unadorned, patient, spacious, rarely sympathetic, devotional.

“I love the contemporary songwriters doing this kind of thing like Gregory Alan Isakov and Jeffrey Foucault, but Sky Blues is just as much influenced by prose authors like Mark Spragg, Gretel Ehrlich, and Ivan Doig,” Holte says. “The record is decidedly Western, but we really worked to keep it subtle and grounded. Singing these songs feels good. They’ve got the breath of the land and space for me to move around in them.”

 Hailing from the Northeastern states, Tyler John Kraehling has been traveling through the country with eyes open, taking stock of the lives of the people who inhabit it. Drenched in the tradition of American troubadours, he tells stories that speak to the novelties and banalities of what it means to walk this earth. Living everywhere from Los Angeles, New York City, Idaho, Vermont, Texas and most recently Montana, he boasts a claim that he is in a unique company of travelers who are qualified to tell the stories they do, with the universe of detail they do. His fingerpicking styles range from the folk staples of John Prine and Townes Van Zandt to the country-blues of legends Furry Lewis, Taj Mahal and Chris Smither. Armed with songs that will make you feel the full spectrum of emotion, and with clothes and guitars that are mostly second-hand; his songs are anything but.

John Shepherd combines a rich fingerstyle guitar technique with intimate vocal deliveries. Heavily influenced by ’60s and ‘70s acoustic artists, his diverse catalog includes covers of singer/songwriters of the last 60 years along with originals that tell universal tales of life with observations and perspectives that turn the mundane into the mystical.

 mud & marrow is an eco-feminist world-folk band from Denver, Colorado who intertwine West African percussion, thick vocal harmonies, and political consciousness, with a vibe similar to Rising Appalachia. Their songwriting is all original and with revolutionary intent; their music is invigorating for body, mind, and spirit.  Audiences are moved by their powerful poetry, energy, unique instrumentation, and the refreshing inclusion of many kinds of musicians.  mud & marrow has recently played the Denver Botanic Gardens al fresco series, Georgetown Mountain Jams, Manos Sagrados, The Roxy on Broadway, and many more.  Come dance and connect in community!

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.

Iago Haussman is THE SPIKES. A singer, songwriter, poet from Rome Italy, who is currently living and recording in the United States. THE SPIKES debut, a self-titled EP, featured the much talked about single, GUNS FOR THE CHILDREN. His latest LP, the critically acclaimed FIRST LIGHT, has been praised by music publications worldwide. THE SPIKES music video for GARDEN SONG continues to rise beyond 120k viewers on YouTube. Iago Haussman is also a painter and sculptor, whose work has shown in galleries. He co-founded the punk band Delicate Prey at age 16. THE SPIKES music is available on Apple music and Spotify. The Spikes’ First Light is a rare gem: unsettling yet tender, cinematic yet intimate. It doesn’t just mark a new chapter for the band—it feels like the start of something luminous rising from the dark. -Music Crowns

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

A book of criticism, Radical ​Poetics: Essays on Literature & Culture, was published by the Poets on Poetry Series at University of Michigan Press in January 2025. With K. Ibura, she co-edited Infinite Constellations (FC2 2023), an anthology of speculative writing by authors from the global majority. Her most recent poetry book is Anodyne (Tin House 2020), a ​finalist for the Colorado Book Award and winner of the William Carlos ​Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. Her fifth book, I'm ​So Fine: A List of Famous Men & What I Had On (YesYes Books 2017), ​was praised in O Magazine, The New Yorker, Rain Taxi, and elsewhere ​as “quietly devastating” and “a portrait of defiance that turns the male ​gaze inside out.”

Her verse play Non-Sequitur (Litmus Press 2015) won ​the Leslie Scalapino Award for Innovative Women's Performance ​Writing, which included a full production at Theaterlab in New ​York City, directed by Fiona Templeton and performed by The ​Relationship theater company. A zuihitsu about the pandemic, ​“False Dawn,” appeared in Harper’s Magazine, was named a Notable ​Essay of 2020 and ​was reprinted in the anthology Bigger Than Bravery (2023), edited by Valerie Boyd. Individual ​poems, interviews, and essays appear in Ploughshares, American ​Poetry Review, The Georgia Review, The Believer, Orion, Fence, Poetry,​ Yale Review, The Offing, The Poetry Review (UK), and widely ​elsewhere. In 2022, she was awarded a Disability Futures fellowship from United States Artists. A Cave Canem alum and Civitella Ranieri Fellow, she holds a PhD in ​English and Literary Arts from University of Denver. As a creative writing professor, she has taught American literature, poetics, and all genres of ​creative writing at University of Colorado at Boulder, Regis University, and Virginia Tech. In 2025, she received the Cy Twombly Award for Poetry from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. She is currently writing a new book of poetry and a collection of travel essays.

Praise for BETWEEN THE DEVIL & THE DEEP BLUE SEA

“Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a large-hearted, compulsively readable memoir shot through with courage and razor-sharp intelligence. Queen’s magnificent personal reckoning helps me to ponder what new forms of relation might be possible between ourselves, our nation, and the many institutions charged with stewarding the common good.”―TRACY K. SMITH, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, author of Life on Mars and Wade in the Water

Filmmaker Support Group

Sponsored by the Boulder County Film Commission, these free events are designed to provide creative support for Boulder-area filmmakers! Maybe you'd like some feedback on a project you're working on, or perhaps you're stuck and need an idea for how to transition from this to that, or - well, you get the idea. We're here for you; let's be there for each other! Bring a script, a rough cut, an idea, or any creative problem.

Who Should Attend these Support Groups?

These events are great if you're a filmmaker and working on a project and would like some feedback, are stuck on a project and need some inspiration, want to connect with other filmmakers, or simply want to see and hear what other Boulder filmmakers are working on.

What To Bring?

You should come with a great attitude, no ego, and the excitement of wanting to talk with others about their, and your own, projects. We will be using the Trident's built-in AV system, which consists of a projector, screen, microphone, and their PA system.

Want to show a clip?

PLEASE upload the file in advance of the meeting so we can have it all set up and ready to go if selected.

Location

This event is being generously hosted by the Trident Cafe and Booksellers, located on the west end of Pearl Street. They will have a cash bar, with beer and wine for sale, along with other non-alcoholic drinks, including coffee! PLEASE NOTE: these events are held outside on the back patio of the Trident, so please bring a jacket if you think you might get cold, especially as it gets later in the evening.

Facilitator

Rob Shearer is an award-winning filmmaker based in Denver, Colorado. His work ranges from narrative and documentary projects to corporate videos and commercials. With a passion for creating original and compelling content, he is constantly finding ways to translate a client’s product or brand into an engaging story.

Rob has produced videos for clients like Weber Grills, Gogo Business Aviation, Einstein Bros Bagels, and Rocky Mountain PBS, to name a few. His work has been screened at the Denver Film Festival, the Big Bear Lake Film Festival, and the American Pavilion at the Festival de Cannes, and his documentary series “Denizen” is shown regularly on Colorado PBS.

Having served as President of the Colorado Film And Video Association from 2020 to 2022, Rob has a dedicated interest in growing the local film scene.

Andy Beyer is a Boulder-based singer-songwriter whose intricate acoustic guitar work and warm, expressive vocals draw comparisons to James Taylor, Jeff Buckley, and the acoustic moments of Led Zeppelin. Originally from Boston, Andy blends a wide palette of influences—Celtic phrasing, Indian classical ornamentation, country lilt, neo-Americana textures, and even touches of heavy metal—into a fluid style rooted in storytelling and emotional resonance. His songwriting nods to artists like Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Steve Goodman, and Nanci Griffith, weaving themes of friendship, nature, loss, spirituality, and rebirth.

Andy has performed onWFMT’s Folk Stage, atAnimas City Theatre, and—through earlier electronic projects—venues includingLarimer Lounge,Cervantes,andArise Festival. Listeners consistently respond to his guitar finesse, vocal purity, and the subtle, grounding energy that flows through his performances.

Haven Slay makes sound-healing music rooted in peace, presence, and emotional honesty. Blending elements of country, bluegrass, blues, folk, pop, and reggae, the Colorado-based singer-songwriter creates songs that feel both grounding and expansive—music meant to soothe, uplift, and connect.

Haven Slay currently has three singles available on streaming platforms and select radio stations: How It Feels to Be Free, Alabama Sugar, and Lovin’ Ain’t Free. Additional recordings are planned for release in 2026 as the project continues to grow and evolve.

Alan Warder is an original songwriter and guitarist blending elements of folk and blues, crafting a sound that is familiar yet entirely his own. He composes his music with a cultivated palette of contrasting rhythmic influences, chord progressions and moods.

Distilled moments of personal inspiration weave through Alan’s decades-long songwriting catalogue. Each song explores a new vision of beauty, providing accompaniment to the search for truth and transformation.

Alan writes to speak what often goes unsaid, question our social and societal beliefs, and shed light on the subtle patterns of human experience. His poetic, lyrical imagery calls us to listen closely for our inner knowing; to find ourselves “wandering wider awake.”

alanwarder.com

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Magic Mountain Talks presents:

Tony Tulathimutte is the author of Private Citizens and Rejection, which was longlisted for the National Book Award. He’s received a Whiting Award and an O. Henry Award, and has written for The Paris Review, N+1, The New York Times, The Nation, and others. He also runs CRIT, a writing class in Brooklyn.

Hermione Hoby is the author of the novels Neon in Daylight, which was twice listed as a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and Virtue, which was shortlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature award. She is a 2024 Macdowell Fellow in Literature and her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Guardian, The New York Times, Bookforum, and elsewhere. Raised in London, she lives in Boulder, Colorado.

"With humble roots in an unheated backyard shed, Boulder-based Jehovah's Fitness Club brings an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, blues and Latin sounds to the local scene. With eight enthused musicians at its core, JFC has a budding track record of putting on a lighthearted and energetic show, drawing crowds in venues like Larimer Lounge and Trident Booksellers and Cafe. Known for their seamless improvisation, tight musical synergy, and a touch of mirth, they blend spontaneity and groove creating a unique live experience every time they take the stage. JFC's recent EP "Household Name" was released in Spring 2025. Come witness the fitness!"

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Aerik Francis is a Queer Black Latinx poet born & based Denver, CO, and is currently the Adams County Poet Laureate. They are the author of poetry chapbooks MISEDUCATION (New Delta Review, 2023) and BODYPOLITIC (Abode Press, 2026). Find more of their work on their website phaentompoet.com or via social media @phaentompoet

BOOK DESCRIPTION: If radical means to the root, radical politics must attend to the body. Written for the vast spectrum of bodies, Aerik Francis’s BODYPOLITIC offers poetry as a catalyst: for movement, for empowerment, and for liberation-minded education rooted in global awareness and local action. This collection of poems questions what it means to live fully inside one’s own body in a society that seeks to regulate, define, or erase bodies. These poems ask readers to reexamine their relationship with their bodies as an act of self-knowledge, resistance, and radical permission to express oneself. Beyond the individual self, BODYPOLITIC also explores how bodies exist within larger bodies of power. Embedded in the history of these political processes are people, Francis’s people, the vast history of peoples fighting against oppressive powers and systems. BODYPOLITIC opens space for a candid conversation with ourselves about what we want, who we are becoming, and who we really want to be. 

A night of alternative music headlined by Boulder’s Ok I Love You are known for their music expert combination of shoegaze, emo, and alternative rock that they’ve brought to audiences across Colorado. Joined by West Egg Social a genre bending indie/alternative rock band from Fort Collins and hometown hero’s Gush emo and punk influenced rock from here in Boulder it’s guaranteed to be a night of exciting energetic
performances from three Colorado based bands.

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin Tavarez.

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin Tavarez.

David Mason was born in Bellingham, Washington, and has lived in many parts of the world. He served four years as poet laureate of Colorado before moving to Tasmania in 2018. His many books include The Country I Remember (winner of the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award), Ludlow: A Verse Novel (winner of the Colorado Book Award), The Sound: New and Selected Poems and Pacific Light. Mason has also written four books of essays and co-edited several textbooks and anthologies. His work can be found in The New Yorker, The Weekend Australian, The Australian Book Review, Poetry, The Wall Street Journal, The Times Literary Supplement, The Hudson Review, The Nation, and many other periodicals. His libretti for operas by composers Lori Laitman and Tom Cipullo are all available on CD from Naxos. Mason’s website can be found at https://davidmasonpoet.com

Mark Irwin is the author of thirteen collections of poetry, including Once When Green (2025), Joyful Orphan (2023), Shimmer (2020), American Urn: Selected Poems (1987-2014), Tall If (2008), and Bright Hunger (2004). Recognition for his work includes The Nation/Discovery Award, two Colorado Book Awards, four Pushcart Prizes, the James Wright Poetry Award, the Philip Levine Prize for Poetry, The Juniper Prize for Poetry, and fellowships from the Fulbright, Lilly, and NEA. He has also translated three volumes of poetry and lives in Colorado and Los Angeles, where he teaches at the University of Southern California. His poetry has been translated into several languages.

Mark Irwin’s new poems that ask “how long, how bright?” are radiant with a sheen of longing and urgency.

—Arthur Sze, National Book Award

“So often we consider how to tell the story of our beginnings, but what is it to persist, through language, in a suspended state of endings? To “witness a world that is perishing” even as one is “lonely for the present”? Once When Green is a primer in listening to that which we are unaccustomed to conceiving of as having sound, relayed in a rush of lyric language after the lilting of waves and movement of stars.                                                                                

—Abigail Chabitnoy

Trouble’s Braids is a musical group from Boulder, Colorado that creates dynamic folk rock with teeth. Their first EP, The Big Tourist, has been featured in Westword Magazine, Business Insider, and numerous radio shows, and the act has booked out all over the Front Range, including Boulder Theater, Roots Music Fest, Highlands Street Fair, Bread Bar, and many others. The band combines poignant lyricism, rich female and male harmonies, and great hooks with an unflinching curiosity about the dark and hidden corners of the human experience, all with a wink and a nod that invites the audience to come play. The act's influences are broad and deep, drawing inspiration from classic songwriters like Bob Dylan, John Prine, and Lucinda Williams, as well as more contemporary acts like Big Thief and Tom Waits.

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin Tavarez.

"With humble roots in an unheated backyard shed, Boulder-based Jehovah's Fitness Club brings an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, blues and Latin sounds to the local scene. With eight enthused musicians at its core, JFC has a budding track record of putting on a lighthearted and energetic show, drawing crowds in venues like Larimer Lounge and Trident Booksellers and Cafe. Known for their seamless improvisation, tight musical synergy, and a touch of mirth, they blend spontaneity and groove creating a unique live experience every time they take the stage. JFC's recent EP "Household Name" was released in Spring 2025. Come witness the fitness!"

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Offers letters of the Sanskrit alphabet as key to understanding Yoga and the Divine

These original meditations on the Sanskrit letters range from personal narratives to metaphysical and theological speculations, linguistic play, and inter-spiritual allusions to other works and traditions, all relevant to living a contemplative life in the contemporary world.

Sowder’s book is anchored in the devotional Tantrik, Śaiva-Śakta tradition, focused on the Divine Feminine, but allusions to western mystics (Christian, Jewish, Muslim) also appear frequently. No other book like this exists.

Review

“In the opening pages of Michael Sowder’s Sacred Letters, we learn the astonishing fact that the name of the Sanskrit script, devanāgarī, means ‘city of God.’ An alphabet understood as both divine and human, a sociality of fire. Drawing from his years as a student of yoga and Indian spirituality, Sowder meditates on the revelatory proximity of language, holiness, and embodiment in this elegant volume. He reflects on our most humane impulses as connected beads along a chain and as beauties worthy of contemplation for their own sake, his developing narrative fusing the personal to the mythic, to the transformation of both. ‘The teacher comes singing,’ Sowder writes; we his readers are fortunate to listen.” —Kimberly Johnson, PhD (Berkeley), poet; National Endowment for the Arts scholar; professor of classics, Brigham Young University

“Sacred Letters is a tantric text, woven of two gorgeous books. First, in clear bell-like tones, Michael Sowder provides instruction to the Sanskrit language, its sounds and syllabic letters. The second book, vivid as last night’s dream, is a pensées. It strings memories, visions, and reflections on a thread of sound. Follow the thread: a host of teachers—from gnarled old-apple Thoreau to radiant Mā Indirā Devī—lead you by torchlight up the mountain of yoga.” —Andrew Schelling, author of Love and the Turning Seasons: India’s Poetry of Erotic and Spiritual Longing

“Rather than confining words to their original origins or etymology, this book invites them into a broader, personal context, blending them into a cultural and philosophical framework. It is a rich intersection where philosophy meets life.” —Semeen Ali, poetry editor, Muse India

“Sacred Letters evokes and embodies the living breath of meditation and heart-centered contemplation in this inspired journey through the Sanskrit ‘alphabet’ and its many archetypal permutations. These masterful meditations uplift readers with him into the realm of the ecstatic yet remain solidly anchored in the felt material world, where the personal, historical, mythic and spiritual all meet.” —Alan Botsford, author of Walt Whitman of Cosmic Folklore

“Sowder presents fifty Sanskrit letters as doorways into profound insights about yoga philosophy, mystic revelations, natural beauty, holy pilgrimages, and a spiritual memoir of awakenings. Each letter reveals a brilliant aspect of divine love, like the many facets of a diamond.” —Robert Sternau, poetry editor, Sufi Journal

“Sowder charts his spiritual awakening, powerfully captured in life’s moments when the divine and the everyday intersect. With a poet’s eye and a scholar’s mind, he rescues these epiphanies from forgetfulness and illuminates them for fellow seekers.” —Sue William Silverman, author, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences

“Michael David Sowder has written a poetic introduction to the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, revealing how the meanings of each letter relate to teachings and practices of Yoga, devotional Tantra, and the Divine Feminine. This is an exciting project because very few people know, use, or understand Sanskrit today.” —SpiritualityandPractice.com

About the Author

Longtime yoga and meditation teacher Michael David Sowder is an author, poet, and professor of poetry, religious studies, and yoga studies at Utah State University. With a PhD from the University of Michigan, Sowder is the author of two collections of spiritual poetry, The Empty Boat and House Under the Moon, and two chapbooks of poetry. Feminist poet Diane Wakoski chose The Empty Boat to win the 2004 T.S. Eliot Award. His chapbook, A Calendar of Crows, won the inaugural New Michigan Press Poetry award.

Sowder’s writing explores themes of yoga, Buddhism, mystical experience and contemplative practice, wilderness, and fatherhood. He has appeared in MuseIndia, The Bombay Review, Shambhala Sun (now Lion’s Roar), American Life in Poetry, Five Points, Green Mountains Review, Sufi Journal, New Poets of the American West, and The New York Times Online. He frequently travels to India, where in 2014, he was a Fulbright Scholar. Trained in a Tantric yoga tradition, he has been practicing and teaching yoga and meditation for almost fifty years. The founder of the non-profit, Amrita Yoga Institute of Logan, Utah—which teaches yoga, meditation, contemplative practice and philosophy—he founded the first prison meditation program in the Alabama prison system in 1978, as well as prison writing and meditation programs at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Facility and at the Cache County Jail in Logan, Utah.

Bailey Pope (She/Her/Etc) is a New York based Comedian, writer, and pigeon-holed actor, providing the overly-tattooed, failed rock star transgender woman comedy that everyone has been searching centuries for. Bailey has shared stages with Roy Wood Jr, Sam Jay, Mark Normand and Ashley Gavin. As an actor, she often appears as “Angry bartender” or “Aloof tattoo artist” in shows such as AppleTV+ “City On Fire”. Her writing has been published by Hard Times and Refinery29.

Noah C. Lekas

Noah C. Lekas is a worker-writer and folksinger based in Colorado’s Front Range. Carrying on the labor poet tradition, his first book, Saturday Night Sage was published by Blind Owl in 2019. His debut EP, Sounds From the Shadow Factory followed in 2021. With a new record, The Flowers of Perennial Dissent slated for a 2026 Lekas, as Third Coast Review put it, continues to "Tell of the struggles of working-class laborers through poems equally acerbic and transcendental.“

Lively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin TaLively conversation for language learners, native speakers, and everyone in between. We regularly have 10+ languages spoken and always have spirited discussions! 

Dillon Hoock is a songwriter from Colorado Springs who writes the kind of songs that stay with you. Rooted in Americana and Folk, his voice and guitar carry a quiet emotion that feels honest and lived-in. His music wrestles with purpose, mental health, and what it means to find peace in a noisy world—an ongoing attempt to make sense of life and leave something real behind.

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin Tavarez.

"With humble roots in an unheated backyard shed, Boulder-based Jehovah's Fitness Club brings an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, blues and Latin sounds to the local scene. With eight enthused musicians at its core, JFC has a budding track record of putting on a lighthearted and energetic show, drawing crowds in venues like Larimer Lounge and Trident Booksellers and Cafe. Known for their seamless improvisation, tight musical synergy, and a touch of mirth, they blend spontaneity and groove creating a unique live experience every time they take the stage. JFC's recent EP "Household Name" was released in Spring 2025. Come witness the fitness!"

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin Tavarez.

Magic Mountain Talks presents:

Paul Reitter is Professor in German Languages and Literatures at The Ohio State University. He is the author of Bambi’s Jewish Roots and Other Essays on German-Jewish Culture (Bloomsbury, 2015), On the Origins of Jewish Self-Hatred (Princeton, 2012), and The Anti-Journalist: Karl Kraus and Jewish Self-Fashioning in Fin-de-Siecle Europe (Chicago, 2008). He collaborated with Jonathan Franzen and Daniel Kehlmann on The Kraus Project: Essays by Karl Kraus (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), named an Editors’ Choice by the New York Times Book Review and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. For his translation of the first volume of Karl Marx’s Capital: Critique of Political Economy (Princeton University Press, 2021) he won the 2025 Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Price from the Goethe Institute.

Arne Höcker is Associate Professor of German Studies at CU Boulder. His publications include The Case of Literature: Forensic Narratives from Goethe to Kafka (Cornell UP 2020), and Paranoia and the Totalitarian Drift of Modernity (forthcoming 2026).

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin Tavarez.

Texas-based rock singer-songwriter Mark Winters is many things; a witty poet, passionate musician, entrepreneur, optimist, family man, and a bonafide rocket scientist. He first picked up a guitar to play a song for his wife on their anniversary. That’s when he discovered the joy of connecting with people through music. Mark combines music, poetry, a science background, and love for his community to form his signature sound, “rock with a positive vibe.” His musical roots are in rock, blues rock, and pop, and John Mayer, Tom Petty, and Jason Mraz are significant influences. “My music starts from a place of poetry and creative inspiration, and I use my ‘rocket-scientist brain’ to find structures that help me explore that initial burst of inspiration and feeling – like writing haikus, my favorite! My grandmother taught me to express myself through poetry and I'm thankful to her for setting me on this creative and expressive path.”

Free! Every Monday evening, 7-9p.m. All languages welcome. Facilitated by Kelvin Tavarez.

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.

Jeff Sharlet is the New York Times bestselling author or editor of eight books. His latest is The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War (2023), a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist for Nonfiction, one of The New York Times 100 Books of the Year, and a New Republic book of the year. In 2020, he published This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers.  “Gorgeous,” says The New York Times, “[t]he book ingeniously reminds us that all of our lives — our struggles, desires, grief — happen concurrently with everyone else’s, and this awareness helps dissolve the boundaries between us.” Sharlet’s other books include Sweet Heaven When I Die, C Street, The Family — the basis for a 2019 Netflix documentary series, The Family, of which he is narrator and executive producer — and, with Peter Manseau, Killing the Buddha;and two edited volumes, Radiant Truths, and (with Manseau) Believer, Beware. His writing on Russia’s anti-LGBTQ crusade earned the National Magazine Award for Reporting, and his writing on anti-LGBT campaigns in Uganda earned the Molly Ivins Prize and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission’s Outspoken Award, among others. He has also been the recipient of numerous fellowships from MacDowell. Sharlet is an editor-at-large for VQR, and is or has been a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, Harper’s and Rolling Stone, and a contributor to publications including The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Esquire, Mother Jones, Bookforum, and others. At Dartmouth College, he is the publisher of 40 Towns and is the Frederick Sessions Beebe ’35 Professor in the Art of Writing.

Nathan Schneider is an associate professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he leads the Media Economies Design Lab. His most recent book is Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life.

JOE GORKA: With his keenly observant lyrics and blend of dynamic guitar and piano work, Chicago-based singer-songwriter Joe Gorka has made a name for himself in the Midwest music scene. He has played such well-loved Chicago rooms such as Schubas Tavern, City Winery, and Uncommon Ground, along with venues and festivals across the region. 2025 saw the release of his debut solo acoustic EP "Evergreen", as well as increasing national attention with his selection to the 2025 "Emerging Artist" showcase at Connecticut's Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. In 2026 he will be playing shows across the country while completing production of his debut full-length album, due out in the fall. 

Lucy Isabel is a folk/Americana singer-songwriter who divides her time and affection between Nashville, TN and coastal New Jersey. She has spent years touring the United States and is known nationwide for her soaring melodies, compelling lyrics, and enveloping stage presence. She released her debut LP, Rambling Stranger, in 2019 and her highly anticipated sophomore album, All The Light, in October 2024, both to critical acclaim.

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.

Bring an acoustic instrument and sit in with Boulder Old-Time Jam! Every first Thursday on the Trident Patio, starting at 6 p.m.