The blizzard of 1913 buried the state

This article first appeared in the Broomfield Enterprise.

Though it happened nearly a century ago, the Great Blizzard of 1913 lives on in local history books as the worst ever in Colorado. It began pleasantly enough, dropping an inch or two over the first couple of days in December.  By Wednesday, about eight inches lay on the ground. Children struggled to make it to school, many businesses began to close. On Thursday, life along the Front Range came to a screeching halt.

How to make history out of fiction

A few weeks ago I watched a PBS program called “Tears in the Sand,” which tells the story of the Sand Creek massacre and other events in the history of the Cheyenne people. In an otherwise informative and moving program, I noticed some unfamiliar “quotes” from the letters of Silas Soule, a young cavalry officer who had been involved in earlier efforts to make peace with the nations, was present at Sand Creek and quickly became a whistle-blower about what really happened that day.