Amy Nolan, founder and executive director of Crested Butte Development Team, gives insight into pioneering a non-profit organization

Crested Butte Development Team Executive Director Amy Nolan gives Devo participants a pre-race pep talk. [Photo by Nori Veit]

Amidst a gaggle of enthusiastic kids on mountain bikes, Crested Butte Development Team Executive Director Amy Nolan can be spotted buckling helmet straps, opening granola bar wrappers, and tying shoelaces for Devo participants of all ages in preparation for a day on bikes in the mountains of Crested Butte, Colorado. 

After loading upwards of 15 mountain bikes into a van to cart Devo groups to trailheads for an eight hour day of recreation on bikes, Nolan instills Development team participants with proper trail etiquette, healthy athletic nutrition practices, and social skills among riders in addition to technical mountain bike skills. 

“I see myself as the captain of a ship that’s driving everything forward, and I think that having that singular vision that isn’t muddled with distraction helps stick to the foundation of the mission and the philosophy of the organization,” explains Nolan in regards to her role as executive director of CB Devo. 

With social media and internet platforms as a means with which to organize fundraising opportunities and the addition of an assistant director, Nolan asserts that founding a nonprofit organization isn’t the daunting task it appears to be, and finds time to directly coach Devo participants in addition to the administrative and directive roles she fulfills. 

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nonprofit sector has expanded dramatically in recent years. With roughly 1.1 million nonprofit organizations in existence in 1994, the nonprofit sector accounted for about 4.4 of all workers in the United States, about 5.4 million people. By 2007, there were more than 1.64 million nonprofit organizations, employing 8.7 million workers spanning healthcare, education, administrative support, and service occupations. 

In 2022, nonprofit organizations have continually gained economic traction in the employment industry. As explained by Zippia, a career statistics service, nonprofits employ 7.4% of the worldwide workforce as of April 25, 2022. 

With the total US nonprofit revenue currently standing at 2.62 trillion dollars, the industry is not one to be understated, even in communities with less than three thousand year-round residents, such as Crested Butte, CO. 

“Having started the organization from the ground up, I’ve had to navigate what needs to be done on the executive director side and program director side. Because of the program’s development, we’ve taken on an assistant director, Adam Oldstead, whose biggest role within the organization is helping with staffing, scheduling, coaching certifications and training, etc,” Quotes Nolan when asked about the specifications of her Executive Director Role and the program’s progression. 

Nolan, after pursuing an undergraduate degree as a pre-dental student, made an abrupt career-path shift in order to encompass her love for the outdoors. 

“During my internship in college, I watched a couple of root canals and thought to myself ‘I can’t do this,’” Nolan laughed, explaining why the dental healthcare system was not the career field in which she was truly interested. 

After moving to Colorado to finish her undergraduate studies with a physical education and biology major, Nolan was inspired by the youth mountain biking development programs she observed while attending collegiate mountain biking races, a career she briefly pursued alongside her degree. 

“The motivation really came from my observation of the Durango Development program at races I attended, and we really didn’t have anything like that here, in Crested Butte” Stated Nolan. Armed with observations of successful development programs in Colorado, Nolan founded Crested Butte Devo in 2016. 

“It was an opportunity to bring something of that model to Crested Butte, with a trail etiquette and educational component. Overall, a better, safer program,” Nolan reminisced. 

In reference to rapidly growing participant numbers since the inception of the program, Nolan observed that “In 2016 we had 66 kids, and now we’re up to around 200.” 

As the program expands and flourishes, Crested Butte Devo has taken on an assistant director, Adam Olmstead, to assist Nolan with staffing, programming and fundraising coordination, and scheduling. 

“It’s been a total leap of faith,” explained Nolan when interviewed. 

Though the addition of an assistant director has lifted many administrative duties from Nolan’s shoulders and allowed her more time to assume the role of a hands-on coach that can directly interact with CB Devo Participants, it has posed a challenge to the overall vision of the team, specifically keeping it consistent with Nolan’s initial mission. 

Looking into the future of Crested Butte Devo, Nolan anticipates additional growth in participant numbers, but emphasized the retention of fundamental values upon which the team was founded: 

“Fundamentally, we strive to create lifelong cyclists in a fun and safe environment.”

Dr. Raffaello Palumbo Mosca Speaks on Rome: “One and Many. Literary and Cinematic Representations of the Eternal City”

Pictured above: A scene from La Ganda Belleza (the primary film mentioned in the lecture) featuring the film’s protagonist [photo via Nori Veit]

Dr. Raffaello Palumbo Mosca, of the Università di Torino in Torino, Italy, traveled internationally from his place of residence in Italy to assume the role of the University of Denver’s Scholar in Residence. The scholar shared his extensive knowledge and wisdom in a lecture-style literary walk, in which the audience was informed of both the splendor and miseries of Rome through texts and cinema by prevalent Italian Authors. 

The lecture was held at Sturm Hall, a large lecture hall at the University of Denver, on May 4th, 2022. 

Mosca, upon arrival, stated feelings of culture shock resulting from the international travel, but was put at ease by a host of smiling faces in the lecture room. Those of previous residents of Italy, frequent travelers well versed in Italian, and, broadly, Italian and Roman culture enthusiasts. 

“We always come back to life as if it is in a circle,” said Mosca. “From no beginning to no end.”

Thus started a beautifully intricate and articulate description of Rome’s fundamentally unique aspects. Not as commonly perceived, however, but as a result of the author’s own experiences. 

The Italian scholar painted a colorful and elaborate cultural landscape in the mind of the listener, referencing the unity of culture and nature, as well as that of city and countryside. Mosca’s descriptions of the urban aspects of the city, however, were wrought with ghostly images of its former glory. 

“Give us back a city that is alive and complex. A city that happens in literature is not an ideal expectation, however much we may desire,” stated Mosca as an introduction to a series of text excerpts by Italian ultra-nationalist, poet, and playwright Gabriele D’ Annunzio. 

Mosca went on to contrast prominent Roman places of interest, such as the Piazza de España, between the opinions detailed in the author’s novel,  L’ombra di don Allesandro. Manzoni nel Novecento, and the opinions of Gabriele D’ Annunzio. 

In reference specifically to the Piazza de España, Mosca quoted the Italian poet with a figurative description: 

“All the soaring sweetness of Rome is collected, here, in a vase.”

This was only one of many beautifully articulated attributions to the prestige of the city. Other descriptions described Rome as the following:

“Rome is all golden, like a city of the fairest.”

For the second half of the lecture, the Italian scholar contrasted D’ Annunzio’s perceptions of the city with those presented in classical Italian cinematic depictions of Italy’s capital. 

The principle film explored in the lecture, La Ganda Belleza, was a classical Italian cinematic masterpiece that Mosca critiqued very harshly. 

The film is a fictional narrative showcasing the cultural spectacles of Rome and painting it as a principal tourist destination for grand, Great Gatsby style parties. 

“The director is almost 60, the movie should be more serious… and they don’t even know how to dance,” are examples of a few of Mosca’s offhanded comments that alluded to an underlying disgust with the cinematic elements of the movie. 

More serious critiques of specific scenes in the film were also addressed, such as one scene that depicted a chaotic party, complete with drinking and sensual dancing. 

Mosca continued by offering his perspective into the inaccurate portrayal of Rome as a city in the film, referencing its prestige that was mocked and diminished by the party scenes in the film. 

To conclude the presentation, the author presented Rome’s beauty, both as portrayed in the cinema and in the various works of literature referenced in the film. Rome’s unique beauty, Mosca offered, only appears when humans disappear. Societally, as a collective human race, we are incapable of understanding the depth and complexities of Rome’s defining characteristics.

The lost phenomena of the movie theater: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Tina, one of the film’s protagonists and most dynamic characters, searches for a malignant force at the Prime Minister’s election dinner [photo taken by Nori Veit]

Attending a movie theater has become somewhat of a lost hobby following the COVID-19 pandemic. The convenience of at-home cinema, paired with the development of new streaming services and the augmentation of those that already exist have permanently altered the cinema industry. 

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was released April 15th amidst a plethora of anxiously awaiting Harry Potter movie fans. A continuation of the Fantastic Beasts Franchise, this film follows the narrative of Newt Scamander, the protagonist of the first two films: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. 

The hype and anticipation for this film warranted a trip to the movie theater to partake in the complete cinematic experience in what was, for many, the first time since 2019. 

Upon arrival, the Regal UA IMAX movie theater at Colorado Center greeted us with an eerie silence. Apart from the theater staff that scanned our tickets at the door and those at the concession stand, there wasn’t a person in sight.

“There’s no way you can go to the movies without candy and too much popcorn,” stated Ella Beattie, a Harry Potter enthusiast, after the purchase of a large bowl of popcorn that required both hands to carry. “If you aren’t overly stuffed by the end of the movie, did you even go?”

Having arrived early to watch the film’s previews, empty seats stared back at us as we entered the theater itself. 

Rather than being greeted by the familiar, mouth watering smell of buttered popcorn as we found our seats, however, the cinema smelled sickeningly sterile, and almost musty from lack of use.

Apart from a couple sharing a box of Junior Mints, the theater seats were largely empty, only about 9 out of nearly 80 seats had been filled for the film. 

“The previews are half the fun!” giggled Gracie, a fellow Harry Potter enthusiast, as the lights dimmed and the programming began, throwing us into an utter time warp. 

Movie previews flashed by, advertising films varying from horror to Rom-Com. A comfortable and welcoming aspect of the cinematic experience, these trailers differed slightly from my memory of them before the pandemic, as they advertised viewing the films from various streaming platforms as well as in the theater. It began to become painfully clear to me that, although making every attempt at creating a dynamic and engaging cinematic experience, the cinema industry is actively losing their grip on viewers. 

In the film, Albus Dumbledore, a pivotal character in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise, came together with Newt Scamander, Jacob Kowalski, and company from the Fantastic Beasts series in a classic narrative: defeating a malignant force. In this case, the force of evil manifested in the form of Gallert Grindelwald, Dumbledore’s ex-lover turned arch rival. 

Rated a mere 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics described this film as “A beautiful story around brothers, lost love, and suppressed family. Mikkelson is amazing as Grindelwald, Law makes Dumbledore relatable and Redmayne keeps bringing charisma to the Wizarding World’s most unique character.” Contrasting reviews highlight the mediocre plotline that undermines the exceptional acting in this film, especially Eddie Redmayne and Mads Mikkelson. 

Without giving any spoilers, this movie followed a classic ‘good and evil’ narrative, and was packed with references from the original Harry Potter films to bolster connection and engagement. 

We left the theater feeling full and slightly sick from movie snacks, and, overall, satisfied with the movie’s content and the experience. Though, yes, cinema isn’t what it used to be, it was worth the wait for the cinematic experience, and something I would recommend to others.

The empty podium: Faulty turnover, dwindling participation, and other COVID-19 impacts on club sports at DU

Grace Arlandson, a member of the Club Cycling Team and the Triathlon Team, Poses alone on the podium

[Photo by Nori Veit]

Club sports at the University of Denver have taken a massive hit since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2019. Whether they manifest as dwindling participation numbers, faulty turnover, or overall lack of awareness and advertising about club sports, COVID-19 impacts are frequent and significant. 

Because of the severity of limitations on club sport practices and events that were able to take place between 2019-2021, the current demographic of club sports members are primarily seniors and first-years at DU. Such a growing disparity between ages exacerbates confusion within the organizational foundation of club sports teams: the mentor-mentee module is disrupted, creating confusion surrounding practices, competitions, and overarching expectations within the sport.