Mind the Gap

Cipher Mag

February 25, 2017

I hang up after the 50th call of the day and mark a check by the running column we have under “Protest the appointment of Steve Bannon.” The phone rings again.

“You’ve reached Senator Michael Bennet’s office. How may I help you today?” I answer in a voice almost as automated as a machine’s.

“If Bannon is in the White House, then no Democrat should work with any Republicans!” announces the caller. “Do to them what they did to Obama for eight years! The Senator should quit or boycott, but there is no way my representative is signing on to any bill a Republican proposes if Republicans don’t stand up and demand that Bannon stay out.” The caller hangs up.

I record another check in our column and take a break. Walking outside, I find myself in the midst of a group of protestors. They wear red baseball caps and hold signs: “Get government out of my Medicare!”

The irony is painful.

Cipher Mag

October 29, 2016

Islam in America's Christian Mecca

Cipher Mag

October 29, 2016

This room is a sparsely-furnished, brightly-lit carpeted space in a modest building just past I-25, due west. It is the only mosque in Colorado Springs.

Cipher Mag

September 11, 2016

Tongue Tied

Cipher Mag

September 11, 2016

Ask someone at CC what they think of the racist Yik Yak posts made last year and the consequent punishments and you will get one of three general responses. 1: “I’m glad those racist students are gone.” 2: “The punishment was way too harsh.” Or, what we’ve most often heard, 3: “I don’t even want to talk about it.” We’ve learned that in spite of countless Butler Center sessions and a schoolwide assembly, most students and professors would much rather stay silent than go on record for a magazine.