BACKLASH OVER A BUMPER STICKER
Guest commentator Michael Conklin’s take on Colorado natives draws backlash.
Re: “I’m not a native, but I am Colorado,” May 23 guest commentary.
I wish to enlighten author Michael Conklin about why we natives feel, as he puts it, “entitled to some type of special status by birthright.” We remember how Colorado was before he and the other 50 people moving in daily (mostly to Denver) arrived. Here is what we feel entitled to: breathing clean air, not sitting in traffic, being able to leave the mountains in daylight, not waiting in lines everywhere, not avoiding rush hour (expanded to two hours instead of one hour on both ends). Excuse us if we preferred the way it used to be!
To Conklin’s statement that staying here is not an accomplishment, please note: 1) it’s more of an accomplishment to stay in one’s hometown than to flee somewhere else; and 2) as crowded as Denver is getting, staying will be an accomplishment for natives who remember how it used to be. Terri Tilliss, Greenwood Village
The column by Michael Conklin decrying the snobbery of native Coloradans omits the fact that those of us who have been here more than five years are eyewitnesses to the environmental decline growing out of more people living here. When you rookies arrive, you find the state to be a wonderful environment, totally better than where you came from. If you stay here long enough to notice the effect of more people, you may find yourself a bit less entranced with the changes arising from your presence and the millions of people who joined you here. Seeing what happens to this state over time is frankly depressing. Tom Morris, Denver
I appreciate Michael Conklin’s guest commentary. Indeed, he is “Colorado,” as everybody who lives here is. However, he does not realize that “Colorado” has not always been the land he appreciates so much. As a fifthgeneration resident of this beautiful state, I am well aware of the hardships my predecessors had to endure to make this land what it is that Conklin loves so much. The cost to my family to make Colorado (and especially Denver) has been great, not only in lives lost in the mining and building industries, but also in the taxes my family has paid to make it possible for Conklin to live in Grand Junction and write to The Denver Post. I do not have a “Native” sticker on my car, but I certainly appreciate those who do, as their families’ sacrifices have probably exceeded my own.
We have always welcomed newcomers to our beautiful state, but we do not appreciate people taking Colorado as it is today for granted. Daniel Morr, Denver
Although I was born in Boulder and grew up in Deermont, I never really felt the need to display the “Native” bumper sticker. Until now. After reading Michael Conklin’s column, I now fully understand the reason for doing so. I’m going to buy a dozen of them and affix them to everything with wheels I own. It makes me wonder what kind of insecurities someone must live with to let a bumper sticker rile him up to such a point that he goes to the trouble to write a column about it. Maybe if Conklin read his own words, everything would become clear to him: “I wasn’t born here, and even if I was, I don’t understand the point to the sticker.” Exactly. Nick Bottinelli, Denver
I am not a bumper-sticker person but find a “Native” bumper sticker is about as benign as it gets.
I have found it interesting to talk to people with “roots” when I frequent other states.
My mother was a third-generation Coloradan. Her “native” spirit was to help and give to as many people as possible, such as help raise the children of a poor woman who had a heart transplant. She loved Colorado’s majesty but would never brag about something as inconsequential as how many 14ers she had bagged.
I think someone is a wee bit overly sensitive. Mark Rouch, Arvada
Michael Conklin wants to have his cake and eat it too. Couched in the vaguely vague thought of wanting us all to “think” before we put a sticker on our cars, he actually engages in a passive-aggressive and one-sided debate about who really enjoys Colorado the most — the natives or the transplants.
Conklin’s main point boils down to this: Most of the people engaged in outdoor activities in this wonderful state are transplants, while the “sad” natives are sitting at home taking it all for granted.
The admittedly self-righteous “Native” bumper sticker crowd has now found its equal in Professor Conklin’s weak, unsupported argument as to why transplants are better.
Makes me want to move to Montana! Ryan O’Connor, Littleton
I moved to Colorado after graduating from college almost 50 years ago. I love my adopted state. Our daughter, who was born here, moved to Minnesota after attending college there. She feels about her adopted state the way I do about mine. However, she has a “Colorado Native” bumper sticker on her car in Minneapolis. Go figure! Diane Burridge, Aurora