Behind The Stories
52
80
36 |^5280 |^ AUGUST^2019
BIGGEST LOSER
Which Broncos defeat
was more embarrassing:
the 2013 Wild Card game,
when the defense allowed
a 70-yard touchdown
pass, or Super Bowl XLVIII,
when the Donkeys lost by
40-plus points? Deciding
which to include in “A Tale
Of Two Elways” (page 42)
involved some, um, exple-
tive-laced words between
two 5280 editors.JASON HOLLEY
IllustratorJason Holley, an
illustrator who lives
north of Los Angeles,
says he appreciates
all things analog.
“There’s a sense of
time embedded in
what we make by
hand,” he explains, “a
visible record of every
action, and no way to
‘delete’ or ‘clear’ that
history. You live with it,
and it lives with you.”
As such, the long-term
consequences of human
creation weighed on
Holley as he worked on
illustrations for “Walk-
ing On The Wild Side”
(page 106), a story
about how building
more and more recre-
ational trails may be
adversely affecting Col-
orado’s wildlife. Holley
hopes his handmade
art engenders empathy
for the state’s crit-
ters—and encourages
us to think about how
animals must live with
our actions. Holley
most recently created a
stop-motion animated
music video for singer-
songwriter Josh Ritter’s
single “I Still Love You
(Now and Then).”JESSICA LARUSSO
Managing EditorLike many local thirty-
somethings, managing
editor Jessica LaRusso
spends a lot of time in
RiNo. “You can’t miss
all the incredible mu-
rals and street art,” she
says. “I wanted to know
more about how they
got there.” So LaRusso
used next month’s
10th anniversary of
the neighborhood’s
annual urban art fes-
tival, CRUSH Walls,
as an excuse to learn
more (“Crushing It,”
page 96). “Most of
the artists are su-
per collaborative
and supportive of
newcomers,” she
says—so it was perhaps
unsurprising when
one muralist handed
LaRusso a can of spray
paint after an artist talk
at last year’s fest. “I was
nervous,” LaRusso says,
“but once I got going, it
was like, Oh, I could get
into this.”ELISABETH KWAK-HEFFERAN
Freelance WriterFreelancer Elisabeth
Kwak-Hefferan is
what you’d call a wan-
derer. In recent years,
she’s called Chicago,
Seattle, and Boulder,
among other places,
home. Yet it’s been
particularly difficult
to say goodbye to Fort
Collins, where Kwak-
Hefferan lived this
past year before anoth-
er relocation, this time
to Montana. To bid
farewell to Denver’s
northern neighbor,
Kwak-Hefferan toured
her favorite spots—
and found some new
ones—to pen “The
Ultimate Insider’s
Guide To Fort Col-
lins,” (page 86) for
this month’s issue. “I
came away wish-
ing I’d discovered
everything when
I first moved to
town,” she says.
Kwak-Hefferan’s work
has also appeared in
Grist, Backpacker, and
Organic Life.“TURNS OUT,
LIKE MANY
HOLLYWOOD
RE-CREATIONS,
IT’S NOT THE
MOST ACCU-
RATE THING IN
THE WORLD.”
—Features editor
Kasey Cordell,
who finally watched
Argo after inter-
viewing one-time
Coloradan and CIA
spy Tony Mendez’s
family (“Incognito
Art,” page 39)3
Silly Spats That
Occurred During The
Crafting Of This IssueGETTING RATTLED
During the grand hat
sorting of local celebrities
(“House Divided,” page
184), a staffer-who-must-
not-be-named disagreed
with assistant editor An-
gela Ufheil’s decision to
put skier Mikaela Shiffrin in
Draco Malfoy’s house. “I’m
a proud Slytherin,” Ufheil
says. “I know a housemate
when I see one.”KNIGHT-MARES
While touring Edgewater
(“Smallville,” page 52), re-
search editor Kaelyn Lynch
and her boyfriend played
a chippy game of chess
at Happy Leaf Kombucha.
“Did I throw a knight? I
don’t remember that,”
Lynch says. (Fact check:
Her boyfriend does.)Illustrations^ by^ Micheal^ Hirshon;^PictureLux/TheHollywood^Archive/Alamy^ StockPhoto